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• Toyota RAV 4 (2000 - 2006) - Deal or no deal? 20 Nov 2008 (Forum)
  Spec is 2.0TD, 55plate, 59k miles, 1 owner from new with main dealer FSH, 5 door XTR with heated leather seats, and recently fitted Witter tow bar (not yet used!!). She has offered it to me at the p/ex price of £6k, and in addition will have a 62k service (with new cambelt)and 2 new tyres fitted if I buy it from her. My finances allow me to puchase it without borrowing, something I would never do anyway!.
• Nissan Patrol (1992 - ) - Watsit worth, guv ?? 26 Oct 2008 (Forum)
  But it's in gunmetal grey metallic, and on a rainy day looks almost macho . It never fails to start and has done a genuine 98000 miles from new with no towing . I owned it Ist from 1998 and then eventually sold it to him but continued using it so know it's history .. The tax / insurance have just ran out , and we simply don't use it . It's time to let go of it , but apart from Ebay ( not good for sellers , only buyers ) , can anybody project a reasonable asking price and selling medium ?
• FIAT Punto (1994 - 1999) - 96 1100 Driveshaft problem - help please? 26 Sep 2008 (Forum)
  It has given him 20k of uneventful service the only expenditure being a new lower engine mount. About three weeks ago he suddenly lost all drive, picked up by RAC and towed to garage who found driveshaft had come out of the gearbox! I was very puzzled by this, apparently they could see nothing wrong, the "clip" was still in tact so they simply pushed the driveshaft back into place and replaced the lost transmission oil.
• Ford Escort (1990 - 1992) - 1994 1.6LXi - Immobiliser Problems 8 Sep 2008 (Forum)
  Went back to the car tried to start it but it wouldn't fire up! Really couldn't understand it. I had it towed back to my home and called a mechanic out. He ran all the usual checks such as fuel pressure, crankshaft and spark plug test. He then informed me that the immobiliser was stopping the curent igniting the fuel injectors to fire it up.
• Citroen Saxo (1997 - 2003) - 1.4 Immobiliser problem 24 Jul 2008 (Forum)
  Can anyone plz help me coz its costing me a lot of money at the min and its takin up a lot of my time towing the car bak and forth. Is there anyway at all i can bypass the immobiliser as i have an alarm anyway? If not has anyone else got any ideas?
• New engine - third time lucky? 14 Jul 2008 (Forum)
  Called the AA, truck arrived after about 45 mins and after a few checks the guy diagnosed a fuel delivery problem, probably a failed fuel pump. The car was towed to my home, and then taken this morning to the nearby VW dealers. I phoned this afternoon to check progress to be told it needed a new engine because a bolt in the cam belt tensioner had broken. They're giving me a courtesy car later today.
• Ford Focus (1998 - 2004) - 01 1.8 Electrics gone haywire 19 Jun 2008 (Forum)
  He said it should just be steady in the "green ok". He said the alternator might be spiking as well. Anyway was towed home. This couldnt have come at a worst time for me financially and would be greatful of any opinions of the cost of the repairs as a rough guide so I know that garages are not going to rip me off as it has happened in the past so a ball part figure would be great.
• What would you do - neighbour spraying car 27 May 2008 (Forum)
  I threatened that any damage would be repaired at his cost - he jsut continued waving the can about. 7/8 years ago I spent hours cleaning silver paint the from of my then pristine car. He had sprayed the tow bar of a delapidated caravan. I cannot put the new car in the garage as 1) The other car is in it 2) the new car is too tall and too wide - 21st Century cars do not fit mid 20th century garages.
• Ford Focus (1998 - 2004) - 2000 1.8 TDDI Fuel Pump Problem 19 Apr 2008 (Forum)
  Now 6 weeks later the engine has been rebuilt but I am now being told the engine will not start and the mechanic thinks it is because the battery has been off for so long the ecu has lost its settings. He towed it to the local ford dealer who put it on the computer but they have diagnosed internal fuel pump error. I fail to see why the fuel pump will now be faulty since the rebuild as it had nothing to do with the rebuild and the car ran ok apart from the crankshaft fault.
• Vauxhall Astra F (1991 - 1998) - 95 1.4 petrol - Not Starting... 19 Feb 2008 (Forum)
  The car is a Astra 1.4 petrol 1995, my wife drove the car yesterday, she told me the car began to lose power and as she pulled over the car cut out and refused to start. Having towed the car back home i was able to look at it today, first i removed the cambelt covers and found that the cambelt had shed quite a few teeth off , so i fit a new belt thinking this would sort the problem, having put the belt on and lined all the timing marks tried starting the car, no joy infact the car spins over really fast like it has little compression, i removed the spark plugs no petrol on them at all, so then i removed the fuel supply pipe and get my lad to turn the engine over whilst i hold the pipe in a jar, just to make sure the fuel pumps working ok, which it is.
