January 2009
Hi folks, good post by wavyD, I am interested in one of the above esp with the 7 seat estate, the subject line is one of the quotes from the W124 link, does the W210 suffer the same problems? Looking at a 2000 V plate E240 (2.6 Engine) estate 7 seat, with
full MB history and 101K very well kept but dealer is looking for £3995 which is a grand too steep. Looking to replace a very trustworthy but now 13 yr old 2.0 Galaxy, which has been a great motor with little problems. what is the best motor ideally with 7 seats for occasional use not too complex and long living. Also good deals on nearly new Grand scenics which seem to avoid the turbo fun of the diesels, anyone any better ideas? Read more
First that I had of this "new law"
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7809206.stm
A new law brought in last year means drivers in England could be fined £70 for obstructing a driveway, and the penalty in London is £120.
Read more
I see people driving into disabled parking bays and skipping off in the supermarket
car-park near my house. He wasn't disabled he didn't even have a badge or anyone with him.
I think you'll find he was disabled.
Mentally disabled.
Being a self employed taxi driver here in rural Ireland I decided come this xmass I was was not working over the xmass period.
Decision was based on past experiences (not exclusive to xmass tho) of verbal abuse, physical abuse, and damage to my vehicle.
I have had my window smashed , being assaulted , etc...list goes on.
Have lived on my savings over the xmass period.....probably will give it up altogether.
I can imagine what it must be like in some of the big English capital cities.....
Am sick of being abused by the drunks etc....
Thoughts please. Read more
"My own brief career as a taxi driver was spent in High Wycombe, then a fairly civilised town but on the edge of the Moneybelt to the south. "
I am a resident of High Wycombe, many of the cabbies now are wannabie racing drivers who think their Pug 406 is a Mclaren!
Many drivers I've come across from our local private hire firm are pleasent & talkative & usually tip them at the end of the journey. :-)
Happy New Year everyone!
Last month I bought a 2001 Renault Scenic RX4 Privilege 1.9dci from an expat in Spain. The car had around 120K miles on the clock and was advertised as having a brand new clutch and gearbox. The seller said he was moving back to the UK and this was the only reason for the sale. It tuns out I was deceived big time... read on...
Within the first 800 miles and only 3 days after I bought the car, it broke down. The clutch was not functional. I was given some receipts for work done at a Renault shop in Spain - from there I found the contact details of the lady, who owned the car from 2005-2008. She was a UK musician, who had moved to live in Spain in 2005. In an e-mail she wrote:
"Feb 2008 the car lost power while we were driving it, when we stopped, we checked it and couldnt see anything wrong, so we started it again, the pedal sucked itself to the floor and hit full revs for at least 15 minutes, we tried to turn it off and even unplugged the battery but it continued, there was a lot of smoke and we thought it was going to blow up, the fire brigade were callled!
Thankfully it stopped on its own, probably because it burnt out of oil ect..
The garage it went to said the turbo had gone it would cost at least 3000euro to replace and then they could tell us what other damage had occured because of it doing what it did!
We cut our loses at that point because if we had been going along the road when it had happen'd it would have killed us as there was no way of stopping it! we did not want to have anything to do with it after that.
We advertised it in a local english mag and nick came with the paper work and a grua and paid 1000 euros for it, for a mechanic to fix it, it may have been worth it but if they have said nothing about the turbo to you then you need to get it checked!"
Does anyone know what may have caused the car to do what it did?? Read more
Thanks for your advice. I reckon someone has tinkered with the engine as it was running fine. I just got the estimate from the Renault garage, who insist that the following needs to be done on the car:
1. Install New Clutch, receiver and clutch hydraulic cylinder.
2. Change an engine mount
3. Install a New Catalytic Converter!!!
Could the cat converter be clogged up with oil as a result of the turbo failure?
I have owned the car virtually from new and it is now coming up to 120K miles.
