December 2011
As the wiper blades on my Astra H estate are getting noisier, I made some enquiries regarding replacements. They seemed to vary from around £30 a pair to the £41 asked by my local vauxhall main dealer - a bit steep, I thought, for a couple of glorified strips of rubber.
I came across 'ALCA super-flat wiper blades' on e-bay for £16.99 a pair, and wonder if anyone has any experience of them - I'd never heard of them before. Do they do the job, are they easy to fit etc? Any comments will be gratefully received.... Read more
I have had a Octavia Diesel since February 2010. It is now beginning to have a rumbling gearbox, but it has always had a tendency to have a stutter on the power delivery, and tends to lose power slightly intermittently (as if the brakes have been lightly applied), and fuel consumption has gradually dropped.
I was thinking of removing the DPF and turning off the pressure sensors etc. Anyone any experience of this, and the supply of a DPF "can" so I can refit the original if necessary.
Would it still pass the MOT with the DPF removed? Read more
time but you will without doubt invalidate the warranty
Yes as soon as you interfere with the ECM, the manufacturer can duck out of any engine, clutch, or grearbox claim....
Hoping someone here can help. I had a new flywheel and clutch in my VW Golf Plus (55 plate) just over 12 months ago at 40k miles. The work was done at the main dealer and cost over £1k. I am now having problems with reverse gear - every time I reverse the gear slips out, particularly noticeable on any slight incline but happening more and more.
I have booked the car in and the main dealer said that if it's a problem related to the flywheel replacement then I don't have to pay the inspection fee and if it's non-related I do. The advice I'm after is basically this - can anyone with a more mechanical mind than I have (not hard!) make a guess at whether this can be anything but a related problem?... Read more
It is a gear linkage problem that they did not get right or have come loose since they re-fitted the gear box. Regards Peter
Never any problems, now suddenly occasionally won't start, but left for a few minutes will. It's in the garage so not exceptionally cold or damp.
Battery's ok, fuel pump's pumping I can hear it. The engine management light stays on then the "Stop " light flashes, other electrics work.... Read more
New starter motor has cured it. £80 off ebay including postage. I took the old one apart, the motor looks ok so I guess the solenoid's had it. Annoying that they're not available separately.
I have read a few reports of rainwater and road spray entering the air intake and wetting the air filter on a Fiat Panda. Mine is a multi-jet diesel 2007. The air inlet is behind the radiator grill to the right of the nearside headlight. The entrance is protected only by the perforated rad grill so inevitably rain and spray enter. WORSE. If the car is parked 'looking uphill', rain water runs down the bonnet and drips into the air intake. WORSE STILL, there is a raised bar running horizontally across the radiator grill - if the car is parked looking uphill, snow, sleet, hail and ice will collect on and above the bar and on the grill. When the accumulation melts, the melt***er runs straight into the air intake, thence to the air filter and air filter box and from there to the engine - potentially disastrous. ALWAYS PARK ON THE FLAT. ANtone know of a modification - a few simple ideas come to mind - to solve this problem. Car retrurns 66 mpg+ with single occupant, driven carefully and in neutral wherever possible Read more
Get yourself an electric 500e. None of these water issues. Mines been just superb for coming up to four years now. Make a cracking used car for someone.
Hi,
I got a Nissan micra 53 which only has 40000 miles. Recently, I found the gears (1st, 2nd and 3rd) were hard to change when I started the car, sometimes the reversal gear too. But, this situation became better once I drove for a while. I was woundering the fluid has some problems. My car are normally parked outside during the cold night so that I would guess the fluid becomes thick and thin once the car has been warmed up.... Read more
I would have the gearbox oil changed for a synthetic oil. I have dione this hundreds of times for customers where gear change is difficult cold. Its a great cure and make gear changing much smoother.
You say reverse is difficult sometimes, does it crunch ? if so its a clutch related issue.If reverse wont select but doesnt crunch just let the cluctch up and back down again to spin the gears up in the box as reverse doesnt have a synchro and sometimes the gears just butt up head on hence the difficulty....
Having agonised over a new (2nd hand new that is) car for a few months I have to make a choice this week betrween a 59 plate Focus 1.8 TDci and a 58 plate Volvo S40 2.0D S.
I like the way they both drive, the Focus probably having the edge in terms of excitement (let's face it you'd never call a Volvo exciting would you?) but the S40 feels like a solid motor that you could run forever. Both have approx 28k miles and are immaculate.... Read more
Had two focus's from new
1.8TDCi paid £1952 repair bill for fault garage were NEVER able to find sold car back to Ford dealer who sold it to auctio...
I brought an ex demo Golf MK6 in April this year, it had done around 9000miles.
The car has just done 20000 miles when on Tuesday the car lost all gears all of the sudden. It was towed to the garage and the outcome is that the pressure relief plate has overheated and to replace it is going to cost just under £1000. This should not happen on a car of this age that is well looked after.... Read more
Hi Chris
How did you get on with your faulty clutch, i have a 59 reg golf 1.4TSI 6 speed from new i noticed that the clutch was very stiff to operate compared with my previous golf Mk 5 and i thought that even when the clutch was fully depressed with the car in gear it would creep forward, this was checked by the dealer and they said that they could find nothing wrong. I have now done about 28 thousand miles and yesterday the word clutch came up on the dashboard display, i will be calling the dealer tomorrow to see what this means...
My daughter has a Hyundai i10 on a 59 plate and when the engine is idling there is an intermittent whirring noise (rather like an electric motor running) which I cannot trace having considered all the likely things it could be.
Would be grateful if anyone has come across this and if so what causes the noise.... Read more
When was the recall please? I spent a couple of weeks hunting this down in April this year and told the garage when it went in for its service. That's when they said "Oh we know what that is, it's the switch". They replaced it FOC under warranty.
What is the best way to get all the accumulated muck out from behind plastic wheel arch liners?
A thorough blasting with a petrol station jetwash didn't seem to achieve much.... Read more
They must be pretty rubbish plastic wheel arch liners if there is accumulated mud behind them!
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I bought some from here www.carcare4me.co.uk and got to say there just as good as the Bosch ones that I usually buy at a cheaper price, bargain!