November 2009
Don't know if a thread like this has been posted here before, but here it goes.
Name your car, make/model, year, and number of miles its done. Let us know if it rattles or not - this could be dashboard/trim rattles or more serious stuff like mechanical/suspension noises.
Ford Ka 1.3 Style Climate 2008, no rattles. 6,030 miles. Read more
Hi, my dad has a 57 Reg Picasso 1.6hdi desire.
Does anyone know if the radio has any form of ipod/mp3/aux socket? Thinking of maybe getting him an ipod and USB turntable (on offer from Lidl this Thursday) but not sure if his car has any connections?
If not could go down the FM modulator thingy but easier with a cable! Read more
Do a search for Pug / Citroen USB BOX. It allows full control of an iPod via the stereo. Depending on what model stereo you have, it should work. It's quite pricey, but does the job well.
Friend of mine wants to buy a diesel Skoda Superb.
He would like the 2.5 as this is a big car and he's not sure the 1.9 can cope but he (and I) have heard horror stories abut the 2.5 and are being assured by 'experts' that the 1.9 is the one to got go for.
Are the horror stories abut the bigger engine true and if so can the 1.9 really cope with a car of this size? Read more
When I bought my Mk1 Superb as a 2 year old, it was miles cheaper than an Octavia of the same age and condition. Better specified too. The Superb was (and probably still is) the "lemon" of the Skoda range.
I needed the Superb for the "official" tow weight and, more importantly for its own weight to do my job.
It's not at all everyone's cup of tea but as a long term bangernomic, a 4 cyl diesel Mk 1 Superb is a reasonable bet - if you have a job for it. I've been in one with 330k miles on the clock...
659.
Hi everyone,
I'm a long time lurker who doesn't post very often...but I have a concern that I hope you can help with.
Today I had new brake pads and discs fitted to the front of my Corsa. The brakes had been grinding for a few miles, so both pads and discs were required.
When i picked the car up, the mechanic warned me that the brake pedal might feel a little spongey, but should soon stiffen back up...no problem I thought. Well, when i pulled out the car park I nearly overshot a junction because the brake pedal is *much* slacker (for want of a better word) then before. The pedal has to be pushed almost to the floor for anything more than slight braking. The car still stops, but requires the pedal to be pushed way further than before.
I've now done around 60 miles, and it's still the same.
Is this normal? Do I need to wait longer for the brakes to bed in? Read more
I'm more annoyed at the garage who performed a fairly comprehensive service on my car 3 months ago and didn't mention the pads were worn. <<
Two possibilities why it wasn't noticed, other than poor servicing by the last garage (as pads are probably the first thing a garage should look at - easiest money there is other than topping up washer fluid!).
1 - one/both calipers may be binding, speeding the brake pad wear.
2 - the replacement pads were rubbish - I had a mate who was smug that he could get a set of pads for his cavalier (in 1990) for £3.99 - even though he was replacing them every 2-3 months.
My VW Touran is 5 years old. Every couple of months it requires an engine coolant top up. When the coolant level falls just below MIN, the Multi-Function Display shows a dramatic "STOP - replace engine coolant" warning sign, which makes it difficult to forget to put in the requisite fluid.
On Friday morning, my wife noticed that the Battery symbol remained illuminated as she was driving around. There was no other helpful info from the MFD. She drove around all day long until, 1/2 a mile from home, the battery voltage finally proved too low to power the car and it came to a stop. Needless to say, the battery had not been charging all day long. The alternator belt had come off the pulley - hopefully the VW garage will have worked out why when they get around to looking at on Monday.
Now, I feel peeved that a system which provides a nice clear warning about a drop in engine coolant level cannot similarly warn the user that the car is failing to charge its battery and is in imminent danger of coming to a complete halt. Luckily, my wife and 3 children were near our house when it happened but they could have been in the middle of nowhere.
Obviously, my wife should have understood the importance of a red battery warning light but I am sure she is like many millions of other motorists in not understanding what happens under the bonnet of her car and would benefit from similar guidance in words of one syllable. Read more
Warnings are useful. It is the actual break downs with NO warning that make me jump.
If you have a Touran with a 1.9TDi engine be very careful about low oil warnings. I am now suspicious of the long life (fully synthetic oil) regime; several mechanics warned me that this system is not safe. I intend to change my oil and filter at 10000 miles or less.
I bought a Seat Leon in February 2009. The handbook says that you can plug in an MP3 player under the drivers seat. My nephew tells me that the socket under the seat is for an ipod. My question is firstly is this true? If so why does the handbook say an MP3 player can be accommodated? And finally is there an adapter that can be purchased to feed an MP3 player via the ipod socket to the cars audio system?
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It only works in Europe. The book tells you that it will take anything from an
ipod nano up to the classis ipod but i was informed from SEAT that this
is not the case. You would be as well getting it removed.
Can you clarify please . . .
Do you mean it only works when you take the car to Europe . . . . or it only works in cars supplied to European Mainland countries?
If the second then I wonder why they bother to fit it! Perhaps you dealer found an easy way to avoid fixing it.
