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  Smart Car Keys Repairs 10 Jul 2012 (Ask HJ)
  Smart agent quoted £220 for new key & required two 80 mile round trips to verify details,order key and return to have key programmed. www.keyfobrepair.co.uk...
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  Clicking noise from the immobiliser 3 Aug 2011 (Ask HJ)
  I keep on getting a clicking noise from what I believe is the immobiliser unit box under the glovebox. The faults include intermittent working of the...
• Ford Fiesta (2002 - 2008) - 03 1.4 strange electrical fault,possible bad earth 19 Jun 2009 (Forum)
  I've rectified it in this way twice now and its started doing it again. Then recently while going down the motorway one day the radio volume dropped down a level of its own accord which caught my attention, i then realised that the speedo and digital trip clock had cut out. about 10 miles further along the motorway it miraculously kicked in again and the radio increased back to its original volume.
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  Usedless car warranty 14 Feb 2009 (Ask HJ)
  I recently bought a 2001 BMW for £3,900 from an independent dealer, which came with the standard 3-month warranty. After a few days driving I have noticed...
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  Fiestering sore 24 Jan 2009 (Ask HJ)
  My daughter bought a brand-new Ford Fiesta 5 weeks ago and has had to call the AA out 3 times because it wouldn't start. All three patrolmen have said...
• Peugeot 307 (2001 - 2007) - 02 2.0 Anti Pollution - ESP/ASR - BSI 24 Sep 2008 (Forum)
  They did advise that the BSI unit may require replacing as the corrotion may have spread into the box. Incidently the radio will not tune into any radio stations - rellivant I'm not sure... 3 weeks later driving along the motoway (which we do not often do long runs) on a rainy day (as we have a lot of latley) warning lights re-appeared and back into limp mode.
• TV Road Tax Advert 23 Oct 2003 (Forum)
  Hi Backroomers, A couple of years ago, there was an advert on my local radio station, using a re-worded version of the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang song - 'our road tax dodging friend' or was it fiend? I e-mailed the radio station and the DVLA to inform them that Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is exempt from road tax ?
• Motor May 13th 1972 8 Jan 2002 (Forum)
  Small ads including a boxed unused Lotus bottom half engine for £50. A full page ad for a Pioneer 8-track stereo with long and medium wave radio. A mouthwatering group test of the Aston martin DBS V8, Citroen SM, Lamborghini Espada and the V12 E-type. Their conclusion was that you should make up your own mind. Having said that they rated the E-type (£3519) highly besides the overpriced Lamborghini (£9505).
• Suzuki Celerio - Start Stop disable 7 Feb 2024 (Forum)
    It is most annoying and I either have to keep the clutch engaged, therefore wearing the thrust bearing over the long term or sit there with radio, lights and blowers on using just the battery.  Not to mention that I find it cannot be doing the engine any good continuously being stopped and started.  Call me old fashioned but I just do not like it.
• Vauxhall ... advertising campaign - A grumpy pedant 10 Aug 2019 (Forum)
  Recently I have heard (too frequently for my liking) radio advertisements for Vauxhall promoting the company as “a British company since 1903” as though that should be a major selling attraction. If the advertisement had been for cars built in Britain since 1903 this pedant wouldn’t have objected, but surely Vauxhall is in no meaningful sense a “British company” – it was a subsidiary of the US giant General Motors from as long ago as 1925, and it later years producing nothing other than badge-engineered Opels … but now of course sold by GM to PSA which in my book makes it a French company.
• Volvo 440/460 - Battery explosion 12 Apr 2019 (Forum)
  We connected it up and left it for 10 minutes. then I turned the ignition on and watched as all functions came up, turned off the radio, and after a wait of perhaps a minute, as I had asked my wife to fetch a 13mm spanner from the workshop, I turned the key. Immediate explosion of battery in wheel barrow. a sharp crack like a detonator being initiated.
• Ford Fiesta Zetec 2006 - Ford 6000 CD 6 Jan 2019 (Forum)
  Hi folks, Hope I'm posting this in the right place, if not apologies! Just replaced the battery in a Ford Fiesta 06 plate and of course the radio has now been rebooted. I don't have a code or a manual to refer to which has left me a bit stumped. Tried holding in '6' and '1' to get the serial number and it has given me the following info:   06 00 06 CD-KW-8 05 01 02 SWP1 1-6561 SWP2 14C044 SWP3 AB SWP 4 (nothing) As far as I can see none of these represent a serial number.
• All makes - Cloned Cars 8 Dec 2018 (Forum)
  Interesting discussion on Radio 4 consumer programme about a guy who bought a cloned car after having it checked clear from a RAC inspection. The VIN number from the windscreen was taken as reference but this had been swapped somehow.
• Ford Focus - Noise after pull off 25 Aug 2016 (Forum)
  It's a focus 2010 23k on clock petrol 1.6 . It's under warranty. Taking the car back after holiday as radio is having problems. So wanted to identify this problem to tell fords to sort it at the same time.
• Mercedes C Clas 2004 - Problems following battery change 9 Mar 2016 (Forum)
    The battery works fine but for some reason the radio’s sort of wonky, drifting off the station – as though someone’s nicked the aerial and although I can physically lock the car with the metal bit inside the key fob, the button to lock/unlock and alarm it on the fob no longer works (I’ve had a new battery put in the fob at the Mercedes garage).
• 2007 Audi A4 turbo 2.0 automatic - loud ticking sound on Audi A4 1 May 2015 (Forum)
    I've taken it to two different repair shops and neither of them can figure out where it's coming from.  They both tell me to turn up the radio if it bothers me which is not acceptable.  The noise is getting louder.  I currently have 70,000 miles on it and don't drive it much lately because the rattling bothers me so much.  Can anyone tell me what could be causing this issue?
• International Driving Licence 29 Apr 2015 (Forum)
  I think the cost was about £12 and we had to find a main post office in order to apply for this. Finally I heard a snippet on the radio news yesterday, but didn't catch the message. Any thoughts / opinions gladly received. Thanks Paul
• Renault Clio Mk II Automatic - Renault Clio intermittent starting 23 Sep 2014 (Forum)
  When I turn the key I hear a relay clicking, but no starter motor action.  The dashboard lights stay lit, but the radio/central console lights go out.  Then after a couple of days or so, when I try to start it, it goes okay and it'll be okay for weeks and even several months. On a couple of occasions we've rolled the car a couple of feet down the drive slope and once I even rocked it in frustration and voila it's started.
• Audi A6 2.7Tdi estate - Audi A6 complete engine failure 28 Jul 2014 (Forum)
    Driving along - quite happily - under 40mph and suddenly a central warning message came on in the dashboard cluster stating "indicative light failure" - it flashed up and then shut down the entire engine, engaged the brakes and I came to a complete stop.  I turned off the ignition - thankful no-one was behind me - and then on stage 1 the radio came back on - so I had power - but nothing else.  I waited for 5 minutes wondering what to do - and then tried again (as you do!) and it all came back on and I got home ok.  I am off to the garage - but would love to know if anyone has any knowledge of what this might be????
• Grand Prix - exciting? 9 Jul 2014 (Forum)
  The Radio Times this week has a picture of the start of the British Grand Prix in 1965. http://f1.imgci.com/PICTURES/CMS/8300/8360.jpg I wasn't even born when this was taken, but I can see the sense of excitement in that picture, the noise, the smell.