June 2021
My partners daughters 207SW was written off by a well known garage chain whilst in for a MOT. Their mechanic was out on a road test when he was hit by a delivery van, which was on the wrong side of the road.
The car has sustained considerable damage to the off side front wing. And the garage has agreed to deal through their insuarance.... Read more
A simple question folks, what is the worth of a Lexus over a Toyota, given that they share platforms and engines - is it pure badge snobbery?
... Read more
At least Toyota put their hand up and fixed/replaced the engines foc
Unlike VW DSG autos, ABS brakes, ...
Hi, I hope someone can shed some light on my issue.
A while back I had a check engine light come on and put me in limp mode.
I plugged in my basic obd reader and it told me there was an air leak which I tried to fix repeatedly but kept finding more leaks (also replaced maf and map sensors) I was able to keep driving normally (after erasing the code) but only at low revs so I did do for a few weeks whilst I tried to fix the issue on my days off.
A couple of weeks ago I had a loss of power and am struggling to get up hills or get the revs over 2.5/3k but otherwise the vans drivable (no check engine light etc), I’m convinced that there are no more air leaks, I have disconnected the dpf (but not the pre cat) without change, I decided to buy a Lexia 3 last week which gave me a couple of codes relating to the maf so I replaced the earth strap and put the old maf sensor back in which cleared these
It also gave me a camshaft sensor signal error code so I replaced that which lead to the p0016 62 error that I currently have, I replaced the camshaft sensor with the old one and got the original error back so I replaced it with another new one and have the p0016 again, I have also now replaced the crankshaft sensor but still have the p0016 error.
I’m pretty much out of ideas, any advice? Read more
You need a proper diagnostic and read live data with Diagbox, that will give far more information.
Some backroomers may be already aware of this, whether via personal experiences or via news outlets, but there's a scam doing the rounds where a 'firm' which appears to be from the Bournemouth are (phone area code 01202) phones you up, saying that you need your loft or wall insulation 'checked' every 2 years if it is over 20 years old.
They may also try to get you to 'replace' it with 'new, better' insulation which you 'may' be able to get a partial government grant.... Read more
I keep thinking about one of those True-call gadgets or whatever they''re called but I might miss my Indian chappy who seems particularly concerned my broadband has been attacked and I might get a virus. I've explained I've been jabbed for Covid but he still keeps phoning.
Those who have an answering machine system that they can program with specific responses (and set them after a call is started) may want to use the 'Lenny' response:...
It amazes me how many dealers advertise cars without cleaning the seats. Or is it they're so stained it isn't possible to get them clean? Anyway, I won't view if the interior isn't clean. Perhaps most people aren't bothered about this? Read more
I had another member of staff whose office chair was so horrid that we paid the cleaner extra to give it a deep clean once a month.
When I was a bus driver, there was another driver who did a 'fixed shift', so he always did the same thing. This involved local town service for around 5 hours, off for a couple of hours, then back on to the same route for about another 3. The driver in question was a bigger chap (I know, unusual for a bus driver!), and it became the done thing that on a hot day, the 'regular driver' taking over from the fixed shift chap for that few hours in between, would take a newspaper with him/her....
Hello
Hoping someone can help with an issue I've got as the dealership want to wash their hands.
I bought a new GLA 220d in the middle of May and a week later my wife noticed a very strong burning smell coming from the engine compartment after the school run (a 32 mile round trip on mainly fast-flowing A roads). Emailed the dealer, got told to keep our eye on it.
A week later I noticed the same thing, a really strong burning smell and excessive heat radiation from the engine. 45 minutes after arriving home the bonnet was still hot to touch.
Should mention that we normally average around 56-60mpg on the school run but on both those days the average was around 40-42mpg. When I got to school it was 61mpg so the return trip I got only 23mpg!
I called the dealer and he told me to bring it in for a diagnostics. This showed that a DPF regen was attempted on both those days but failed to complete because the ignition was switched off (first time after 18 minutes, second time after 23 minutes). When I bought the car no mention was made of a DPF filer or that it needed regular cleaning.
However, I did a bit of research and it seems the process should normally take between 5-10 minutes to complete.
Begs the question why mine failed twice and resulted in such reduced fuel economy.
There were other issues, dashboard vibration, steering wheel 'clicking', failure to engage 'glide' mode so the garage took it in and held onto it for almost two weeks.
Got it back two days ago and the 'glide' is now working but all the other issues remain and now there is more vibration and excessive play on the steering wheel.
I met with the General Manager and a technician and he gave me a Mercedes technical document on the DPF and explained that even though the process hadn't completed it most likely had blown out most of the soot. That put my mind at rest, sort of. I asked the technical guy how long a regen process should take, he said 20-30 minutes. Seemed excessive, but I left it at that. However, when I got home I read the technical document that states "The regeneration process takes a few minutes and depends on..."
A few minutes, not 20-30 minutes. Alarm bells ringing now so I email the technician and ask why he said 20-30 when Mercedes say "a few".
He got back to me and said there is no set limit for a regen process and sent me a document explaining the short distance trips process. Pointless really because my trips are over 30 miles on mainly A-roads at speeds of 55-65mph so the info he sent is not applicable to my circumstances.
