July 2011
Hi all
New to the site!... Read more
Hi posting on behalf of my elderly father. 2 wks ago his car wouldn't start when he came out of the supermarket, drove there fine. called aa who sprayed it with quick start and advised he take it to main dealer to be checked over. this was on the friday. ford had the car over the weekend and rang him on monday to say it was a problem with the glow plug wiring, one of the glow plugs had broken and would cost over £400 to fix. if this was the case, could he have driven it to the garage with a broken plug? sounds like they broke it trying to get it off but of course i cannot prove this! had to pay ford £250 for the diagnotic. gets worse ..... dad decided to ring halfords autocentre for a 2nd opinion and they said they could do it cheaper and would pick his car up and fix it. week 3, they have today rang to say the plugs have been changed at a cost of £800 but still the car won't start. halfords are now ordering a part for the exhaust (!) to try on monday at an additional cost of £100. Bill now over £1000 .....i am worried how far they are going with this. i know nothing about cars and my dad even less so would really appreciate some help and advice. hate to think he's being taken for a ride. many thanks ! Read more
Glowplugs are not generally required for cold starting in ambient temperatures above about 10C.
Assuming your father left the car in the supermarket for only an hour or two, it must have been warm when he tried to restart it-so no glow plug cycle would be required....
It is not a cheap trip on EuroTunnel if you end up damaging an alloy wheel, or take a chunk out of the sidewall of your tyre when you drive on or off the carriage.
The problem is the upper deck carriages, where at either end the ramp narrows and the metal kerb is higher. If you are unfortunate enough to be directed towards the upper deck, you enter from the side and after making a tightish turn, then you have a steep ramp ahead of you with the nose of the car pointing at the ceiling. Normally there should be red marker posts where the ramp narrows, but often these are not in place. If you pass through the plastic posts and your wing mirrors clear them, you should be OK, but there is still the chance you might whack the metal kerb either side.... Read more
Well I have just heard from EuroTunnel and they have agreed to reimburse me for a new alloy wheel and tyre. Excellent customer service by the way.
Hi I've a Vectra C Estate CDTi SRI 150 (2008/58)
I've just got a brake light warning come on and found out which light it was, yes one of the hardest to get too! In the tail gate. Well got to it and found the bulb intact. Checked it with a voltmeter nothing wrong. Put a new (correct type) spare bulb in and same problem. Tried another bulb, even switched one of the other bulbs that were working still no joy. Purchased another bulb as I heard that the bulbs need to be the exact type as the Vectra is sometimes tempramental still no joy. Now thinking its a garage job but before I pass it over does anyone know of this problem and can it be fixed or does it require a garage to investigate and rectify?... Read more
brake lights on vectra c est are in quater panel not tail gate these are tail lamps check bulb holder burnt out clean with small screwdriver and bent towards bulb slightly
My car battery was flat a couple of mornings ago. On further investigation it seems that this was caused by the cooling fan running on and then not switching off over night.
A diagnostic test at Kwik Fit has identified an intermittent fault on a 'coil' adjacent to the radiator cooling fan. He has got a price for the part from Peugeot and has told me it will cost £157 to repair. He also did a reset on the system and has indicated that this might sort the problem for a while at least.... Read more
if you have the 1.6 hdi 110 not the 2 litre it is common for the cooling fans to run for up to 10 minutes after switching off the ignition depending if a regeneration was taking place for the FAP even after a short trip.it is designed to cool the fap and cat. there is a download for the engine ecu availible for some variants which makes the fan run on slow speed instead of high speed,if you have a weak battery it is possible for the fan on high speed to flatten the battery in 10 minutes. It may be that the combined fan relay and resistor next to the fan is sticking which will also cause the fan to stay on,also if the download is carried out the part number of the relay unit will have to be checked as it may need to be replaced anyway to be compatible with the new software.
Our MX5 fails to start after a couple of days if it hasn't been driven. It appears as if something is draining the battery. We did have a faulty radio that would sometimes not switch off and I disconnected the radio hoping this was the problem but the problem still exists. I have tried 2 different batteries but still had the same problem. I have checked the power coming into the battery when the engine is running and I get over 14 volts.
Does anybody know how I could check the system to see if some thing is draining the battery or any other suggestions would be very welcome.... Read more
IIRC the number plate lights come on to illuminate the boot when the lid is open and the battery's in the boot. Don't be misled.
Hi,
A couple of years ago I bought a VW Camper. Never had any issues with getting Insurance, MOT, or Tax. ... Read more
Am I right in thinking that you bought a car ,had an HPI check done when you bought it ,that was clear?
Has The same car has now been registered as a total loss claim.
If that's the case ,it may be you can claim against the company who did the HPI check for you.
Some of the hpi companies offer insurance free of charge against this problem.
Tony g
Does anyone know how to remove the dipstick pipe on a corsa c 1.0 12v 2003 (Z10XE engine), where it enters the sump/engine block? Ive heard its just meant to pull out but that it can be quite difficult? Is it easy or not? Any help would be greatly appreciated Read more
Yeah, they're supposed to just pull out.
Engine I bought, pipe was all bent, but would it come out? Would it heck. I battered it and pulled it all ways until I gave up....
iv just bought this vehicle, i have have driven it around a few times but not too far but now it has started to not fire up on ignition??? is this the spark plugs? it has its moments when it wants to start?
but then on another occasion we tried to start it there was this popping kind of sound then some smoke coming from the drivers side of the engine? what could this be?... Read more
My VW Polo 1.4TDi (year 2000) will not start. When i turn the ignition key the glowplug/heater light in the dash does not come on and the car does not start. When the light does come on the car starts. I have changed the relay. It also appears to happen more in the heat. This morning the car started in the drizzle but hasnt worked for 4 days in the hot.
... Read more
Hi I know this was a while ago now, but did you resolve this? If so, what was done please?
Thanks,...
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Hi I resolved this problem by trading the car in and buying a Renault Clio with 20k on the clock. Went (NOT FOR THE FIRST TIME) to a very reputable dealer HPL in Prestwich who gave me £1.5 k for the car minus the cost of repairs. Apparantly it was £30 to repair the key so I was delighted to gert £1470 for what was effectively a non-runner.I think you need to go to a shop/pgarage that specialises in key repairs.Suggest ask around the garages and ask whoever does your MOT. If you are in the Greater Manchester area Alan Quine long established auto shop in Whitefield may be able to do it.