July 2008
When switching on the radio on the morning it works fine, but as soon as the steering wheel is moved the radio changes station flicking through all the progammed in stations and some that are not, you never get to the end of a sentence before it moves on, this will go on for about 15 to 18 miles before settling down.(of course the steering wheel is on the move constantly) any shorter journeys then forget about listening. if its been a hot sunny day when you get in the car to return home it works fine. there is volume and station controls on the steering wheel so it could be a link between this and the problem. please help!! Read more
1 week after getting my car back from repairers, following an ambulance reversing into the front drivers side of car, the 'check brake pads' warning light comes on during driving, usually after hitting a bump/pothole in the road (I know the brakes pads are fine as had the car serviced just 5 weeks ago and pads were only 15% worn). I took it back to repairers who basically said it was unrelated to the accidient. Does anyone know what might be causing this light to come on? Thanks in advance for any suggestions. Read more
Problem solved! Some fishing line had wrapped itself around the sensor cable and cut through the outer sheath causing the wires to touch and short.
got a mk2 polo that makes a woo woo noise very similar to a worn out wheel beaing( it has new w bearings)
ive traced the noise to the driveshaft area on the passenger side by running the car up on stands
the gearbox output flanges have some movment( ive held a bar againt the case while it was running in gear.sounded sweet enough) but the inner c.v joint has the most slop out of all the joints
so my question is...what sort of noises /symtoms would a inner c.v give and how to do i detect if its worn out? Read more
its done 170k so yeah they probably are past their best
sinse its a cheap run about id just like to narrow down what the problem is before lashing out money on it
i think i'll whip it off and grease it up for now..see how it goes
Looks like a nasty one. Utter chaos. Avoid until further notice. Read more
>>Accidents there all the time. Drivers seem unable to cope with the fact that one
>>motorway merges with another.
But they are not even merging at that point, this was where the motorways seperate.
Hi,
I had erm a little incident in my CLK and the rear light cluster on drivers side got badly damaged. I have bought a replacement, complete light cluster assembly, on EBAY for £30, dead chuffed with that. But I have no idea at all how to fit it. Any ideas?
Guy Read more
Hi
Recently the clutch on my Nissan Terrano 2.7 TDI has been sticking. We realised that there has been a leak. We bled it and re filled it the fluid but it was still leaking.
It happens that there has been a piece of the pipe which has rotted away causing the leak. When it has been looked at it seems that where the pipe runs to the back of the car towards the rear wheel the pipe has come away from (where it is suposed to go) and there is something missing from the end of the pipe which is preventing the pipe from being re connected. I need to know 1) where does that pipe go and 2) what is supposed to be on the end of it. please help or advise me if you can
Dan10 Read more
I've recently put down a deposit on a 2002 BMW 316 SE, it's fair to say im pretty nieve when it comes to BMW's and also the buying and selling of cars in general, so kinda just checking whether i've got an ok deal and if theirs anything i should be keeping an eye for with this model.
It was formally a company car and has 72000 miles on the clock and will be costing me £5999, the main thing that might be a slight (or big) issue is that it has not been serviced in 30 thousand miles, how much of an issue is this gonna be? (Needless to say it will be serviced straight away). So basically any advice or words of wisdom would be very much appreciated.
Cheers Read more
For 6k I'd expect FSH and at least a 320 if not a 325, with under 60k miles on! I think you'll be very dissapointed with the 316, very underpowered.
My Almera started to struggle with acceleration and eventually refused to start. I checked the spark plugs and they had oil on the tip and on the threads. I checked the gaskets round the plugs and they seem fine. I refuse to believe that the pistons or piston rings can be worn on a Nissan this young (2002) so Im going to change the PCV valve on it.
Is there anything else that can cause the oil to leak into the combustion chamber and onto spark plugs?
Can anyone help? Read more
Does it leave a smokescreen behind it?
The windscreen on my Legacy has just cracked and will need replacing, (stone chip damage).
I had the same problem on my Passat about four years ago and was definitely NOT impressed by the standard of the workmanship when it was replced by one of the big companies in this market.
The main problem was damage to paint on the surround, presumably where they had "levered" the old one out. I also had to wait ages to collect it, (at least two hours after the agreed time). When I removed under-body engine cover a couple of months later, I realised why it had been delayed.............they had dropped one of the very long self tapping screws that retains the lower windscreen surround into the engine bay and had obviously decided to get a new one from the VW dealer up the road, rather than bothering to recover it! Bad workmanship in my book and yes I am very pedantic when it comes to things like this.
I sometimes accidentally drop screws on the machinery I am working on (packing machines) and very often the customers own technicians will say "no problem, just get some more from the stores". They obviously have no concept of what havoc the "lost" screw can have on the mechanics (and sometimes electrics) of the machine, never mind if it ends-up in an actual product.............Rant over.............
Anyway, can someone please recommend a windscreen company that are at least "better" than the norm? Read more
oh and on the pattern vs genuine thing
ive had about 4 screens in my golf , the first 3 were pattern ones and picked up ullet hole style chips really easy , the forth time i asked that they fit a genuine screen and touch wood its lasted much better
might just be luck but i felt the cheapies chipped very easily
Just back from an eventful driving holiday in France and thought I would share some observations, experiences etc. This is probably my 5th or 6th driving holiday to France and, being brutally honest, most of the enjoyment of France itself is rapidly diminishing. There was a recent thread on here extolling the virtues of France but having previously been its biggest supporter, I am now not as convinced.
