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• Vauxhall Zafira 1.6 Club 2007 - Exhaust emission warning light 4 Jan 2011 (Forum)
  Obviously this is impossible while on a motorway, but how urgent does this need to be looked at by a garage. I need the car everyday leading upto Christmas so what am I suppose to do? Just how bad is it to drive with this warning light on? I did the pedal test and it came up with two fault codes 0115 and 571 (I tried it a few times as the flashing is pretty quick) the first one according to the fault code posting on the sticky refers to the Engine Coolant temperature, which I am pretty certain refers to the fact that my thermostat is not working correctly.
• Ford Focus Saloon 1.8 Petrol - Leaking Water into Spark Plug bays/housings 17 Dec 2010 (Forum)
  I was thinking it’s time to get the service done now but while driving the car to the Tesco’s, started misfiring and ask partner if could see if a lead had come off one of the spark plugs or something. When he looked he again found again water with bits in and off looking colour in the wells/housing of spark plugs. If anyone could help,know if common on fords or give advice about the situation it would be a great help.
• Ford Fiesta mk3.5 - Ford Fiesta MK3.5 - won't start, click relays 16 Dec 2010 (Forum)
  The car wouldnt start, so stright away i decided to do a good service as was about time, spark plugs, ht leads and ignition pack (it's a distributless ignition coil). Now the other thing i thought to check was the crank sensor (which appears fine). Still nothing, it won't start. It cranks over, at the very most will appear to start and then die which it will only do ocasionly, however when checking the spark plugs for a spark (nothing visible), so it really is intermitent.
• 
  What should I pay for a BMW E92 320D M Sport with 23,000 miles at auction? 12 Jul 2010 (Ask HJ)
  Hope you can help. There is an auction with BCA (BMW open group) and the car that I am looking at is a BMW E92 320D M Sport with 23,000 miles, satellite...
• Not declaring mods to insurers 24 Jun 2010 (Forum)
  The interesting issue is when a failure to declare a modification might reasonably comprise a "material fact" and might lead to a claim being rejected. We are dealing with an insurabce claim at the moment where there is a refusal to indemnify after an accident because the insurer's assessor found there were tints on the vehicle which had not been declared.
• Ford Focus 1.6 Zetec Climate 115PS TI/VCT - EML and catalytic converter issues 16 May 2010 (Forum)
  Our woes started following an engine misfire (quite bad and driven for around 50 miles) fixed by replacement coil pack and leads. As soon as we got home after the repair, the EML came on again and has remained on constantly ever since. Error codes and diagnostics by Ford dealer indicate possible fault with sensor or wiring on bank 1 catalytic converter and a defective catalytic converter on bank 2 (below efficiency limits).
• Vauxhall Vectra C - Front coil spring failure 29 Mar 2010 (Forum)
  I think what I am getting round to saying is that services based on high mileages or every 12 months if those mileages are not achieved can lead to major problems going unnoticed. Certainly, from now on, my car is going into the Vauxhall dealers every six months for a check over, even though they continue to tell me that this is completely unneccessary.
• Vauxhall Vectra B (1995 - 1999) - 99 2.0 Smoky exhaust, cockpit ecu light 7 Feb 2010 (Forum)
  After a week or 2 the exhaust started to smoke (white) but i'm not loosing any coolant, water, oil, e.g.. Plugs were dry but Iv popped in new ones and HT leads. Any help welcome Also I have the engine management or ecu light up in the cockpit ( amber, pic of an engine with flash in the mid ) I comes on intermitted, the revs will drop off if I give it some welly they will pick up again but now and again it will stall and not turn over again for a min or 2.
• Ford Fiesta (2002 - 2008) - Fiesta ST 8 Jan 2010 (Forum)
  I will be doing around 35k miles a year so am looking for a lower mileage car - not for residual value purposes, just because there is the potential for less to go wrong (and I do mean potential, I'm not making any assumptions). Research leads me to the Ford family and I have come down to 2 choices (both 2005/2006 models): Ford Mondeo 2.0i any trim Ford Fiesta 2.0i ST I would value thoughts and feedback on running the ST. My daily commute is 45 miles each way and is a mix of fast A road, M1 from Jn 9 - 1 and heavy West London traffic.
• Useless gadgets 15 Jul 2009 (Forum)
  The list is as long as it is embarrassing... The clip on notepad with a carpy pen attached post-office style by a coiled lead - with its own built in reading light. (Never wrote anything down on it, least of all at night: never had any urgent phone messages as it was 20 years before I even got a phone in the car!) Those colour-keyed plastic gaiter things to adorn the base of the windscreen wiper arms (presumably intended to save impacted pedestrians from undue harm in those murderous pre-NCAP years...)
