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• Mondeo balance/alignment 2 Dec 2002 (Forum)
  I suspect I know the answer to this, but just in case: Took the Mondeo in for an oil change yesterday, Ford Rapid fit. Bloke shimmies over looking shifty afterwards, conversation goes like this. Bloke: You got uneven tyre wear there mate. You want us to check the balance and alignment?
• Service intervals 17 Jul 2002 (Forum)
  My non-franchised garage (Mick Coop Motors, Rowley Regis) does this as a matter of course and over the years must have saved me no end of hassle. They also believe in 6K oil changes, as recommended by HJ, especially in multi-valve engines that don't receive the benefit of regular hard motorway driving. Regards KenA
• Overheating Peugeot 405 18 Sep 2001 (Forum)
  Within a minute or two, the fan cuts in and continues to do so constantly until the car is moving again, when it quickly returns to its normal temperature. This may not sound disastrous but is not standard behaviour for this car. I have changed the radiator (this cured a similar problem a number of years back, and it was a bit rotten), checked the thermostat and flushed the cooling system but the problem remains. The oil and water levels remain fairly constant and don?
• Tappets 18 Jul 2001 (Forum)
  My German motor has done a 115k (A4 1.8 20v, 95N) great car and all that, change oil at 5k, cam belt at 40k, plugs & filters every year, etc. Follow the old HJ bible... But the engine is begining to sing like a sewing machine, well slight exageration, but certainly never 'tinkered' like this before, or not that I noticed.
• Vw golf mk5 1.9 tdi - Fuel pump problems and some 16 Mar 2019 (Forum)
  Also today the car kind of struggled to start and shook a bit but started nevertheless...is this a problem to do with the air mass fuel sensor, spark plugs or the fuel pressure regulator? And it's due a service so this weekend I will put fuel injector cleaner in then change fuel, air and oil filters and I think maybe the spark plugs will need to be changed also. It's spent a lot of money on it in the last year..new flywheel and clutch last summer and this week i had the master cylinder clutch replaced and the mecahnic who fixed the master cylinder (different one from the usual) said that theres something wrong with the flywheel!!
• Peugot 307 - EGR valve 6 May 2015 (Forum)
  I returned a couple of days ago from a 2 week holiday to find that my 76 year old father had decided to give me a nice surprise and change the EGR valve on my car knowing that I had had problems with it for quite a while. He has always done the work on our cars but in recent years due to age has simply stuck to the occasional oil and filter change.
• Saab 9-5 Aero - Fettling the front calipers 20 Aug 2014 (Forum)
   I noticed a few weeks ago, when I removed the front wheel to change the oil, that  the pads were well down, so I have a fresh pair waiting to be fitted (time and weather permitting). I was wondering whether they had worn more quickly because the pistons weren't backing off as much as they used to.
• Time for a change of Identity 16 May 2003 (Forum)
  I dont like the fact that it only returns 30 mpg and uses 1/2 litre of oil every 800 miles on a 30 mile a day journey So what should I be looking at ? It has to have 4 doors, not me a mini/supermini size, preferably have a boot, must be a good car to drive (a drivers car ?)
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  Why has my Nissan Qashqai had worse mpg since the engine computer system update? 23 Jan 2017 (Ask HJ)
  I got a Nissan Qashqai 1.2 petrol from a main dealer at 9 months and 6000 miles and have run 3000 since then. Do you know anything about the recalled engine...
• Volkswagen Golf V (2004 - 2008) - 105TDi - the first 30/90 (months/k miles) 21 Mar 2008 (Forum)
  I had used just the litre of longlife liquid gold that had come with the car ? and it wasn?t on minimum/empty when it was changed, either! 10k miles later, I got a suction unit and changed the (majority of the) oil with more longlife. The result? The service due came up again at 18600 miles? Events meant that I didn?t do a mid change the next time ?
