August 2008
Item in the news about the police car with sirens and lights that hit a pedestrian with fatal results, the driver allegedly bringing a takeaway back to the station or somewhere.
Of course I would never dream of predicting the outcome of the enquiry.
But I was involved with a near miss with a T5 going flat out, that later stopped at a tesco metro for some sarnies. The result of my complaint - exoneration - was very flimsy indeed to say the least.
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There seems to be a tiny leak right in the middle of the back axle of our family car, a Mazda Tribute 2003, 40,000 mls (is this part called the diff? -not sure of the precise terms), only 2 or 3 drops (in fact bucket only collected one drop in about 5 hours( but small patch on drive (caused by probably no more than 5 drops), my questions are:
1) Is it likely to be serious? (does it need urgent attention?)
2) How much would that sort of thing cost to repair? (if there is a leak no matter how big)
Any help or suggestions much appreciated. Read more
Thanks. Glad to hear it may not be that expensive after all, will get it checked next week, can it wait another 10 days? (I only do 60 mls a week at the minute).
What else could it be?
If you do not know already, can you feel if a car is FWD or RWD by normal driving on public road?
If yes, how do you do that?
I admit, I can't.
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It's great this forum - my mind has been occupied by NC, RF AE and Lud's debate on oversteer for the past ten minutes, thank you. I can't think of anywhere else (certainly not on the t'interweb) that you'd get a reasoned and reasonable debate on such a thing.
FWIW, I'm like most of us on here who will know FWD or RWD because I'm so nerdy about cars. (Did I just call everyone on here nerdy? Sorry, that's just me then)
But as much as I liked our MINI Cooper it's not as much fun to drive as the MX5-came back down some country roads today which were wet and there had been a lorry or something leaking diesel all the way home, making for a slidey surface. Had to think about how I was driving and enjoyed the slippyness in a way I (maybe lacking the skill) couldn't have done in a FWD car.
btw, our RWD goes to LIDL!
Forgive the length of my post
Two years ago my wife decided she wanted to buy a new car, something she?d never done before. She wanted a convertible and settled on the Ford StreetKa. We went and negotiated a good deal and she paid outright for it. Subsequently every encounter with the dealership, including the collection, has been marred by an incident of some sort, Friday was no exception.
Two weeks ago I phoned and booked her car in for a service. The guy I spoke to booked a ?value? service and engine flush, I explained the engine flush should be optional and I didn?t want it. He apologised and agreed. Now how many people wouldn?t know it?s optional and just go with it??? Anyway????..
Friday we drop the car off and get told ?that it?ll be £215 when we collect? .
EXCUSE ME !!!!!!
Their justification was that the ?value? service is only meant for cars over 3 years old and that by having that on our car it will invalidate the remainder of the warranty. It was at this point my wife realised what was coming and went quiet as I expressed my dissatisfaction in plain English. Only the full service would keep the warranty valid. We agreed to it as we want to sell it later this year and would like to say there is still the balance of the warranty. If I was a betting man I?d wager the service was done by the same technician, in the same bay and using the same parts and that Ford are making an extra £116 because people don?t want to lose their ?peace of mind?. How a main dealer can do a service and it invalidate the warranty is quite frankly ridiculous.
I am thinking of writing to their customer service department to demand an explanation:
a) Is it worth it?
b) Is there anything know that may bolster my argument?
Unfortunately this dealer has tainted the ownership of a car that she really enjoys.
To give them some credit they did take £30 off the bill but I'm still not happy.
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I'm still reeling from the cost - I've been ferreting in my archives (AKA untidy pile of car papers) and found that was near enough the cost of a Inspection 1 service on my 5 series.......
help, my car wont turn over, engine light is on, doesnt click or anything.
ive read a few similar problems on here and the earthing was suggested. ive checked and cleaned it. used the cable off a jump lead to attach the gearbox to body, that made no difference.
now if i put the ignition lights on then earth the starter motor under the bonnet it starts. and it will start from a push. just not from the key.
i have found no other things to try, please help, my legs are starting to knack, walking everywhere.
cheers Read more
Ignition switches are a common problem. If you have a test-lamp etc. then you can check that one terminal comes live when turned to start.
