July 2008
After having one definite rear and the other "almost" I opted for two Michelin Energy Savers. The front tyres - both budget- were good for a few thousand miles yet, but I thought it prudent to match all four and had them all fitted. All well and good £178.55 - but 4 good quality tyres.
The guy who fitted them advised that the uneven wear on the rear tyres was down to the tracking - he briefly explained how they were out of line etc. and advised me to get them checked and so that they can be re-aligned/balanced/corrected - whatever the term is.
This is all new to me as still a fairly new driver. He also mentioned if not the tracking the suspension be be damaged - which does alarm me! The car is only 5 years old (a little Micra 1.0l). Am I being unduly worried? - I have it booked in for Thursday. Being green as grass, what should I be looking for, or what should I avoid? - is there an average cost for this type of work and any way to ensure I'm not going to get an unpleasant bill and making a mountain out of a molehill?
I'd heard of having tyres balanced and mistakenly thought this was the same thing! - I got 5 years and 47000 miles from the original Bridgestones from brand new.
Finally there is some noise which others had said sounded like a wheel bearing - but was not - (independently checked 3 times) I assumed it was wear and tear and would disappear with the new tyres - it hasn't. The noise wasn't always there - again linked to the tracking? or more likely the once-new engine is noiser now as is the exhaust?
Anyone out there able to allay my fears and assure me this is normal wear and tear.
Thanks
Steve Read more
Decided this is probably the best option for our needs. Anything we should look out for when testing ? Read more
i wouldnt personally go near them ... there one within the family and it was bought last july (july 2006) on an "05" plate and its now 3 years old and within the years its been with us its has 3 power stearing pumps which continuously grinded i wud also point out that this is on a care thats done only 23,000 since new and only done 8,000 in the last 12 months
the cars seem to drink the fuel ... in the town u avergae around 25-30 mpg at low revs and the 1.6 desire petrol seems to be a too small of an engine for a large body ...be careful were u tread with them ... possibly go for the 2.0hdi which is also used in the peugeot 406 which we have within the family ... we had it 2002 on a y plate and it here at present day since been here its done nearly 70,ooo miles and its never put a foot wrong so the 2.0 hdi engine is a very very very good engine
When overtaking on a single carriageway road are you allowed to temporarily exceed the speed limit to expedite the manoeuvre? And do you ever do this? Read more
>>you could have saved a lot more time by holding back behind
him... Its a waste of 5-15 minutes of a journey on a "friendly chat"
It turns out that this friendly chat in 1992 was a useful few minutes. The copper gave me sound advice about overtaking that I have put into practice since then, including overtaking police cars when appropriate. Living next-door to a friendly traffic cop was for several years another good source of driving advice. I know many have said this before, but it's shame there are not so many traffic police on the road nowadays providing similar constructive driving advice to improve driving standards, improve road safety and impose penalties only when appropriate. They have been replaced by cameras.
Recently bought a 2005 Jag X-Type 2.0lt diesel estate, now the motor is under warranty but a bit of technical info would be appreciated.
It has on at least four occasions started up as though it was running on three cylinders usually after it has run for an hour or so, and when it has done this the engine warning light has also come on, with the ignition turned off then restarted it all clears are every thing appears back to normal, as I said it has done this at least four times in the last two weeks.
Today it did something different, while pulling away in third it had a slight miss then the glow plug light came on and flashed on/off in a rhythmic fashion, after pulling over turning off the engine and restarting all went back to normal.
I have rung the dealer and it is going in tomorrow, they mentioned it was probably something on a starting coil!! anyone with better info.
Thanks
Geran Read more
This is a motoring forum so unfortunately we don't have the means to do as you ask. But look on the Reviews section of this site under both Jaguar X-type and Ford Mondeo (2000-07) and you should find some helpful information there.
Hi out there,I hope someone can Help me,
I have a 2002 scenic megane RX4 1.9 dci ,She used to run just great until i did a long drive down to south of france and back,
I was heading up the Alps when without warning i had no real pulling power, i climed the Alps at about 15 miles per hour, which made it hell for me and also anybody following ,
the strange thing is on the straight she ran just fine,??i crused home at 70 all the way.
to be honest i have driven her like it for now a month but i live in cornwall and the gouing up hill thing is driving me crazy.
Last week renault told me power loss could be the EGR valve, So i bought one and changed it,whilst in the process of changing i saw that the hose from the mass air flow sensor had a hole so i bought a new one as well,just to be sure
OK to the point, after changing the EGR and air pipe there is no difference and my car will still not go up hills ?? and i now seem to have clouds of Black smoke mainly when pulling up hill.maybe i did not notice this before
I noticed that there was a lot of Oil like sludge in the EGR valve and wondered if this was normal? i checked it again today and i reckon i will have to clean it every 2 weeks to keep it from clogging completley.
I put it in a local garage to check the fault codes and there code reader gave these codes, 1814,1815,,802 and 806,they are getting back to me,
So does anybody out there have any advise,yours hopefully
frosty
Read more
H there again thank you for all the Help and advice,
Had Renault have a look they said the turbo was knackered,
After taking it off the fault showed itself, The shaft had broken in half and some of the blades were also broken,
So i gues i was lucky that it did not do any more damage,
Renault wanted £900 for a turbo but i got one from turbo solutions off the net ,for £360
Had alocal garage do the change over , they also said i was very lucky so apart from the cost i guess i was,
Why are Turbo's more expensive than GOld!!
she is running like a dream, with all power back, so a happy ending.