• Rover 75 (1999 - 2005) - Rover no more 21 Jan 2008 (Forum)
  Having parked the car on friday for a morning in the office I returned to it to find a police car and three tow trucks some nice person who the police have yet to apprehend although they know who he is decided to use his brothers car and ran into three parked cars,all three plus the car he was driving are now scrap so I have now to go through all the insurance and legal stuff.I have put the car on SORN now got to spend a day going to local tax office to get the personnel plate put on redemption.I can't keep a car when I want I had really fallen in love with it having done the brakes ,cam belt and head gasget with the intention of keeping it.So I spent Saturday trying to find a 75 tourer or ZTT that was in the same condition and same low miles mission impossible people were wanting 5k for rough high milers and as there are none coming in from lease I gave up and bought a two year old Signum 2.2 elegance from my usual source plus I have got a dose of flu its not been my weekend.I got a Chevrolet lancetta as a hire car it is horrible I am glad it goes back today.
• Ford Fiesta (1989 - 1995) - 93 1.1 petrol. coolant sensor location 30 Dec 2007 (Forum)
  Also still baffled why the car refuses to start on a new well charged battery yet will fire up tick over and run perfectly every time on a bump start 20 yard tow. Any help welcome. Many thanks
• Two cars to choose from - what would you choose? 9 Oct 2007 (Forum)
  I had a test drive last week and enjoyed it - the sun was shining and the roof was down - spent a couple of hours on different roads 99% of my driving is solo, don't carry much stuff with me, but I do tow a caravan 6-8 times a year. I do a lot of miles, hence the diesel. A test drive of the mondeo was really too short to get a feel for the car. I had 10 minutes and was told by the dealer that if I wanted a longer drive I need to hire one!
• Omega Write-off Value 3 Jul 2007 (Forum)
  Hi All Some woman in a Mazda 6 rear ended my miggy this morning on the way to work. She hit me good and hard - her airbags went off and it took two tow trucks to winch the cars apart. My car is 8 years old, so given that and the damage my insurers have decided it's a write-off. Which is a shame, really. I'd got it all sorted (after 4 and half years of ownership) and it was running nicely with everything working.
• Golf MkIV Fuel starvation/throttle issue 5 Jun 2007 (Forum)
  Everything ran fine until last Friday when the engine cut out again. This was as I was changing down from 3rd to 2nd. Couldn't get it started and it was towed back to my house. I got to recovered to a VW garage but before I did that I did manage to get it started. It was very "lumpy" though and it soon cut out with the Emissions Workshop message coming up.
• Golf MK2 - clutch problem? 19 May 2007 (Forum)
  I drove the car on a local journey, and got a mile from my house before the clutch hit the floor. I paid £40 to get it towed home. I looked at the cable this evening and found it did not look like it was frayed at all. However, it had become disconnected from the pedal and the cable had retreated into the black plastic clutch cable cover, which sits somewhere below the windscreen.
• I hate this time of year 11 Apr 2007 (Forum)
  Because the roads are quieter the level of Driving takes the michael. This morning I witnessed a Van towing an Ice Cream Fast Food Type Trailer undertake the driver in front (2 Lanes, Left Lane Left Turn Only) and I only avoided the poor guy getting wiped out (He didn't realise the Van was going straight on - Why would he ?)
• minor rear end shunt 12 Oct 2006 (Forum)
  We could just about find the point of impact on his number plate, but only just. Everything else was fine, although I haven't had a detailed look under my car. (I have a tow hook, so the bumper wasn't touched). There was no damage on his car at all that we could find. We exchanged names and addresses - and I said I would call him if I discovered any damage. Incidentally, he apologised and said his foot had slipped - we were both in suits so didn't crawl under the cars....
• Reliable, cheap French car - possible? 3 Aug 2006 (Forum)
  I'd make sure I took a clutch cable too. I would use it for airport trips, taking rubbish to the dump and towing a trailer for the bigger items of rubbish. I imagine it would be pressed into carrying building materials as well. I am prepared to spend a couple of thousand pounds to get me a pretty reasonable run-about.
• Roadside Recovery Woes 27 Jul 2006 (Forum)
  Having waited 45 mins for the AA I was told it would need a recovery truck as the standard AA van could not tow me off. It was stuck in gear and disengaging gear proved near impossible... 2 hours from the initial call the truck turns up (not an AA vehicle, but a third party garage), excellent i thought especially at 2am!