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• Mitsubishi Shogun - Bought auto 4wd with warranty, blamed for failure 22 Jul 2015 (Forum)
  Move forward to today and I get a phone call saying the torque converter is shot and damaged in such a way that it must've been caused by me either driving at a fast speed in 4wd (which wasn't working anyway) or having it towed - which I definitely did not do.  It's a little garage that has apparently made these claims not a main dealer etc I'd had the car at this time a little over 2 weeks and chased getting the car into his garage several times via email and made him aware of all the issues we paid just under £3,000 for the car.
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  Can you recommend a practical car for £15,000? 1 Feb 2015 (Ask HJ)
  I need a new or nearly new car for £15,000. I'm quite active and will need something that's reliable, economical and large enough to carry a dog cage and...
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  Electrical problems with Renault Espace 10 Nov 2014 (Ask HJ)
  Last week, I was driving home in my 2009 Renault Espace and decided to stop off at a shop. When I got back into the car, it would not start. There appeared...
• Mazda 6 2.2D estate TS2 - Mazda 6 2010 engine failure due to oil blockage 25 May 2014 (Forum)
  I have had this car from new direct from Mazda, it has been serviced by Maxda and has 64,000 on the clock, the last service carried out by MAZDA was in Dec 2013. 2 weeks ago the car lost power and we stopped immediately but black smoke came out of the exhaust pipe. We paid for additional 1 year Mazda roadside assistance and I had the car towed to the mazda dealership in Coventry. They have since stripped the engine and over numerous question and answer sessions, they have explained the problem and a full report has been sent to Mazda UK last Thursday 27/2/14, after two weeks of invetsigation.
• Mitsubishi Space Wagon - Garage stumped! 24 Mar 2014 (Forum)
  Upon investigation my local garage said they couldn't see any problem. Then again,on driving the car from the garage, the same problem. Was towed back to the garage and they found the petrol filler pipe was rusted through and replaced it. The car still behaved the same. Starts fine but will not run when accelerated, stalls. The local garage then: 1. drained and cleaned the petrol tank.
• Corsa 1.3 CDTi 2012 model - DPF issues 11 Sep 2013 (Forum)
  It is currently in the garage following stalling to a stop on the dual carriageway and required to be towed to the dealership garage. it has currently been in for 5weeks now and they are apparently waiting for a new catalytic converter as a result of the DPF hose blowing and tearing. This is it's 5th time in the garage and I would like some advice of why this may have happened to a car which is just turning 1 year old and only completed 8600miles on the clock.
• Volvo XC90 - credit car hire- solicitors and court problems 19 Jan 2013 (Forum)
  back in 2010 i was involved in a no fault accident while returning from holiday towing a caravan. My car was hit on a bend by a motorcyclist who had lost control, unfortunately he died at the scene and as a consequence my car and caravan were taken for police checks. My car was written off. a couple of days later the police released my caravan which i had to collect from their compound in S wales.
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  My clutch failed two years after replacement - was it faulty when fitted? 17 Nov 2012 (Ask HJ)
  Almost two years ago, at 149,722 miles, a local garage replaced the original clutch, dual mass flywheel and spigot bearing of my Land Rover Discovery....
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  Can I use nitrogen instead of air in my tyres? 12 Aug 2012 (Ask HJ)
  At a recent visit to ATS Tyres they suggested that I inflate the tyres on my Land Cruiser with nitrogen saying that this leads to better handling of the...
• 1999 Ford Focus TDDi estate - Engine cut out on motorway. Will not restart. 29 May 2012 (Forum)
  I called the AA (my membership lapsed 3 weeks ago so I had to re-join and pay a surcharge - it cost me a fortune) and they couldn't fix it on the roadside but said it was a suspected fuel pump problem and towed me home. I had low fuel level (just under quarter full) but the gauge has always been very reliable and no warning light came on. I suspected I'd run out of fuel because of the hill - and that's what it felt like when the engine cut out, but much morre sudden.
• Car for commuting 13 Jan 2012 (Forum)
  Does anyone have any thoughts on either of these and how they would compare both to each other and to the Bora? One final point is I have to tow a light dinghy sometimes which is why I want to stay with diesel rather than petrol. Thanks in advance!
• Peugeot 306 HDi X Reg - Loss of power and white smoke from exhaust 30 May 2011 (Forum)
  The result straight away was ever decreasing power, no speed over 40mph... then 20mph - lots of white smoke from exhaust. AA towed me to services, although when car was ticking over there wasn't no sign of any problem. No smoke, sounded sweet, nothing on the dash to indicate a problem at all. AA recovered it and they managed to drive it fine on an off the trailer, but they did note some white smoke.
