May 2008
Does anyone have any knowledge of problems with radio's in a 2003 Seat Leon. This is the second radio fitted. problem not fuses or wiring, problem is definetly in radio. but what causes problem, could it be overcharging.
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Hi Guys,
I currently drive a MK1 Clio and fancy a change to something more up to date and good looking, economical. I typically drive 2-3 times a week within London outside of peak hours.
I like the look of a Stilo and am drawn to a diesel (for the better mileage). I'm specifically looking for a 3 door model, hopefully loaded with all the toys - aircon, satnav, electrics.
I'm not a boy racer or customiser but do like to have some power on tap for overtaking/powering away from clumps of traffic on the motorway (when I venture out of the city).
I'm looking at the 1.9 diesel (80bhp) but also aware of the 115bhp version.
I would like to get feedback on;
1. Apart from additional bhp (& higher ins group) is there any advantage getting the higher diesel model?
2. Are there any known problems/characteristics with the Stilo diesel range/engines?
3. Anything else I should know about Fiats in general? Parts availability etc...
4. Can anyone suggest a similar sized alternative diesel? (3dr, good looking, loaded with toys) My Budget is £3-4k, looking at 4-6 year old models.
Thanks in advance.
Mark.
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> Fiat make fine, basic cars but when they overload them with technology they can have problems.
The flaw in that argument is that all modern cars, from the most basic up, are loaded with technology. You can't really avoid it.
The days when the like of Fiat can get away with making their electrics out of bits of string and cancelled component orders from a ZX81 are long gone.
In my experience of over a dozen relatives and friends who have owned Fiats of all descriptions, they seem to run tolerably OK until they hit year six or seven then all hell breaks loose. I wouldn't want to be there quite honestly, especially when the Fiat's raison d'etre (being cheap) is matched by various Nissan and Korean alternatives that don't break nearly as often.
Is anyone else getting as sad as me and seeing how many miles they can eek out of a tank of fuel?? In an effort to offset the rising fuel costs, I've taken to trying to fill up as little as possible and to drive as economically as is reasonable (60mph on motorways & A & B roads).
I last filled up last Thursday and since then have driven up to North Wales and back (incl some 'spirited' driving around Snowdonia & short trips to shops) as well as driving from Wilts to Southampton and back all this week which includes the joys of the M27 to the north of the city! Total mileage so far on the tank is 980 miles. Fuel light came on at 930 miles. Based on my current fuel economy of 69.1 mpg (trip computer accurate to 0.5 mpg), I think I could reach 1050 miles before running dry. Going to definitely take it up to 1000 miles so that I can tick it off the strange list of achievements that I want to achieve!
So am I alone in my sadness or do other people want to 'come out' ;-)
Bost
p.s. car is a 10yr old Passat TDI with a notional fuel tank capacity of 62 litres but with a little bit of 'venting' will take another gallon or so.
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Thanks MikeTorque!
Sorry if this a dumb question, but if I copy the entire contents of my C drive to a freestanding external hard drive, then I attach that drive to another computer, will I be able to run the all the programs and data that I ran on my 'donor' computer? Read more
whilst "http://tinyurl.com/58mud2" could be putting me in the "mud" if somebody
wanted to introduce some malware and I didn't check the status bar
Goto tinyurl's homepage, click on "Preview Feature" in the LH menu, then enable previews so that you can see the link before accepting to be taken there.
Providing you don't delete the tinyurl cookie from your temporary internet directory, each time you click on a tinyurl link in the future you'll always be able to preview the link first.
Hi all, some of you may remember that I was recently seeking opinions on Avon tyres. I've decided against them and have narrowed my choice down to Dunlop SP2000 Sport or Goodyear Excellence.
Does anyone own a set of these so they can offer an opinion? Key drivers for me are comfort, road noise and longevity.
Thanks. Read more
I have had good service from NCT5s on 3 occasions. Quite cheap as well.
Anyone had experience of Michelin Energysavers, the very new ones first fitted to the 307?
They are supposed to improve the plague of longlasting hard compound tyres, ie. wet performance.
Hi Guys
I have an Oct 2004 Scenic 1.6 VVT
A couple of days ago the service light came on and the diplay read 'CHECK EMISSIONS'.
I took it to the Renault dealer today and they have diagnosed that it needs a new de-phaser pulley. My car is 6 months out of warrenty and although it only has 24k miles on the clock its going to cost me £1098 to fix!!!!
There is absolutely NO way I can afford this and I have asked the dealers to ring Renault and find out if they can do this work or at least contribute to the cost as it is a known fault (wish I'd known before I bought it!!). Does anyone know how likely Renault are to do this for me? I'm at my wits end and I really don't know what to do. I can't even sell or part ex my car with this problem :0(
Any replies would be appreciated!
Vics
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hi we have a 2005 1.6VVT grande scenic. our so called dephaser pulley has failed 3 times previous renault insist that all they can do for us to keep replacing the same part we managed to get an extended warranty from them foc but have decided to take matters further involving trading standards. renault uk and the finance company dont want to know and keep passing the book hoping that we will just accept another repair not this time. hope you got yours sorted
I am not sure what the exact problem is but here are the symptoms
Cold Start: Starts fine, idle sounds good, bit jumpy until it warms up. Temp gauge often does not move as I only drive 5 min to work.
