October 2014
We've had the Yaris for about six months with no problems. Just recently, the steering has become notchy when travelling at speed for any length of time. This is most noticeable on the motorway; whilst not a lot of pressure is required to steer the car it's very disturbing to have to push the wheel against the notch as there's a sensation that the car may suddenly veer. At town speeds, and indeed up to 50 mph, the steering appears fine. I'll need to get the car booked into the garage soon but I've been advised to post on here first to canvass ideas.
... Read more
Hi,
In need of radio code after battery been changed... Read more
thanks for response,
For the last 3 days I have smelt a kind of fumes/exhaust like smell inside my car. I took it to a ford garage and they were not sure about it. They said to put the car air flow button onto 'inside car air flow only' to see if this stops the smell inside my car. I have also been told by another garage that I need to glue down the gear box panel as fumes from the exhaust may be coming through there. But when I told the Ford garage about this, they said that fumes cannot get into the car as the under carraige of the car is covered so as to not allow fumes to get into the car. I am really confused as to what may be causing this, as it is giving me a slight headache and I have to open both front windows even when its raining. And I dont want to have to pay a fortune for a (hopefully) simple fault to be put right. Any advice would be really appreciated. Ty :) Read more
I forgot to mention ....that the smell of fumes and oily smell inside the car has now gone too ;)
The car has been running fine for the last 6 months since I bought it, however for the last month it has been randomly losing electrical power. The car has power & seems fine but when you turn the ignition the power shuts off like a dead battery. The battery has been checked & is almost brand new, so its defiantly not that.
If you open & shut the doors & boot the power comes back on, alarm & central locking then works as normal. This did manage to temp fix the problem & the engine wud start, but now the power shuts off every time. I've opened the doors & slammed them shut & power has come back to lock the doors but as soon as I try to start it, the power goes.... Read more
Connect a voltmeter across the battery, you should have about 12 volts before you try to start it, turn the key to the start position and if it doesn't start check the voltage, if it goes very low or to zero either the battery is faulty or more likely you have a bad connection in the battery circuit. If the voltage stays at 12 volts but nothing happens you could have a faulty ignition switch.
I have a really weird issue with my 55 Reg Ford Focus 1.8 tdci.... Read more
I can't comment on individual patrols but I will say that the quality of them has definitely definitely reduced in more recent years. That's down to modern clueless managers who think they can take Charlie off the street and after six weeks of training he'll know as much as it's taken the rest of us 30 years to learn. The school of thought is a modern manager can manage anything, but the truth is most of them haven't got the sense they were born with, let alone any knowledge of the job. I'm sure the same applies to other industries too.
I will say however that the AA has an enormous wealth of knowledge and experience of motoring as a whole, not to mention a vast library of technical information. They also work very closely with vehicle manufacturers, and patrol job completion information is fed back to them. I've worked on the technical helpdesk and in technical sort in the operation centre, and dealt with hundredS of queries. I've also on many occasions found and resolved problems where main dealers have previously failed, and I've appeared on local television and radio. I still have the recordings to this day.
The AA also used to many manufacturers' training. Garage mechanics attending factory courses may not have been aware that they were actually being trained by the AA. The good patrols were those who took an interest in the job and benefitted from the many forms of training available, and there were many of them. Sadly not all were or are, and those gave the organisation a bad name.
Hi There,
I am a bit of a serial car collector and currently mainly drive a Rover 75 connoisseur se CDTi tourer. It's a 53 plate with 135000 miles on it and I REALLY love the car and the spec it has. The problem is that the car clutch is now quite heavy and soem of the bodywork has the odd dent and scratch. Now don't get me wrong, these things are pretty minor and I am a qualified mechanic, so it's not like I can't fix the problems. ... Read more
Considering your mileage - fuel consumption is irrelevant - keeping your current reliable car would work out much cheaper in the long run.
Mr Shallcross is not consistent!! Elsewhere in this feature he states:
“On balance, it’s better to have a spare wheel because most drivers know that they can get out and change a wheel quickly, minimising the amount of time they’re in danger at the side of the road, and drive away to have the damaged wheel repaired or replaced.”... Read more
If we all started to send our tyre breakdown bills to the manufacturers they'd perhaps get the message!! Read more
1.5 million per year (an estimate from an unspecified source) is one in twenty cars, so one in three 'HJ readers' every two years seems unlikely. I'm guessing it's actually one in three people who filled in a survey advertised as asking for recent tyre experiences or some such and so heavily skewed towards people who felt they had something to say about the subject.
And then there's tyre related breakdown callouts increasing by 70,000 over the last three years. How do we know how much of that is down to the removal of the spare tyre? Other recent trends like deteriorating roads, wider tyres and the popularity of heavier crossovers are likely to account for at least part of that number. And of course some of that increase will be down to a higher number of miles done (more cars/drivers on the roads) and it'll no doubt fluctuate year on year to some extent as well. Read more
The comment re lost security wheel bolt key reminds me of the time ATS overtightened a wheel security bolt on my CItroen C5. (Those b compressed air wrenches they don't know how to use!).
The security key socket was too weak for the job and its pins were destroyed in trying to unscrew the bolt. The clever trick of heating up a slightly smaller socket and hammering it on worked well. Lots of leverage and then a bang as the head of the bolt sheared off. Bit of extra security by CItroen to prevent the thief doing what I was trying to do.
Trip to Screwfix for an expensive set of tungsten drills and easi-outs which solved the problem after hours of drilling. Then off to the breakers yard for a set of proper bolts,£2 each and binned the security annoyances.
Anyway, when did you last hear of standard alloy wheels being nicked? About as common as car radio theft nowadays.
Maybe I'll get scrappage deal for a new petrol car seeing that this excellent diesel is the government's latest target.
2005 CItroen C5 2.0hdi Exclusive, 136 (plus a tweak) bhp. All the whistles and bells, twelve years old, everything still works. 80,000 miles, original exhaust, never missed a beat. 50mpg...has actually achieved 62mpg over 400 miles, on a gentle run Bordeaux to Costa Brava on a quiet Sunday.
When I bought a new Mitsubishi Outlander in March 2013 I was aware that some manufacturers were not supplying a spare wheel as standard. I asked if the car I was proposing to buy had one and was told that it had. Unfortunately, I did not check this out and when in Greece in July 2014 discovered that the spare wheel was, in fact, a space saver tyre. This meant that I was unable to continue my journey and had to go find a garage where I could have my slow puncture repaired. Had I been travelling to catch a car ferry (or any other public transport) I would probably have missed it. I was fortunate to find a garage which only charged a nominal sum but I could have been held to ransom by an unscrupulous garage owner.
On my return to the UK I made my displeasure known to the dealer who had sold the car to me. Mitsubishi has mow lost someone who has been a customer for nearly thirty years. They will be allowed to service the car under the three year warranty but when I replace it I'll go where I can find a car with a real spare wheel. Read more
Repair kits are fine if you pick up a nail but anything bigger they're useless and even a repair to a small hole with a repair kit requires a new tyre as no major fast fit tyre place will repair it so it's an expensive option to a £7-£10 puncture repair.
Browse
.jpg)
There is usually a universal joint at the bottom of the steering column whch may be under the car, these seize up for a pastime.