Surely a 32 mile round trip on A-roads in summer should be enough to complete a DPF regen cycle? I have a gut feeling that there is a fault in the system somewhere but they are denying it because there are no diagnostic errors pointing to a problem. They say it is functioning as intended, which I dispute.
I think the process is perhaps completing in a "few" minutes but the system doesn't recognise this and so continues to inject fuel into the exhaust system when it really shouldn't, causing over-heating and the atrocious burning smell on arrival back home, combined with the extremely low fuel aconomy experienced during the regen attempt. The dealership are discounting this possibility, even though the regen process continued for 23 minutes.
I did some calculations too. I was interested to find out how much fuel was injected into the exhaust system to heat it up sufficiently to burn off the accumulated soot.
It turn out that the trip to school (16 miles) used 1.2 litres of fuel and the trip back used 3.2 litres... so the DPF regen process used 2 litres of diesel (£2.50), took 23 minutes and still didn't complete! It doesn't add up to me, but I'm no expert. If this regen process happens roughtly every 300 miles as Mercedes say, then over 3 litres of every 43-litre tankful (7.5% of the tank) is being 'wasted' - basically to heat up the exhaust system.
I think these figures prove that there is a fault and I'm within my rights to reject this car (still within 30 days as the garage had it for 2 weeks).
I spoke to my brother who has had a diesel Skoda Yeti from new (2015) and has never experienced issues with the DPF regen, no burning, no noticeable reduction in fuel economy etc. I'm assuming this is how it should work and I've been unlucky to get a lemon.
I would be grateful for any opinions or insights. Does this seem totally unreasonable? Should I even notice the burning, is it over-heating, why the excessive use of fuel? So many questions the dealership seem incapable of answering.
Obviously I'm very unhappy with my GLA ownership and really want to reject it. We chose Mercedes because our previous car (a 2012 A-Class) provided 9 years of trouble-free motoring and we never noticed any DPF issues. It just worked and I expected the GLA to do likewise.
Thanks for reading and thanks for your help.
RoryG Read more
Personally I would not buy a diesel unless my annual mileage acceded 12k
Same. And / or wasn't all local driving.
I know, you’re all thinking ‘not another EV post’, but I’ve just been following (on Twitter) the tale of a journalist bringing a new Škoda Entaq EV back from the press launch.
Leaving Inverness with a full charge, it took a 30 minute charge at Perth to get back to 90%. A 50 minute stop at Gretna to get back to 90% and was sufficient to get to Peterborough with the cruise set at 70 and a few miles in hand at the final destination. 484 miles with only 80 minutes spent charging, and most people would need a couple of stops to avoid the onset of a DVT…
Is that amount of stationary time massively different to a journey in an ICE?
Read more
Seems best token your money in your wallet whilst the EVs evolve, maybe a few short years down the road tomorrow's EVs will have more range and longer battery life.
Out for a dog walk this afternoon and walked past a rather shiny Tesla Model X, complete with personalised number plates. Must be £80k+ of pretty high performance car…
…complete with a couple of Landsail tyres! Each to their own, but clearly a family wagon and, IMHO, compromised somewhat by pretty much the cheapest tyre that could be found!
I just don’t get why people splash out an arm and a leg on a snazzy car and number plate and then compromise their and other road users safety with a couple of ditchfinder tyres! Read more
Yep, seems like shortage of raw materials and pandemic related inflation is at the route of all tyres seeing further increases in prices.
A friend has asked me for assistance in buying a used car for his daughter. She is a new driver and trainee nurse. She is likely to drive about 10 miles motorway and 5 miles city twice every day - there and back. Budget is about £5k and have about 8 weeks to search for one.
Normally I would recommend a Aygo/Pug 108 or some other small Japanese car, however because of the daily motorway travel I'm thinking a Fiesta Mk7 with the 1.25L Sigma engine. From personal experience the Fiesta is one of the better small cars for motorway driving and has good passive safety features.... Read more
If the rational for looking at the Fiesta rather than an Aygo is simply the assumption of better performance due to more power, I'd suggest you think again.
Even the 81bhp 1.25 has a lower power to weight ratio than a 1.0 Aygo because it is quite a lot heavier, so it isn't going to feel or (be any) faster. ...
News this morning is that all Toyota and Lexus’ will be covered by a 10 year warranty (up to 100,000 miles) as long as they are serviced at a Toyota dealership.
It doesn’t matter if they’ve been serviced outside the Toyota network - a service at a Toyota or Lexus dealership will trigger 12 months warranty.
They’ll also price match a service from an independent garage within a 10 mile radius.
It’s a good move for Toyota, driving up footfall through the workshop at a time when cars are spending less time undergoing maintenance.
It’s also envisaged that residual prices of used Toyotas will be pushed up, reducing monthly PCP repayments on both new and used car sales.
mag.toyota.co.uk/toyota-warranty-how-it-works/ Read more
EU300 sounds 'reasonable' if you only work on one make and all the equipment you use is generic/reasonably priced.
but as I said you can licence it for a single day i.e. 1 car for 5 euro - if it saves 1/2 hr it has paid for itself....
Browse
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It may depend on how you look at it. If you were to go out and buy a near-identical 207SW on a dealer's forecourt (which you could expect to do if your insurer took the damaged car off your hands) you may be right. If you had sold your (undamaged) car privately before the accident, you would be lucky to approach that figure....