December 2013
Hi,
Im panicking a bit here so would like some advice. I was reversing out of a bay on a car park when i may have touched the bumper of a car parked opposite me. I couldn't really judge how much room there was and am unsure but heard a bump but I'm not sure what it was. I had a look and there was no mark on either car so i thought it must have been nothing and drove off. I then started to worry so drove back but the car had gone, i don't know what to do now i didn't leave any details. Should i contact the police? Will i be prosecuted for leaving the scene of an accident? Read more
My son has a 59 plate Fiesta Titanium. His alloys have become buckled due to the developer not properly finishing the road/ pavement/driveway surface at his new build house, leaving an edge several inches high which he has to drive over to get to his property. He tells me that as a result, vibration through the steering wheel at speeds above 60mph has become horrendous. He intends to buy four steel wheels with tyres, discard the buckled alloys and replace them once the landlord has sorted out the kerb.
My question is this: the wheels he currently has fitted are 16 inch alloys with low profile tyres,and he's been told by a chap at a local scrapyard that 15 inch steel wheels would fit. Is this likely to be true?... Read more
Just make sure that whatever wheels you buy clear the calipers;15" should be OK-14" doubtful!
14" are OK and are one of the three options. A plate inside the passenger door gives the three (14, 15 & 16 inch) recommended wheel and tyre combinations and the recommended tyre pressures for each. In practice, I find 35psi all 'round is a good compromise in case of unexpected passengers - both on the 14" and 15" options. Still can't see why anyone would want to drive on 16"!...
Hi I've just bought a 2012 Blue Motion Passat estate, the advertised figures are around 51mpg/61mpg/72mpg, However I'm personally struggling to get above an average max best of 48mpg from a mixture of motorway and town driving. A full tank of diesel is costing me around £85, for which I've just got 570 miles from full to empty, personally I was expecting quite a bit more, am I expecting too much?... Can other Passat drivers with a similar 2.0 litre blue motion engine let me know your experiences fuel wise?
Having filled it up this morning it's now advising a range of 540 miles, and that is from Completley full.
Many thanks in advance. Read more
As a salesman of 25 years plus and constantly on the road it is a constant challenge to achieve mpg. I have driven nothing but Diesel motors since my 309 back in 1992, no turbo. Because of the way fuel is reclaimed, IE pence per mile, you need to be mindful to break even, possibly profit. Break even point was average 50 mpg, every mile per gallon above was profit, but in order to achieve this my driving style had to adapt. I found that harsh braking and rapid acceleration were very expensive, between lights etc, keeping revs below 2000 was a must, coasting down hills when ever possible.
This all sounds mundane stuff but once established is second nature, government figures are produced on sterile rolling roads with little resistance or onboard weight....
I've just had a bit of a saga with my 05 50k 1.3 duratec Ka cooling system and thought a few of my experiences might be useful to someone with this car.
First problem was a split header tank which is a regular problem leading to lost coolant and overheating. Fixed it and thena few months later overheating again in a major way. system ran out of coolant and light came on.... Read more
I have got to replace the engine on my 54 reg fiesta and I need to find the engine code and were to look for it as I want to make sure I get the right one if anyone can help thanks Read more
I tried etis as you suggested and it only gave me the details I already had.
Never gave me the engine code I forgot to say it was a 1.4 petrol.the reg is pk54oez and the vin is wfodxxgajd4d88304 if that is any help thanks.
Like an idiot I scraped my 3 series yesterday - all my own fault and nobody else to blame. It's resulted in probably a 3.5 inch scrape to the rear bumper that (taking it to a body shop) will probably necessitate bumper off and complete respray etc.
I'll probably go ahead and do that as I do like getting things done properly but someone suggested a smart repar (someone like ChipsAway etc) would do a good job for significantly less.... Read more
I have my own small bodyshop in central Scotland in which I do SMART repair, wheel rerefurbishments and accident damaged.
DO NOT USE (XXXX) FOR ANYTHING!!...
Friend of mine is looking to finally get rid of his ageing and problematic 307 (awful car!). He doesn't want to spend much more than £4K and needs a mid-sized estate car. The Toyota Avensis (T250 - 03>09) ticks many of the boxes - does anyone have any advice on which engine to go for and anything to look out for/anything they suffer with/engine type to avoid etc etc?
He doesn't want exciting - he just needs a reliable load lugger that will last and doesn't need constant attention. The car will be used predominantly around town on short runs. Read more
Robin, are you referring to the 2.2 dcat d4d? That is an awful engine. I have the 2.0 d4d and it is reliable so far after 6 years. I do 30k per year in mine and it's serviced every 10k with 5k oil changes. Toyota are staring to use BMW diesel units, not Mercedes Benz.
Hi, just want to check the spark plugs and coil packs on my VW polo 3 cylinder engine.
Is it safe to remove the spark plugs, attatch them back the to the coil packs and start the engine to check to see if I'm getting a spark on all 3? ... Read more
Timing chain problems and pencil coils failure are the usual suspects on these.never seen an injector fault on one of these.Also make sure you use the correct make/type spark plugs .
Hi I am concerned about my van, I know this is a car forum but I'm sure it will apply to all diesel engines. My van - '08 plate, 110k, seems to lack a bit of power, expect it to have about 20% more, no coolant leak, temp is fine,no mix of water /oil or anything. Had a gasket sniff test done - came back ok. No waring lights on so this is why I'm worried it might be a head gasket/engine crack problem. Is the next stage to have a compression test? Any advice? I had the expansion tank cap off earlier, and there were tiny bubbles - not many and like I said tiny, should I be concerned?
Thankyou - any advice greatly appreciated. Read more
Hi your right about the head problems no visible coolant leaks but they use water done about 5 had to replace the heads ss they were cracked pricey aswell as I believe they are still a dealer only part
Hi, I've recently bought (a few weeks ago) an Iveco daily van on an '08 plate, with 110k on clock. It cost me £7,500 plus VAT, from an independent dealer (the van was theirs from new - they hire out vehicles aswell). I am afraid though that it might have a serious engine problem as it seems low on power. There are no warning lights on so I am going to have a compression test done, if it comes back with low compression and I futher investigate to see whether it has a cracked head gasket/engine block, what chance do I have of rejecting the van?
I use it for work so I can't really not drive it. To be clear the power is not so low that it cannot be driven, but it is potentially indicative of a serious engine problem.... Read more
Just had the van in the Iveco garage again, they ran engine/balance test, and the cylinders were ok, the only thing that came up was the air intake quantity, which leads them to suspect a faulty EGR valve (or just a clogged one), so its going in today for a replacement valve, let you know how it performs then.
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Hear, hear. Many thanks DVD as ever.