April 2009
Car 1 - N reg Micra - Parker's guide price = £300
Car 2 - 52 Reg 330D with 140K - Glass guide price £3600
Finances willing, my wife and I want to be able to take advantage of the lower interest rate/lower car prices by extending our mortgage by about £15K (it's up for renewal).
We both feel that we need updated cars (my wife is getting to the stage where she's spending more on servicing/tax/fuel each year than the car's worth).
I'm thinking of moving to a 5 series (probably a 530D) and my wife to a Focus (or similar).
The question is, what are the best options for part exchanging? Do we look for minimum part exchange deals for my wife's car (do they even offer those deals these days?)
Obviously, my wife's Micra has reached the end of it's useable life, so if there's any incentive or cost effective way of trading it in, it would be helpful to know. Read more
The other day ive got one of these on a v and it sounded like a diesel,i changed the oil twice but it still sounded horrible to the point i turned a customer away last week and told her i had lost the keys i was so embarrased to sell it,
anyway to the chase
I found this link after an internet look for a problem similar (this is something i often do for car related problems) heres the link
www.ilexa.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,20660.0.html
So i then looked at my car and wo and behold the bolts are totally undone and ready to jump out into a cam.
The camshaft bolts were also very slightly slack and ive tightened these up to my personall elbow preferance but lock tighted down the oil feed bolts so they wont come undone again.
If you look at the camshaft back one right hand side you will see that the cup holding the right hand side down has turned slightly blue due to heat build up,only time will tell now if this will cause future problems.
Anyway top back on ,started up and the engine soounds as sweet as a 3 pot can,
another success story
Pictures below in the before i touched it state
i6.photobucket.com/albums/y246/smartiesx3/DSC01082...g
i6.photobucket.com/albums/y246/smartiesx3/DSC01083...g
i6.photobucket.com/albums/y246/smartiesx3/DSC01084...g
i6.photobucket.com/albums/y246/smartiesx3/DSC01089...g
i6.photobucket.com/albums/y246/smartiesx3/DSC01088...g
Im not saying this is the 2005 problem in the 4 pot but who knows.?im not used to bolts undoing in heads but it is all aluminium so maybe it is a problem (im quite happy my engine has not had work on it as it is truly low mileage) GUV
Mods move this if you wish but i thought for the benefit of some it was best not lost in the other longer thread,even technical if you wish
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all bolts were in good condition,i see whats meant but its just a trick of the light
hi this is my first post
have a rover metro auto 1.4
24000 miles
just had head gasket done and cambelt fanbelt changed
have noticed since work done
the car is using so much fuel
any help please the car dosnt smell of petrol so no leeks
its driving me made to find out
when the head gasket was done
the thermstat was not put back in
would this be the trouble
have not spoken to mechanic why he didnt put it back as gone on holiday
for 2 weeks
tks for looking at my post
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i think the job has been done properly as car is driving fine thanks for your replies to my problem
very good website, thanks.
will get the stat put back in
{txt talk replaced with proper words}
Well, it's not missing, but it's spinning around in the thread, so it's as good as.
When giving the engine (a diesel) a once-over I noticed that they were all very loose, so gave them all a tighten. Not too tight - just to reduce the slack a bit. Anyway, it looks like I tightened one of them a bit too much, as it's now lost its thread and is spinning around freely!
The bolt that's knackered is this one - : : ; :
This this something I should be concerened about? If it needs replacing, what are my options? Obviously if it's the bolt's thread that's gone then just replace the bolt, but what if it's the thread in the block? Read more
what if it's the thread in the block?
Get it heli-coiled.
General Motors Corp is in "intense" and "earnest" preparations for a possible bankruptcy filing, a source familiar with the company's plans told Reuters on Tuesday.
Vauxhall /Opel??? Will they be sacrificed as they looked to have to SAAB?
How will this affect other manufacturers who build cars in some cases jointly, in some cases ownership, in some cases technology with GM - Suzuki, Isuzu, Renault, Subaru............
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Reading around the motoring press this week it seems Vauxhall/Opel (with help of their respective governments) intend to go it alone, with GM in the US only keeping a minority share.
tinyurl.com/dyxmod
Heard of this sort of thing before. Some one rents large un occupied warehouse, pays the rent on time and then vanishes. ware house owner turns up to find the place stuffed with old tyres.
Of course as the law stands, the warehouse owner is left to pay for their proper removal and disposal. This scam has also been worked on small lock ups so if thats your business, I'd keep a closer eye on them. Read more
I've tried this. As it says in the article, "not with steel belted tyres".
If it's not the government doing the greed act, then it's the people who flog the stuff trying to manipulate the markets.
tinyurl.com/d28nqy
Frankly, I hope the credit crunch continues and they are left with the stuff for longer than they would want. Read more
Nearly four bob a gallon then. Not bad... ;-)
I went to put the air con on today and nothing happened;
The switch illuminates but there is no noise from the compressor, drop in revs or cool air. It has been worked OK up to today it was regassed by Quik Fit in Aug 08. I have been using it at least once a month and use HJ's recommended method of 20 minutes cold then the same hot.
Can anyone point me towards what the problem could be?
The car was covered 51000.
Many thanks!
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I had my C Max (basically same system) regassed nearly two years ago and again last Saturday as it had stopped working. Mobile chap couldn't see any leaks without taking the car apart, so regassed and added dye as usual and left to see what happened. By Monday it had stopped working again and he re-visited this morning to inspect. Dye has shown up a leak from the side of the condenser. Waiting to hear how much to replace.
Suggest you must have a leak too, in which case Kwik Fit won't help. Find an air con specialist. If you are in SE Hampshire, I'd recommend mine.
my brother has got a 02 mondeo 1800 lx he started the engine and the revs were very high as any one got any ide what it mite be thanks bigtedbronco@hotmail.co.uk Read more
I know this item has been discussed on here before but I can,t find it. Is it worth buying one of these or sticking an old tv magnet on to my oil filter. Are there any other makes available from common suppliers. Read more
Mini sump plugs were magnetic as standard. When I changed the oil, there was a 2mm layer of iron filings from the gears.
Most gearbox drain plugs are also magnetic for similar reasons.
gearboxes do not have oil filters. Engines do.....
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Oh dear, it does sound a bit lived in doesn't it ? Well, in that case, I might take to an auction. You might get lucky and if you don't it's no great loss.
Good hunting !