Car has developed a continuing problem with both brake warning lights coming on (ABS and Brake system). Codes indicate a brake stop light switch problem. This has been replaced 3 times (twice by VW dealers) in the last 18 months. But problem still persists. Lights normally come on as I'm slowing to a stop (as against just stopped with footbrake on). If I turn ignition off and restart car the lights then go off. Incidence of lights coming on has been random and they can come on fairly soon after setting off or more usually after some time. However, I have noticed that they have been coming on almost immediately (still during braking) over the last week. The last brake light switch was replaced a 4 weeks ago.
I also had a temperature sender replaced recently as diagnostics apparently indicated a sensor problem (in spite of me not seeing any problem).
I have also started having a problem with the oil level sensor. This is normally on start up and I get the yellow flashing oil can and a warning of an "oil sensor problem workshop". I've checked my oil level and all is ok. The warnings go off within a minute of start up.
Some weeks ago, I also had a problem with my alarm constantly going off. This stopped after a couple of days with just the odd incident. I did notice that during this period, the headlights did not flash when locking the car. This problem has now stopped. But I wonder whether all of these problems could be related in some way and may indicate an electrical problem.
Any suggestions would be gratefully received. Read more
Yes the last part was genuine and fitted by a VW garage. The bonnet switch/sensor does sound a distinct possibility.
I Have a 2001 307 2Ltr HDI, My wife drove it to the supermarket and when she returned it failed to start. She called the RAC who manged to start the car using easy start. They suggested we have put on a diagnostics machine to find the problem. My wife then drove the car to the peugeot dealer around the corner and had it put on thier machine. They diagnosed the problem as the high pressure fuel pump being deffective and needs replacing (at great cost). They reluctlently gave us a copy of the dianostics report which had the following fault codes P0336, P0272, P0181, P0263, P0266 & P1199. I then drove the car the 10 or so miles home with out any problems, which makes me think it not the fuel pump as surely it wouldn't run? The following day and ever since the car has failed to start. I've tried changing the fuel filter (as suggested by others) but still no joy. It has also been suggested it could be a fly wheel sensor of even air in the fuel lines?
Would be grateful of any help of advise of anyone who has had simular problems.
Thanks Read more
Try changing the fuel filter if you have isues with the engine stoping while accelerating. I recomend that you use some fuel aditive. I recomend Duralube since it did the trick with my car related to stuck open injectors or rough ideling.
You could have a fuel pump with stuck parts wich prevent acumulation of fuel pressure.
Hi and a happy new year to you all
The car will not start and when the ignition is turned it tries to fire up briefly and then just turns over. I expect from waht I've already read on the forum that it's one of the following
1. Fuel pump - how do I know if it's Siemens or Bosch thats fitted? and where are they located
2. Glow plugs - although Ive not been experiencing any starter difficulties preceding this problem
3. Glow plug relay
Are my assumptions correct?
Any other suggestions?
Thanks
Kev Read more
Thanks for all the comments...
AA man's just been and the diagnosis is the lift pump in the tank.....Peugeot £151
hello
i have a peugeot 2.0 hdi and im having trouble with the head gasket and radiator at the moment.
2 weeks ago my light on th edashboard came on telling me i needed to fill the coolant up which i did as i found it was empty and then 3 days ago the light came on again to which i filled it up again which i thought was strange.
so i took it into a local garage which i trust for him to look at my radiator and he said its not just the radiator but the head gasket which he showed me fluid was pouring out of the middle part of the engine rather than the front of the car where you would expect a radiator leak.
i know he isnt ripping me off as he said he couldnt do it because this engine is needed to be done by a specialist and he couldnt recommend anyone because he didnt want to be responsable for someone doing a bad job or ripping me off which i thought was good of him to be honest like that.
so yesterday and today ive been getting quotes from various garages which have been from £550 to £700 including a new radiator..does this seem right as im not really into cars in this way ????
my 406 is on a W reg and im not sure what its actually worth and i was thinking of part- ex ing it as i was offered £895 for it from a dealership last night.
i would really love your thoughts on this plaease as im unsure if i should pay so much for a W reg which has only done 68,000 miles or should i pay to have it fixed?
also if you do recommend to get it fixed can you recommend a garage in the tameside/manchester area which will do the job so i dont get ripped off.
thanks in advance
Andy Read more
It's "fizzing up" because the coolant is hot (think pressure cooker), you must be careful when you do this as it can spray out and scald you, it is better to do it cold. The good news is it's building up pressure, looks like the rad weld is doing it's stuff. I'm not sure how long the rad weld will hold though, although this is usually when the h/g is leaking between oil ways, the coolant and/or the cylinders so maybe quite a while.
