April 2010
I know this has been discusse before, but.......Wow!....insurance costs for 17 yr olds!! My son will be 17 this summer and I would like to insure him on either his own car (looking at group1 or 2 cars) or as an additional driver on a slightly higher grouped car belonging to me.
Quotes coming in at £2,050 for a group 1 car with pass plus succesfully completed.... Read more
Hi,
Planning a two week trip to Canada in August to visit Son-in-Law and new baby. They live about 30 miles SE of Ottawa. We’ve never been to that part of the world and would like to do some exploring as well. Any suggestions for places to tour/experience/stay in/eat at, Niagara Falls being one destination we would probably visit. Guess we’ll plan on one or two “road trips” within the two weeks.... Read more
Like previous posters have mentioned Niagara is painfully tacky. I worked in Canada for a while but always resisted the temptation till i took my wife back for our honeymoon. We stayed over when all we should have really done was see the falls, do the boat trip and leave.
As mentioned Niagara on the lake is very nice and choc ful of wineries and beautiful little resturants to visit....
My 2002 C3 has been almost problem-free until this Spring when the front windscreen wipers failed. Then we had a cracked windscreen, followed by a stress-cracked windscreen 3 days after the original replacement. The second replacement took place in rain and a strong wind. AutoWindscreens erected an awning to protect their work, but when I used the car a few hours later I was dismayed to find that the speedo was reading nought as I accelerated down the road. Later I found that the speedo would start working inexplicably from time to time, together with the mileometer, but it never functioned for more than a few hours.
I wondered whether Autowindscreens inadvertantly, or some stray drops of rain blowing under the awning might have been responsible, but Autowindscreens disclaimed responsibility. So I took it to my local garage, who are usually good. They did everything they normally do to a speedo cable, but to no avail, and the speedo failure is now total, rather than intermittent.
Has anyone else experienced this failure of a digital speedo display, and if so do you know a remedy? Read more
Having had a look around the dealers I decided to have a closer look at my Omega which may be suffering terminal problems. It started losing a small amount of water some weeks ago but I was unable to find the cause. Last week it became much worse and it was suggested to me it was not worth bothering as with no obvious leak there was an internal proble. Investigation showed water getting into No. 2 (from front). It is missing and if you run it with the plug out you get clouds of steam. I have beeen told that if it is the head it is not really viable (12 y.o. - value maybe £500) but may be worth looking at if it is the head gasket. Is there a way of diagnosing this as I want to avoid paying to have the head lifted just to scrap it.... Read more
Still getting some quotes so I can decide what to do. The head gaskets do seem a problem. I spoke to someone who brought an Astra (8 y.o.?). They spotted some "mayo" when they checked it over - dealer had to replace head gasket, skim head, replace cambelt, pulleys and water pump before delivery.
I have a 14 month old 2.2 Diesel x type auto and have noticed occasionally the engine will diviate from its usual rock solid idle of 750rpm and jumps to about 900rpm but is also irratic. When this fault condition occurs it is also accompanied with odd behaviour like slight lack of imediate power when putting your foot down and also uncharacteristic gear changes.
Any advise would be appreciated. Cheers Read more
Thanks for advise, I'll give it a good blow and see what happens.
Cheers
Hi,
just wondering if anyone can tell me what a reasonable cost for replacing the timing belt on a 2004 MK V Golf (I think 2004 is MK V anyway) should be. The tensioner belt will also be replaced at the same time.... Read more
Seems like am getting a good deal at around £200 then.
Hi,
Car failed MOT on emissions... Read more
Hello
My daughter recently drove into our garage door, now along with a large dent it makes a rather unpleasant sound when it opens.... Read more
Surely you can fix this yourself. If you push out the dent it may help to realign the door itself. Garage doors usually run along fixed rails with a bogey wheel attached to either side of the door frame and these locate into the rails. They may be out of line and require some adjustment. It is basically a meccano set. The other type is the spring coil. Again the force of the impact may have misaligned the frame and the springs are contorted. It should be a simple fix unless your daughter is a proficient 'ram raider'. However if you call out the 'experts' be prepared for open wallet surgery!! I would suggest a small physical hump about 2 metres from the door to warn drivers they are close to the garage door. Rubber ones are available at motoring stores. This may prevent a repeat occurrence.
Cheers Concrete
I have a N reg 1.6 Astra estate that has problems starting occasionally. She will start from cold but not when the engine is warm. we sometimes have to wait anytime between 30 mins & 2 hours for her to start, problem first started when Tesco's had their dodgy petrol but resolved itself, problem has started again but it doesnt do it everytime, it spent 3 days in the garage and surprise surprise it was fine, We have even called the RAC out but it started before they got there - I didn't think of it until now but I had a Bedford Rascal with the same problem, Vauxhall did a massive recall on them and resolved the problem but cant remember what they did as that was years ago now - anyone out there got any ideas
thanks Lydia
Read more
Gents, how much can you expect to knock off windscreen price on 2nd hand car between 6-7k?
Would be paying cash. Read more
John - it's simply a matter of supply and demand. If the dealer thinks he can get the full price (because there's lots of interest in the car, or in that make generally) then he'll hold out for it.
But if it's a car that is sticking around (yukky colour, no a/c, too high a mileage etc) he'll budge in order to shift it....
Browse
I am on my daughers policy it did make it a bit cheaper.