November 2008
At a proper scrap metal merchant (not breaker) - was £100 (beginning of August) - now £20. Read more
I have done nearly 200 miles in my Fiesta now and used it a lot this week. It does however need some work which i think can't wait till the MOT in May, however this work will probably cost me around £200.
Good bits:-
Engine seems great, no smoke at all, even in this weather just checked with the engine warm and not even a puff out the back.
Dosn't appear to be burning any oil
Not loosing any anti freeze
Gearbox seems fine
Clutch seems ok although its hard tot ell as I am not the smoothest driver yet.
Dosn't overheat
Seems to get around 40mpg which is very close to Fords official figures.
No noise from the suspension strusts
Four good tyres
66k showing on the clock, the alst MOTs state the car has done 2000 miles a year so this is probably genuine.
Bad bits:-
Plugs slightly rusty though I think a bit of WD40/vinigar will sort this out.
Brakes a little noisy (pads)
Arch brake pipes will need doing.
I think from the sound the bushes on the rear roll bar will eventually need doing.
Drivers door does not open from outside
Sometimes makes a buzzing noise coming from a pump.
Had new sills in May.
Now since Fiestas are very easy to sell in this part of town and mine appears to be mechanicaly in good order I am thinking of spending £200 getting the bad bits fixed, but I still think in my head this is a 13 year old Ford.
The car is very easy to drive despite not having PAS. Once I get the above done I feel commited to keeping the car for a good year.
Thanks for any advice. If there was any more serious faults I would have thought I would have noticed by now?
Read more
And that is the general idea here. I am actually looking forward to having a car with the luxery of a drivers door now :D.
I want to point out that the brakes are currently perfect, very sharp etc but its best to get them fixed before become not perfect which will be very soon if the pads fail.
I've seen some of my mates bangers, and they just leave servicing till MOT time and there are so many safety faults with them it is scary.
With the current down turn in the economy (reading the Credit Crisis thread) is it possible to order a LHD car through a UK dealership at the prices we are seeing posted here and elsewhere on the web ?
They are significantly cheaper than those in some European markets and I'm wondering if this is a missed opportunity by the main dealers ?
OK, they probably won't see the cars again for aftermarket sales/servicing but it could still help hit sales targets ? Read more
There are some signs that in France the market is starting to follow the UK trends, ie larger cars and sports cars (especially petrol-driven) are dropping in price quite quickly as people downsize. Markets are slower to react here, and dealers are still 'holding-out', but that will change.......
Forecast for Saturday here in the East says 'heavy snow showers' - how many of us will be good citizens and do as we're told by putting a shovel, blanket, thermos of hot coffee etc in the car and making a journey "only if it's absolutely necessary"???
And what do little old ladies mean when they say it's "too cold for snow?" Does this also apply in Siberia where it is very cold and there's lots of snow? Read more
Durham reporting in.
Less than an inch. Pretty much all gone, though slowly in the dark corners.
Space walker looses toolbag
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7736996.stm
Read more
A car I was in as a passenger was hit by a dropped tool. It was one of those sort of handle things used for winding artic trailers up and down. Heavy thing. I saw it bouncing down the road towards us but the driver was unable to avoid it. The damage to the car was substantial but could have been much worse if it had decided to bounce towards the windscreen.
I can't help but extrapolate that damage which probably involved a closing speed of 50 or so mph with the effect of such an object hitting a space shuttle or similar at thousands of mph. I know you don't find too many HGVs in space but I'm sure you see what I mean.......
Houston.....we have a problem......
Edit - sorry Zookeeper, bit behind the game as usual am I not.......
Coming out of the council's tip (AKA recycling depot) I noticed some shiny new woodscrews ahead on the short spur off the main road. Hah! thought I, I'll stop and remove them. So, after a few people had overtaken (thereby driving through the puddle of screws on the road) I did. There were quite a number!
Quite an interesting road surface, there. There are bits of old pipe, wire, nails, screws and so forth, all pressed into the surface of the tarmac, so many indeed that it looks like an agglomerate of sharp bits of metal and tar.
I wonder how many punctures result from trips to tips? Read more
A very good point(groan), never considered that. I'll save my ventures to the tip for when I get a courtesy car ;-)
Has this been on telly yet? An old article but I've just stumbled across it.
snipurl.com/5wdyv [www_radicalsportscars_com]
0-60 in 3.5 seconds running on Bruichladdich malt whisky. But at £26 a litre its not a viable alternative.
