August 2009
My neighbour recently concreted his front drive, and splashed lots of small specks of concrete (or cement) onto my Focus.
It seems to scrape off with a thumbnail, but has it done any damage? Is there anything I need to do? Read more
David
I own a Yaris and replaced my own pads and disks (DIY) for £105 parts only).
An indie should be able to do it for £40 labour tops: it's an easy job 1 hour tops..
A 2003 Yaris will easily last to 2013 and do 120k miles + if serviced regularly...
As far as Buy now or later, the BOE are printing money like it's going out of fashion. Some time or other sterling will slide and imported car prices rise...(and all small cars are basically imported)
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Now to picking a reliable cheap to run and insure yet still a decent drive
replacement for my current Yaris...
Why not keep the Yaris?
I can't imagine it's losing you much money, it's reliable, cheap to run and insure and it's a decent drive.
:)
Cheers,
Lou
had the steering wheel off, says in book to reset air bag? guess thats why the light is on? anyone got any ideas how this is done? thanks. bazza. Read more
is there no way I can do it myself?
Correct, I wouldn't have mentioned the required equipment otherwise. A lot of backstreet garages will have the diagnostic kit, so no need to go to a main dealer.
Having had one problem solved on here today, thought I'd try the other one. My 1.6L 2002 Ford Focus Zetec has developed an annoying intermittent problem - only happens maybe once/week.
Will be stopped at traffic lights/roundabout, and when I come to accelerate in first gear it just doesn't accelerate - moves along at about 3-5 miles/hour for about 7-10 seconds before kicking in. This is with the clutch fully out. Pressing harder on the accelerator doesn't make any difference. Engine doesn't over-rev. Just doesn't accelerate for a while, then suddenly off it goes.
Has been going on for about a month and has happened maybe 5 times - no obvious cause, no funny noises. Pretty dangerous when it happens on roundabouts though - any ideas? Read more
Likely to be the throttle position sensor causing this and will need to be replaced.
now here goes,
we all love paying road tax don't we? ok, i thought not.
if the government scraps road tax and puts a fuel duty UP a few pence it might work.
average driver gets 30mpg (probably not right but work with me)
average driver does 12,000 miles a year (same again, it's just some numbers to play with) and uses 400 gallons / 1824 litres of fuel to do it costing about a quid a litre.
anual fuel bill of roughly 1800 quid
road tax is roughly 200 quid for a family car like mine.
200 quid divided by 12,000 miles equals 1.6p per mile / 50p per gallon
if they put 11p on fuel duty and scrapped road tax i would be about the same BUT
the business high mile-ers who use lots more fuel pay more but can claim it back.
granny who only goes down to the shop once a week and uses a cupfull of fuel to do it SAVES.
i know most of the maths is probably wrong. Read more
Damn it the idiots just wanted £20 of me last week for renewing my driving licence, now they want £68 of me for 6 months road tax. They want 15% VAT of me every time I buy a car part, they want 60% tax every time I buy fuel.
Cars are damn expensive but not nearly expensive enough to put people off using them :). My recent trip to wales was an example, cost £35 (400 miles) in fuel and maybe £10 wear and tear but there was four of us in the car. On public transport it would have cost us around £160.
Although round Manchester having a car is a lot more expensive than public transport but I run a business and now the time I used to spend waiting for buses is spent doing more important thing. So you can try all you like Mr Government but you will not get me out of my car.
I am paying too many flat rates insurance, car tax etc. If the government want people out of their cars and onto buses then scrapping road tax and increasing fuel duties will help. There could also be concensions for business travel to.
I am all for alternative transport methods but at the moment I will take my car every time unless I am going to town and I will hop on the tram as its cheaper and faster.
Just found this site and it seems the perfect arena to vent my utter exaperation with VW. Also, I think it is good for VW users to use a forum like this to exchange experiences as I am not at all sure customers are being treated, dare I say it, honestly. This is a bit long I am afraid, but hopefully enlightening.
The warning light came on to say that brake pads needed fitting. I had been told by a friend, who is not altogether totally ignorant about cars, that only the front pads are likely to need doing, 'dont have the rear pads done until I look at them, or the discs'. I duly booked in for front brake pads and also a new cam belt. I had been told several times by VW that it was important to have this done even though the car only has 35000 miles on the clock. I was warned of the potential cost I could incur if the belt went. I relented and agreed to have it done yesterday with the brake pads. However I received a call from VW to say that the brake pads all round together with the discs were very very low and scored etc etc and all needed doing. £958.65 was the bill for this. That was yesterday. Yesterday, all I had was a brake pad warning light - today I have the ABS warning light on, I cant move out of parking into neutral easily and I have taken the car straight back.
By some strange coincidence, the very day after the work has been done (but I am assured by VW this is purely coincidental), the ABS pump needs replacing at a cost of £1000+ just for the pump plus labour and VAT! I had a brake sensor fitted to alleviate the gear change problem, which at the moment seems to have done the trick.
This is not the first time I have left a VW garage with more wrong with the car than when I went in. With my last VW - after servicing I found nails in the tyres - on three occasions! On one occasion I discovered that the service hadnt in fact been done, although I was charged for it, not even the oil was changed.
