February 2010
I never thought I'd see the day but my dad has gone and bought a new car.
The scrappage deal proved too tempting so he has ditched his reliable M reg Rover 216 and also part ex'd the 2005 Fabia for a Hyundai I30. He's gone for the 1.4 petrol hatchback.
I always thought he'd run the old Rover into the ground but a shiny new car with 5 year warranty was too big a carrot to resist.
He picks it up on Thursday having ordered it a fortnight ago so at least he hasn't had to wait long.
Lets hope it proves as reliable as the Rover as I suspect he'll keep this one forever.
Goodbye Rover...sniff, its been nice knowing you Read more
Saw a new Discovery this morning. On trade plates so probably on his way to the factory.
Words fail me . . . Read more
DRLs
I am reliably informed by my teenage son that the correct terminology for these is 'fairy lights'.
Hi I hope this helps others with my find! I have had this problem with the car going into limp mode (re-sets its self when switched off), after 2 years of putting up with it and putting redex in the diesel I changed the air flow meter, boost control valve and all the vacuum pipes with no change. Last week I pulled the vacuum pipe off the turbo and sucked it (no jokes!) like trying to suck a stone through a straw then I heard a metallic click and like a rusty creaking sound. After doing this a few times it was easier to suck lol and you could here the sound with every time. When taking the car for a test drive what a difference power all through the rev range rather than just high boost for 2000rpm then dropping off. I hope this helps other people as I have spent hours reading about this fault and the cost others have gone through with garages telling people they need a new turbo! Mine was an easy fix but others might not be, one thought if you could make a vacuum stronger than the one used to open the vains on the turbo then this could free it up without having to suck the pipe or strip the turbo? Read more
I use some injector leak off hose (thick walled runbber tubing approx. 3 mm bore), and a couple of plastic (nylon?) screenwasher hose connectors. These are male/male. One of these fits into the vacuum hose leading down to the turbo, then a length of inj leak off hose is attached to that. Finally the pump is connected to the inj leak off hose by the remaining connector. The bicycle pump is one of those have a valve connector on the side of the pump at its base. The valve connector has a thumbwheel to tighten the valve connector onto the valve.
Hope this is understandable!
sold my first car at auction 1/02/10 , i put for sale my 1999 fiesta 1.25 zetec , really good condition , 78k,timing belt done , serviced and 5 months remaining r/tax 4 months mot,all mot certificates since its first one, i got the sum of £425 , phoned the auctions later in the evening they told me i would be recieving £333 after there deductions , i was quite surprised at the amount they charged, i would have tried selling it online/advertised locally but my replacement car arrived the same day and i only have room to park one car, so to go back to my subject heading this is the industry to be in, £92 from me and whatever premium the buyer had to pay aswell ,all makes for a really nice profit for not a lot of input Read more
After recent delivery of my new car I wanted an easy way to sell the old one so immediately decided to use BCA. My target was to pull in £1500 clear. Looked at the BCA charges and a bit taken aback to see they would want almost £250 in fees so it would have to make £1750 under the hammer.
At that price I think the buyer would end up paying about £1900 inc premium/fees.
Looked at the other way if it's true max value was £1500 then a buyer at auction would have likely stopped at £1350 to allow for premium and I'd have received £1100.
I thought if anyone would pay getting on for £1900 at auction they'd be over the moon to buy it from me direct at £1500 and within hours of mentioning it to my indy who'd serviced it they'd found a buyer at that price and they didn't want any cut.
Hi
I have a problem with an estate tailgate following a mat being shut into mechanism
When this happened I could not open the boot either by central locking key or by drivers door switch or by touchpad
Fortunately I was able to open tailgate by using key hole above number plate
When I got the mat out I thought all was well as boot closed Ok but ...
Touchpad is inoperative, drivers door boot switch works but only partly unlocks [secondary catch still holds semi closed] and central locking key "boot button" makes indicater lights flash as normal but does not open boot? [or if it does microswitch touchpad is inoperative -eitherway theres no usual clunk of unlocking mechanism]
Whilst all other doors work normally, central locking with key , alarm setting etc. the boot can only be opened fully by key hole above number plate.
Is there a fuse that affects part of the locking system? or does the above suggest failure of locking components?
Any comments gratefully recieved
Best regs
Wick Read more
hello, the steering wheel is out of line by one or two splines, can i remove it without getting involved with the air bag setup, if not what am i dealing with thanks in advance john Read more
wow! thankyou
Hi I have a car which I wanted to sell befored buying new but things didn't go to plan and I ended up buying a new car before the old was sold. I have now switched my insurance to the new car and can not tax the old vehicle online because of this. The tax ran out today on the old car so I Sorned it to be safe. I'm now worried that the car will be more difficult to sell because it's not taxed.
If I go to the post office with the insurance document for the old car will they tax it and could I get in trouble for doing so? I am not planning on driving the car again.
Any help appreciated Read more
You can legally tax a car using an insurance certificate that expires the second after you have purchased the tax. It only has to be valid at the start of the tax period. Even a cancelled insurance policy still provides cover up to the point of cancellation.
The complication in questions like this is surely that whereas insurance runs to the minute, and cannot be backdated, road tax only runs in discrete monthly chunks, and can be backdated. If you buy a new car mid way through a month and want to tax it straight away, you get a disc dated from the first of the month.
The fundamental question is whether the insurance has to be effective on the first day of the tax, or the date of purchase. If you have insurance that expires on say 15th, you can I think buy a disc on the 14th which will be dated from the 1st.
But can you still do that on the 16th?
Hi
Anyone know where I can find a simple list of all cars that are 120g/km CO2 or less? I've tried googling but can't really find a simple list that isn't full of drop downs and other categories.
I'm guessing the new Polo GTi will not be on that list, but here's hoping. :(
Thanks in advance! Read more
Sorry - I only looked at the first list! Some good ones there, jbif.
Executive model - Front fog lights have developed a mind of their own, working randomly and coming on when parked.
I'd like to replace the relay - can someone please point me to where it it located?
Thanks. Read more
I am still on the original set of coolant hoses & although they appear to be in good condition I think it is about time they were changed.
As some of them are in an awkward possition for access I would like a few tips on the easiest way to go about it.
Does removing the radiator with attached hoses help ? Read more
Thinking about it again wasnt your one the CVH engine which is a bit different to my Zetec unit.
Browse
...he bass, mid-range and treble controls were all set to maximum (10)...
Quality audio components have no tone controls, or a bypass switch.
A lot of car tone controls run from -5 to 0 to 5+.
To achieve the sound as broadcast/recorded, best to set everything to 0 and only change it if you really, really, feel you absolutely really want to.