April 2014
Does anyone know what make/model of car caught fire at Longleat? The issue was recently reported in the news.
I'm guessing it was French, probably a Renault Espace. I know a few of those that have spontaneously combusted. Read more
this morning.
Had to work today, just part of my strange but enjoyable shift pattern, so was up at dawns crack and left the yard at 04.15.... Read more
Chester to Portmadoc last summer, leaving at 06:30 on a perfect blue day. Almost nothing on the roads - A5104, A5 to PentreFoelas, then over the top into Ffestiniog. Memorable. Almost a repeat on the way back, same evening.
I recently bought a Seat Leon 1.6 diesel automatic from a Seat dealer. It is 11 months old (latest model) and has only covered 2,600 miles. Should I have it serviced in a month's time, or should I wait until it has covered more miles? It was initially registered to Seat UK and hardly covered any mileage with them. Read more
VAG are notorious for changing the servicing requirements, seemingly, on a whim.
e.g. Timing Belt change intervals which can vary with country. ...
My mx5 has just suffered connecting rod failure. It's done 90k miles and is 7 years old. It has a full Mazda service history. It has never been on a track day or anything like that.
This seems an unusually catastrophic failure for a car of this age. I have no idea what my options are and also whether I should have any expectation of Mazda looking into this further.
Any advice on what my options are would be greatly appreciated.
Mike
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Mazda petrols are usually bullet proof. Charles trent do engines for £150 but you have to remove yourself.
Worth putting another engine in.
SWIMBO has just been pulled over by someone who was parked (black BMW) in a laybe who stepped out in front of her (i.e into the lane) and pointed a speed gun at her. He then basically waved her to pull over by standing in front of the car.
He then told her she was speeding (34 in 30) but would 'let her go' and warned her the limit was now 30 rather than the 40 it used to. She then drove home but as soon as I heard this I was very concerned - he was in a black unmarked car, dressed in black trousers and black shirt with no ID, offered no ID or name and was on his own.... Read more
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On 20/12/13 we took delivery of a Merc Sprinter used van on an 09 plate, having done just over 48 thousand miles from Anchor Vans Reading on finance. Came with a 3 month/3000 miles warranties whichever came first. Husband uses it for his local delivery job involving newspapers and magazines via Smiths News.....a 7 night a week contract, so the miles creep up quickly.
Tuesday morning 15th April the van failed.....banging and then the clutch went. He was AA'd to local Merc van dealership where his vans have always been serviced. They diagnosed the shattered clutch and broken fly wheel and ordered parts in for it.....we hired a replacement so husband could carry out Wednesday mornings work....as previously said the contract is 7 nights a week. On putting everything back together on Weds evening and a bill of 1,500 the van was started and a terrible knocking could be heard and an awful vibration. ... Read more
Van purchased 20.12.13 and fault developed 15.04.14 - so approx 4 months
Like many towns the town I live in is soon to get a 20mph speed limit, which has been the subject of debate in our local on line forum, some roads already have them. Many people who post say they are in forth or fith gear while at 30mph, at 30mph I am in third with the engine reving at just over 2000RPM and second at 20mph.
So curious, what gear are you in at 30 or is my driving technique bad.... Read more
I thought you had same 1.9IDI as me?IMHO 30 in fifth is not fine for the reasons you recite plus engine will be doing 12-1500 rpm at most which feels like labouring to me. Revs won't pick up quickly either as that sort of rpm is below the torque band which starts around 1800.
Our other Berlingo, an 1.6/115PS Hdi, will pull at lower revs but there will be a lot of ECU activity on fuel dose and injection timing. ...
are the driveshafts ? in a 5 speed box the same as a 6 speed box in a mk 3 06 reg Read more
thankyou for info will now buy short shaft
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I went to look at an X3 yesterday and althought it was generally 'OK' it wasn't exactly in perfect nick for the money. I noticed it had 1 brand new tyre and 3 tyres which were down to around 2.5mm - which on any 4x4 is a definite no-no
What bugged me is the way the salesman argued that was fine and BMW's xdrive system could cope with that etc. I thought xdrive was only introduced later on, and with 4x4 you should at least have matching axle pairs of tyres?... Read more
Different 4x4s have different rules. The basic Landrover system can tolerate different wear patterns quite well, but I'd not mix across an axle as the handling could be a bit different turning left than right.
If one has different wear front and back, then a lot depends on how the centre diff works, and there are some 4x4s (Fronteras are one) that don't have one, and are part time 4x4s.
Having been a very happy 520SE auto petrol owner for the last 15 years, i am looking at buying a stunning BMW 520DSE Automatic with 69k on a 60 plate which has already been serivced 3 time and looks to have done mainlly motorway driving. BUT I have seen worrying reports about the DPF. I only drive between 10-20 miles a day on a motorway so will may reach 70mph for about 5 mins. occasional longer drives. I am worried bout how soon I will need to replace dpf and at what cost. Can anyone put my mind at rest please ? Read more
I'm currently in an F10, a high mileage driver in a 520 D SE, mines a 107k '11 plate, serviced as and when the car tells me. Even after all those miles it drives like I remember it did when new. The engine is fantastic, particularly when mated to the 8 speed auto box.
Can't really offer any useful info on the DPF for obvious reasons, but if you're worried about the engine on anything with 60-70k, particularly if its been mainly motorway, I'd say those worries are probably unfounded....
Browse
"VW on fire" returned 88 000 000 resuts on google while "Peugeot on fire" returned only 32 200 000
Just FYI