I'm considering buying a new sat nav unit and wonder if its worth the extra premium to have the lane guidance feature?? Does anybody have any experience of using this feature??

Thanks
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Hi Everyone,

My Dad has a 106 1.5D which is losing coolant. It has only lost 1/4L of coolant over ~2000 miles / 3 months so doesn't seem to be too bad - yet.
It seems to be coming out of either the head gasket or the vaccum pump(?) at the thermostat housing end.

We're currently thinking it is the head gasket that's gone. No emulsion in the coolant so it looks as though it's not getting into the cylinders.
Engine starts instantly as well and no smoke.

Still getting 55-60mgp on a run.

Is there anything else it could be? Read more

Hi Guys,

Hope you can help me with a minor problem I'm having with my Mondeo Estate. The centre rear seat belt buckle has stopped functioning. I can locate one fairly easily from my local salvage yard, however it is prooving difficult to remove the existing unit. Firstly the buckle is connected to the anchor for the centre belt. I cannot seem to separate the centre belt from it as it seems to be riveted in place. My second idea was to take the seat back out (belts and all) and change the whole unit so that I need not strip anything down. This seems straight forward enough however, my problem is that I cannot remove the base seat cushion to gain access to the buckle retaining screws. It is not the usual hinged type that I have had on most of my previous fords. Instead it seems to be clipped in four places. I had a look in my Haynes manual which just rather helpfully says "remove the bolts" - which I can't find!

Apologies if this is a silly question but can somebody please tell me how to remove the seat cushion as I'm really struggling and I can't really take my family out in the car until I've sorted this problem out. Thanks very much for your time and I hope you can help. Apologies again for what I am sure is probably a very simple oversight by me!

Paul Read more

Hi All

I have been looking at buying, a Vauxhall Vectra C (1.8 ?Design? 06) and Part Ex my current Astra G (1.6 8v ?52).

While im not saying that im defiinitly going to buy it I would absoloutly love one and am seriously considering purchasing it from our Local Indie Car Sales Garage.

I have been offered £1.5k for the Astra and this Vectra would be £5.5K, its on a 06 plate and has done < 20k miles


I have not had the car out for a drive yet, and will be arranging to do so this Tuesday, the car is in immaculate condition ? I have read the CBC and I just have some concerns, and would be very grateful for opinions.

ASFAIK this will be the 1st car I?ve owned that operates on the ?CAN-BUS? system while I think I get what it is, it likely to give trouble, and what?s the reason for using this system as apposed to the traditional way of operating electrics

I have never had to take my Astra to get its fault codes read, would the Vectra, with it being a lot more complicated going to throw error codes every ten min, or are they generally reliable

I have been reading about parking brakes releasing, is this a common problem that Im likely to experience, as I don?t want to shell out a lot of money to have my car roll into someone?s house or something.

I have been through this forum and found a few topics on where the Dashboards on Vectra?s cut out when starting in cold weather, but these seems to be on older Vectra?s has this problem been contained to the older ones.

What are servicing costs likely to be, is the car to complicated for its own good ? or would it be worth sticking with the Astra, that is relatively easy to work on?

Thanks in Advance this Vectra is lovely and my heart, and my head are battling out with each other over this car.
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I have started a collection of fragments of coil springs that I find on the roadside during my walks. They are becoming more and more common, and I have visions of a car driving past quickly and throwing one at someone's windscreen.

I can't remember ever seeing them until recently, and drove for many years in Africa where the the main roads have far more potholes, and much worse. Can one of the BR experts tell me whether the cause has anything to do with the modern rigid tyres (45 profile and below) and non-flexible alloy rims passing too much shock to the springs ? The older tyres were so much more compliant and cushioned the spring from the worst of the shock. Read more