Hi
I have a StreetKa on a 54 with 45,000. Since owning it for two years its been one long problem after another but I need to confirm a few things first before i get any more work done.
To date since ownership,
Aircon condenser gone (replaced under warranty) but not a stone chip or hole
Steering rack and pump replaced.
After hitting a pothole the steering went immensely heavy. It turned out to be a valve on the rack as the cause but the rack was replaced by an aftermarket one which was cheaper and apparently better made. At the same time the steering pump was replaced with a genuine ford part as this was actually cheaper than the aftermarket one.
Clutch bearing whining away
The problems I have are in the steering which since the rack pulls to the right side. The garage who did the work were independent and seemed to know what they were doing but i have a feeling they installed the rack on a skew. Is there any location lugs or points to get the rack installed 100%? its almost as if it needs to move a few mm left to get the steering wheel level.
The wishbones underneath were checked and apparently one was replaced already the other was in good nick.
I had the tracking done but the steering although much better is still to my memory too heavy ( heavier than it was when i bought the car)
It also makes a noise where the right front wheel touches some sort of plastic trim on full lock.
I do not know if i need to replace the clutch release bearing or just leave it and wait till the clutch goes.
Finally the interior fan is too noisy on all but Max number 4 can this be lubricated? and if so where is it located to access it for this?
Its a great looking car but riddled with issues which ford should be ashamed of.
Any help anyone can give me or a specialist near or in Hertfordshire id be really greatful.
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The 1st fault is proably a fault on the rack, these 'spurious' racks are just reconditioned genuine Ford units normally. The noise you're hearing when on full lock is because one side is adjusted more than the other, in other words one side will have say 5 threads showing, and the other side 15 - the tracking will be straight but not adjusted equally. Ka's are renound for going through rear arm bushes, so if the problems carries on these might be weak.
2nd fault it common on all Fords, the release bearing 'squark'. It doesn't affect the clutch, and generally doesn' affect the job of the release bearing, so just turn the radio up :)
Finally the 3rd fault sounds like a leaf in the heater motor, as it gets faster as louder it drowns the noise out. If you fancied having a look yourself, the pollen filter is under the scuttle panel trim on the right hand side at the bottom of the windscreen. Remove the filter, and i think you can see down into the motor, and hopefully a stray leaf!
Hi there, I have just bought a grand voyager (uk spec) 2.8crd lx and the radio does not work, the unit powers up but no sound comes out of the speakers (infinity system). I have located the amplifier and checked power supply i have 2x permanent 12v feeds, 2x battery negative and 1x ignition switch feed which are working fine. i have tried to trace the speaker wires from head unit back to the amp but i have no continuity (the colour coding is the same front and rear). i have tried to follow wiring through vehicle it appears to run down the n/s of vehicle and dissapears behind the dash, do the speaker wires go through another module in between head unit and amp. Also on the head unit there is a grey/yellow wire which is energised when head unit is powered up this wire is a power output according to the sticker on the radio but i cant find that wire at the amp where does it go? there is another wire a white/purple which runs from head unit to the amp which again according to the sticker on the radio is a pci bus lead what is this for? any information on the system wiring and how it should work would be very much appreciated. I am new to this site so please go easy on me, cheers. Read more
Hi u wont get sound as it runs through the amp u have to bypass the amp
ive been sent some morris brand oil from gsf car parts instead of the fuchs that i ordered
anyone got anything to comment on the morris brand? its the semi 10/40 i have Read more
11 years later and Morris Oils are still up there with the best, meeting the required specs of the latest vehicles, highly respected in the commercial vehicle field.
I've used Morris oils myself, like a poster above i have no particular brand loyalty and buy in 20 litre packs whatever reputable brand is offering a good deal, just picked up some well priced Fuchs oils for the petrol engines in our small family fleet, and some well reputed Castol Diesel specific stuff for my Toyota Diesel.
Hi;
I really hope someone out there with a bit more car knowledge than myself can help me here. Don't get me wrong, I can just about change a tyre, know where the water, oil petrol etc goes, but that's about my knowledge and I think my garage is messing me about.
I'll try and keep this short, but please bear with me, it's a longish story! :)
I bought the above car (automatic) in May after my beloved Yaris died. I paid about £1700 for it as it was all I could afford. I think I made a hasty purchase, but small, cheap automatics are like hens teeth, I'm self employed and my daughter is autistic and needs running around to a lot of appointments (plus I live in the sticks) so being without a car was a nightmare.
Anyway, at the end of June, Piglet came to a dead stop wilst I was driving, no warning lights, no noise, nothing. I got recovery to take me to nearest garage which he said his family had used for years and was at end of my road. They said that my head gasket had gone, and charged me 500 pounds to fix it. The invoice states (I'm copying it here cos it's just jargon to me!) remove head from engine, strip down, have tested & faced, refit parts to head, then head to engine, fit new thermostat, cambelt kit & fanbelt. Head pressure tested & faced is also on invoice, together with plugs, oil filter, oil, head bolts & anti freeze.
