I have decided that 75k on a 1.6 TDCi 110 is time to change the cam belt, better to be safe than sorry. I have done this on other vehicles without difficulty but can find no reference to use of a tension measurement tool in the Haynes manual (Aug 2009 edition). They imply that the engine's automatic tensioner will set the tension correctly and it does not need checking. Is this right or a major oversight in the manual?

FWIW I can find no mention in this manual of the use of a fault code reader. Not relevant to a cam belt change, of course, but surely this is an oversight.

Any views/thoughts on cam belt tensioning will be appreciated, as I no longer have a tension tool and would have to borrow one.
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Was killing an hour on the 'puter and looking at a well known car selling site, did some searching for dream buys. a few years back there was a local guy who blew 10 mil, and is now bust. He did the usual mega ferrarri etc, and was quoted at the time as being bored with nothing to do. His downfall was buying into a football team. Anyhow although I like cars I couldn't see myself going into six figure sums for any car no matter how good. So I looked at reasonable buys. Obviously a nice garage with a lift and nice tools would be a first buy, to keep the budget supercar nicely fettled, and goes without saying a large barrel of waterproof grease and same size brush to apply underneath as per Oilrags most sensible ideology. What I found was a nice Lotus Carlton, with a genuine 12k on the clock for 40k, and various lotus elite, both with good on-line owner sites to help keep nicely spannered. So just in case I win the big one on Friday can anyone point me in a similar direction must be below 6 fugures, discreet, and classy, no bling bling please, just class. Of course if I win, a similar will be purchased for whom who suggests the appropriate. Read more

Hi,
The tripmeter on my new Octavia 1.4TSi Elegance has just passed 1000 so high time I wrote a report. Overall I'm hugely impressed with it...
The engine is quite astounding. I would have got a diesel but had heard enough good things about this engine; the list price was so much lower than the diesel equivalent which made up my mind. Like Seant said about his Yeti, it doesn't feel like it's got a turbo, don't feel any lag, just a nice strong torquey diesel-like pull which means you can make brisk process on a very light throttle. And it is so smooth and quiet, cruises at less than 2500 rpm at 70 which makes it very relaxed indeed. Economy seems to be improving already, was only around 35mpg on early trips, but getting over 40 on 60 mile trips down the A3 which is about the same as I used to get in my Diesel C5. It's probably THE best thing about the car. I'm still driving it quite gently but I think it'll have a fair turn of speed if I need to floor it.
Handling is fine, it might not be as good as a Focus on the limit but, hey, it's a family hatchback so I don't drive it like that so I couldn't care less. Much less ponderous than the C5 was while the ride is very good too. Overall noise suppression is mostly fine, though I think this is the one aspect where it loses out to the Golf, it's quite susceptible to coarse road surfaces which kick up a bit of noise, though nowhere near as much as a Focus.
The interior is really excellent. Feels really solid and has an aura of class that's indistinguishable from the Golf. And has a far superior toy count over a Golf SE - dual zone climate control, parking sensors, electric folding mirrors, headlamp washers, quality touchscreeen stereo with an SD card slot, etc, etc.... I find the seats very good, the perfect blend of comfort and support.
As for the exterior, it's fine, looks handsome in Arctic Green (silver if you don't look too closely), and the headlights on dipped beam are amazingly good, that I hardly miss not having Xenons. And tyres that aren't so low profile that you risk kerbing the alloys.
I'm looking forward to a long and happy time together. In absolute terms, I think the Golf's a marginally better car but it costs 1000s more so hardly comparing like with like. At its price I think there's nothing to touch it. Read more

Are the car manufacturers open to being contacted for customer support type issues? If so, is this just open to customers who bought new and are still within warranty, or will technical support talk to customers outside warranty, second owners, classic car enthusiasts, etc? I imagine this could vary widely between makes, so would be interested to hear how BRers have got on if they've needed to make contact . . . Read more

I have a Nissan Note Connect 2009 with an MP3 connection.

When I plug my Sandisk Sansa Clip+ into the Note the system only recognises it about 1 time in 10.

Its been to the Nissan dealer who said my Mp3 will not be recognised on another car ; but his mechanics MP3 player was instantly recognised on my car.

So I tried returning the MP3 player to Currys, who swapped me for a new one - same problem - my Note will not recognice the MP3 player.

Does anyone have any ideas? IS there a lack of compatability between Sandisk and Nissan? Any ideas, please? IS there some special way to get the Note to notice the USB connection?

Thank you Read more