March 2009
2 collapsed front springs, (both broken in the middle!), on this diesel Vectra at 90,000 miles of careful, all on road, driving. No warning. But broken on taking the car in the morning. Heard 2 clicks (thought it was the usual hand brake problem), then immediate thudding in the wheel arch. Parked. Had to get a special (RAC) flat bed to get it into a Vauxhall dealer who claimed they had never seen its like before.
My questions are is this just my bad luck of getting, say, 2 innadaquate, badly forged springs, or is this a more general weakness (in which case it is a safety issue)?
Or is simply bad design when they significantly increased the size and weight of the Vectra?
Comments please. Read more
Recently followed a Freelander along a main road near central Birmingham. It was towing a small device mounted on something about the size of 2 pram wheels about 15" apart slung beneath the tow bar was a white box about the size of a biscuit tin this had a clearance of about 20mm from the road surface. Any idea what it was? Read more
county council measuring road surface defects?
I've seen similar devices being towed behind Transit vans.
Perhaps theyre looking for cars and families lost in huge pot holes!
Very soon I'll need to get a pair of new tyres fitted to alloy rims. Until now I have only ever had steel rims (since 1973!). The current balance weights are stuck on the rear part of the wheel, so presumably the rims need to be cleaned first. Is it normal for a tyre fitting place to clean and degrease appropriately to fit such weights? I am not a great wheel cleaner.
I have seen the hammer-on type weights fitted to alloy rims and definitely do not want that.
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I recently got some new tyres on the CRV and the company that fitted them (an indie) did not balance the wheels properly and I had extreme steering wheel shake. Went to another Indie and the shake was better but there was still some (driving on the motorway one of the weights came off!!! it went with a loud bang as it wacked the underside of the car). I then went to a major chain who told me the reason the wheel was shaking was that the wheel was slightly buckled and was not able to be balanced so I got them to replace the damaged wheel with the spare.
I took the buckled wheel to a company who specialises with Alloy wheel refurbish and re-rolling to be told there was nothing wrong with the wheel (he showed me on his machine) and he balanced this wheel and all the other wheels and the car is now perfect. He showed me each wheel reading zero on his machine before fitting them to the car (the best £20 I could have spent). He said he corrects badly balanced wheels all the time as most tyre garages employ people who are not trained properly in the art of balancing! So from now on I will buy the tyres online and get the refurbish company to fit them.
I wonder how many other wheels are being driven around without being correctly balanced
My Dads 1.4 zetec is misifing badly, but only really when the clutch pedal is even lightly touched. The misfire appears to be all cylinders cutting.
Here's the wierd thing though. I thought it may be related to the clutch sensor, so I removed it and the fault is still related to touching the clutch pedal. I tried both removing the connector and and trying both open circuit and shorted terminals, and with the sensor removed from the pedal but connected. Still the same.
Is there another sensor?
I'm wondering if this is something mechanically serious like mild pressure on the clutch causing the CPS to go out of line or something (surely not!?)
Any ideas please? Read more
Thanks for that elekie&a/c doctor, I'll have to get my local garage to put a scope on it.
Strangely though, the engine cuts until revs die to about 1500, then cuts in again up to about 2300, then down to 1500 and so on.
Idle is fine.
I would have thought that there would be some missing at any engine speeds if it was tne Crank sensor air gap?
Do you know if there is another sensor, other than the clutch pedal?
I have a 1998 1.25 Zetec Fiesta. Low mileage, and in very good nick for it's age. It passed the MOT yesterday with no problems, other than an "advisory" on both rear sill /subframes mounts.
My mechanic advised that they are partially corroded (well it's an 11 year old car!) and whilst not an immediate problem, he said "Don't be surprised if you get told to weld them at the next MOT"
I'm thinking I'll get them done now, but my question is... How much should I reasonably be expecting to pay for this work?... I have no experience of how much this type of thing costs.
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Its a common failure point. If you intend keeping the car I'd suggest getting it done sooner rather than later. About £50 a side should do it.
