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• BMW 520 TOURING - FUEL CONTAMINATION TESCO 18 May 2011 (Forum)
  Left car running on drive and revved slightly, car then revved out of control on its own, white smoke everywhere, took keys out of ignition and fortunately friend knew to stall car to stop this continuing, arranged for it to go into bmw, car picked up on tow truck, car still running.   Garage have said Dodgy diesel, have receipts and pursuing with petrol station and insurance. Car two months out of warranty also.   What do people think, we have been given a quote for 10k to fix !!!!
• Nissan X-Trail (2001 - 2007) - 05 2.0 Clutch replacement 25 Jan 2011 (Forum)
  At a recent service (unfortunately after the warranty had expired) I was told the clutch and flywheel needed replacing. Querying this, as I do not ride the clutch, tow heavy vehicles or drive like Michael Shumacher, I was told that it is the design of the clutch that is at fault (some technical jargon about springs that I didn't understand). Also, the intercooler is about to fail and needs replacing.
• Nissan Terrano II (1993 - 2005) - 97 2.7 Starting Problems 13 Sep 2010 (Forum)
  Once the engine is warm the alternator charges at not far short of 14 volts. The engine will start on a tow and will start using Easy Start (ether) but these are hardly long term solutions. I have seen a post elsewhere suggesting a malfunctioning Glow Plug relay might be the problem but there was no follow up to say whether its replacement solved the problem.
• Vauxhall Corsa - Vauxhall Corsa Help and Recovery 1 Jul 2010 (Forum)
   The engine management light came on and then the car stalled at traffic lights.  I had the car towed to where it is in cardiff now.  A mechanic came out and plugged it into the computer and diagnosed camshaft sensor and charged £60 to replace it,  This did nothing,  He then spent 3 hours trying to find out why the car wouldnt start and eventually diagnosed a broken timing chain.
• volkswagen t25 - upset about car park rules 28 Mar 2010 (Forum)
  just brought a classic van and parked it in the residents car park no tax (i know) could not sorn was not in my name dvla informed me so will have to wait for new v5 and i could send in the form to sorn it in my name until v5 comes which both take some time. anyway van got towed gutted because i live in council property so my car park is public road and rules say no. a notice had been put on giving 7 days before removel by council and taken before 24hrs had gone. and my first classic van project and money down the drain (no i don't have the funds to get out and pay holding charges) so no where to put our new untaxed cars before anyone say laws are laws just feel its unfair because you don't live in an house or private land and you can only park where you live .
• Nissan Primera II (1996 - 1999) - 99 1.6 Stopped suddenly without warning 10 Feb 2010 (Forum)
  It wouldn't start again and I called the AA. Patrolman said there was no spark & couldn't fix the problem so towed me to Nationwide Auto Centre where they had a look at it. Hours later I got a call to say it would need at new distibutor at a cost of £700 something fitted. After I picked myself off the floor I began to wonder if distributors fail like this or could it be something simpler, like a coil or relay somewhere?
• Ford Mondeo III (2000 - 2007) - 01 2.0 Blown turbo? 19 Dec 2009 (Forum)
  Hi, hoping someone can help me - driving along the other day about 60mph and felt a slight loss of power, then about half a mile later a much bigger loss, plenty of smoke and rattling then had to pull over. The engine started again after a few turns but plenty of smoke so called to get towed. The guy said it's probably the turbo blown - does this sound right? Several garages have quoted about £900 - £1100 for the job and as it's outside my house I would need to get the car to them. Not sure of anyone near Stow on the Wold that can check it over for me outside my house though...
• Ford Focus (1998 - 2004) - 02 1.8tdci not starting? 4 Sep 2009 (Forum)
  hi, my 52 reg ford focus 1.8tdci has stopped all of a sudden when i parked it up. i tried to start it again but the ignition does even turn over. all the electrics light up on the dash and the hazard lights work and also the power windows. i tried jump starteing it but it still didnt work. i dont know what would be wrong with it. In addition i left it for around 6 hours and when i went back to tow it, i checked on last time and it started for some strange reason. I was wondering what the fault could be? Its been doin this now all the time. It starts sometimes and doesnt other times. But if i was to leave it for say 12 hours it would start in the morning.
• Honda CR-V II (2002 - 2006) - 05 2.2 Offside rear wheel drone 10 Jul 2009 (Forum)
  At lower speeds it sort of reverberates as the wheel speed increases. Honda have varied their diagnosis but the latest is that as I tow (less than 500miles last year), the tyre has become mis-shaped! I am now at the 2nd tyre change and the odd thing is that both times the offside rear has had a tread of 5mil, whilst the others have been about 2.
• KIA Cee'd (2007 - 2010) - Just Bought a White Car 14 May 2009 (Forum)
  Or as more folk are caravanning as opposed to jetting off to sunnier climes and do they now need something half decent too tow with? The Sorento is only in the £210 duty band. (ONLY he says! :-[ ) Anyway I have gone for white as opposed to bland blue/greys and derivatives. There was just something different that gave the car some presence.
