December 2016
This is probably the impossible dream
Time to change our car again..... Read more
Are you an exhaust sniffer ? Too many times I've been coming up Chunal hill near Glossop at night and some clown is so close to my rear end that I'm sure they are following so close because they are getting a 'high' from the exhaust gas. Or, they are relying on me to negotiate the bends for them. I will let you into a secret - I have difficulty seeing the bends too, especially with your headlights so close. Then, when the road is straight the clowns drop back to a safer distance. Read more
stuck behind an old pickup on Friday on the way home from work, the exhaust fumes smell reminded me of days of old when all cars smelt this way, pleased matters have advanced .... as there was no wind the fumes tended to linger, driving on a Kent coastal road often there is a northerly wind blowing down from Norway, bitter cold but fresh clean air, but not this time.
My car, which has done 32K miles from new has been diagnosed with a leaking clutch slave cylinder, the repair bill will be in the £4-600 range. I have read in Honest John that this is a fairly common problem on this model.
The car was bought from a Ford dealership & has been maintained by them.... Read more
Ford have done this for many years. In the 90s My dad had a new Fiesta which had a slave cylinder fail after a few hundred miles.
The forum is shrinking. When I first found the forum, way before I started posting there were lots more topics, well over 10 visible on the front page. Recently there were just 10, now only 9. If the aforementioned in the keep posting topics above the backroomers there will be no backroom visible.
Are all the the above the forum posts necessary? Are some out of date? Could some be amalgamated?... Read more
Once December 25th has been reached the Christmas e-card post can be deleted at the top of the bold section.
Just prompting for this to be done!
Good Afternoon!!
I'm after any advice if possible. We've decided to go from a 2 seater 4x4 to a 5 seater and the CRV ticks a lot of our boxes. There are two for sale locally and we are a bit stuck as to which is the better option / value. There is a 2005 SE with 40k (petrol) for £5500 and a 2007 EX with 111k (diesel) for £5300. We live in a very remote area so there is not a lot of choice ! Both cars have part service history (don't have specifics as yet). Due to where we live we will do approx 3000 miles,mainly nipping to town, camping (won't be off road driving) and errands like shopping.
We are leaning towards the higher mileage one as the model is the newer one however we could use some advice on any work to look out for that should have been done or any general advice.
Thank you! Read more
I made exactly this decision when I bought my 2003 2.0 earlier in the year. It's only done 68,000 miles. Mostly complete service history.
Apparently the A.C., prop-shaft universal joint and central locking can be a problem on these, but the basic bits seem reliable. If the prop-shaft does seize it can just be removed leaving the front wheels only driven. (Again, apparently)
I gave it a good coating of ACF50 underneath and had all the fluids changed (Those I couldn't do myself, it's fairly easy but I didn't have ramps)
TL;DR - get the 2005 petrol. Mine is doing bang on the average 28mpg and that's loaded with tools and having roofbars
I have had a "transmission failsafe mode" message show on initial start up. However, if I switch off and restart the sysytem resets. It has happened twice, both times after a cold night. Is it likely to be a faulty sensor, dampness, ecu or wiring issue? Costly repair? Has anyone experienced similar problem- thanks Read more
I would get the battery tested before getting involved with any expensive gearbox repairs.
Thanks for the reply. I don't use the car on a daily basis and if I do the journey is only local 30-40 mile round trip. Had a new battery 1 yr ago and battery recharged about a month ago after no start and low battery voltage show. Souds like journeys not sufficient to maintain full battery charge. Battery is removed for recharges- not able to run cable for in car recharge. Apart from the hassle is there any danger of system damage with boost starting/ battery removal proving terminals are disconnected/ connected correctly.
Chosen by a friend as the cheapest at £39 she was amazed at the service they received when a spring broke last night.
Local recovered and even provided a taxi at a cost of £80 when one of the party was unable to climb on the recovery vehicle.
Now I understand why they have been voted no 1 in Which Read more
Over the years, I had both AA and RAC providing the service under the car maker's warranty cover - both were found severely wanting when needed due to delay of 3-4 hours before first contact. As a result I keep my Green Flag cover going now and ignore car makers' warranty cover (I've no idea who provides VW warranty cover).
On the 3 occasions I've needed them, Green Flag have had a contractor there within the hour and with the right recovery vehicle - a flatbed as 4wd automatics can't be towed but when that happens with AA/RAC you have to wait for the patrol to arrive and then arrange the flatbed with another long wait....
If you wanted to do this, what might be the minimum practical radius for the "endless corner"?
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Most mid-80s FWD cars will be poor in those conditions anyway with poor suspension geometry, both front and rear, and large amounts of torque-steer to confuse things. The original Saab 900 is one of the few exceptions.
Hi - I'm considering buying a high mileage (138K) diesel Accord 2.2 i CTDi Executive estate and I'm looking for any general advice on the things I should look out for. I have read about the VSA modulator failure issue and asked the seller about it. They told me that they had had some problems but had the ABS unit replaced in Oct 2014 and are no longer having any problems - will obviously check the paperwork for this. Have read about cracked exhaust manifold problems - seller has told me they have never had any problems with this. Have also read about clutch and flywheel problems. Because of the high mileage I was expecting the car to already have had a clutch / flywheel replacement but the seller is telling me they have never had any problems with the clutch (the car has been in their family for about 10 years). I have read that replacing the clutch / flywheel is a really expensive job on these cars - shoud I assume at 138K that the clutch / flywheel are likely to cause problems in the near future? Timing chain was replaced around 100K miles and apart from that only reported problem is that the sat nav unit / cd player areen't working which I can probably live with or figure out how to fix. Appreciate any advice you can provide particularly in relation to he clutch / flywheel and the extent to which I need to worry there. Thanks!
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Calibri; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} Read moreNice tidy family owned car for sale near me... bit of a trek for you I figure. Nicely written advert in traditional Glasgow humour. www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-motorbikes/honda-accor...l
I've been looking at 2010/2011 VW Golfs and the one I'm most impressed with is a 5dr but it's V5, HPi report and VW UK all confirm it was originally listed/registered as a 3dr.
I'm sure that there is nothing dodgy with the car - it was originally a VAG owned lease car and then one private owner from 2 years old but I'd imagine that when I come to trade the car in within a few years this could present a problem. Is there an easy way to change the V5, HPi report and VW database so that they show as a 5dr version. Would the DVLA have to register another owner to achive this or am I just best to point this out when trading the car in and let the next eventual keeper ensure the change is made?
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It would be a concern to me that VW themselves have it listed as a 3dr.
DVLA can, and does make errors - HPI is probably just using DVLA data - but VW data will have come from the factory and followed the car through it's early years being serviced at VW dealers....
Browse
When I first switched to 4wd, I very seriously considered a new Volvo XC70 diesel but a suggestion on this forum that a year old Subaru Outback petrol would be half the price to buy - a saving big enough to pay the extra fuel cost for many years.
I bought an Outback and instantly realised I wouldn't have liked the "old man" handling of the Volvo, despite being an "old man" - an excellent car which was more expensive to service but no more expensive overall than a Vauxhall as repair/replacement costs were so low....