Hi all,
I'm getting a horrendous crunching sound from my 1997 vectra arctic. It mostly happens when using the clutch in low gears (junctions etc) and it has happened when stationary (happened loads stationary in a traffic jam yesterday when i was resting my feet). It has also happened when driving in 3rd gear a few times.
The sound only lasts a second or so and its getting more frequent. Tends to be worse on hot days, and it normally takes at least 10-15 mins worth of driving for the problem to start.
Vauxhall dealership want £300 just to look at gearbox and a possible further £850 for clutch/gearbox replacements. Given the age of the car, I'm a bit cautious about paying this without finding out more about the problem.
It had a recent MOT and they couldn't find anything when checking the clutch bearings. From looking at similar forums there is some discussion of clutch drag, replacing gearbox oil, syncos and linkage, clutch plate spring and thrust bearings related to similar problems. Has anyone had any experiences/ know what it is likely to be? And more importantly how much was it to rectify?
Appreciate your help
David
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From looking at similar forums there is some discussion of clutch drag replacing gearbox oil
syncos and linkage clutch plate spring and thrust bearings related to similar problems. Has anyone
had any experiences/ know what it is likely to be? And more importantly how much
was it to rectify?
Does sound like the clutch from what you've said.
When stationary, try holding the clutch pedal for a couple of seconds then change gear. Does it grind or baulk then? If so, then it's clutch drag.
Replacement clutch on Vectras isn't cheap I believe -- I think this model was an engine-out job, so at least £500.
Hi all,
Had an unfortunate incident where I had scratched the bumper of my A6 against an A5 in the Audi showroom car park.
The showroom contacted their recommended repairers who mentioned a repair figure of
hold your breath
£1133 for the A5
and £1624 for the A6
Mine is a 3 year old car and Im not sure whether I should ask my insurers whether to go along with their recommended repairers ,or the Audi showrooms recommendation.
It doesnt make any difference to me in terms of the cost as it hits me anyway , but what I was concerned about is whether there would be any difference in the quality of repair, between the two repairers..
Picture attached thanks for your opinion.
I can attach the list of items that their repairer has suggested to be repaired, practically the whole of the L front side which sounds like a bit of an excess quote.
[IMG]i37.tinypic.com/2nc2c7b.jpg[/IMG]
Is this the reason why we all end up paying more insurance premiums as a knock on effect , ie the inflated repair bill figures?
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Have you tried a bit of T-cut?
Afternoon all,
Well, just spent my morning removing, cleaning and reassembling the rear drum brakes on my car as squeeling was becoming an issue.
However, when checking the tyres for damage - I have a very deep cut (about 1cm long) in the centre of the tread on one of them.
So deep I can see white...
...not good eh?
So it is now my task for this afternoon - yep, tyre shopping.
I was supposed to be and was so looking forward to going fishing too.
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Has anyone any experience on removing the petrol tank from one of these cars?
Looking underneath there appears to be one retaining bolt on the leading edge of the tank and any others hidden up under the rear suspension framework.
It could potentially be an 'easy' job but I'm wondering if there are any hidden 'surprises'?
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I've removed one of these in the past and you do need to remove the rear subframe. You will need to de-pressurise it and it can then be easily removed. IIRC you can drop the from part of the subframe down and the tank will come out. When you've re-assembled it ,As a quick fix you can rpressurise the rear suspension with air - It will ' float' like a good water bed but it will be enough to get the car to the nearest service station to have it properly fluid filled.
Browse
I've often by travelling to a job at speed, got cancelled and then decided to have my sarnies at the services.
There's a hundred and one reasons why. We're not robots!