July 2010
Hello, I am proper gutted.
Only had my car 11 months and in the past month the radio has died ( sony one, so not really the cars fault), then it went into the dlrs to have the heated wing mirrors replaced, which took a week!!... Read more
Hi all,
My mum is possibly going to be buying a 2006 MINI Cooper S R53 tomorrow. We viewed it today and it seems to be in immaculate condition. It's only done just over 30,000 miles and drives like new.... Read more
Shell fuel stations are advertising new improved regular fuel coming soon.
Does anyone have any news of what exactly this means ? Read more
I think to be `scientific` about it tho - the driver is best not knowing what fuel is in the tank..
Any thoughts on that?
Hi,
I recently sold my Citroen C4 petrol (55reg) to make way for a diesel for my new commute. It needed to be large enough for our little'un as well so I started looking at saloon range cars, Audi A4, Peugeot 407 etc. So I came across a Jag X Type which fits the bill and I have always always wanted a Jag.... Read more
Good luck with your purchase.
After getting my car MOT'd i got pointed out to me that the sump on my Micra was corroded and leaking oil slowly.
After having a look at it and the opinion of two tech's from work they told me that the bolt connecting the manifold to the exhaust covering the sump was broke and would open up a can of worms potentially needing drilled out to remove it.... Read more
Are you sure the exhaust has to be removed to remove the sump?
From what I remember from oil changes on my daughters P reg 1Litre,the exhaust pipe is on the transmission end of the sump & it looks like there is room for the sump to come off. I dont remember if this car was a cat version or not....
My VW Golf is 5 years old and last service the garage suggested I think about a cambelt change. Can anyone give me a rough idea how much this will cost before I go out into the wild world and get royally ripped off?!
We need a bit more info on engine size please. Do these fairly regularly and range between 1.5 hours for the 1.4-1.6 8-valve to 3-4 hours for the all singing GTi and Turbo. Allow for replacement water pump and fresh coolant.
Elo,
Just wanted to know if this is normal or not when buying a new car. At the end of March 2010 I purchased the above car and was told I would have it by the end of April, when April came and went I was told I would have it by the middle of July. Yesterday I was called and was told I could pick it up today, great! After a 15 minute drive with the radio playing, all of a sudden it turned itself off, as I was on the A40 and starving I carried on driving as I thought I would see to it when I got home. Big mistake. I called the dealer and he said that he couldn't figure out why I had this problem, I also noticed that when I called a mobile number through the Bluetooth that the person on the other side could hear me but I couldn't hear them through the speaker. I have since taken it back for an inspection and they can only suggest that they will have to remove the stereo and replace it with another one, but get this, apparently they want to take this one out send it to the factory and then send me a new one which means I will have a gaping hole for about 10 days until the replacement one comes in. I have also noticed that you really need to slam the driver’s door to get it shut but not any other door; I have since found out that apparently this is a common problem. All very bonkers. I also filled the diesel 2.0 CRDI tank and within 40 miles the petrol gage had already lost a bar, is this right? If it is then it looks like I will be lucky to get 120 miles out of a tank! Please advise as I might try and get a refund, which would be a shame as it is a nice car to drive. Read more
I'm hoping someone here can help.
At the weekend I replaced the steering rack on my 1999 Focus tddi as it was showing signs of wear (sloppy, morning sickness, black fluid). The steering is now much improved except that there is now about 1-2 inches of play in the steering wheel plus a little bit of wandering that wasn't there before. Although I was fairly confident in doing the job, I assumed that I had done something wrong, and took it to a garage and asked them to check it. The said that they thought the rack was faulty and I should return it to where I bought it. So, I started to remove the rack and got that sinking feeling of a subframe bolt turning, but not actually coming out of the hole. I know I will have to get this sorted, but speaking to the mechanic who looked at the rack, he told me that it is possible to remove the rack without dropping the subframe.... Read more
Hi, have suspected this for a while now but would appreciate your opinions and experience. It's the Z12XEP engine by the way, chain driven.
Hi, bought the car beginning of June and noticed a very very small amount of creamy oil under the filler cap, did some long runs in the car and sure enough the problem went away (I do about 15 miles each way to work and back every day). Most of the time the temp gauge sits ever so slightly below the middle mark, but it does seem to easy to push it above. 2-3 mins or so of idling in trafffic or say a minute of driving uphill doing 30 will cause it to go over the middle mark and it will keep rising until the fan comes on if idling. Is this normal behavior for these engines? As I recall having one a few years back and the temp gauge never fluctuated this much, especially going over 90C when driving along. Also some slight hesitation when accelerating on cold start in the morning. Funny thing is it doesn't use a drop of coolant, can't see a film of oil in the header tank, can't really check if the oil level is going up as the last muppet filled it above the max mark on the last service but oil in the sump is not creamy at all. I'm aware of other issues with this car (cue the typical GM c*** remarks) but not head gaskets. Just wanted to catch it before it does any lasting damage. Thanks in advance for your time and sorry for the essay! Read more
This hapned to me but my car became v hot fan kicked in and car cut off only yesterday evening! Rung RAC came out n checked car sed it was fine took an hour half for them to get there! I was worried it was head gasket my car got platinum cover from dealership but I goter pay 70 quid for a diagnostic I'm scared incase I get stuck somewhere or even worst I damage my car! Going in on monday I will keep u posted but a temp shud not go over 90 mine went 150 n that was at 30mph!
A relation recently gifted me a set of old 14inch alloys, my steel wheels were 15inch.
I'm glad to have gone down a size because I've always felt that the 15inch steel wheels and 195/60 r15's were too close to the wheel arch.... Read more
Stick in 40 all round and you're right to go.
Tyre pressures are a compromise between contact area and feel, grip and sensitivity, comfort and handling. Ignore what the makers say, it's personal preference....
Browse
That's good to know that you got it all sorted out. I spoke to my local MINI dealer today and they sugested that I contact the MINI dealership where the car has been looked after for the last 4 years and ask them to stamp it all up to date.
I've heard about MINI service books being available for sale, as well as fake ones. It's really important to phone the places where the car has been serviced to have it confirmed; I'll always do that in the future from now on when buying a used car. When I phoned BMW MINI before buying the car they were extremely helpful and listed all the services the car has ever had done....