March 2017
Second annual service at 17169 miles
No reported problems except 1 rear shock absorber leaking, replaced under warranty no fuss.... Read more
I hope there some technocrats out there who can help with this one. I would like to put a compilation of my favourite songs/music onto a usb stick to play in the car. I have an i phone 6 but don't really want to pay i tunes 99p per piece for music I already have on CD. Is it possible to put music onto my laptop then onto a usb stick or sd card to play through the car system.? The car will accept USB, Bluetooth, HDD etc etc. Any suggestion about how to achieve this are welcome. Cheers Concrete Read more
that's exactly how I do it
I recently gave my old megane to my girlfriend until MOT runs out in October,
We were away on a trip this weekend, with the car fully loaded with four passengers (one a tad heavy) and a boot full of bags etc. The car drove faulessely on the way down (roughly 120 mile trip so 240 round trip), it felt a little funny going round a corner once but thought nothing of it. ... Read more
Shocks don't really make much differencs to ride height,
that's usually down to worn springs....
Hi
I have a Mercedes SLK 280. A few months ago it was in a minor accident and the front drivers side wing was crushed a bit on to the wheel. Bit of front end damage too.... Read more
UK SLKs pulling to the left is a known problem.
Does this thread on SLKworld help?...
I wonder if anyone with trade experience can help me. I have long been in love with American muscle cars but only as an enthusiast.
As a result of my day job, I've come to meet someone who is in the auto sales business in the US. Long story short, I'm doing homework on whether there is decent money to be made in sourcing muscle cars from the US, getting them IVAd and selling them on in the UK or in Europe.... Read more
Wouldn't mind Chevy Caprice...
I've got a e92 320d M Sport Auto with only 89k on the clock. I've only had the car for a couple of months now and a few weeks ago the battery decided to die only a few hours of being parked up, so it was jump started with another car and since then the car sounded like a tractor. I took it to a BMW specialist who adviced me not to drive it and bring it to him the next day to have it checked out. Whilst on my way to the garage the next day the car just randomly started shaking and since then the car/engine shakes violently, has smoke coming out the exhaust and also has no power. The bmw specialists had a look and decided to open the inlet manifold to check whether the swirl flaps had snapped and fell into the engine which wasn't the case and told me instead of paying them to open up the engine and finding out the real problem I was better off to just buy a new engine. From then I took the car to Sytner who charged me £150 to do some 'diagnostics' and told me they'd charge me another £500 to open the inlet manifold to check for swirl flaps. I told them that this had been done and they were there but according to them they were to start from scratch to find the problem as I could eventually need a new engine. I told them not to touch the car and decided to take it to a couple other places who told me it may be the swirl flaps but I'm better off getting a new engine instead of messing around.
Now the car has only got 89k on the clock and was driving beautifully before the battery died so I don't get why I would need a new engine? To me it sounds like it may just be the injectors, glow plugs etc. As I had the car at sytner the week before who did a health check and told me the car was fine with no problems and suddenly I need a new engine?
I was wondering whether there may be someone on here with similar problems in the past or someone with some actual advise that makes sense?
Any replies are appreciated Read more
Sounds like it needs to visit a proper mechanic, its either got swirl flaps still in place or its hasn't, personally if i was going to get the present engine sorted i'd remove the pointless bally things anyway, which we had done on two BMW's for around £200 each at PMW Chelmsford including bespoke blanking plates, so Sytner's £500 to check for swirl flaps is laughable.
Its possible the swirl flaps are still there but a securing screw got sucked in and has holed a piston, just thinking aloud....
The EPC light on the dash has been on for last two weeks and just noticed the fuse 34 'for engine management ' is missing from the main fuse box and the fuse holder bits look in a bad state. Sometimes the high beam and brake lights stay on even when the car is turned off and keys taken out.
When I tried putting the fuse in there, again the high beam lights came on.
