April 2009
My dads shock absorbed snapped off yesterday through rust. He now has it booked in to have the rear pair replaced. He has been quoted £250 fitted, but what puzzled me was he was told that they were self-levelling - were these cars ever fitted with such suspension? I recall my grandad manually raising the ride height at the rear when he once carried a very heavy load, but self-levelling suspension didnt sound right on a 1993 Astra estate.
Any clues if it was ever fitted to this model? Read more
My hated T-reg Vectra made me £620. Chap turned up at a petrol station, handed me the cash (in front of two police officers who were parked next to me), signed the V5 and I disappeared into the distance. He didn't check the (brand new) MOT, he didn't check the service history, he didn't check the VIN corresponded to the car, he didn't EVEN check that the car started...
10 days later, he rang me up to complain I hadn't left him feedback (on account of my having been on holiday). Strange: far more concerned about the f/b than the car!
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Oh, I could generalise to Autotrader or the local rags too.
My only fear is it's difficult to protect yourself against the bad uns.
When I've sold cars privately in the past, no problem, but they were old heaps for a few hundred, not quite the same when you're talking X thousand...suddenly everyone is a potential con artist! :)
I finally got round to getting the summer tyres put on my old Merc. At the local tyre dealer they had the latest Kumho tyres on display. Believe it or not, they are perfumed.
So which scents did Kumho think would be appropriate for a tyre? Well, the display item claimed to be lavender but actually smelled more like pine scented bog cleaner.
I asked the guy there if it was a late April fool joke and he said no, you can buy them. At home, surfed the net, sure enough they are not only available, but available in 4 different scents, lavender, orange blossom, rosmary and jasmin. The only english language Kumho site I found is in Australia, so here's the link:
www.aromatyres.com.au/
Warning - the above site contains excessive marketing bs.
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Never been a tyre sniffer ......but worked in a city centre police station about 1966. There was a repair garage almost next door and they had a display of coloured tyres. I seem to recall white, red and orange,....not sidewalls but full tyres. Can't ever recall a seeing a car with 'em on tho'
Ted
This:
tinyurl.com/cm8kat
is an 18 minute video (from the TED Talks site) about Shai Agassi's view of electric cars. There are some unbelievably bold bold plans in there.
Anybody have a view as to how (completely un)realistic this is?
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hi all,
im about to buy a brand new polo 2008 1.4 80 h.p. and i saw the issue with the engine problem @ 1.4 engines. my question is about the 2008 polo - does the same problem occur with it and is it only with the petrol or with the diesel too? any critical bugs with the polo that i want to buy?
im in a hurry of buying it because its on a promotion now... so i will be glad to read your answer mates!
respect,
peter Read more
yes, and there I saw that 1.4 FSI engine is with deffect. But I want to know if this is same for the 2008 Polo 1.4 80p.s. that I want. I think this is for the previous Polo model...
Faced with a list of symptoms like this, what would you suspect (other than hoping that the price of scrap goes up?) Mileage is low and genuine at 68k with previous MoTs to support.
? Collected from auction 15.04.09
? Running unevenly, engine management light on, temp gauge erratic, down on power ? revs freely in neutral but not under load;
? Faulty coil pack diagnosed and replaced by garage 16.04.09, not firing on cylinder 2;
? Picked up 17.04.09 out of hours; ran smoothly on 4 cylinders but smoking heavily, worse than later when running on 3 cylinders
? Temperature gauge was reporting and apparently correctly; car heated up to approximately 70°C but then seemed to stabilise;
? On 18.04.09 coil pack checked, leads replaced, not firing on cylinder 1;
? EML initially went out, now flashing/illuminated constantly, smoking heavily, temperature gauge permanently on cold;
? Oil clean, no signs of mayonnaise, heater and air con working correctly at all temperatures
? Spoke to previous owner (not seller), valve leak on cylinder 1 apparently diagnosed but no oil residue on plug; advised that plugs were apparently changed shortly before car was traded in.
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Is the car losing oil or water?
Remove and check the spark plugs' condition yourself, trust no-one!!!
Make sure they're the right ones for the car, if in doubt go to a dealer and get proper Ford plugs.
While the plugs are out do a compression test (or a leak-down test) if you have or can get hold of the equipment.
Take it to a garage with proper diagnostic facilities (NOT just a code reader!). Make sure they can do live data checks on the coolant temp sensor, air flow meter, injectors etc..
hi my mates megane has packed up,its getting fuel he thinks as he can hear the pump and the relay is buzzing(maybe it shouldnt buzz)
but we took plugs out and grounded them and no spark when we turn her over,,,,
its the 1600 model with twin coils if that helps,,,,james, Read more
aye,,that makes sense i suppose,,,,,,will tell him to splash out and get one,,,,,,,
called in at nene valley railway today going up the old A1, anyway for a change i was there on the right time right day and got to travel on the old post office railway carriages and saw the way the post bags were dropped off and collected without the train stopping,i really enjoyed it and im sure if you have younguns they would be enthralled to see a head of steam come up the line to demonstrate the way it was done (3 times they did this)
been trying to stop here for the best part of 35 years and never had the time Read more
Cracking country round there. If you go the NVR then have lunch at the Falcon in Fothernghay (its about 30 mins away and the finest pub in the best location for about 100 miles)
I have lost my Galaxy car keys I have contacted the dealer but he said he cant help as it is a volswagen part, can you advise how I can remedy this problem . I live in the midlands and cant find a local locksmith agent to come to the car at the moment I cant use the car. Read more
Thanks AS for the link to the autolocksmiths website;
Friends of ours had lost the only key to their Focus which was locked.
The local Ford dealer was no help whatsoever.
A call to the nearest contact on the site resulted in 2 new keys for the Focus and a spare for their Galaxy all for £160 including the call out, work completed within 4/5 hours from the initial contact. All considered not bad value!
Many thanks again.
Regards
Graham
On a recent (pedestrian) trip to central London, I noticed that there are no yellow lines or signs in the Mall, but they begin as double yellows as you go under Admiralty Arch towards Trafalgar square.
As I am sure parking is not permitted in the Mall, how is the restriction enforced?
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........anyway, back to the Mall!
Perhaps DVD will come along soon with a legal answer.
Browse
He asked the question, but they said that the mountings are different for standard shocks as they did get one out and see if it would fit.