September 2008
My skoda has an irritating and intermittent problem.
It appears shortly after start up, or after long drives on open road(well if the A14 can be called that)
It is at it's most intense when I am stationary and is not affected by my being in first or neutral.
The revs will idle erratically-sometimes shooting up past 10 on rev counter, and sticking, or jerking back and forwards, up to this level, and falling back rapidly. It sometimes makes the whole car vibrate and it feels as if the car might stall.It has not so far.
Dealer I bought it from used diagnostic equipment on it and this identified that air mixture setting had been wrong but was fine now-He had car for two days and it did not do it.
I have now had car six months and it is still happening and getting worse.
HELP!
Thanks for any help Read more
For some reason this past few weeks have been one car disaster after another. Not content with the sunroof leaking and ditching water over me said car decides to break down last Friday afternoon. It coughed, then died completely until cooled down so it went off to the garage on a tow truck. Greenflag couldn't work out what was wrong with it as it decided to start when they thought it shouldn't and not start when they thought it should. Now it is refusing to start at all and has no spark whatsoever so it is in a real sulk.
This may not seem much of a bother but my other car had decided to have the indicators break the week before and the wrong relay was sent to me to fix it so that is still out of action. The dashboard is in bits as we were looking for a brown relay not the actual black relay that is the indicator thing.
I have a loan car from the garage I took my car into and that has just broken! Only a power steering failure but puntos seem to be surprisingly difficult to move around when this has happened. My OH's car has just had a failed wheel bearing and upper suspension something or other so feel like I must be cursed! The central heating boiler also broke a few weeks ago so I am beginning to become paranoid about going anywhere near anything which contains moving or electronic parts!
Anyone else had weeks like this?!
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Judging from the rattling, it sounds as though a baffle has come loose in the exhaust back-box on the old Mondy. The 8-year old original was replaced 2yrs9mths ago. The rattling can only really be noticed when the car is idling at a standstill and can't be distinguished once moving. I'm not sure if this would be an MoT issue, but it still has another 9months to go on the current one.
Could you chaps tell me, please, if I ignore the rattling, would a loose baffle (or whatever it is in there) adversely affect the engine?
Many thanks Waino Read more
Can someone offer some advice on this subject?
Last year we had the cylinder head gasket replaced on our MGf 160 Trophy by the main dealer after just 26000 miles. Last week a hose was blown to bits and our local garage tells me this was due to the cylinder head. I contacted the main dealer who said they checked the head itself when the gasket was replaced but now there's probably serious indentations and the cylinder head will probably have to be replaced. They are currently chcking the head and I'm waiting for them to get back to me.
Can the head deteriorate so much in a year (and just 6000 miles) after supposedly having been checked?
Would indentations not have been evident last year?
It cost me £738 last year and a new head will undoubtedly be a lot more.
Any advice out there?
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Glen - I doubt many people here will have owned an F as the general consensus is that they aren't reliable, I was told that I was going to have dire problems with mine (turned out to be the most fun car that I ever owned). You may get a lot more accurate answers at the MG forum that I linked to earlier, every other owner on there has had their CH or CHG done at some point! Depending on where you live some of them may even be able to do it for you for a fair price!
At the start of the this month i took delivery of a new a3 sportback. Having covered a 1000 miles since, today whilst driving along I heard a loud metallic sound from the car (It almost sounded like something was hanging down from the car and scraping along the floor). Having checked nothing is, the car went to the local audi dealer who could find no fault. This noise lasted for about 300 metres and then dissapeared. Any ideas what it could have been?. One suggestion i've had was that a stone had got between the pads / discs or the plate that was meant to be stopping this from happening was touching the discs.
Any ideas, and has anyone else had this trouble?. Read more
I once had a small branch caught crossways between the mid exhaust, just touching the wheel on the inside. I thought the bottom of the car was going to fall apart!-down on muddy hands and knees and a hard manual jerk was required-but all was well
This was on an A3--but it could have happened on any car. ...
Whilst finally getting round to watching the BTCC from Sunday I was saddened to hear that SEAT have decided to pull out of the Touring Cars and also the Seat Cupra Competition which was one of the support races on BTCC days.
Don't know what the politics or reasons behind this are but I personally feel that the SEAT brand has grown dramatically in the last 4 or 5 years, while the BTCC link is a coincidence or not I don't know? They have also invested a lot of money in putting their TDI racers on the track and even winning races.
Many moons ago, when Volvo first brough their T5 Estates to the BTCC, I felt that this gave them a whole new image etc and the same has happened with SEAT IMHO.
Curious as to reasons for withdrawal, wonder if they had decided the TDI was too expensive or maybe not competitive enough, but could not go back to petrol for marketing reasons?
This from SEAT website
www.seatsportuk.co.uk/BTCC/2008_btccnews.asp?ID=21...5
Is there any manufacturer coming in to replace them? Field is getting narrower and narrower and is really only going to have BMWs, Vauxhall and Honda with I think only Vauxhall being a manufacturers team.
I only hope this does't mean BTCC is in decline, went to my first meeting this year at Knockhill and son and I had a fantastic day out!
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*Sorry for off topic post*
I think if SEAT had carried on down the road of the original Leon they would be doing better. By cobbling together some really good bits from the VAG parts bin, screwing them together reasonably well and wrapping it up in a distinctive body they were onto a winner.
The original Leon Cupra's/20VTs in particular were an excellent package following the simple formula of offering more performance, more standard kit and better handling than their posher VAG stablemates for less money (acknowledging their lack of prestige) and they sold well. I still miss mine.
Then it all seemed to go a bit wrong with slightly awkwardly styled, identikit offerings (new Leon, Altea, Toledo) with too plasticky interiors. Now the new Ibiza has been saddled with an old, weak engine range.
I wonder if VAG are in fact driving SEAT onto the rocks, as in the meantime Skoda have continued to get better and offer great cars.
Or a similar tracked military vehicle? Any hints or tips, dos and donts?
My other half got me one of those 'driving experience' vouchers as a little surprise present for my birthday a while back, and I've got it booked for this Sunday.
I'll obviously get tuition on the day but I'm looking forward to it, its on my mind, so I wondered if anyone had any experiences to pass on?
Cheers,
Rich. Read more
Enjoy yourself.
Hopefully they have by now or their voucher may have expired! LOL
Wayne Rooney filled up his Range Rover with unleaded petrol on Monday night.
tinyurl.com/4bevhs
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I think he's lent it to Michael Carrick. he was behind me today in a black CL63 AMG!
Is there any benefit to using a low pressure washer with a car cleaning fluid for cleaning cars? I wanted to use one on the bodywork as well as underneath the car to get some wax on the areas that don?t normally see any. I have a feeling though that the fluids designed for washers are not brilliant. I don?t mind using a general purpose one under the car using the pressure washer and a better product on the bodywork, applied by hand. It?s a new car that hasn?t been washed yet so I want to use good practices from the start. Should I get a coat of wax on as soon as possible?
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A SWANSEA man claims he has been left with a £2,000-plus bill after his car was filled with contaminated fuel at a Tesco filling station.
Peter York says he is furious after filling his Ford Focus with diesel at the Tesco petrol station at Fforestfach on August 17.
Full story:
tinyurl.com/4auzfs
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Plus he's a teacher, so he's bound to be right.
Teabelly. I had an apprentice with a kiss of death like yours.
You're not from Luton are you?