March 2023
Hi Honest Johns,
I have been a victim of a fraudulent private sale. Long story short, substantial damage from suspensions was not found during initial inspection, in addition the "full service history" smart service book is fraudulent (which was advertised on Autotrader). The reason that it is fraudulent is because I found out 1) Mercedes doesn't have any service record of this vehicle since 2013 2) The MOT date and mileage on government website exactly matches the "service date" on the service book, where the MOT is done in Lewisham London and the service was supposed done by Smart Hertford with their stamp. (i.e. the seller bought the service book and filled it out himself with some Mercedes service stamp that he clearly somehow sources from somewhere) The car clearly has been at two places at the same time! Note that the car is HPI clear not written off nor stolen.... Read more
Apparently 2 instances of the steering wheel coming adrift while car is being driven. May be this is another reason why the Tesla models have again been heavily discounted. The article is in the Telegraph. Almost as bad a the wheels coming of the Toyota BZ4X which took months to be resolved. Read more
Slightly surprised. I've had to take my steering wheel off a few times lately and it was pretty tight. First time I had to use a puller.
I suppose its been in place a few decades longer than the average Tesla's though....
Might be a daft question but does Waze still use data if you don’t have the map showing? Read more
I’ve changed it to ‘alerts only’ from ‘sounds’ under ‘voice and as sounds’ so will see how it goes thanks.
Difficulty starting. Tested for spark with plug out, with ground electrode jumpered to bat -ve terminal and it has one, but perhaps looks a bit weak.
Using a spark gap tester (for the very first time), can't see anything on minimum gap.... Read more
from experience only Motorcraft and Denso fit correctly (strangely the others I have tried - NGK and Bosch - are 1/4" too long).
Good grief, that's a helluva difference and I would suspect cause considerable problems.
Just to clarify the 1/4" was not at the threaded end (which could result in a potentially catastrophic collision between piston and plug) but at the insulator end. The plug leads on the Ford Zetec engine have end caps that seal into the cam cover to prevent the ingress of water, the extra 1/4" would mean they did not seal. If water accumulated over time round the base of the plugs it could lead to a missfire but in reality with the caps not sealing the heat form the engine would probably evaporate any water away....
I recently purchased a used car from an independent dealer, and gave my old car as part exchange. Prior to picking up the car, the salesperson assured me that all issues with the car would be resolved, including a non-functioning windscreen washer and a missing parking sensor. New MOT and Service will also be done before I pick up it.
When I picked up the car a week later, they gave me a fresh MOT certificate and a Service invoice stating Oil and Filter service performed. The parking sensor had not been fixed and I was told it hasn't arrived yet. We agreed that I will contact them next week for the sensor, they offered to take the car provide a replacement car or send one to my location, as I live an hour away from the dealership, in a different city.
On the way home, I discovered that the windscreen washer was still not working and later on I realized the oil was old and dirty. I contacted them as soon as I got home and was told that screenwash is probably empty and I should fill it up. Even after adding new screenwash the washers didn't work and I am not sure how did it pass the MOT. I contacted the aftersales person and told him I can come next weekend for the sensor and he said we can talk about the other issues later.
Upon returning to the dealership after a week, I gave them my car keys for the sensor. After a while I was informed that the car I had given as part exchange was faulty and they wanted to return it to me. This was the first time I had heard of any issues with my old car. I insisted that the car was fine and I even drove it to their dealership twice in the previous week, covering a distance of almost 200 miles, without any issues.
They tried to guilt me into taking my old car back and even said that both cars have issues so we want to undo the deal, to which I declined as I wanted a bigger car and wasn't sure what did they do to my car. Eventually, they agreed to fix the sensor. However, they refused to fix the other issues with the new car, including the faulty windscreen washer. I have a feeling they somehow cheated the MOT system.
They also said that I will be told what are the costs to fix my old car and then its up to me what I want to do. I don't think I am at fault here, I even asked the sales guy to check the car but he just had a look from the outside, and on my insistence checked the service history.
As a newcomer to the UK, I am unsure of my options in this situation. I have been advised to email the dealership with a list of issues and request that they be fixed in my city, or to have the repairs done myself and send them the invoice. If they do not pay, I have been told to pursue legal action in Small Claims Court.
Could you please advise me on my options in this matter? Thank you. Read more
Presumably any 'points' would have been for driving with a failed MoT, which just happened to be because of the washer problem. Easily corrected of course .... Any friendly garage would add fluid and sort it - why didn't that one ?
I was having an MOT done where a three wheeled Reliant had just been failed for non working washers. The tester explained they tried to add water, but because the owner hadn't left the key for the little hatch they couldn't access the bottle....
This.....thing is up for auction at the moment. Sadly, I need three seats.
Mostly talking on the video, but they start it at about 9 minutes in. Beware, it sounds like a bag of bags of spanners in a washing machine on a trampoline.... Read more
While I love some of the old aero engined race cars, I find The Beast, spectacularly ugly!. It looked a bit better with its original bodywork, but even then it was an ungainly looking thing.
I'd rather put the engine in an old truck chassis and build up something that looks more like "Brutus" (bmw_brutus_2.jpg) or a Simplex LaFrance roadster (15548835943_7f0d20a616_b.jpg)
I see the Matterhorn is to be removed:
I never noticed the bear until I saw it mentioned in a news article today. Can't say I'd ever noticed the Matterhorn either for that matter (horn).
Not an MG to be seen, unlike in January. They're registration process means this isn't a surprise.
www.carkeys.co.uk/news/these-were-the-best-selling...y Read more
Could have been more with Hector. Take it 1313 was for the whole range? If so, a mighty slump from January's 7,433.
I’ve recently terminated my pcp and purchased my vehicle. I have a letter from Audi Finance confirming this. Do I have to inform the DVLA that I am now the legal owner or is it only interested in the vehicle’s registered keeper? Thanks. Read more
Thank you.
Part of the electric mobility future?
www.moveelectric.com/e-cars/flatpack-ev-how-luvly-...t
insideevs.com/news/534758/gmd-istream-perfect-for-.../
I’m not saying that this is the future, maybe part of it.
Read more
I always imagined that the starting place for the revival of electric cars would be small, efficient microcars It did begin that way, with the tiny G-Wiz, but that was apparently inadequate in many ways and then the Nissan Leaf family hatchback and the Tesla Model S high-performance executive saloon. So I was largely wrong.
Starting at the upper end of the market has probably raised the reputation of EVs and also speeded up battery development. If the move to EVs had continued in the G-Wiz sector, the tech might have stayed with lead acid batteries, since nobody would have been thinking of a 300 mile range for a commuter microcar that would rarely have the need to exceed 30 mph.
Browse
Not sure about this. It's possible that the car was MOTd in one place and serviced in another on the same day, or are you saying the mileage was the same? Have you checked the MOT history to see if it was done in Lewisham?
As for the suspension damage, it surely can't be that bad if you didn't notice it on inspection or a test drive. Was it on an old MOT or anything? One man's 'major damage' is another man's couple of loose ball joints.