The computer is displaying two codes: P0571 (Brake switch circuit) and P0135 ( o2 sensor heater circuit)
The brake lights seem to work fine ( other than when the high beam is on, they stay on as well.
Any advice on what the problem could be would be helpful.
Read more
Fuse 34 does not control the brake lights or the main beam circuit. The engine should run fine with this fuse missing.The brake light switch on these a a dual purpose device,it controls the lights and sends a signal to the engine control system.These switches fail on a regular basis.The other fault sugests there is a fault with a lambda sensor or associated wiring.There are 2 sensors fitted on this car.Not too sure how all this affects the main beam circuit.
Anyone recomend a good transporter to move a Honda Civic on a trailer from Sheffield to Crewe in cheshire
... Read more
Hi all
Just purchased my first vehicle a 2006 VW Polo 1.4 with 58000 on the clock. Car is very neat and tidy and seems well maintained, nothing major in the SH.... Read more
I had a similar issue with my Golf and it was the coil pack. You can easily test it by pulling the cool packs out one by one while the engine is running. You will notice the difference in the engine sound if you pull a working one out; if you pull a faulty one out, you won't notice any difference. Also I learnt it the hard way, the coil packs work in pairs, if you keep your car running with one faulty one, you will most likely damage one more. I hope this helps. Oh, check Eurocarparts for the parts. I think I got HAAS ones for about £20 each.
Hi sorry if I'm going over old information but I need a bit of advice.
We bought an i10 second hand in September 2015. The car was advertised by a dealer through Autotrader, so to be safe we did an hpi check with Autotrader, which came back as all clear (we still have a copy).
The car has hardly been used so we decided to sell it on Autotrader and imagine our surprise when the advert labelled the car as 'Cat D'. After a little investigation it appears that this has been the case since November 2008.
We would never have bought a Cat D car and to be honestly feel let down by Autotrader, every site I search seems to say you should always do an hpi check before buying but what's the point if it can't be trusted.
Does anyone have any advice regarding whether or not we could make some sort of claim against Autotrader for providing misleading information?
Any help greatly appreciated.
Jim Read more
I remember one relevant case I was involved in back in the late 90's. It was in regard to a Mazda 626 I had sold a few years earlier and it had flagged up a mileage discrepancy when the owner tried to trade it in somewhere else. The customer then involved trading standards who took us to court.
Now when I had taken the car into stock we knew it had clearly either had a speedo change or had been tampered with so I was very clear when putting it on the forecourt, mileage incorrect sticker on dash and I even parked it next to an identical 626 of the same age that was showing 20k more but was priced at £600 more to further stress the mileage was incorrect. It was showing 50k but I believed it had done closer to 100k. Normally it would've been auctioned but the buyer had overpaid for it and it was in very good condition and running order so we had confidence enough to sell it.
When the customer who bought it signed up the mileage discrepancy was made clear to him and it was noted on the order form he signed yet a couple of years later he tried to claim otherwise. We presented the signed order form to the judge and the case was thrown out with a stern repremand aimed at the TSO's who'd brought the case and wasted tax payers money.
My point here isn't to claim to OP is in any way trying it on but to show that what is on that document is vital and if they have no copy of it a dishonest garage can alter their copy to suit their ends quite easily. In our case we had been totally upfront and honest and did the same with any older but safe trade in vehicles that showed up as a write off but had passed a workshop checkup.
This thread is a good reminder for buyers to read what they're signing, take a copy and keep it safe, keep a copy of the origional advert if possible and above all take someone who knows what they're doing with you when viewing. I've stopped countless people from buying cars with major faults over the years, I'd say that around 50% of the sub £5k vehicles I've been asked to look at have major faults.
Browse
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I rarely hear any complaints from Kia or Hyundai owners and cars with dealer history that are still under warranty sell for noticeablely higher prices in the trade as it saves on warranty or post sale repair costs. Plus to be honest they rarely go wrong anyway.