June 2008
Sooo,,,
My brother bought a Mazda 6 from a used car dealer that works from home, I bought it on 27/3/08.
In the past month or so, the air conditioning has stopped working, I call the trader up as it states "used car warranty" on the invoice (but it seems to say £0.00 for the cost of it)
He tells me to go to get it regassed, I look up in the yellow pages for a specialist and take it to him for work, he detects a leak, he writes a report detailing the fault.
The trader just says "not my problem, sold as seen, and there is no warranty" IMO this is ridiculous, I bought it as a private individual, surely it's his fault, there is nothing on the paperwork saying sold as seen, fair enough it's 3 months later but I would expect an A/C to last at least 8 years (that's how old my car is) Read more
Hi All
I have got a 2002 Mondeo Zetec. 103000 miles. FSH. Parts of my air intake manifold were sucked into my engine. I've had it repaired which included a new piston, new valves in the one chamber, head skimmed, head gasket plus bolts and 4 new spark plugs. This was not a cheap repair and since having the car back it has an annoying pinking when accelerating, also when coming to a stop the rev counter is fluctuating, sometimes when turning the car cuts out. I've had an engine management diagnostic and no fault codes were shown. Also a smoke test on the new manifold showed no leak. Has anyone experienced this problem or can anyone offer any suggestions as i'm at a loss and don't know what to try next. Anyone with this engine of about the same age might want to change the air intake manifold.
Moved over from Discussion - can you confirm engine details ?? Read more
Thanks for the reply.
Would this not have shown on the diagnostic check?
Which 2 sensors would you suggest have been transposed?
From what the garage told me had the engine just digested the flap it wouldn't have been a problem but it took the holding bar as well. This is apparently the reason for the piston also needing replacement and was lucky it hadn't damaged the bore.
is the hazard perception and theory part of the Bike test any different from the car test ?
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Generally no, but on the theory there will also be questions which are specific to motorcycle riding.
I have to say that in the photos this new Alfa looks an absolute peach. Maybe a little bug-eyed at the front but side and rear views are stunning - exactly like a scaled down 8C. Based on the Grande Punto/Corsa platform and will be good value for money. Looking forward to HJs road test.
Should sell by the bucket load to those not wanting a MINI.
If it weren't for the dealers ... Read more
That will be for the MiTo GTA which Mr De Meo (Alfa boss) confirmed at the launch event in Milan the other night. It will be a 1.8 Turbo with 220BHP.
I am looking at changing the Anti roll bar drop linke but am struggling to loosen the nuts to remove the drop links. Does anyonle have ane tips without having to use any specialist tooling.
Seems annoying that i will have to take this to a garage for such a simple job. Read more
The following from the BBC ( and on London TV ) seems a very unusual situation.
"A suspicion of dangerous driving" when reversing .
Driver of crashed coach arrested
The coach was involved in a collision with a car. The driver of a coach that crashed into a three-storey block of flats in north London has been arrested, police said.
The private coach was going uphill in Muswell Hill when it developed mechanical problems and sought help from a police car.
Traffic on the road was halted as the vehicle reversed, but the driver lost control and hit a car behind it before ploughing into the block.
The driver is being held on suspicion of dangerous driving.
The driver of the car was not injured but one woman in the flat suffered minor injuries.
The driver was taken to hospital by London Ambulance Service.
Residents of the block were evacuated and the building is being checked to judge its safety.
A small photo at :-
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7476095...m
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hur, hur. Very good
Just for fun, everyone is invited to take a guess as to what the price of oil will be on 1st December 2008 (the price of brent crude as reported on the BBC website). Giving your reasoning behind your guess is optional.
The prize for the winner will be fame within the backroom and the respect of all other Backroomers. It should be fun to look back at this in 6 months time!
Here's my entry-
$185
My reasoning is that demand will continue to grow, but at a slower pace due to some ecomonies being hit by recession. Read more
The words 'American foreign policy' send a shiver down my spine. I suppose a stopped watch is right twice a day though.
I have a renault clio on a '02 plate, and until recently it was running perfect. Just lately, while out drivng, it loses all acceleration but the engine keeps turning. If I leave it for a little while, it is fine and of I drive. When this happens the overheating light appears on the dashboard. I have told that I may need a new accelerator pedal to solve this problem.
Having just checked the oil level, I find that it is not showing any oil at all. I am wondering if, that I have put oil in it will run ok.
Any thoughts on the above.
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This has to be a wind up.
My parents old merc has bitten the dust and they need another vehicle to tie them over for 6 months until some monies are released to enable them to purchase an upmarket something or other. Until then cashflow is limited.
They live in France and the cost of second hand cars out there appears to be horrendous. I can get a much better deal (05 32k Grand Scenic for £4k) for them over here and take it to them and collect it when they've finished with it. I'd then sell it to get my money back.
We are aware that they have to get the headlights changed over etc. but they're used to french registered right hand drive cars so having a UK car in France is not as issue.
How would I buy this though?
Would I keep the V5 in my name?
Would I 'sell' it to them therefore adding additional owners to the V5?
What about tax and insurance? If they came over for a visit and it's UK registered but without UK tax & insurance it will fire up the anpr's.
It would be insured in France by them but I'd have to get it down to SW France. Parents are in their 70's. Read more
I have just returned from 2 years working in Switzerland.
I took my UK car with me - for upto 12 months I did not have to register it over there, nor did I have to change the headlights. It was easy to get Swiss inusrance to cover the UK registerd car (but equally, my UK insurere was willing to cover me for 6 months as well).
After 12 months, I had the lights changed, took it through the Swiss MOT equivalent, and had it registered and insured over there.
Upon return to the UK, it was just a question of getting the lights changed, passing the MOT, finding someone willing to insure on the chassis number (which was probably the most difficult part of the whole thing), and re-registering it (even got the original reg number back). Proof of no claims whilst in Switzerland is not easy to come by (they do not seem to take accident histroy into account for their insurance).
Overall it was not too difficult, and seemed much cheaper than taking a loss on selling the UK car, buying and selling anotehr in Switzerland, and buying anotehr UK car when I returned.
Rick
what is the cheapest price xara picaaso
cheapest ive found is £8700 for the 1.6 petrol desire
will these cars continue to get cheaper?
are they better than the standard 1.6 c4? Read more
Yes, like others I really like the older Picasso and just changed from a 2001 2.0 HDI to a 2007 1.6 HDi after doing my homework... The C4 Picasso is just too expensive at the moment for me and apart from style, doesn't offer anything better for a no-frills motorist ( I don't go round touching the dashboard to check if it's soft touch or not etc). It is also less economical than the old version.
In terms of the old style picassos, the petrols are v. cheap new, not so the diesels but I plumped for a diesel due to fuel consumption. Now, after just two weeks, have no regrets because in general running round I have got 54 mpg overall, far better than the old 2 litre. Only little thought, is the 1.6 92 BHP a dual mass flywheel or not? Should I really worry? Old engine was bullet proof, so hope not. yes, picasso is an utter bargain as far as I can see.
Browse
BTW, is it a diesel or petrol? If it is a diesel then you should look at:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=57098