May 2017
Hi all, my shifter is a little sloppy, mileage is 105k and has had a recent clutch. I pulled the gear gaiter off and had a look, the bushes look ok, is it likely to be a problem i need to address from underneath?
Also the AC drivebelt is missing, so obviously no AC. How would i access the tensioner to fit one?... Read more
Walking the dog, I have met new friends and 2 of them are in there 70's a good gust of wind could blow them over, and not up to speed with buying a car in this day and age and were telling me of the Skoda they went to see in their price range in Bury st Edmunds...
Got there for a test drive having taken my advice to use the filters on Auto trader using price/distance/make/model/year etc etc and the car broke down on the test drive... driving off the forecourt...abandoned that one.. (car had allegedly not been prepared)... Read more
Some blokes I are well into their 70's and 80's and are well aware of how to choose a car and get a good deal. There are some serial changers to some hang on 'til it falls apart types and many in between.
So I was a passenger in my daughters car. She came to an empty roundabout (a very small one with five or six exits surrounded by residential roads). Somehow she didn't pick up on the roundabout in the dark, basically turned right without going around it. As she did so a van came out of the road she was heading towards, they passed us with more then enough space. I made her pull up further down the road to tell her what she did, that is when I noticed the van had went around the roundabout and back down the same road as us. My gut feeling says it was a police van due to blacked out side windows and the fact they drove back around. Would anybody know the severity of this type of offense and likely punishment if any? She was not speeding just made a silly mistake. Also if this was a company car, when should she expect to hear from police? Read more
unless the size of the vehicle or the layout of the junction makes it impracticable to do so;
There are a lot of roundabouts like that in my area where you cannot keep left due to the size of junction...
Can somebody help me get radio code for v044192 thanks Read more
Not only access to SKY but another urban myth was "eradicating codes by freezing"-at one time,Ford radios were fitted at PDI because so many were being stolen from transporters and trains during delivery.
I did post a while back saying my back brakes were making a grinding noise and did jack the back up, take the wheels off but could not undo the 4 bolts holding the drum on, actually I could only get a socket on 1 of them and could get no leverage while laying down.
So I took it to a small garage, he had fitted 2 front tyres for me a couple of months back and seened ok so I asked if he could fit new shoes on the rear.... Read more
Girling Swinging Caliper just to remind you Big John, horrible design, i too had a mk4 Zodiac where the brakes were no trouble at all, nor was the car itself, before that i had a mk4 Zephry which more than made up for it.
The rear caliper covers used to leak which would then corrode the inner workings (all parts available so easily rebuilt, i could do them in my sleep in the end) but the weakness of the design if my memory serves was that once the self adjuster seized the piston could eventually move out far enough to pop the seal, a poor parking brake would almost guarantee seized adjuster on the cards....
Just been onto the Sanef site for my autoroute tag, so I can use the tag lanes at the peage. The website now lists Volvo XC60 and XC90 as vehicles that may have difficulty using the tag. This is apparently because the metal elements in the heated front screens act as a shield. In other vehicles with this feature the tag is placed directly on the screen at a point in front of the rear view mirror. There are no heating elements here apparently so the tag can be read by the overhead sensors. On Volvos this area is covered by a large plastic housing for the rain, lights and pedestrian avoidance systems and the rear view mirror. The heating elements seem to be just visible right up and around this area. Avant has a new Volvo too and may have experienced this problem. Also I would hope that some forum members have also experienced this particular problem and how it is overcome. Your comments are eagerly awaited gentlemen. Cheers Concrete Read more
Thanks Soldrax, the heating elements do go right up to the plastic housing so I was sceptical about it working next to the housing. The usual shaded area behind the mirror is covered by the housing. I will have to go on trial and error. jc2 I appreciate your comments. I have driven in France extensively and use the N and D roads a lot. Less so with the caravan though. There are certain towns and cities where I join the autoroute to by pass them. But I do like the other roads with the charming towns and villages and plently of nice areas to pull in and have a coffee. Cheers Concrete
Any advice would be appreciated.
About a month ago my car broke down with a billowing of white smoke. It was transferred to a fuel specialist where they said one had became trapped open causing unburnt diesel to flood the engine, they replaced this fuel injector (£500) and then transferred my car to another specialist to have a new engine put it. The new engine was put in the car and I paid £2,500 for the works. So 3k in total to fix the problem. I was told bring the car back in 1,000 miles for a service. Last week however I noticed the engine play up on one journey (loud knocking noise and shaking) so i brought it in. They couldn't find anything wrong with it. ... Read more
The story still sounds unconvincing, I'm still pretty certain they've been trying to fiddle you. I may be wrong but I'd ask someone to check the engine number against the V5. I'm not convinced you've had that new engine at all or that you needed it.
It's too common for those who've little motoring knowledge (90% of the population) to be cheated at garages. I've heard some horror stories over the years including one fairly recently who was told she needed a new gearbox in her 60,000 mile Fiesta with a quote of £1,200. Fortunately she picked up the phone to me to get a second opinion. All that was wrong was a noisy and leaking water pump believe it or not that cost a fraction of that amount, £26 for the pump and a £90 fitting. I advised her to replace the t/belt at the same time but she declined since she wasn't intending on keeping it much longer.
Hello,
I recently had the battery changed on my 2002 LX, however it caused the radio to reset.... Read more
That worked. Thank you.
In the news on the BBC toay, highest ever number of vehicle recalls... back to the days of chuckemoutatanypricecars.com
... Read more
This Subject was covered on Rip off Britain yesterday.
Link for anyone interested www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08rbhv1/rip-off-bri...2...
I'd guess that most of us don't have a clue as to what sort of oil they put in at a service - let alone whether it's the right sort. Read more
Ford recommend 5W/20 for all gasoline engies except the Fiat(Mk.2 Ka)-not just the 3 cylider.
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Ok, but would i need someone to wiggle the shifter while i look underneath, or would the source of any play be obvious?