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• 
  Couping with retirement 3 Oct 2009 (Ask HJ)
  I shall be retiring at the beginning of September and, having had a company car for most of my working life, would now appreciate some advice as to what...
• 
  Address distress 22 Aug 2009 (Ask HJ)
  In 2007 my son was photographed stationary in a yellow box junction. A couple weeks ago his business van was clamped and the Bailiffs sent round to impound...
• Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate - Brain Pick 10 Jan 2022 (Forum)
  But, things have their time I suppose, and maybe I should change it for something else? Don't want an SUV, (too high for loading bikes on the roof) Don't want a tow bar mounted bike rack on such a long car, don't want anything with less loadspace, and don't want a van. Definitely don't want anything with a DSG gearbox, but I do want an auto.  So, really, if I was going to replace it, I guess I might just have to have a new version of the same car.
• Vauxhall Insignia - Vauxhall Insigina 2016, snapped Aux belt 24 Aug 2021 (Forum)
    We have done 7,000 miles since buying it, and maybe 1/2,000 since the service. A few weeks ago our car broke down and I had to get it towed to a garage. My local Vauxhall garage(not the one we bought it from) have had a look, and said the Aux belt has snapped and got sucked up into the engine. The engine is now damaged beyond sensible repair and they have suggested an engine replacement.
• Honda, Ford Vauxhall, VW, Skoda etc - New job (Yay!) maybe need a new car.... 20 Aug 2021 (Forum)
  Is 6 hours a week on the motorway just enough to take a risk on a diesal in like say a Golf/Focus type car? 2 kids in tow so a smaller car would not be practical.The petrol I am most familiar with is a 2 ltr Subaru Forester. Haven't driven a smaller engined NA petrol for so long can't really remember much about it. Running costs would need to be on the affordable side and I am thinking about geting some basic kit so I can do my own oil changing and basics.
• New engine failed after 9000 miles, where next 21 Oct 2017 (Forum)
  In March this year, having covered 9000 miles on the new engine, the engine suddenly developed a severe rattle over the space of a couple of minutes and had to be towed back to the dealer; they diagnosed failed big ends due to a lack of oil, making various claims about the condition of the oil and refusing to accept any repsonibility for the failure. They refused to accept my suggestion of bringing in an independant engineering specialist, but instead suggested using The Motor Ombudsman as they are members of their scheme; TMO immediately requested that I appoint an independant engineering specialist, which I did, bearing the entire cost myself.
• renault laguna - dephaser problems,,read the book! 9 Jun 2017 (Forum)
  i bought a 2004 renault laguna diamonique it was 2 months old so basically it was a new car and i have still got it ,, it has done 46000 miles and of course had tyres and services,, at 30 000 miles it had a set of track rod ends , done by a mechanic,, i replaced the track rod ends again a couple of months ago ,, now the engine was terribly noisy after some investigation the dephaser pulley was at fault,, i rang around various garages and no one wanted to touch it ,,,,i decided to do it my self ,, after buying the special tools required to do the job i had it done in around 4 hrs ,, the pulley wheel itself was £145 and various tools required like the setting pin and camshaft holding tool was around £50 ,,, if you are going to attempt this job yourself make sure you read the haynes manual although its fairly straight forward , i didnt see the item where the crankshaft bolt must not exceed 49.1 mm as the origonal bolt was nearly 55mm in length the laguna was sweet as a nut for around a week ,, you can guess wat is coming,, it stopped and wudnt start i got it towed home and discovererd the bolt on the crankshaft had come loose there is no woodruff key holding the crankshaft sprocket in place now this bolt came loose because it was too long ,,, and the crank slipped bending all 16 valves which cost me alot of money to repair the laguna lives again but this is just a small warning to anyone wanting to attempt such a repair themselves,,,whether renault has designed the v,v t engine to slip the crank on purpose forcing you to take it to a renault dealer to repair costing £86 per hour (which i didnt) who knows ,, but to me it seems ridiculous that a simple bolt can cause massive engine damage ,,,,,i do love my laguna and like i said early it was near new when i purchased it and now it is running smooth again i intend to keep it for a lot longer
• 
  Volkswagen Golf starting problems 20 Oct 2016 (Ask HJ)
  My daughter's 2009 Volkswagen Golf has broken down four times in recent weeks and on each occasion it refuses to start. Our local garage has replaced the...
• Opinions required 23 May 2016 (Forum)
  Unfortunately my luck with cars is not good, I did have a Freelander bought new in 1999 that unlike many of its type ran for years, and was still going strong 10 years later having trekked across Europe and done over 120k (though it did need its wiring loom totally redone) and did leak a little bit of oil (but its a Landrover..).  I then had a Kia Sorento which I loved (at that point I used it for towing), that was a super car and never had a fault (except the head light bulbs would frequently blow). Then I got a Kia Cee'd, it was a couple of years old but quite low milage, 2 years later and another 40k on the clock and it was struggling with a few issues and wasn't holding up to my daily journey.
