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  Why is the BMW 330e plug-in hybrid zero road tax? 3 May 2022 (Ask HJ)
  How is it that the new BMW 330e plug-in hybrid variant can be zero tax rated when after 25 miles it has to run on its petrol engine when my BMW i3 can...
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  Why is the Government so obsessed over electric cars, shouldn't its focus be on hydrogen vehicles? 6 Sep 2021 (Ask HJ)
  Why is the Government so obsessed with electric vehicles considering the energy involved in mining for lithium and the generation of electricity to power...
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  Can you explain whether a PHEV or a self-charging hybrid would be better suited to my driving? 6 Nov 2019 (Ask HJ)
  I'm looking at changing my diesel car for a plug-in hybrid or a self-charging hybrid. Could you explain the difference between the two systems and whether...
• Mazda CX-5 Sport Nav 2016 - Serious battery issue after having car service 22 Oct 2019 (Forum)
  It wasn't until Friday when I noticed that the auto windows were not working and I checked the manual to find that if the battery had been disconnected the auto windows have to be initialised, on mentioning this to my wife she had forgotten to tell me that this had happened with her also on the Monday evening after the service which seems to confirm that the battery was disconnected at some point whilst they had the car.
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  Is a used Tesla S a sensible buy? 18 Jan 2019 (Ask HJ)
  There are many three or four-year-old Tesla's on the market, probably because the four year 50k warranty has expired. I have read many horror stories regarding...
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  How do I proceed with electrical faults in my Skoda Fabia? 27 Dec 2016 (Ask HJ)
  I drive a Skoda Fabia. I notified you in April when various electrics failed, including the dashboard electrics, and caused the engine to suddenly cut...
• Renault Megane 99/T - Central locking not listening..? 25 Jul 2023 (Forum)
    Everything was fine apart from the small lake in the rear footwell... so we had the carpet out, left it to dry out with the rice and newspaper etc. While it was parked, I disconnected the battery to keep the immobiliser from draining it. Some weeks later it's all back together, so I charge up the battery (which didn't take more than 20m) and I went to start the car. 1999-era Meganes are peculiar in that to disarm the immobiliser after a battery-off job, you need to remote-lock the car using the blipper on the key, then remote-unlock it.
• Ford S-Max 1.8TDCi Zetec 07 Plate 17000miles - Ford SMax Power Loss - Critical Engine Fault 20 Feb 2012 (Forum)
  The branch manager phones to say that the car is OK and that they cannot recreate the fault and that their computer didnt show up anything...I tell them to FIX IT! Two weeks later - Ford Call and say it is sorted - A Battery Fault...Hmmm Battery Starts the motor not drives it...but I am told THAT is the problem...We will see says I - Another £107 for a battery.... Less than a week later the SAME DAMN problem - Critical Engine Fault without warning - Power Loss - Creep mode...etc The Camel now has one straw too many and I call the garage to pick it up...and VOSA to report a SERIOUS Safety Defect with my engine...
• Ship carrying Porche's & VW's on fire in Atlantic. 20 Feb 2022 (Forum)
  "BERLIN/LISBON, Feb 18 (Reuters) – A ship carrying around 4,000 vehicles, including Porsches, Audis and Bentleys, that caught fire near the coast of the Azores will be towed to another European country or the Bahamas, the captain of the nearest port told Reuters on Friday. Lithium-ion batteries in the electric cars on board the vehicle carrier Felicity Ace have caught fire and the blaze requires specialist equipment to extinguish, captain Joao Mendes Cabecas of the port of Hortas said. It was not clear whether the batteries first sparked the fire.
• 2019 SE NAV + 2019 Hyundai Tucson - 2019 Hyundai Tucson Starting issue. 23 Sep 2021 (Forum)
  Hi all My Tucson's had no issues starting until today. in short this happened; Normal key; Opened all ok, turn key= nothing  (car battery lots of juice).. Tried several times, all the same. Got spare key ; car started first time and every time when tried. No issue with spare key,  contacted Hyundai dealership, response it's the remote's battery and not a key fob programming issue.
