May 2009
Father-in-law recently had his car serviced and MOT'd at the main dealer. He was told it needed a new fuel tank and was relieved of £600. For a Fiesta fuel tank. Is this excessive? Just seems a bit wrong that a service and MOT ends up costing an OAP the best part of a grand for a Fiesta he bought from them, albeit used, just over a year ago.
Strangely enough, the car he owned previously (Fiesta, bought from the same main dealer) is still being driven round his parish even though FIL was advised to get rid as it would cost more than the car was worth to get it through the MOT.
Is someone having a very expensive laugh at an OAPs' expense? Read more
According to today's paper, the US president has announced that new US cars will have to average 39 mpg by 2016, with light vans and pickups averaging 30 mpg. One assumes the gallons mentioned are niggardly American ones.
No presidential order can ever have been more realistic than this one. A lot of cars that can do that easily are made by firms associated with the US companies and by the companies themselves. Internal and external facelifts and a bit more slop engineered into the suspension (but not too much one hopes) could do the trick almost overnight.
Americans get better cars; the Obama administration looks good; oil lasts longer; and oil companies can hide a bit more profit in petrol prices with cars using less of the stuff. It's a win-win-win-win situation unless you are a Detroit auto worker. Read more
I wouldn't pay too much heed to that statement.
They're already calling him 'Backtrack Obama'.
Recently ,due to old age, I have found myself unable to tell the difference between a new Ka and a new 3 door Fiesta from the front especially. Apart from the badge what are the tell tale differences?
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Interesting comment about the Mazda 2 V's the Fiesta. I was going to wait until the Fiesta arrived before deciding between the Mazda and the Fiesta. In the end I went ahead and bought the Mazda before the Fiesta was launched. On seing the Fiesta I thought it was ok but I still preferred the Mazda. However, the point is that I bought the Mazda on the basis that once the Fiesta was launched they would become common quite quickly. This has now been borne out by the fact that they are now a far more common sight than the Mazda even though they were launched over a year later. Give me something a bit less common every time.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8058935.stm
£3 for a 'comfort break' seems a bit steep, when you've been battling queues all morning Read more
public toilets? whats that then?...my city doesnt have any , goodness knows where the public go for a leak nemind the cab drivers
Hello, I want to make a Bush Removal Tool to change the Rose Joint Bushes on my car.I plan to use some old sockets and some Threaded Bar. I have access to Threaded Bar from work,but wondered if anyone would know what Diameter and Length I should use (I don't have a manufactured tool to copy from.I hear they are quite weak, and overpriced). Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Read more
Shame doofer - I'm in Leeds ! It would be cheaper buying one ,than all the Petrol involved lol -Thanks anyway -Very Kind - Mick
Hi all,
Can anyone tell me which type of brake fluid I shoudl use on this vehicle please?
Need to top up as a temp measure before changing pads and don't know which DOT to use.
Thanks!
maceman
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Thanks woodspeed, very helpful.
First this year we had Autodex, the UK’s fifth largest independent bodyshop group
now Wilcox Motor Bodies
These were both big repair facilities,i blame the banks,insurance companies insisting on very expensive pas 125 and the general downturn
Be warned your favourite bodyshop may be next
My recommended local independant man has just about now walked away from his insurance supplier due to all the new rules and expensive paper chase
lets put it this way you weld a wing on and you have to log the time you left the power on and at what wattage and who did the actual welding,can you imagine in a busy bodyshop having to deal with that every time you pick a tool up or have to refer to a diagram on how to remove a bumper when you know there is a better way. Read more
Turnover at the Just Car Clinic, the quoted car repair firm, fell down 4 per cent in the first four months of this year
they say market demand was held back by reduced road usage and higher insurance excesses.
chairman David Hickey, said: "Conditions during 2009 have been challenging with underlying market repair volumes being adversely affected by the economic recession.---------------
end quote-------
I changed the pads and discs on the S60 at the last service. After about 1500 miles on the new discs, I started to get an intermittent shake on the steering when braking from speed. This can be quite violent at times, yet other times (this morning for example) I braked from 70 mph on a slip road and the wheel remained completely undisturbed.
This is also accompanied sometimes by what I can only describe as a "pulsed" braking effect, most noticeable when braking gently at very slow speeds (i.e. <10 mph). There is no wobble or pulse through the pedal, but the braking effort seems to get stronger and weaker a couple of times a second, the frequency slowing down with road speed.
The brakes themselves seem otherwise normal in their effort, and in terms of things like pedal travel and feel. Driving to work this morning, there seemed to be nothing wrong at all, yet I could brake from motorway speeds tonight and almost have the wheel taken out of my hands. It really seems intermittent and random.
Car has done 144,000 miles, and doesn't seem to have any other symptoms. The 6,000 mile old front tyres are wearing evenly, and there's no noise from the front suspension that I am aware of. MOT was done in January (6k ago) and no advisories or issues with brakes or suspension noted.
Any suggestions?
Cheers
DP
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Just out of interest DP, i've noticed that some firms selling front pads for the S60 ask you if the car has 15/16" or 17" wheels and sell different pads for these sizes but Volvo genuine pads just say one size fits all from 2000 onwards, i'm confused.
Can anyone tell me if the engine in my 2005 Ford Ranger, 2.5l turbo diesel is interference or non-interference engine i.e if the cambelt fails will my engine be damaged?
Cheers, Marcus Read more
I've registered with this site ' www.citroenpicasso.org.uk/ '
I can logon, and read all the Topics. But cannot place a Topic or Contact any of the Mods to ask them Why I get an error message, even certain areas of my Controls I can't access, without it saying 'I don't have permission' to enter.
Has anyone used it or maybe know why I can't access etc.
thanks
edited, as the quotes you put at each end of the link prevented it from working at all Read more
I think they must be having some (temporary?) problems - I created an account there a few months ago to access their forums, and what I needed was "pinned" in the technical FAQ, so I never needed to post.
I just tried logging in now and got the errors you describe. And even though I appear to be logged in, I can't create a new post.
The "contact the administrator" link gives this email address:
postmaster@citreonpicasso.org.uk
If you've got a Picasso, it's probably worth persevering with that site - there's a lot of useful information there, and the Picasso is a complicated beast.
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To Lud. Not as much pain as a lingering death from burns. Too many flashes and bangs have occurred to people unaware of the potential of a flammable mixture and an ignition source.