Whats the best way to find out what my car is worth? I have always thought that price guidebooks in news agents are inaccurate. I have always kept my cars for ages then given them away. I always service my own cars. My neighbour works at a vauxhall dealer so software downloads etc are all carried out without any record. I didn`t keep a record of servicing because i did not expect to sell. I expect to buy a car from my brother at a price I can not refuse. This is my only reason for selling. I am not in a hurry to sell but I shall be saving so much on my next purchase that I don`t need to be greedy. Car is a Vauxhall Astra 1.6 8v Club with air con and just under 58.000 miles. Thanks. Read more
Oops. 02 plate residing in sunny Clacton-on-sea.
hello all,
In the next few months ill be looking at swapping my current car (1.3 fiesta 1998) to something a bit bigger. i have been looking at the G model Astras, specifically the 1.6 16v sxi and the 1.8 16V ( i believe thats the SRI spec astra). Is there much difference between the two? Is a Focus worth looking at?
thanks for any help
Adam Read more
Well I can only comment on one Focus which I had as a company car. This was a facelift mk1 TDDi in LX trim on an 02 plate. 100,000 miles in three years. No breakdowns, one minor fault. Still drove pretty much like new as well.
Utterly rubbish seats, and 90PS was only just enough, otherwise I loved it.
Hi all,
Have an intermittent fault with my Corsa. Its still under warranty, but want to see if anyone knows what this issue might be before I take it to the dealer.
Every so often, the car (when stationary only), is shaking/juddering making it feel like I'm suddenly on a bus. The moment I rev the car, or start moving, the judder stops. I was stuck in traffic as soon as I left the house this morning, and it was doing it. The only thing I could think was that it might be overheating (no temp gauge on new model!) so I cracked the fans on full. Not sure if this made a difference or not, as I didn't then stop for another 15 mins of driving, but when i parked up the vibrating had ceased.
Please note: Pressing the clutch down, pressing or releasing the brakes all make no difference. It still judders unless moving or revving.
Any help/advice would be appreciated. Unless I take it into the dealership with a clear idea of the fault, I'm worried they'll just do the 'can't find anything wrong sir' like they did with the power issue I had when we first got the car that just required a software upgrade to solve (but took 3 visits for them to figure out). Read more
Sorry mate, can you explain what you mean as that means nothing to a car-phobe like me :-)
Hi, I would be grateful if people could provide me with some advice. My girlfriend took her old Toyota Starlet to a local independent garage that she has used for several years after she had a problem with it and the mechanic said that it needed a new head gasket. The garage had the car for around 6 weeks and when it was returned to her although the gasket had been replaced the work was not done satisfactorily as the car was drinking oil and blowing massive amounts of smoke which it hadn't done previously. She took the car back in and after a week asked for a courtesy car to keep her on the road and was given a somewhat battered old punto. It has now been two weeks and the garage have not contacted her about when the car will be ready. My girlfriend hasn't parted with any money but is now getting exasperated to say the least. She hasn't kicked up much of a fuss as she has always taken her cars there without a problem. Anyway she has had enough and has asked me to seek advice on how to approach the issue.
My feeling is that once the car has been fixed and she is happy that everything is fine she should only pay a certain percentage of the bill given that she has lost around two months worth of tax and insurance and not to mention the hassle of being without the car. She thinks that she may have to pay all of the bill and feels that she is in an awkward position given her long standing relationship with the garage. I am not sure of what her rights (if any) are in this situation hence me seeking advice from more knowledgeable people than I.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
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Yes, we will go down and talk to them; I just wanted an idea of where we stood beforehand. Having being down there before when collecting the courtesy car it appears that the garage has taken on too much work creating a backlog. Then again, waiting almost two months for a car to be repaired with very little in the way of communication is a bit much.
Does anyone know whether it is posible to correct bent alloy wheels?
All 4 of my alloys have bent such that there is an increasing vibration as speed increases. The face of the alloys are in very good condition and i wondered if a specialist can correct them rather than me buy 4 new ones. Has anyone done this? or can recommend a specialist around London/Herts/Bucks area?
Thanks Read more
hi yes the wheels can be repaired. we repair wheels to a tolerance of .2 deviation. wheels are trued using a hydraulic machine with a dial indicator.But sorry we are based in doncasterbcalled wheeldoctor
Browse
As I've mentioned before, I don't think it's a design issue at all.
Vauxhall, Ford, Mercedes, and BMW, to mention a few, were capable of designing and fitting springs which would last the life of the car - I don't think they've all suddenly forgotten how to do it.
What I do suspect is a more plausible explanation is that EU rules have stopped the use of heavy metal protective plating, particularly Cadmium plating, and the fatigue cracks which grow to fracture are now well assisted in their growth by corrosion and corrosion products.