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• Rover - 420 diesel - Head gasket and big bill 7 Nov 2007 (Forum)
  What shocked me was the estimate from my usually good value local mechanic - £750ish plus VAT. Thats labour, parts, oil/filter change and have the head checked by specialist, possibly skimmed depending on the damage. Just seemed quite steep, even bearing in mind its not the easiest of engines to work on. Now I know its prob a slight over-estimate in order to make sure he covers himself, but still made me go rather pale.
• MG ZT+180 V6 Auto 4 Jul 2007 (Forum)
  Well against the advice of friends and relatives I went out and bought one today, a lovely example in trophy blue on a 52 reg with FSH including cambelts changed, working air-con and no mayo in the oil cap! A nice half leather and suede interior and large spoiler to boot. Even after reading CBC breakdown I made sure that the engine cooling fans worked. I'm very happy (so far) so please backroomers have I made a bad chioce as everyone else i've spoke too seems to think.
• 406 110bhp hdi 25 Mar 2007 (Forum)
  I was wondering if the mpg will increase with more miles and if theres anything that can be done to get the most out of his fuel like changing to fully synthetic oil etc? He does around 35,000 miles a year so it makes a big difference to the fuel bill. cheers
• what do you expect to pay? 5 Feb 2007 (Forum)
  We run an '06 VW which costs me £15 a month to cover all servicing costs and a W merc C class which gets a major service at a local non franchise garage every year and the odd oil change. This is about £500 and anything else that goes wrong is extra, this seems to be another £500 to £800 a year. {tyres, pads, exhausts etc. } I am quite happy with this but wonder what other folks consider reasonable for their yearly motoring costs.
• Laying up car for 6 months 20 Sep 2006 (Forum)
  WIll hook the battery up to a trickle charger and leave the handbrake off so hopefully no battery and brake issues when it is to be used again. Should I change the oil (was done recently) and maybe run it once a week for 10 minutes to keep the engine going or is this doing more harm than good?
• vauxhall 1.7 dti servicing 18 Jul 2006 (Forum)
  I bought vauxhall 1.7 dti envoy 03 reg with 66000 on clock i was told by main dealer it only needs servicing every 20000 miles and cam belt every 100000 but i was going to oil change it every 10000 inbetween but asking a local garage they told me i should get it serviced every 10000 and get cambelt chaned at 80000 i dont know what to do as i do a lot of miles (650 to1000 a week) and if i do the latter it will cost me a fortune. but if i service it as main dealer says will it be alright p.s 75% of my driving is motorway overnight
• Citroen 2.0 HDi - Any Good? 17 Feb 2006 (Forum)
  Ive got a Citroen C5 2.0HDI and basically im wondering if they are a good long term prospect. I have owned it from new and get the oil changed every 6k miles. My questions is very simple; do these engines last well, or are they a load of short lived complicated rubbish? Opinions seem to vary wildly. I have seen statements to the effect that they are a very well designed, robust engine, easily capable of 200,000 miles.
• missing maintenance - Primera 15 Jan 2006 (Forum)
  f=2&t=37990 I've recently viewed an example which seemed OK visibly and to drive, but on inspection, it had only had 6 services in 84k. Most oil changes were 12k apart instead of 9, but there was one occasion when the interval was 22k. The car wasn't obviously suffering from cam chain wear or smoking, and to its' benefit a couple of jobs including cv boots and exhaust mid-section had been taken care of.
• Mazda 626 noisy tappets 26 Jul 2005 (Forum)
  Car has recently been making a constant ticking noise once warmed up. The local mechanic has said it was the tappets and used a two stage flushing kit and changed the oil - this usually works apparently. This has improved the performance of the car but the ticking noise remains. His next suggestion is to replace all of the valves/tappets but this would work out to be quite costly with there being 16 of them.
• Blue smoke on deceleration 18 Apr 2003 (Forum)
  It seems to smoke on deceleration (blueish smoke) but these problems disappear when warm. It doesnt seem to have used much oil in the last 500 miles (the time i have had the car). Does anyone have any ideas as to what this may be? I have fitted new injectors and checked that there is no air in the fuel lines, changed the fuel and air filter.
• Warranty or a holiday? 3 Dec 2002 (Forum)
  My Passat TDi exits VW's warranty in February 2003 so I'm wondering if I should shell out for another 2 or 3 years for an independent warranty. 3 years is £700 which goes a long way towards a holiday or covers quite a few repairs. The car's done 53K and runs like a dream (albeit a slightly PD noisy one!). I've had the oil changed every 5K. Am I likely to get some heavy-ish bills in the next 50K and if so can anyone recommend a decent warranty firm? Or should I chance it, keep it properly serviced and trust in VW's outstanding reliability and book my place in the sun?
• Moving to Spain 23 Apr 2002 (Forum)
  , then get rid. I won't be able to afford frequent changes. Any help appreciated. Roger
• Turbo 5 Feb 2001 (Forum)
  Is the dealer being a little pre-emptive suggesting changing working parts, and what should I look out for if the turbo is on its way out. many thanks Gavin
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  What medium SUV should we buy? 18 Jun 2024 (Ask HJ)
  It's getting towards the time to replace our (very reliable) ageing 60 plate Honda Civic 1.8 automatic. We have a maximum budget of £18,000 and are looking...
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  Why are BMW refusing to pay for a service that is covered by my service pack? 9 Jan 2017 (Ask HJ)
  I bought a new BMW M135i in June 2015, along with a service pack. As per your recommendations I had an interim oil service at just over 9000 miles, although...
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  Execs and the city 29 Dec 2012 (Ask HJ)
  I have a 2005/54 Volvo XC90 Executive with 100,000 miles on the clock, having owned if for the past 4 years. We have a family of 5 (+dog) so the space...
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  Why is my 2003 Mazda 6 stalling and producing smoke? 21 Jun 2010 (Ask HJ)
  I have recently purchased an '03 reg Mazda 6 2.0 (136bhp) TS TD. The car has done 75,000 miles. In my rear view mirror I can see smoke in the headlights...
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  Smokeless moan 19 Jun 2010 (Ask HJ)
  I own a 2002 Mercedes C220 CDI automatic, regularly maintained, still good to drive and still giving over 50mpg on motorways. Oil consumption is also very...
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  Independence suspension 8 May 2010 (Ask HJ)
  Mike Welch, the entrepreneur behind online tyre retailer Blackcircles.com, is launching a new business venture which aims to explode one of the biggest...
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  Broken link 5 Dec 2009 (Ask HJ)
  At four and a half years old with 45,000 miles on the clock and despite regular servicing and easy domestic usage, the timing chain on my 2,184cc Nissan...