• 2003 NISSAN MICRA III K12 - 2003 NISSAN MICRA III K12 Identifying rubber pipe 24 Sep 2019 (Forum)
  --[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 I recently removed the car battery and I noticed a rubber pipe behind it with one end not connected to anything. The following links show the end of the pipe in the engine compartment with a red arrow pointing to it -  photo1 photo2 The other end of the pipe is connected to a lower part of the engine below the battery shown in the following link also with a red arrow - photo3 I am unsure how long it has been like this as I have removed the battery before but maybe I just didn't notice it was disconnected.
• Rover 75 V6 Tourer, automatic petrol, 28k miles - ROVER 75 2004 - REMOTE LOCK/UNLOCK NO LONGER WORKS 11 Jan 2013 (Forum)
  I opened my car with the remote on Boxing Day only to find a flat main battery.  AA installed a new one and everything was working fine.  I drove the car a few times, but on 9 Jan when I went to the car I found the remote key fob did not work at all.  AA came out again and said there had been a complete drain-down; recharged battery but could not resynch key fob.
• Skoda Fabia Elegance 1.9 TDi - Alternator? ECU? 2 Jan 2012 (Forum)
    Car was fine for a few weeks (I bought it used) when suddenly the dashboard lights started to flicker, power steering died, and I had to limp home.  First recharged battery, as engine would not start again, but that was a very short-lived fix. Replaced battery, and also had the regulator replaced on the alternator. Car ran fine for about 500 more miles, and the same symptoms.
• Pug 306 1999 - pug 306 power steering failure. 9 Mar 2011 (Forum)
  Im pretty near certain the power steering is not working. I have checked the Power steering fluid and the belt and all is fine there. However, the battery on the car is really tired and is in need of a new one, you can tell by the way the car starts up really lazily and slow. Sometimes it needs 2-3 turns of the key to get it fired up, By this time you can hear the battery literraly dying as the car is firing up.
• Citroen C3 Stop Start Auto 5 door 2005 - Problems with the ECU, Actuator and Car hopping 29 Jul 2010 (Forum)
  Used this car for 13000 miles and then had problems with trying to start it, advised by dealer to fit new battery, did and everything OK for 18 months. 2 years later car started hopping and became dangerous to drive, took to dealer and advised to fit new battery, did this and everything OK  for 20 miles, started hopping again and very dangerous to drive, no power.
• why doesn't anyone develop something like this? 20 Jul 2010 (Forum)
  Driver controls could determine parameters like electric-only running for short periods or adjust the amount of battery reserve to be maintained for economy or performance.
• Vauxhall Astra G Coupe/Convertible (2000 - 2004) - 03 1.8 Loss of Power Steering and Electrics 8 Oct 2009 (Forum)
  While all this is going on the engine does not cut out. However if i turn off the engine and try to restart, its as if the battery is disconnected and its completely dead. If i leave the car for half an hour it restarts no problem (stereo reset though, like battery was disconnected) and could be 6 weeks before it happens again.
• Vauxhall Astra G Petrol (1998 - 2004) - 02 1.6 Several electrical related problems 11 Mar 2009 (Forum)
  An honest garage please. Car needs to be fixed asap - any ideas? checked alternator that reads ok and so does new battery
• electrical problem - Pug 405td 11 May 2004 (Forum)
  When l got home l turned car off and tried starting again, same as before, turning key just faded the dash lights, when l tried the central locking/immobiliser there was a continuous clicking noise coming from a small grey relay type unit under the glove box, l\'ll try a new battery today but this seems more than a dead battery problem, any ideas? lm at work until midday, so l\'ll have a few hours this afternoon to explore. Any advice please. Duggie
• Kia Venga - KIA keys 5 Jul 2022 (Forum)
  The old couple who i bought the Venga from a few weeks back finally found the 2nd key, but said that it didn't work and that the Kia dealer, (when encoding the last one after they had lost it) had "messed it up" Tried it and it opened the doors, so went to a branch of that well known High st key co, Lo and behold One new battery later, all works as it should. Testing and cost of a new remote battery. £10.oo. They were going to book into main dealer would have been half an hour plus VAT.