Read more
What`s wrong with meths ;)
The ifithelps Focus is paying its annual visit to the Ford garage today.
Would any forum members like to guess what I'll be paying later on.
Car is a 2002 1.8 Tdci with 79k on the clock.
Booked in for sixth annual service, which I think is a major one, plus MoT.
Nothing wrong with it as far as I know.
So, what would be a reasonable bill?
I'll post the actual sum later today. Read more
And the winner is.....
Me, I reckon, because the bill was £274 - pretty good for a no holds barred main dealer service including brake fluid change and MoT.
Other than tyres, I've not spent anything on servicing since this time last year.
I do about 13k a year and if I can again get away with not visiting the garage until the next scheduled service, I'll be quite happy.
I posted in the techincal forum last week about a problem that I had with low oil pressure on my 05 Passat TDI.
In short, two weeks ago I was 50 or so miles from home when a STOP - Oil Pressure - Engine Off! - Owner's Manual red warning came up on the MFD. Having ignored a coolant warning on my Golf 6 years ago I stopped straight away, followed the instructions in the owner's manual, and ended up calling the RAC to recover me back to Manchester.
The patrolman didn't even bother to start the engine and winched the car onto his foldout trailer. The car was then given a follow on tow a few days later to my local VW garage.
They diagnosed two small leaks from pipes, and something called the 'rocker' (?), which they fixed. The warning light persisted, so they then decided to check the strainer in the sump, and quoted me a price, which I accepted. It was when it was stripped down that they discovered the spindle in the oil pump had sheared. I was told that as a good will gesture VW UK would pay the close to £700 bill for the part, and 30% towards the labour.
This was fixed on Monday of this week, but they discovered a 'rattle' like noise that wasn't previously present. It was explained to me that it could be consequential damage to the engine, and that if it was VW UK would pay for the part, and again 30% towards the labour. However, there was also a possibility that it could be the flywheel in the gearbox that had gone, in which case I would be liable for the full cost. Apparently the noise has the technicians split in opinion.
I had a call last night to say that they had decided to strip the gearbox down first, and found nothing, so they will be looking at the engine today. Some of the technicians now think that it might be a loose belt or something rather than engine damage. They say that the noise is obvious up to 2000rpm, and then dies off, which is why they suspected a gearbox fault before engine damage.
Now the bill for the work that I had authorised, that being the replacement of the leaking pipes, the rocker cover, a glow plug, and the checking of the strainer came to around £700. I asked last night whether I had been charged for their stripping of the gearbox. I was told not, but that the final cost would obviously depend on what the problem was. I asked if they thought that the noise indicated a major, potentially dangerous though, and the response was that they didn't know.
Being the cynical type, I'm expecting a large bill, so am seeking a bit of advice in these forums as to how to deal with any monstrous bill that may come my way. As far as I am aware I didn't authorise the stripping of the gearbox, nor the engine. I was told on Monday that the oil pressure warning problem had been fixed, but that they needed to investigate a noise which wasn't previously there, and that VW would pay for any consequential damage.
What I don't know at the moment is if I will be charged for the stripping of the gearbox, if the problem turns out to be with the engine.
The car is actually out of warranty by 16,000 miles. It's done 76,000 miles and was 3 years and 6 days old when the pump failed. I'm wondering why VW would be willing to stump up £700 for a pump as a 'good will' gesture, and also replace the engine, should it have been damaged. They've no need to, so I'm wondering if this is a known problem.
I'd just like advice on how to deal with any charges that they throw at me for investigating this noise, which isn't something that I asked them to do. They told me they needed to investigate for damage, which I assumed to be from their repair. Should I have said no at that point? Read more
" I'm not convinced it would be wise to keep it"
Bonkers, I'm afraid. You and VW have just spent a shed load of money to keep it on the road, and the parts fitted will have at least a 12 month gtee. Keep it for the next year, and then take a view.
The new style MOT has a box to say if an advise was issued.
If the advise sheet is "lost" is it possible to see online what the advise was ? Read more
DP,
Thanks.
Presumably, each model has its own target to beat, so a mean value pass for one car could be a fail for another and vice-versa,
My Focus managed a fast pass, by the way.
Browse
A couple of weeks ago, we were offered between £120 and £140 (scrap) for a P reg Corsa in Suffolk. We accepted the £130 as it was significantly closer to our abode.