This has come at a very bad time for me because only last week my daughter (for whom I had leased a POLO for 2 years), had the end of lease inspection. The car was in immaculate condition and had only 9000 miles on the clock. The front wheel trims were scuffed, I replaced them, the 2 year service was due, I had it done, I replaced a couple of bulbs and had paint repairs on a couple of small scuffs to the front bumper, minor and very tiny dents on the doors (hardly visible and certainly not photographable). I was confident the car would pass any inspection. At the end of the inspection I was given an estimate for £1700 plus VAT to 'put the car right'. I immediately took it to two garages for an independent inspection - both agreed with me the car was in good condition and had a very small amount of use - which they considered fair wear and tear. I have had leased cars myself for many years (including VWs) and have never, ever, had to pay back one penny in 'refurbishment'. The inspector said I needed two new tyres at the front - the VW dealer I subsequently took the car to for their opinion, disagreed and said the tyres were legal. Sensing I was in for a battle and feeling extremely anxious that the inspector I had was on a commission earning exercise - I took the car to a renowned body specialist and had every tiny imperfection taken out. On reinspection, the inspector noticed a speck of dirt inside the paint on the bumper (seriously I am not making this up) where the car had had a minor paint repair. He said they would have to redo the paintwork. In all I spent £1515 getting the car to their very high standards. I have just received an invoice for £134 to cover the wheel trims at the back and a new front tyre!! The wheel trims at the back were very very lightly marked and the tyre was legal even according to the VW dealer. I have refused to pay it on principle. Can anyone tell me how I trace the lease car so that I can see if they had the 'refurbishsment' work done, which I dont believe they did. I am going to sell my VW Golf and buy another make of car altogether. I feel I have been dealing with complete charlatans. Would love to hear from anyone with similar end of lease experiences or major problems materialising after a visit to the VW dealership for servicing, minor repairs or indeed if anyone else has had a cam belt replaced and their ABS pump suddenly needed replacing??? If so then VW are aware that this is a problem and this would account for the pressure to get the cam belt done - they recommended I had the cam belt changed when I only had 20,000 miles on the clock, but left it until I had 35,000 miles on the clock.
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high folks, have this proplem of hunting / decel-accel of its own accord when clutch depressed or in neutral, had this previously with eml on inst panel, fault codes showed O2 sensors which have been changed about two weeks ago, has started to do it again, so far with no warning lights,am thinking throttle body/or maff has gone wrong again none of these showed up on comptuer test , appreciate any thoughts before splashing out a small fortune AGAIN
cheers Ray Read more
SWMBO's 01 1.8 Z18xe engined Zafira did this for yonks until I had the throttle valve body cleaned out, now it only does it now & again. If by some chance yours is the older X18xe1 or whatever engine ( with a throttle cable) then there is an official Dealer modification, which consists of cleaning out the throttle valve body, drilling out one of the holes in it a bit bigger and updating the ECU software.
I have recently had the plastic facia around the wiper arms replaced and found the front passenger footwell gets wet with water - this runs down from behind and underneath plastic facia to glovebox near the central housing for the gear selector.
Could this be from heater matrix? - have already tried checking hole underneath battery - this is clear and water runs out through to floor. Also have checked that pollen filtre water trap is clear. Heater still appears to be working ok both in hot temp and cool modes. The most recent water appeared on Tuesday which was a pleasant dry day.
I have kept a check on the footwell and after a run, when I see a trickle of water I have tried to reach up behind the facia and can feel what appears to be a pipe with a foam surround which seems to go through the bulkhead. Not sure if water is dripping down on to this pipe from above? Any helpful ideas or suggestions greatly appreciated.
Derek Read more
He we have a 2000 1.8 petrol which has done this to us twice now. The fix seems to be to clear accumulated crap from around the battery bay and the back of the engine compartment around the wipers - there is a drain or drains here that can get blocked, after which water finds its way into the rear passenger footwells. We've had a couple of inches at times.
Hope this helps
I have a 2002 manual ford focus 1.6L. Recently noticed a hissing noise coming under the front drivers side wheel arch after driving the car, which stops about 15 seconds after parking the car. Sounds like its coming from the wheel/brake on that side. Tyre pressures are fine and no obvious problems on tyre so don't think its air leaking from there, but the noise is just like the noise of a puncture. Any ideas what might be causing it? Read more
Any neighbours reported a missing cat lately?
Perhaps a large, long, unidentified, scaly object under the bonnet? ;>)
After a bit of opinion/advice please on this problem.
Recently bought an 06 Mondeo 2.0 petrol Ghia hatch, 1 owner, Ford SH, only 60k miles, lovely clean car.
However I've noticed for a while it shakes/vibrates slightly at motorway speeds. It starts at around 60mph and carries on right up until 85mph, well thats as high as I've been (in Germany!).
There are 'sweet' spots of no vibration around 75mph and 80mph, but overall you can feel it through the steering wheel and through the bases of both front seats. On a long journey its annoying.
Its wearing Michelin Pilots all around on 16" Ford alloys, all look in good arder, no cuts or bulges, tyre pressures are as recomended by Ford. I've had the wheels rebalanced and swapped from to back and this hasn't made any difference...
Its got a years warranty, but before I let a garage look at it, any ideas?
Its recently had new front disk and pads, but it brakes from speed without any judder, so those should be OK. I'm thinking maybe a driveshaft is damaged, maybe its had a big clobber on a kerb at some point prior to my ownership?
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You said:
"the tread blocks also look to be slightly 'feathered'"
I'd use that as a starting point. Incorrectly set tracking doesn't necessarily mean it will pull to one side.
Browse
A bit of household vinegar usually does the trick with cement.