I have a focus estate with 162K on the clock that I am running into the ground. The garage who are MOTing it next week want to know whether the timing belt has been changed? I.e. if not they want to do it. I vaguely remember the dealer saying that the timing belt had just been done when I bought the car at 90K miles 4 years ago.

But if I am wrong, it is obviously way overdue for a change. However, I dont want to spend a large amount of money on the car which could effectively die on me tomorrow and need replacing, whether that be due to a snapped timing belt or something else.

So my query is, if the timing belt has survived this long, would any of you think its worth me getting it changed at this late stage or should I just leave it and just keep driving, providing it passes its MOT?

Cheers

Read more

We bought the above car from new two years ago last feb, loved the car in March the big ends went in engine,it was under warrant Renault replaced the engine, then the turbo went less than a week later Renault replaced the turbo, then the turbo went again less than a week later,renault replaced the turbo again, then yes turbo went again, this time Renault replaced turbo again, much to our amazement, and something to do with the cat, and offered us £125 renault vouchers as a "gesture" which we were very disappointed at and didn't accept, and now, two weeks later, turbo has gone yet again so back to the garage it has gone, over the last 3 months we must have had the car for 3 weeks in total fumes and all- what can we do, have lost all faith in car, surely it must need another new engine, we are totally fed up and to be honest don't want the car back now- any one know what we can do if anything? Read more

You'll have to bear with me on this one. This is my first car, and I haven't had chance to pick up the owners manual yet (literally been driving it for 5 days). Its a 2003 Peugeot 206 1.4 lx, had a lot of work done to it over the last year or so by a mechanic who sold me the car himself such as new clutch, tyres etc. Car runs fine, so far as I can tell from my experience in a car this far. Only issue is the double warning beep which happen every 15/20 minutes or so, and I have really no idea what I should be looking for. A bit worrying when I don't know what it is, if it's potentially reporting a fault. There seems to be a red light on the dash, above the oil temperature gauge. I'm not sure if that's normal either? Basically, how do I go about diagnosing this one? A good place to start even? Browsing around forums, warning beeps seem to be a particularly irritating issue with the 206, especially since the beep sometimes occurs when there is no fault. I'm sure i'll be a bit more confident with issues like this once I've got some real driving time in, but right now I'd rather not take the chance and just ignore it. Any ideas? Thanks! Read more

I've on the hunt for a decent Vivaro/Trafic/Primastar panel van with under 100k on the clock and have found a suitable '05 vivaro at a small 2nd hand dealer which looks great, however the engine was completely replaced at 60k and it's now done a further 60k again. From the dealers point of view that's only 60k on the engine but not having any experience with vans should one be wary when one of these engines have been replaced/reconditioned or is it a plus point as long as the rest of the van is in good nic?

massive thanks in advance for any help.... Read more

Driving on the m'way this afternoon, I spotted a Saab parked up on the hard shoulder, bonnet open. A man shaking his head at it. It made me feel a bit sad. They seem to be starting to drop in price slightly in the used market (well, in my region anyway).

I have been tempted to go and look at one but part of my brain tells me to just avoid them....!... Read more