The only thing left is to work out how to put the code back in the radio,
Regards Frosty.
Hi,
just wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem to mine....? My bonnet now refuses to open when I pull on the bonnet release lever situated in the driver's footwell. The lever feels a bit loose to me- almost as if it's either not attached (don't see why this would suddenly happen?!?) or as if it's not taking up the slack in the cable since it was last released & hence no tension on the cable...
Has anyone else experienced this problem?
I have removed the front offside wheel & the plastic wheelarch lining- I can reach in so far and grab what appears to be the boonet release cable but it's inside a plastic sheath- so there's not much I can do with it... Not sure if the bonnet lock/catch at the front has seized up & prevent me from popping the bonnet open?
Don't particularly want to take it to dealers, as I'm sure I'll be charged a healthy premium to have it fixed!
Paul Read more
I'm having a similar problem; mine is actually open at the moment after pumping at the lever and I'm now testing it properly before i close the bonnet. It's well greased and was never seized up, the issue with mine looks to be a stretched cable. I don't see any alternative but replacing it.
Ok, my tip for trying to open the bonnet from underneath:
(My car is actually a polo T-reg 1.4, but hopefully this will apply to you too!?) I see that the OUTER core of the cable is the moving part in this case (in most cable applications, the outer cores is anchored and the inner cable moves). So by the looks of it, if you're able to reach up from underneath the car and grab the cable, then I'd advise trying to push the cable toward the bonnet mechanism with your hand. Do this forcefully and it may pop open. As I say, mine is well greased and not seized so if yours is also due to a stretched cable then this could work.
Good luck!
I'm in this strange position that the other driver is not accepting responsibility. Obviously both of us fault each other and there was no injury to both of us and there was no police involved as well.
The damage caused is worth around £800 and my excess is £300. His car has slightly more damange than mines I believe. What will happen to my no claims discount of 5 years, how will the insurers decide who is at fault ? anyones got any idea in situations like these. Thanks in advance . Read more
>"synoniv" has not been active since 4th July!
That's one helluva long Independence Day hangover.
Kevin...
I have a peugeot 307 2.0 hdi, and i have been told that i need a new duel mass flywheel because the radial movement is excessive. Can anyone tell me what the radial movement should be?
{typo in header corrected for future forum searches} Read more
Does the 307 1.6 HDI (54 plate) also have this 'great' system?
Still toying with various thoughts on an addition to the stable. Bit out of touch these days with petrol engines. However, given the reduction in the cost gap I could be persuaded to look at petrol again. Car would be put to work and would do a highish mileage and needs to have a minimum of 1400 litres of loadspace. Probably mainstream to keep costs sensible. So, looking at ( another ) Mondeo estate or Vectra estate / Signum to run alongside ageing Mondeo estate as backup / potential successor.
Seems, on paper at least, that the GM 2.2 petrol engine combines a good blend of reasonable frugality with performance.
Any views, thoughts or experiences ? Read more
Now for the trivial aside. Having commited to the Signum. I calculate that despite the closure of the gap between petrol and diesel prices that my annual fuel costs will now increase by +/- £1000 due to my highish mileage. That's OK I can cope with that. However, as my dear wife quite correctly points out, were I to quit smoking I would save the thick end of £2000 a year. Therefore net gain on combustibles of £1000.
Soooo, on Tuesday, I will attempt to part company for the last time with Phillip Morris's finest red tops. A relationship which has lasted these thirty years and more.
Will make occasional reference to progress on this in conjuction to Signum updates. I expect a fair degree of petulance may creep into the odd post in the short term so I apologise in advance for that !
Astra G 2002 1.6 8v Petrol Club Estate 19,000 miles
No fault lights on dashboard
Can someone HELP please this exceptionally frustrated driver!
After about a year of buying the car we noticed a slight surging or fluttering after about 30 mins driving. It now does it at anytime. It also stalls when coming to junctions and roundabouts. So have to rev hard and use the handbrake to keep the revs up!
My regular mechanic has replaced the crank shaft sensor and cleaned out the throttle assembly but now seems to be completely stumped.
He recommended I take it to the local Vauxhall dealer and get them to hook it up to their testing equip. Did this and it found no faults codes.
Have read here that other Astra owners have had problems with the EGR valve but was told by Vauxhall and my mechanic that the fault light would show on the dash.
Also read here that there has been a ECU update from v5 to v6 which in affect shuts off the EGR valve. Also that blanking off the EGR valve could be an option.
The car starts perfectly and idles well (except when stalling, as above).
Would appreciate any help as my wife (who's main driver) is giving me considerable grief!
PS - Summer holidays coming up and need a reliable car!!!
Read more
Dear Nick,
This is the only thread on the internet with a sensible question - i have mentioned my problem as below...
Browse
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>>Cheers & happy motoring - beep beep
>>
Thanks for letting us know the outcome.
Drive gently for the neext 100-200 miles while the tyres settle in and the release fluid on the treads is got rid of.
Beep beep to you.