August 2009
I knew something wasn't right as it was so noisy and I made a thread at the time about it. In the past couple of days I have noticed a load of rust on my new exhaust and bumber and its getting noiser.
Also note the rust on my bumber.
There is never any water which comes out the back and I took this picture with the engine running to show that there is no problem with my emissions. I've used no oil or water in the 1500 miles I have had the car.
What has caused this? I suspect it must be rain water hitting it and then rust deposits landing on my plastic bumber. Do I have any comeback now?
The exhaust is exactly 1 month and 700 miles old. There is also quite a bit of play in the backbox now. E.g it wobbles a lot.
What would you do? Write off the money and just get a Bosil fitted or ask for a back box which actually meats the legal requirements of the roads or a refund?
tinyurl.com/kpqebt
{misleading title changed} Read more
Hi all.
Feel a bit cheeky asking for help on my first thread but we all have to start somewhere I guess!
Anyway, I have decided for several reasons to replace the Front O/S Lower Suspension Arm on my Focus Estate TDDI. I normally use Unipart for spares as they are allways the cheapest - but not on this occasion. They wanted £60 + VAT for this part and I remember paying £25 all in when I replaced one on my Escort a few years ago.
So I gave a few other Motor Factors a call. The best price I got was £36 inclusive of VAT . They guy said that it would be a brand such as Pearl or FAI. He said that nowhere can sell "cheap nasty arms" anymore as they all have to comply with ISO 9001 and that all the patten brands were of similar quality.
When I collected and paid I was given one with the brand name of Vetech Original and was advised that the part is just as good as say a Unipart branded one. However, when I look on line, I can not find anything about this brand.
I know there are lots of pople out there who will only recommend Genuine parts, especially Arms on Fords! However I only want to keep the car for another year and ill only put it though one MOT. Ford wanted £90 for this so Im just looking to save a bit of money. Im not even considering the unbranded ones on Ebay for £15.99!
The part no. is as follows: QSA1709S and the packaging is marked SS935237 equivalent to 1073214.
Does anybody know anything about this brand? Anyone ever used the brand before? Any advice would be great. I just dont want to fit it, pay for the tracking to be done, then find in 6 months time its worn out a set of tyres.
Cheers. Read more
if its the factors I think... its could be an 'own brand'
keep the invoice but i dont think you will have any problems, most their stuff is good.
Hi All,
I'm posting this on behalf of my friend's 2001 model year mazda 323.
Every now and then there's a vibration through the brake pedal and a few warning lamps lightup on the instrument bridge.
Those lamps which lightup: The yellow ABS warning lamp, the TCS lamp and the handbrake 'on' lamp. The handbrake is definitely off and there's no change by pressing the TCS on/off switch. Is this a warning that there's a problem with the car's braking system?
Strange, he then returns to the car and there's no sign of any problem, i.e. the lights are not on and then ithe same problem returns a few days later.
Have any Forum folks in the Mazda world of motoring come across this?
Level in the brake fluid reservoir is fine.
Thanks to Google there are other owners complaining of the same symptoms. Lots of speculation as to its possible cause, e.g. speed sensors, costly ABS modules, but no definite fixes!
Many thanks for any advice.
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My local paper has decided to run a campaign identifying use of a mobile whilst driving. They plotted up at Wilsons Corner in Brentwood town centre (a busy double mini roundabout). They took a picture of 50 drivers in 1 hour using their mobiles whilst negotiating this tricky area.
Funny thing is, all the faces were blurred out and the cars were not identified, so I couldn't see the point of it. What ever happened to name and shame?
Frankly though, I am surprised it was only 50 in an hour. The worst offenders here are what I call the Hutton Mutton, vacuous bottle blondes yak yak yakking away at the wheel of their Range Rover Vogue 4.2 HSE, Porsche, Volvo, BMW 4x4 or white van man ("Alright geez'? aaas it going mate? sweet, yeah, see ya")
This is obviously one of those motoring laws that is totally ignored by a hard core of people, a bit like serial drink drivers who believe they are safer after a couple of pints.