• Vauxhall Astra 2006 1.8 - Car will not start! argh! 22 Apr 2016 (Forum)
  one thing I have noticed is that when my lights are off, the dash lights are quite bright, if I put on my side lights/beams then do dim a bit, but I do not feel its significant dimming. Also, it is an automatic, can this be towed a mile or 2 safely? I know jack about cars but I have a good understanding of what to look for, unless it is something not easily found! Any help would be so very appreciated! Thanks!
• Need help in deciding a Crossover vehicle 15 Feb 2016 (Forum)
  I dont require any off road capability / towing capability / roof rails, all I want is a little bit bigger car with high seating positions.  So far I have short-listed Mazda CX-5 and Audi Q3, please provide any feedback regarding these models or any other alternatives that suit my requirements.
• Peugeot 206 - Labour costs 7 Jul 2015 (Forum)
  The clutch pedal went straight to the floor as she stopped to give way at a roundabout.  Her car had to be towed by the AA who diagnosed a failure of the clutch master cylinder.  This was confirmed by a garage (a different to the one which installed the new clutch 13 months earlier).  The second garage replaced the clutch master cylinder but, have reported a noise from the clutch which they are saying is a failing clutch release bearing - they state it will fail within the next 3 to 6 months.
• 
  Is my car beyond repair? 7 May 2014 (Ask HJ)
  My 2005 Mazda 5 packed up last Friday, with big shuddering and smoke coming out of the engine. I called the AA and I’ve been told it is most likely the...
• Ford Focus 1.0 Ecoboost 125bhp - Focus 1.0 Ecoboost Problems 31 Aug 2013 (Forum)
    Heater now working, but I still lose USB connection intermittently a couple of times a month (music stop playing, I have to turn it off for a while, then switch it back on) July 18th my car engine wont turn over, I called out RAC, when they arrived they checked battery and starter motor, all ok. There was no water in my expansion bottle and told me my engine was jammed with water, they towed it off to main dealer. It took them 2 weeks just to look at my car, they told me they could find any fault and were sending if off to an engine specialist, after a couple of days they told me Ford had authorised a new engine.
• VW golf 04 - EGR and exhaust temp faults. Advice please! 6 Apr 2011 (Forum)
  The next day, less than 12 hours later, I broke down on the motorway at peak time and had to get towed to the nearest authorised VW repairer garage. They did another diagnostic and said a piston in the EGR valve had seized and would need to be replaced, and also the catalyst had broken up and would need to be replaced.
• Volkswagen Lupo - loud screech noise from rad fan 2 May 2010 (Forum)
  I don't see how that noise can be related to fluid, unless it there is another pump that also comes on when the fan spins up. It is really loud, do you think I should drive it to a garage or get towed
• Toyota Avensis (2003 - 2008) - 2004 2.4 Engine Replacement 9 Sep 2009 (Forum)
  I need some advice regards an engine replacement on my Toyota Avensis 2.4 VVTi. Approx 3 weeks ago, the engine packed up and was eventually towed to a garage with suspected cylinder head problems. The diagnostics showed that cylinder 3 was damaged and further inspections indicated suspected crack(s) in the head. The stem valve seals were replaced and the smoke stopped but there is more damage in the bottom end.
• Cars for tall families 24 Jul 2009 (Forum)
  The Accord seemed a decent enough compromise, more room and more frugal without losing out too much on the driveability sense. 9 months on, with a 5 month old baby in tow I'm beginning to wonder if the Accord - particularly in saloon form, is the right choice. My reasoning: I am 6ft 7 - so have to have my seat as far back as it would go, meaning there's usually very little room behind me, and as we've discovered not enough room for the chile seat.
• Vauxhall Combo van (2002 - ) - 05 1.3 Help! engine failure @ 51,000 miles 17 Jul 2009 (Forum)
  He recommended taking it to the main dealers cathryns in ashford after checking the priming pump pressure at 2 bar and the manifold pressure at 90bar. Once arriving at the vauxhall dealers in ashford [after the breakdown van towing my hits the brakes to hard causes the torsion bar to pivot and crashing into the back of him!] They have it on the diagnostics and say that some sensors are out but suspect timing chain fault. I authorise them to inspect further and they say that the timing chain is out and that they now suspect the piston and valves have hit but want 3 hour labour @83 pounds an hour just to confirm the failure.
• car stolen off driveway 16 Jun 2008 (Forum)
  I called back to say no such agreement was made , they were naive and told him nobody was going to be in the next day.. when the car was towed off the drive ( it was a non runner ). There were deep scrape marks in the road where the 2 vehicles exited the driveway to go uphill. I reported it stolen on the phone straight away. The car was on SORN and was not insured.