• 2008 Mazda 6 2.0 Diesel - Losing Power 1yr+, Engine & DPF Light & Rising oil 28 Feb 2011 (Forum)
  I drove the distance and it did start shuddering on the way home, luckily not far from home. I read on here about the problems with DPF and have just when to check the engine oil again to find its 3/4 way upto X. The last time we checked was the week before it went into mazda, but it doesnt say anything in the manual about checking the oil doesnt go upto X. My car was made after the recalled ones, its chassis number is oneletter out at the beginning, but im still worrying since I drive my two young daughters in the car everyday and im petrified its going toblow up or rev out of control.
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  What is the failure rate for Ford EcoBoost wet belts? 15 Dec 2023 (Ask HJ)
  I have a Ford Fiesta 125 EcoBoost which I have had from new, and has just short of 30k miles on it now. It has been serviced exactly in line with Fords...
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  Why is my Audi A6 TDI's fuel economy so poor? 28 Apr 2012 (Ask HJ)
  The fuel economy of my 2007 Audi A6 2.0TDI Avant Multitronic has always been poor from new at 34mpg, rising to 40 in mid 2011 and now having dropped steadily...
• CITROEN BERLINGO MULTISPACE DESIRE - BIG PROBLEMS WITH TURBO AND INJECION ON BERLINGO 4 Jan 2011 (Forum)
    We don't know who to believe.  Car has not been starved of oil but we also had the oil low warning lights intermittently and ignorantly topped up with a little oil.  Has this caused our problems? d) The last garage also noticed fuel around (I think) a couple of the injectors!!
• Volvo V40 - Volvo New 2.0l diesel reliability 7 Dec 2015 (Forum)
  It took three days to repair my car when I went to collect it I was told by the service manager that my egr was fine and in actual fact it was my oil level to high, I slight comment about how I should be more careful topping up oil, before I cut him off and explained I did not top up my oil. He had no explanation for the high oil level, obviously I as annoyed that the service technician did not call me to investigate.
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  Audi misfiring and spluttering - what's the cause? 10 Dec 2015 (Ask HJ)
  This morning I pulled up on the grass outside my house to take something heavy out the car, when pulling off I accidently drove over a concrete stump which...
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  Buying a used automatic - which is best for £9000? 1 Jan 2015 (Ask HJ)
  Till recently I had a company leased car - a Ford Focus 1.6 diesel , Titanium X trim, with plenty of optional features (driver assistance pack, blind spot...
• Peugeot 308 feline - Very hard to select gears from cold start 27 Nov 2023 (Forum)
  Having an issue at the min with my 2014 308 when starting from a cold start car is almost impossible select reverse ,also 1st gear very notchy ,almost as if you are having to force it into gear ,spoken to Peugeot regarding the gearbox oil which apparently is not scheduled to be changed at any point [should last the life of the car ] ,only time they change it is if they are doing repairs to the gearbox ,One thing i have noticed is the clutch pedal is sticking ,you sometimes have to hook your toe below it before it springs back full distance so i am thinking [hoping ] clutch cable ?
• Golf mk5 1.9 tdi, 2008, 150k miles - Weird sound from engine bay. 21 Nov 2020 (Forum)
  I've bought a car 3 months ago from a dishonest dealer. The dealer claimed that he did replace a timing belt, water pump and oil. When I've checked the reviews about him- the people been complaining that he doesn't know what he is doing (can this be a badly fitted timing belt etc?) Today I was changing air filter- it looked like it never been changed.
• Vaxhaull Vivaro - Vivaro Power Loss 25 Jan 2013 (Forum)
  I have to admit I let the last service interval slip by 50K (was getting round to it) I was kind of forced into spending on it as the exhaust mainfold cracked. Had that sorted out no problem. I then had it serviced by a local garage. He changed the oil (though the filter doesn't look new) Also fuel filter, air filter. Picked it up drove it home on side roads no problem, felt great!!! Jumped on the motorway next morning, got to about 3000rpm then glow/mangement light came on and van lost power.