Hey all, hope you can help me with my little problem.

My Focus failed its MOT due to the rear, passenger-side brake wasnt up to scratch.

I took it in to the garage that carried out the MOT this morning to look into this issue. I got a call at 3pm to say that the drum was badly corroded and they had to cut the bearings off to have a look at the shoe and it would cost £330 to replace the leaky brake cylinder's and brake shoe's so that it would pass the MOT.

They had taken both sides off, even though it was only one side that was not working. For me to take my car away and have someone else look at it, the garage are asking for £190 for the time taken for cutting the bearing off and putting new bearings in.

Isnt it normal practise for a garage to call you before doing work that would cost hundreds of pounds. I didnt get a call to say they had to cut the bearings off, I got a call after they'd done it!...should I have to pay for this £190? If they had told me the costs before hand I would have gone else where...

Thanks in advance...
N Read more

In need of some help here....

I'm being told that my oil pump balancing shaft went yesterday and the VW garage are telling me that the engine needs stripped and replaced at £ 4k, as presumably it ceased up! The car was fine when the engine was running idle, but as soon as it moved the digital read out said stop. Helpfully the RAC got me to drive it about a bit and look to have knackered it in doing so!

I've heard through some friends that the Passat has had some issues with faults on the oil pump balancing shafts recently and was wondering if any one has had experiance of this??

Any assistance massively appreciated Read more

My wife has travelled a route to her place of work every day for 7 years, and this route includes a lights and barrier controlled level crossing. It is a very busy crossing and the lights start flashing well before the barriers close. Most users of this crossing know that there is a reasonable time delay between the start of the lights flashing and the barriers coming down. So everyone tries to get across and indeeed users are under pressure to get across.
My wife received a notice of intended prosecution this weekend from the British Transport Police for entering the prohibited area whilst the lights were flashing, and has been asked to give details of the driver. She does not dispute the charge but says that this has been common practice for users of this crossing. It is obvious that a CCTV has now been installed to record all such miscreants.
Whilst not condoning the dubious practice of jumping the lights at such crossings We wondered what was the legality of such a notice, and also what might be the results of filling in the form.
This is an unknown area for me as I did not realise that NIP's could be issued by the Transport Police.
Of course it would have been a simple matter to place a sign at the crossing stating that any future infringements of the lights would result in punishment, but this was not the case.
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Hi

I have uneven running when car is cold for the first 200 metres or so. I have had various checks done, and replaced a couple of parts but it is no better, but no worse. Nothing shows up on diagnostics. An article I read suggested cleaning the MAF sensor. I have checked both the haynes manuals, one for up to 2003 and one for July 2003 onwards, and they both show where it should be, my car was first sold in June 2003.
I have checked under the bonnet and there is no MAF sensor fitted. There is a space for it but this is blanked off. Can someone please check under their bonnet and see if they have a MAF sensor fitted for cars post JUne 2003. I cannot find any loose wires and would assume that it would not run if unplugged, so maybe there isn't one any more. Engine is a 2.0 Durotorq 115bh TDCi Mondeo. Location of the MAF is on the outlet side of the air filter, if you have one it is easy to see, if it is not there, you will have a raised area with two screw holes. 4B-6 in the haynes manual, I think.

Thanks Read more

This morning, over a cup of coffee, I was telling a friend about how the old Mondeo estate had turned against me. It was aware that the coming spring would be its last and, on Monday afternoon, it had locked me out in the freezing cold. He then informed me that a friend of his was selling a ?04 Volvo V40 Classic with 60k miles ? at this stage, I don?t know what the engine is. Apparently, this was the ?runout? model just prior to the discontinuation of the type and it has 'all the toys'.

I never thought of myself as a Volvo driver but I suppose that now I am just past 60, I have become eligible. I just wonder if any Backroomers have an opinion or any experience of the V40 and what I should look out for. Or, should I not even contemplate it?

Cheers Waino
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