• Honda Accord UK (2003 - 2008) - Honda Accord 2.4i EX Auto driving experiences 10 May 2009 (Forum)
  I've never been able to get used to the brakes, they always feel as though there's not enough resistance in them which sometimes leads to them feeling very on or off at low speeds (i.e. its hard to brake progressively). I've had this checked by the dealer who insists that they are within specification 3. My wife would like an Auto I've recently test driven a 2.4 EX auto accord (outgoing model) and on the surface my problems are solved, however, I'm worried that the 2.4 feels gutless on the motorway by comparison and I've read stuff that seems to imply that the EX comes with a sports suspension, although the EX definitely felt softer on a test drive.
• Mazda MX5 (1998-2005) - 2000 1.6 Start up problems 22 Apr 2009 (Forum)
  I have a friend who was a mechanic so they could fit it for me. 2. I have read similar problems on here where it was mentioned it may be the HT leads, could it be this and not the coil pack? This is my first car and I am not an expert, and naively assumed that as long as I had it serviced regularly that it would be fine, as people keep quoting at me that "Mazda's are so reliable".
• Ford Focus (1998 - 2004) - 2000 1.8 Starting Problem 15 Dec 2008 (Forum)
  We checked the battery voltage and it turned out to be real low (12.2v) so I bought a new battery (I bought a lead acid one but have since discovered that I can only use an expensive silver calcium one from ford). It was real cold out last night which may have had something to do with it. Stuck the new one in this morning but did the same thing.
• Jaguar X-Type Estate (2004 - 2007) - 2005 2.0ltr Query when starting from cold 23 Nov 2008 (Forum)
  I assumed to battery was shot (Jan 2005) but have had no indication that it was on its way out, tried jump leads still no response, by more luck than design I kept the key in the position III for approx three seconds and hey presto it fired straight up no turning over just fired straight up. So I tried a new quality battery no issues all week, it was cold last night 1 degree so gave it a try this afternoon and the same thing happened position III for starting nothing turned back to position I then back to III held there for 2/3 seconds fired straight up, after letting it run for no more than a minute or so turned it off and tried again, this time started in the usual manner.
• Keeping your head down - what have you done? 7 Sep 2008 (Forum)
  Walking back to the tent and car on this rather overgrown site we saw a family coming towards us with black grease on their lower legs. Sure enough it was all over the long late summer dried grass in the centre of the track leading to our tent at the far end of the site. I must admit, my first concern was for my beauty having its belly wiped clean, but a quick head under revealed lots of black grease and semi-liquid ooze from the chassis. 1987 and Blue Citroen 2CV, D908 GWX (Is it still around) had received waxoil and full underbody grease slather + rag bungs into chassis end rails and several litres of engine oil mixed with waxoil into the chassis.
• Vauxhall Vectra B facelift (1999 - 2002) - 1999 1.8 Missing whilst revving 28 Aug 2008 (Forum)
  I'm unlucky enough to own a face lift vectra on a T-plate, which i believe has the x18 xe1 lump. The coil/dis going across the head with no leads. Anyway, the trouble i'm having is, that when i'm in neutrel and revving the car around 2k revs, it seems to be missing. The EML is on, but the car still drives pretty good, no missing whilst driving, lurching etc.
• What fuel consumption gaffs/efforts have you made 1 Apr 2008 (Forum)
  (sold after 87,000 miles after losing me a fortune in mileage claims) 4) Its replacement, the 1.6 petrol auto Maestro that eventually got down to 23mpg on long runs as its main jet wore due to the rubbing needle. Sold in desperation as it needed leaded petrol too. 5) The saviour of my finances, in the early 90`s recession, the new Maestro Clubman D, that could get 60MPG, drew max car allowance and ran for 130,000 miles. Boring after that as i had learnt a lesson, but for some reason as the years went on and fuel consumption became less of an issue for the pocket, it became an issue for the mind....
• Citroen C5 (2001 - 2008) - 2002 110 HDi - Leak of precious fuel... 23 Feb 2008 (Forum)
  I have a 2002 51 reg C5 110bhp HDI with close approaching 100k miles. A strong smell of diesel and small tell trale drip from back of sump tray lead me to have a good look today under the bonnet and I found that the fuel pipe with two nuts going inyto the high pressure pump is leaking albeit lightly. Tried to nip up with open end spanner but no real movement, and in any case did not want to make anything worse on a Sat afternoon!
• Jaguar X-Type (2001 - 2009) - manual or auto? 11 Jan 2008 (Forum)
  Its not quite bangernomics though having a 5.5 year old car that has done 125k and drives pretty much as new has lead me to believe in running an older car that has already largely depreciated. So I am thinking possibly of a slightly older V6 saloon, not the 2.1, I have driven one, it lacks torque, the 2.5 is much more flexible yet alone the 3.0.
• Interesting experience at shopping centre 13 Dec 2007 (Forum)
  I was driving into an out of town shopping centre just outside Leicester this afternoon, and when I turned onto the access road I noticed a large plain white van parked right in the centre of the road across the chevrons that lead from the end of the centre railing. This was a long wheelbase van and so the front wheels stuck out onto the road itself as the chevrons narrowed towards the centre line. The van had hazards on, and I noticed through the back windows that there were two cameras that appeared to have three lenses each aimed at the access road.