• Ford Focus (1998 - 2004) - 99 1.8 "Book Value" 2 Nov 2008 (Forum)
  I have been told by a none mechanic friend as it was a bumper that's cracked and the boot lock damaged it may be chassis damage, as I have a tow bar fitted and the RR didn't actually make contact with the car itself! Now, its a 1999 (T) 1.8 tddi LX with over 100k miles on the clock, if the insurance decide to write it off, as a purely rough estimate, what am i looking at?
• Get orff my Meadow! 30 Aug 2008 (Forum)
  I'm quite sure the signs are effectively meaningless. Meaningless but far preferable to the usual threats of clamping, towing, fines and the like in most other places these days. Incidentally, if anyone from Coventry City Council is reading this, a drop-off zone for car passsengers at the coach station - like the ones airports have - would actually be useful, as coach passengers arriving by car don't generally relish a half mile walk through a dimly-lit city centre, CCTV cameras or not.
• Renault Clio II (1998 - 2001) - 1998 1.2 - non starter 20 Jul 2008 (Forum)
  hi, ive got a problem starting my clio 1.2 RN 1998. i was driving it last week when it just died and coasted to a hault. tried to bump while being towed on the way home with no luck. i asked on another forums and have been doin some checks but now dont know what to do. i checked the fuel, pump seems fine and there is petrol right up to the injector unit. checked the spark plugs and they seem to be sparking fine, although they are bone dry. so i'm assuming the problems with the injectors.
• Ford Focus (1998 - 2004) - Introduction 2 Mar 2008 (Forum)
  Has been a very faithful car to me, save for the cambelt housing disintegrating a few thousand miles ago (eek), requiring a tow from the RAC and a replacement cambelt, but fortunately no further damage to the engine. I won't be relying on Ford's 100,000-mile service interval for the cambelt in future! Part of me would like something newer, but I can't really justify it when the car (cambelt incident aside) still feels so smooth and remains economical.
• How many parking tickets can you get? 23 Feb 2008 (Forum)
  I consider myself hugely lucky only to have received two tickets - on 11th and 12th, and not to have been towed away. Equally, how often can one receive a penalty ticket? Every time a parking attendant passes? More often? And how come no other of those rather efficient parking attendants in Westminster managed to give me a ticket during this period?
• Peugeot 306 (1993 - 2001) - 1994 - Left hand front headlight is dim 16 Dec 2007 (Forum)
  Looking from the back of the lamp the fried contact is on the bottom left as follows : _ | | Anyone any ideas ? ( I fitted a towbar kit recently but their is no electrics connected to the towing electrics at the back of the car so it seems to me unlikely this has casued a short ). Regards Jim
• Ford Mondeo III (2000 - 2007) - 03 TDCi 130 starting problem 8 Dec 2007 (Forum)
  03 model done 35,000 owned for last 2 years never mis fueled.On sunday i noticed engine race a bit for 4-5 secs on depressing clutch showing 1500 revs.Yesterday parked car in town came back twenty mins later would not start.Tried relocking car unlocking and trying again seemed like going to start then just cranked over, then heater light would start to flash not going to start.Returned to car half hour later with mates car to tow home,starts first time no flashing heater light runs perfect.Couple of runs last night everything fine,Started first turn this morning couple of runs no problems parked at friends for ten mins car wont start any suggestions.Car has run perfect for last 2 years not chipped and no after market alarm. please help dont know where to start!!!
• 03 Alhambra - Turbo problem ? 14 Aug 2007 (Forum)
  My Wife has a 2003 1.9 tdi 130 bhp seat alhambra which for the most is an excellent car . However our family holiday involves towing a caravan which is when this problem presents . I will describe as best i can The vehicle gets to about 1800 rpm seems to hesitate a flat spot so to say a sucking or whirring noise can be heard at about 2200 rpm it appears to free itself a puff of black smoke leaves the exhaust and the vehicle continues underpowered and no turbo assistance appears to be available.
• 99 Megane - fog lights on when braking 7 Aug 2007 (Forum)
  It looks like an earthing problem to me - the thing is I have zero experience with auto electrical stuff, is this likely to be something that's relatively painless to sort or is it a garage job? Is it worth pointing out that the car has a towbar as I was wondering if the towing electrics might have something to do with it? I appreciate any advice & guidance you may have. Rob
• Will any old battery do ? 25 Jul 2006 (Forum)
  I tried to jump start it from my car but this would not get it going/turning over so we called the recovery people from her Insurance (DLine - Green Flag?) to tow it to a garage or so we thought. Anyway to their credit the recovery people turned up after about 30/40 mins and put a meter across the battery which read low. I mentioned that I had already tried to jump start it, to which he replied that most modern cars dont have enough spare 'juice' to do it.