If there was too much coolant it should just blow it out until the level's somewhere near the mark (if the coolant leak was into the cylinders it would blow the whole lot out, but you say the leak is at the back of the block so this isn't happening.)
If the leak is from the engine why would you want to change the radiator?
You'll probably also need to bleed the coolant because the header tank is lower than some parts of a system. Here's a link just for you tinyurl.com/bd9rrt (saves me a lot of typing)
I am removing my cat and fitting a stainless steel decat pipe I bought on EBAY. I also believe my EGR valve is playing up. On EBAY you can buy a modified EGR pipe that blanks off part of the valve. I am not sure if my November 2006 2.2TDCi has a stage 3 or 4 engine though. I think it makes a difference with the valve.
Diesels in the UK do not need the cat as the MOT only tests for smoke, not CO2. My decat goes on next Tuesday, so I will report back on any improvement in perfoirmance and/or economy.
My question is whether I can fit the modified EGR valve?
Cheers Read more
The EGR bypass is designed for Euro3 engines as Euro 4 are a different design.
You may be able to fit the bypass to Euro4 but will probably get the engine warning light which isn't a big problem except it will disguise any future problems that the warning light would show up.
Beware some of the cheaper de-cats which are poor quality and not the correct diameter. Do you go on STDrivers.co.uk? You will see whole threads dedicated to the EGR by-pass and proper de-cats.
Hi all,
I bought my car last year, Ford focus 1.8 zetec V plate and everything was well until one day i lost all power, all lights went off, engine stopped so i called AA out and they said alternator had gone. I took it to a garage and got a new one in and everything seemed well, seemed been the right word. I got it home and it run ok like before, the next morning it started up first time as per but 1/2 mile down road i pulled up at a junction and stopped in traffic and the rev needle went straight upto 4k 5k 6k revs to point i had to turn engine off, it did this all the time so i took it back to garage and they had it for day and it come bk on except the inside light when door opens was flickering and all the dash lights flicker barring when i got foot on accelorator, if i put window heaters on it dips the lights n dash, i was told it was a faulty alternator but i took it back n they said its fine but it just pasted mot and now when i press break pedal my front side lights come on, i know thats earth problem but when start now? how do i find out if i got right alternator in the car. Sometimes the battery light comes on and off wwhile driving and a couple of times it stall but starts straight away but then the speedo doesnt wok but rev counter n everything else do then after a few miles the speedo just starts working again. Sorry for long story but this is doing my head in and any advise is gratefully received.
Thank you Read more
pictor - sounds like your vehicle speed sensor (vss) might need replacing.
See this thread further down for more info :
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=4&t=79...7
Browse
It is very kind to offer a suggestion like that, GB. I am genuinely touched. (But then Backroomers had probably already worked out that I was touched....).
By "Cowboy City" I mean London. I moved up here 20 years ago from God's Own County (a.k.a Hampshire), where decency prevails. Every time I get anything done in London to the house or the car, it always seems to be done by cowboys, even when I pay top dollar. This city is full of chancers or Spivs. None of them, I hasten to add, are in fact native Londoners, who all seem to have moved to nicer parts of the country.
Yes, I run a beemer. I wanted the Coupe, but SWMBO insisted we get the Touring, and she loves it, though I harbour a lingering resentment. However, it has been reliable, so I have not had to face the eye-watering repair bills that I hear horror stories about.
At the moment I have an extended dealers warranty, which is not as dear as I thought that it would be. I can keep up this warranty until the car gets to 100k miles. BMW's are well built and can last for double that mileage easily, but without a good indy, or a warranty, then I am decidedly twitchy. So the car will have to go. If SWMBO still overrules me getting a nice used 3er Coupe, and I have to get another estate, then I'll go for something with 4-wheel drive or front-wheel drive, like an A4 Avant.