February 2010
I'm soon likely to get pestered into looking for a car for my 18 year-old son (not a simple task!), so have been perusing the Autotrader website for a few ideas.
I've always put 'national' in the search distance - usually being willing to travel pretty far to view the right car - which made me wonder how far other Backroomers would normally limit their search......
Casting the net wide ensures that the best 'bargains' can be found - but it can be a long way to go to view a 'lemon' :-( Read more
hi
been here before and asking again if anyone has any idea why my turbo diesle may be chucking out smoke in the mornings. i get thick white smoke first thing for a short while and the car is fine after that.. sometimes my car will rev up realy high with no help from me and chuck out thick black soot . had a bit of trouble with a diesle leak (and may have another) and at one stage had to much oil in the car. i have sorted that out. i had a return pipe for the diesle replaced tempary for now could this be the problem?? i dont drive it much only on very short jouneys. Read more
You will probably find that the blue/white smoke on starting will diminish as the weather gets warmer, fitting a new set of glow plugs will probably improve it, about £25.00 plus fitting, not a very difficult job if you know someone who doesn't mind working on cars.
The surging I don't really know about without seeing it do it, unless its dangerous I wouldn't worry about it.
The car you have now is relativly simple and cheap to repair, if you like it I would stick with it as a newer one will be much more expensive to repair and probably not as reliable.
The opposite of oil rags current post. In the past I have seen some things work that I would not have believed possible. Brake fluid poured into a carb at full throttle to free up the rings! A down draft carb with a blocked jet had the air filter removed, it was then revved up whilst someone gave a sudden slap to inlets (totally amazed that worked). There must be plenty of "personal ideas" out there (think its called the bumble bee principle). Read more
Four up in an old Ford, late at night in the middle of nowhere. It had overheated and no coolant visible in the rad. I'd done something earlier that day and had obviously forgotten to tighten a hose clip.
It was my turn to drive and the others had been drinking pints all night. Tightened clip and well, if it's good enough for boy scouts to use to put out camp fires...............
Hi,
Am about to plum for a 1.6 Petrol Picasso. Please don't try and disuade me...this decision has been hard to come by!
The question is, all things being equal..would you plum for a:
02 reg, 51k miles, 6 months MOT and no tax, 3 owners for £2kish, FSH
or
04 reg, 84k miles, short MOT and Tax, 3 owners, Cambelt done at 73k, Exhaust done, brakes done, FSH.
What do you reckon...?
Thanks all. Read more
I had two Picassos (both diesel however) and did 30K or so a year, I kept both for 100K+ and had no major issues with either.
Hi folks
first time poster but this forum has been amazing for answers to some questions recently.
I'm looking at a car listed as "2006 FORD FOCUS 1.6 TDCi Ghia 5dr [110] [Euro 4] Diesel Estate" and wondering if it's possible to tell from this if it will have a DPF fitted? Heard too many horror stories and as it's mileage suggests it may need a new filter in the next year or so, I don't want to have to fork out x£100s to get that sorted too.
Cheers Read more
HJ's Car by Car for the Focus has the answer- the 90bhp 1.6 does not, the 110 does, have a DPF....
When driving the car at normal road speeds, very occasionally I get a slight reduction in power and the speedometer drops to zero, this lasts for anywhere between 5 and 20 seconds, then full power returns and the speedo registers again, I would be very grateful if any body could indicate what causes this problem.
The car is a diesel 110 in good condition and has 120,000mls on the clock. Read more
Many thanks for your reply to my problem, I shall do as you suggest and will post the outcome, again, thanks.
My Berlingo now almost 8 years old, and I've just noticed that on the driver's side, there is some deterioration at the base of the rear sliding door. I've taken some pictures:
tinyurl.com/y8foh6z
tinyurl.com/yd259bg
Here, for comparison side, is the passenger's side. There is some slight deterioration, but it's not too bad:
tinyurl.com/yeunqrw
I've given it a wipe, and sprayed on some WD40.
Is there anything else I should do? And how concerned should I be? Read more
That's helpful, Dave. Many thanks.
I have a water leak just behind where the bottom hose joins into the front of the cylinder block (it's not actually the hose as this is fitted to a plastic pipe), when the motor is up to temp a 'jet' of steam appears around this area, there are three bolts holding the plastic pipe on. I'm guessing here but is this where the thermostat lives?
If I remove the plastic pipe what am I like to find?
Any help or advice gratefully received. Read more
Probably a failed or dislodged o-ring by the sounds of things :-) Possibly the plastic connector has split a little (overtightened?).
Hi The heater matrix went on the Passat soaking the carpets and filling the car with steam ! As a short term measure and until i can locate a replacment matrix i joined the pipes going into the matrix with a copper pipe.
Now the water dose not seem to be circling
around the engine !. The tempreture stays quite cold on short trips but gets hot on longer trips. Any ideas would be appreciated
Read more
Could it have an air lock ?
Hi Back Roomers,
I was just wondering whether everyone bothers with legal cover on their insurance policies or not?
Every year it seems to go up another £5 odd (now £25 on the policy I have just purchased) and it seems I have it on 2 car policies (1 in my name and 1 in the wife's), legal cover on the home insurance policy etc etc.
So is it worth having guys?
Thanks Read more
When that drug dealer run into the Passat i had. He was driving under the influence & uninsured amongst many other things.
Gave wrong address etc. When i eventually tracked him down, i instructed the legal service part of the insurance to recover my excess. What a waste of time. Fruitless. I think the words they used was he was a man of straw. Its your choice to take legal cover and the chance with it of getting owt.
When needed.
Browse
National search, well sort of
then flew to Heathrow and drove back to NI
its tough living in the provinces