Accident
There were 3 families in 3 cars. Just North of Paris on the Motorway, car 3 was involved in an accident. Going down the middle lane, overtaking car in inside lane when it decided to come out to middle lane and performed a perfect American style ?PIT? manoeuvre on my friends, resulting in their Scenic somersaulting 3 times across the motorway, clearing the crash barrier at the edge, landing ten feet up the embankment and then sliding down into the gully below, upside down. Miraculously, front passenger was able to open her door and climb out with only a few scratches and bruises. The driver and other two passengers didn?t fare as well although, there was not a single broken bone between them, some heavy bruising, some extensive stitches (or staples initially) and several black eyes. It is not very pleasant seeing your friends? car somersault across the motorway in your rear view mirror!
Full compliments to the emergency services who were, quite literally, on the scene within 4 minutes. Don?t know who phoned them but great response. Unlike in Britain, the road was not all closed off, instead they used industrial style leaf blowers to blow all the debris over to the hard shoulder and let the traffic continue to flow. Also thanks to all the hospital staff at Compiegne who were absolutely magnificent.
Compliments must also go to Renault for building such a strong car, it was the new shape Scenic so possibly 5* NCAP rating but I am not sure if rollover tests are done but that certainly held strong. I personally believe that perhaps they were fortunate that the car rolled and took some ?energy? out of the speed rather than hitting a barrier or another car at 70 mph. One word of caution though, and we have all done it especially going on holiday. Try and keep as many items as possible in secure bags / holdalls. When a car is involved in a crash, especially rolling over, every little item in that car becomes a missile ? ipod, phones, DVD player, bottles of juice ? the list is endless but remember if you are travelling at 70mph so are they! Also, don?t be tempted to slouch, twist, lie across seats in any position that the seat belts won?t work properly. My friends were lucky that they were all sitting correctly at time of accident. My wife in particular, always had a habit on long journeys of putting her feet up on the dash ? not anymore!
Millau Bridge
Due to being delayed at Hospital for a few days, by the time we got on our way to drive South to the Med, it meant that we crossed the Millau Bridge at 10.30pm. This was to be one of the ?highlights? of the holiday but it could have been any road at that time! However, later in the holiday we drove up to it again so that my Top Gear obsessed son could get his picture taken at it (yes we had to play ?Jessica? on the stereo as we crossed it). There is a great viewing point on the North side of the Bridge with information centre etc. However if, like us you visited it from the South, it means you need to pass through the tolls twice to get back the way you came , toll is 7.40 Euros each time. (However you can avoid this if you are prepared to drive over a few kerbs which separate the North and Southbound roads in the viewing area!)
Not long after we crossed the bridge Southbound we were passed by a fleet of motorcyclists who were obviously trying to make the most of the twisties down that part of the route. It looked so much fun, I bet the adrenalin was pumping through them faster than their bikes were going!
Channel Tunnel back home
We were fortunate to follow a Porsche GT3 and an Aston Martin onto the Tunnel Train and this made my son?s day, especially when I asked the drivers if he could have his picture taken behind each wheel which they duly obliged. Isn?t it great when simple gestures like that can make a wee boy?s day, and holiday! Turns out every two years these guys, with 9 of their mates take off for a week in their exotic cars across Europe ? this week they met up at the Maranello factory before spending 6 days driving various roads including ones that Top Gear had used. Sounds like heaven!
Satnav
As I got my TomTom710 last summer I deliberated over whether to buy updated maps for it but decided against it. As it turns out this was the correct decision as the TT worked perfectly the whole trip, not once having to refer to the map or written route instructions.
France
Re France itself, we have always liked France as it was relatively cheaper, especially diesel but you could also eat out quite cheaply and the hypermarkets always had bargains. This year, partly due to the Euro rate, we found it extremely dear. Diesel varied from 1.4 to 1.6 Euros per litre so not really a huge saving on GB, if any at all. Cite Europe had ran out of diesel when we first arrived though!
The hypermarkets now are very similar to what we have back home with Tesco Extras etc, there is no more element of ?what will I find this time? whilst browsing. Other than booze, prices were dearer than back home especially meats.
French cars and driving
I was expecting to see a lot of French cars that maybe don?t sell as well over here eg. Peugeot 1007, Citroen C6 etc but I did not see a single C6 which surprised me. I did see one of the new Renault SUVs which looked quite appealing.
The French motorway driving seems to have changed slightly as well. On previous trips, when any car was in the outside lane, it would have its indicator on. Nowadays it seems to be that they only put the indicator on once they want to overtake the car in front of them that is also in the outside lane! And they try to enforce this by going closer to them but also moving further over in the lane. Can be intimidating until you get used to it. But the really annoying thing is they also use their indicators if they are in the middle lane overtaking a vehicle on the inside lane. So if you are in outsie lane and vehicle in middle lane is indicating left, you do not know if they are going to pull out in front of you or whether they are just overtaking the vehicle in inside lane! Very disconcerting!
Overall we did 2700 miles and I averaged 41.5mpg in my Seat Altea XL 2.0TDi which wasn?t too bad considering a/c on , heavily laden and most done at cruise control speed of 77 or 80mph. Prior to going I set my ipod on shuffle and kept it on that for the whole journey and it still hadn?t got back to the beginning yet!
And before going, after taking advice on here, I heavily polished the front of the car. When we finally reached the Med the front was absolutely thick with insects but a bucket of water and a cloth soon had them removed in no time!
So overall, enjoyed the holiday (eventually), didn't enjoy the driving as much as I usually do and it certainly was a lot more expensive that usual. Think next year it will be Flights to the Sun :(
Read more
Damn decent of you AS, I wil be in touch
Browse
Managed to get Radio out last evening and found one loom to it with 3 plugs in the back, bottom black one turn out to be power so had to put in code, middle one is white that supplied speakers, top one black is the one now disconnected. (it was a pleasure to hear a whole conversation this morning) Thanks to you all for the help.