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Our local police(Essex) have been running a successful campaign.Two officers in plain clothes at the side of a road-radioing to a team of uniformed officers further along the road.If the officers see a mobile phone being used,no belts,no tax,overloading/insecure load or generally unsafe,the vehicle gets stopped by the uniforms-it's been very,very successful.
during my cars MOT last may the examiner mentioned the fact that the headlights had started to yellow, something to do with the plastic material and the heat from the bulbs...has any one here had any similar experience with such matters? Read more
ive an idea RR would changing to more powerful headlight bulbs mask the yellowing effect
for MOT purposes? how does the MOT headlight tester actually test the yellowing any one
know?
I think they go by the beam pattern when they check the alignment. That would show whether output is reduced.
I would think using a more powerful bulb might make the situation worse with a plastic lens. I got rid of most of the yellowing on mine today using toothpaste and an old brush.
Hi
I've owned my '58' plate Qashqai for 2 months now and I cannot fault it.
There is however one thing that concerns me - the front radiator grille.
Having looked through my grille today the radiator is covered in bugs and obviously has not stopped stones going through to damage my radiator. As the car has only just ticked over 5,000 miles I am slightly concerned.
I am considering attaching some mesh to the back of the grille and wondered if anyone else has done this. If so please could you let me know how you attached it etc.
Lisa Read more
That's how the set up is on 99.9% of cars with AC. The AC condenser
is in front of the engine radiator.
Replacing an A/C condenser is normally a fair bit more expensive than the engine radiator, so its still (more so) a good idea to protect it....
Hi folks,
I'm getting uneven wear on the rear tyres of my 55-plate 2l TS2 (40k miles)
The outer edges of both tyres are worn about 2-3mm more than the inner edges.
This may not sound like much, but it's pretty noticeable when you look at the tyres and I reckon I could probably get another 6 months wear out of them if they weren't wearing unevenly - it's very annoying having to change a tyre when the outer edge gets to 2mm, when the inner edge is still around 5mm !
I'm having no other noticeable suspension or brake problems, so is it simply a case of getting the tracking/toe/camber etc checked ?
Would a typical ATS/Kwik Fit-style tracking check allow and include adjustment at the rear of a Mazda 6 or should I take it to somewhere which can do a proper 4-wheel alignment ?
Cheers. Read more
Hello Mike,
I had a Mazda 6 TS 2.0 diesel estate from new on an 04 plate.
The nsr tyre wore on the outside edge very badly from new.
The dealer was not interested what so ever, so I had it adusted by a 4 wheel alignment specialist. The report was that the rear suspension was so badly out, it could have only been caused by the car being in a servere accident or coming from the factory like it.
It had been taken back to the dealer several times before, due to complaints regarding it's handling. They were adament that nothing was wrong. I seem to remember reading that this is a common fault with this model.
In my opinion you will need to get it adjusted by a 4 wheel alignment centre.
Hope this helps, I can recommend one if you live near to West Sussex.
Hi all,
If you were going to purchase or have purchased a mazda 6 2008 new shape and the dealer said this car is really only suitable for long distances would you buy it? ...... Thats what i thought
Also, would you class this car unfit for purpose if you were told that you should only do long journeys in it & it's not right to go from A-B?
Please answer as honest as you can :P Read more
with due respect, in my experience (over 3 years at a Mazda dealer) the only problems with DPF equipped cars oil level rising, was on either 'school run' cars, or mimser cars... these cars need to be driven hard from time to time, as do most cars.
in fact, the model we saw most, with the high level, was the 5.... mostly driven the mile or so to school and back, the 6's were mostly 'reps' cars, and were fine....
Hi I've been asked to help fit an after market tachometer ( rev counter) the wiring diagram with the instrument shows the signal wire should be connected to the negative (-ve) side of the ignition coil .
No coil on this fiesta , a 1.3 flight - the haynes manual shows a Tachometer signal from the PCM ? if i can find this in the wiring can i use this ??
thanks Read more
I said it would happen here too... before this came to light:
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8188267.stm Read more
I suggested this to an acquaintance with an old car that's got a current MOT and a blown engine. The engine's been removed and partly dismantled only to discover it's not worth repairing.
It would seem it meets the necessary criteria.
He's ordered a new car!
I don't think he had the bottle to attempt it.
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What a bumber! Serves you right for not buying a genuine replacement exhaust.