Warm Start (e.g. 5 min after cold start above): Starts fine, idle sounds good, temp gauge rises rapidly, and will reach 3/4 on gauge. Cooling fan may or may on come on. When stopped idle remains (quite) fast. Engine temp rises in compartment. All coolant hoses and inflow manifold appear to get uniformly very hot.
Sometimes after the temp has risen I am gettign overrun when I turn off the iginition, but this is not consistent. I am not using the car for long journeys at the moment as I am not confident the temp will behave.
I think the fast idle is causing the excessive temperature which is causing the over run
Fuel economy is rubbish (<20 mpg) and used to be quite good 30+ mpg
I have purchased a new cooling fan switch.
I have checked the air intake vacuum is working
I have cleaned the carburettor with carb cleaner
I have replaced air filter
All vacuum lines I have examined seem intact
From what I have read it is an 2E3 Pierpoint carb, and any of the following could be the problem
Waxstat
Thermo numatic time valve
Throttle position control diaphragm
Choke pull-down diaphragm
But I am not sure how to begin to eliminate what is going wrong
Any help/ideas appreciated
Thanks
Peter Read more
I have the original problem back again, car fine when cold, once warmed up (to half on gauge at which point it is stable) the revs come up and stay up. Fuel economy is rubbish again. Also discoved oil in air filter compartment (from crank case ? How does this happen ?)
Car is 1300 MK2 Golf Poerburg 2E3 carb (which does not have a waxstat)
Any thoughts appreciated
Top of the morning to you all
I'm idly wondering if any of you folks know why recovery trucks biff along with their amber beacons flashing when they have vehicles on the back.
Obviously I can understand them being on while the vehicle is being loaded but once the vehicle is safely on the back, surely the hazard has gone?
As I say, just curious. Yes, 'curious' is the word that many people would use in connection with me... :-)
Cheers. Read more
I"authoritative".
Its the same psychology with hi-viz jackets. Try wearing one in a public place and walk with intention and authority. People will give way to you, just you see!...
I had a new back box and central pipe fitted by a chain / dealer. The new exhaust sounds way louder than the one previously.
It's not a hole or bad fitting - the noise is coming out the tail pipe.
The guy who fitted it said that sometimes there are faulty silencers where the packing was not settled right but in his opinion the noise is as it should be. He said he could order another one but it would probably sound the same.
Could the new exhaust be faulty?
Could he have fitted the wrong part? (maybe the diesel 2.0 is different from the petrol 2.0?)
Are exhausts now louder in general?
This Xsi never sounded meaty but this new exhaust does make it sound a bit boy racer-ish. I wouldn't have minded if I was in my 20's but it is a bit annoying driving around - especially on motorways. Read more
I'm going through pretty much exactly the same experience right now with my 307 xsi. I gave it a couple of hundered miles to soot up - the garage said it would take about 10 (!).
They then replaced the mid section (which I was a bit sceptical about anyway, since I understand the back box does the bulk of the silencing), but that hasn't improved anything and they're now changing the back box (which I'm a bit more hopeful about).
I guess if that doesn't improve things i'll just have to put a few more miles on the clock and see how it goes.. Gives me some hope that people are saying it takes more than a couple of hundred miles to soot up...
I'd be interested to hear if anyone who's had a new main dealer one fitted has noticed the same noise increase.
I recently purchased a V50 Estate Sport and am struggling to get more than 35 mpg from the 2.0 diesel. The Manufactuers stats state that the combined MPG is 47 so as you can see I am way under this.
Does anyone have any experience or advice about returning a car. We have had it approx 6 weeks and it has been back to the garage twice incudiong once for a software upgrade (at this point in increased from 28 MPG to 35 MPG).
I dont think the car is running correctly due to the fuel we are going through.
Cheers
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Richard-no criticism intended here, far from it, but I've got a Golf GTtdi and at an 85 cruise it turns in 50 mpg. Overall, with some leadfoot work, including daily commute which is all B road twisties, it averages 49. I have to wonder what you did with it on the motorway to get down to 44? Certainly don't want to insult your intelligence, but have to wonder whether, as others have said, driving style plays its part? I don't drive for economy, but hard acceleration makes a huge dent in the economy, and I rarely get past 3000rpm - little benefit when you can simply drop back into the meat of the torque, the main reason I have a Diesel. That rich seam of torque coincides with the best economy. I'm sure none of this is news to you, and I hope not to offend you, but as I said, I have to leadfoot the Golf to get down to low forties on B roads, but an A road picks it back up again anyway unless I'm hovering just inside the ton. Which is rare...!
I have just encountered this problem, i pulled out the radio to find that the 10 amp fuse which is in the radio its self had blown so after resolving this problem i am now charging my car up for an hour so i can ener the security code. Hope this helps.