I picked it up & went to get daughter from school, whilst there, a friend noticed that the bonnet was open and tried to shut it for me, it wouldn't shut as there was a spanner left on the top so the catch couldn't 'catch'!
At first, Piglet seemed to have a new lease of life, but gradually started to loose a bit of power, and was running sluggishly, then started 'chugging' a bit at low speeds. (Almost like when a manual car is about to stall.)
Mid October, I was on my way to the motorway, stopped for petrol & a very helpful man at the petrol station noticed water dripping from underneath the car (under front.)
He put some more water in for me and suggested I take it back to the garage.
I did this, and they told me that it was the thermostat housing that had leaked, and charged me 40 pounds to fit a new one.
Then, at the beginning of this month, it refused to start and when it finally got going, took me 2 miles up the road before the STOP light started flashing and it made a horrible noise.
I rang the garage, he tried to tell me to put some water in it and get it to him, but I honestly didn't know where to put it, so he came out to where I'd broken down, put some water in and followed me back to his garage.
He then did nothing for 3 days, and I had to chaase him as he wasn't ringing me back, eventually, he rang and said to come and pick it up. He said that it had been the water not circulating, a pipe was cold that should have been hot and that he'd taken the thermostat out and put it back in again. He didn't charge me, but asked that I go back 3-4 days later so he could check the water levels. I took the car out for a few runs and found i was doing the same thing again, chugging along.
I took it back again, and when he asked if I had returned to have the water checked, I said that I had brought i back to be fixed as it was doing the same thing as last time before it 'died' and I couldn't risk that with my daughter in the car.
Besides, from what a friend had explained to me, if I carried on driving it and the head gasket was about to go, I could do some serious damage to my engine.
This was last Wednesday, he didn't ring me or his wife, who runs the 'office' as he had promised too. Even though I had asked him to as I deperatly needed my car for several psychiatrist appointments I had for my daughter Thurs & Fri.
He didn't reeturn two of my calls on Friday, and I eventually caught his wife yesterday. She said he'd just popped out & would ring me back, he didn't.
After ringing twice today, he eventually rang me back to say that they were 'having a think' as to what to do.
Basically he said that he thought that there was some water leaking into my cylinder and that would get on my spark plugs and that was probably what was causing the chugging at low speeds and misfiring.
He said that the cheapest option, would be to run some 'additive' round the system which might seal any leak. If not, it would be taking the whole head of the block (whatever that means) which would be expensive.
I'm totally confused and to be honest, even 50 pounds is a lot to me right now. I've tried to ask a few male friends for advice, but most said they don't know enough about it, but they reckoned that the gaage hadn't done the initial head gasket job properly.
I've looked on wikipedia about gaskets and cylinders and have only confused myself further. From what I can see, the head gasket is fixed to the cylinder and then 'capped' with something.
I feel like he has made a mistake somewhere when he did the original job, and then placated me by 'tweaking' things just to get me out of his garage and back on the road, when what he should have done, is taken it all apart again?
I really don't know, but what I do know is that I get the feeling that he is telling me anything because I'm a dozy woman! I really object to that, but feel like I'm in no position to argue without knowing what I'm talking about! I used to have a fab garage I went to, I trusted him completely, but sadly his garage burnt down earlier this year. i just don't trust this bloke, but at the same time, I need my car fixed, and safely back on the road without spending any more money on it that I shouldn't have to it this was all his fault.
Anyone that has read this far (sorry it's such a long story!), thank you! And if anyone could offer any advice I'd be very grateful.
Many thanks
Lucy
{Attempt to make subject header less vague - i.e. to include a brief summary of question being asked} Read more
Hi Lucy
So basically, the garage had added Radweld or similar, and handed it back to you. I'm not convinced the original problem has been or can be sorted like that. Sounds like there's still a coolant loss and subsequent overheating, I still think there's a cylinder head problem. Keep an eye on the coolant level over the next few days, have a good look around the radiator and hoses/engine area for external leaks, with the engine running. Just incase, check also inside the car for signs of heater matrix leaking (damp carpets?/damp smell?). If you are losing coolant but no obvious signs of leakage, it suggests head/head gasket failure ( coolant will be lost internally and your rough running -chugging- suggests that.). Is there anyone else who can advise you - maybe the owner of the old garage you used? Any good mobile mechanics in your area?
At the end of the day the car is not properly repaired and you may need to make a strong case against the original garage, in my opinion. Don't be fobbed off.
Best of luck and keep posting, plenty of experts on here, far more knowledgable than I!
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I'd a 2 year old Maxi around 1979. A comfortable car but problematical. The attractive dash panel looked like a plank of wood and chirruped like a cage of budgerigars. The solution was to undo all the screws and insert packing made from closed cell foam. However the next fault in the infinite series came along very soon.
If I can mention my following Mk 2 Marina without shuddering, the doors used to chirrup in their apertures. A smear of silicone grease quietened that. Unfortunately then got some on my clothing. The squeak of money being extracted from my wallet for repairs was the usually loudest sound....