November 2024
We've had an issue with the big Skoda as it took over 2 days to fully charge last weekend, having done some fault finding, plugging in the car to another wall box when the ambient temperatures were above 10c it had the same slow charging issue.
Back to the dealer today to diagnose the issue and a faulty high voltage charger was diagnosed and ordered under warranty.... Read more
If you are of a certain age and interested in all sorts of cars, including kit cars, you may well be familiar with the William Towns designed Hustler. Most were four wheeled and most were steel/grp, but a few were made out of wood and a few had six wheels.
Here is a HubNut video review (YouTube) of a six wheeled wooden version, currently for sale at Stone Cold Classics (there is a link to their website in description). ... Read more
IIRC (and I might not) they weren't actually a plywood monocoque (which would be nice from an engineering POV but rather expensive assuming good marine ply) but simply ply body over a steel frame.
I suppose still nicer than fibreglass but more maintenance required.
Stupidly I left the rear window open last night and woke up to a wet interior. I know the carpets will dry out but what about the window switch. Is there anything I can do to dry it out or is it a sealed unit? Read more
Back seat was that wet I ended up putting a small electric oil filled radiator in the car overnight together with the dehumidifier on full. Obviously did a risk assessment first. Seems to have done the job despite it being -5 overnight.
My car windows all four not operating
Checked fuse.okay is their any relay if so were located or any other advice Read more
i30 windows are a weak point of an otherwise great car. With our 2009 i30 we have had the little plastic runners inside the door card failing which results in the glass dropping. That doesn't sound like your problem which is just as well seeing that a new door card with electric window winder is about 200 pounds. You used to be able to get new runners on ebay from a guy in Turkey of all places for a trivial amount but restringing the wire inside the door card was very difficult. We are now on our third window winder failure! I will be very interested to find out what the solution to your problem is in case our car does the same.
good morning everyone
I'm new on here but really looking for some advice. ... Read more
You are the registered keeper, but not the owner. I don't think the finance company would be willing to disclose any information to you as you're not a party to the agreement.
I think the best thing you could do is contact the finance company and explain the situation to them. If your former partner keeps up the payments, lucky you. If he doesn't, it may be that they would be willing to make an agreement with you and end the agreement with him rather than try to repossess the car and sell it....
With almost 250k miles under it's wheels, my poor Nova has suffered another head gasket failure due to erosion of the waterways in the Alloy Cylinder Head.
The recommended antifreeze has a hard job balancing the alkali factor to protect the cast iron block, and an acidic factor to protect the alloy head.... Read more
John, I don't think your TR7 will have done anything like 250k miles, ......
True, currently just over 73k...
Wheeler Dealers bought a Jaguar S type V8 with 200k miles and sent an oil sample off to Millers to find if the engine was in good shape.
High levels of sulphur was detected which indicated coolant loss, possibly down to head gasket failure.... Read more
..... and sent an oil sample off to Millers to find if the engine was in good shape.
High levels of sulphur was detected which indicated coolant loss, possibly down to head gasket failure....
I always wanted to tour Europe by car. Of course most people would want a sport cars, except they are not practical in terms carrying luggage / boot space.
Some cars are just too big for Mediterranean countries or tight parking spaces. ... Read more
Dream practical car for a European travel tour?
A medium sized well engineered reliable and durable sports car. Mrs F and I went on a camping holiday around Europe in 1982 in my newish 1980 TR7 DHC, and still have a nostalgic 'Boenigen Camping' sticker stuck behind the seat. The only spare we had, apart from a wheel, was a fan belt. I am fortunate that Mrs F, the TR7 and its still unused spare fan belt are still with me, as reliable and durable as ever....
Apologies for the small novel.....I just need a bit of advice
I have a little red micra that I bought nearly 2 years ago as my first car (which made a few question if id lost my mind) When I bought it it had 68,000 miles on the clock and is a cat C. It is now just fresh into 91,000 miles and it has never let me down for long. My family members call it Christine, if you know you know.
In the past half-year the repairs and services have been really what anybody would expect with an old car due to wear and tear - a new battery, new brake pads/discs&caliper, 4 new tyres, all fluids replaced (including transmission fluid - it's a cvt), new track rod ends, some jubilee clips to stop an annoying heat shield rattle, new air filter, ac resistor and cabin air filter. In total I've not spent anywhere near over it's original buying price on repairs, so I'd say it's almost paid for itself in a way.
It has showed it's s*** side a couple times whilst I've had it though; it broke down slap bang in the middle of the road from the old battery going bad, it also cut out being put from park to drive on a dual carriageway (pulling off from a layby) however sprang right back to life when i restarted it, still unexplained. Only once has it ever flashed its engine light at me and that was when I had kickdown engaged for a bit too long going uphill with extra load, it went into limp mode, I fiddled about with the battery and again she sprung back to life with no further complaints and this was about a month ago.
I have noticed that its becoming a bit sluggish lately. I did change the air filter quite recently which gave it it's signature kick back, but I can't help but feel like something is amiss. I have an OBD reader and it isn't throwing up any codes, and idle speed is 800-840 everytime I check it.
I've read up and I've seen a number of people mention that the throttle bodies on micras commonly go bad or play up because of grease and dirt. In the same sense, I also noticed that in the cold weather it feels super heavy even when fully warm - around 30 mins of pure driving (We've had snow and only -1c to -3c temps) which is leading me to believe it could benefit from new spark plugs too.
At low speeds I can really feel the gear changes but only when it's changing gear from 20mph and under. This frankly terrifies me because I've heard baaaad things about CVT gearboxes but then I've heard that a lot of people tend to not think to change the fluid, making them go bad prematurely.
A mechanic also told me that my 'timing belt' was perishing (micras have chains) to which I found that he meant my water pump drive belt, it isn't slack it just seems very slightly frayed on the top layer.
I know most people would just tell me to get a new car, but I'm not in the position for that yet so I'm trying to prolong the life of what I've got.
So, in the new year, what would you recommend I get looked at? All of it? None of it? What would you put higher on the importance scale? Bear in mind that if the CVT gearbox goes, it's a deal breaker and it's gonna be turned into a metal cube because fk that :P Read more
Air mass sensor is a good place to start . It’s unlikely to show up as a fault on the diagnostic system . As you say, if it’s a gearbox fault, then it’s not an economical repair. Might be an idea to get an exhaust back pressure test , just in case there’s some kind of blockage here .
Browse
All VAG brands use pretty much all the same mechanical parts. Body panels are unique to each brand these days but in the past there was some cross over there as well.