• Audi A3 - Almost crashed due to shoddy garage repair. 9 Jan 2011 (Forum)
  The AA came out and discovered that the brake fluid container was completely empty, suggesting a leak, and a tow truck had to be called to take it to a garage. Two days later the garage had a look at it and discovered that a brake pad/caliper had been fitted incorrectly causing the brake fluid tube to twist and snag on the brake pad which, over time, led to a rupture causing the sudden loss of brake fluid and braking capability.
• Renault Scenic - Car died as I was driving it!!! 30 Jun 2010 (Forum)
  We bought a renault scenic on 8th may, on the 10th june the car completely died on me as I was driving my daughter to nursery, and so I got towed by the aa to the garage we bought it from. The garage said they would fix the car at no cost to us, so we thought great! A few hrs later we get a phone call from them and they say they won't fix it because debris has hit the drive belt causing it to shred and then b***** up the whole engine.
• Volkswagen Lupo (1999 - 2004) - Diesel filled with unleaded 26 Jan 2010 (Forum)
  My wife's dizzy friend filled this with unleaded last week & drove it less than 6 miles till it came to a stand.She hasnt even had any proper mechanical advice yet & just simply listened to the various horror stories about.Result was her hubby has gone out & bought her a new motor (more dosh than sense).So shes round tonight asking what to do with the Lupo,I asked what she wanted for it,replied 200, I choked on my whiskey,ran upstairs & came back with 10 twentys.Will tow it up to my indie 2morrow for the once over,im hoping for an easy fix as remember being told that the sdi type wouldnt be too affected by this.Hoping that ive got a real bargain here,will really get me loads of brownie points with the wife if she gets this little runaround.So what do you all out there think the worst diagnosis could be,im no mechanic & simply took a gamble,here's hoping!!!!!!!
• Vauxhall Combo van (2002 - ) - 05 1.3 Turbo failure then oil pump failure 12 Oct 2009 (Forum)
  I purchased an ex post office combo 1.3 diesel with 30000 miles about 6 weeks ago. I drove it for 80 miles until it came to a grinding halt. I had it towed to a garage for investigation. after two weeks (dont ask), it was discovered that the turbo had failed and dumped oil into the cat and blocked the exhaust. The cat and turbo were replaced. once the engine was running again, I was informed that there was oil coming out of the exhaust manifold and the cylinder head would need to be removed to investigate this.
• Renault Scenic (2003 - 2009) - 2004 1.9dCi Clutch pedal failure 7 Mar 2009 (Forum)
  Engine starts and runs fine, sounds perfectly healthy, no vibes, and all six gears (and reverse) engage cleanly if you switch the engine off. I had the engine idling when being towed the final 7 miles home in order to have PAS and brake servo working. Labour is hopefully going to be mate rate (to be negotiated), but what do you reckon I'm looking at parts-wise? I have horrible DMF and clutch kit thoughts in my head at the moment.
• America Unchained 8 Oct 2008 (Forum)
  As this breakdown also meant staying in the town, the motel owner invited them to his family thanksgiving meal. On a later breakdown they were even towed 10 miles by a passing pick up driver who took pity on them, and continued to do so even after it appeared the Torino accidentally hit the back of his pick up as the Ford brakes were not that efficient.
• MG MG ZT (2001 - 2005) - 03 2.0 (135)fuel lift pump 8 Jul 2008 (Forum)
  By this time beginning to loose all faith in the car but felt unable to change it due to the Rover bankruptcy and the huge loss we could ill afford to incur.Since then we have had another loss of power at high speed in the outside lane of the M25, rescued,another episode whilst towing a caravan,middle lane of the M25,each time taken to main dealers in the local area by breakdown company and supposedly repaired either by fitting new fuel lifter pump.Had all work done last year in france again when it failed again after running perfectly for 12 months.
• Diesel reliability HDI technology 29 Jun 2007 (Forum)
  However I double my oil changes from new with carefull running in for 3000 miles with a very gradual increase in revs, when starting from cold I allow to tick over for 30 seconds before I move & I drive gently without turbo boost untill the temp gauge is out the blue, I don't change down to overtake I use the torque very rarely going over 2500 rpm, mostly 1600-2250, I always use a major brand of fuel ( & not supermarket ) I use fuel line cleaner every 3000 miles ,Always allow the engine a slowing down period after a hard run & allow to idle for at least minute before I switch off. I cover huge milage & tow a 1500 kg caravan all over europe for the last 12 years with no problem on reliabilty!. I have however had clients take me out in there diesels under what they would call normal driving & cringe at what they do to an engine!