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• A new addition to the family 8 Aug 2005 (Forum)
  Just arrived this evening, purchased on behalf of my elder daughter, a 1994 Citroen AX Spree 950cc, sunroof, one lady owner, no tax, new exhaust, good tyres, exterior straight but with a couple of dents, chips and scrapes, back bumper cracked, interior like new apart from the vanity mirror falling off the sun visor and the heater fan switch broken, 2 months MoT, Citroen service history to 60K miles, recorded 68K miles, handbrake adjusters believed siezed and car pulls to the left on panic braking, head gasket believed sound, trace of mayo in the rocker box, £450. I'll knock the brakes into shape, service it with a change of fluids, put a high-level brake light in it and run it for a week or two before handing it over to daughter who lives 100 miles away in Nottingham.
• Peugeot 406 Estate - radio, brake lights 11 May 2005 (Forum)
  Hi, Recently (Sunday) bought a 406 estate. Fine except for a couple of faults. Firstly, the high-level brake light does not work, and it had been covered with a strip of black sticky tape by the previous owner - presumably some sort of MOT evasion measure! I can't work out how to get into it - does anyone know?
• BMW E30 325 front brakes 30 Sep 2004 (Forum)
  Hi, I have a couple of slight problems with the front brakes on my E30 325. I changed the discs and pads last week, and in order to get the old discs off I had to drill off the cap of the small alignment nut (it serves to hold the disc in place against the hub when changing the wheel).
• Excessive brake pad wear - Fiat Punto 23 Jan 2004 (Forum)
  I have a Fiat Punto ELX 5DR, registered May 2001. Since I bought the car I have had 5 sets of brake pads, and due for yet another. With a total mileage of 40,000, surely this is not \"fair wear and tear\" that Fiat keep telling me. I have also had to spend £110 on a new exhaust which completely fell off a couple of months ago.
• Are seatbelt mechanisms "handed"? 23 Aug 2003 (Forum)
  understanding of inertia-reel belts was that they had two mechanisms inside - one locks the belt under hard braking, and the other when the belt is stretched suddenly. So I assumed that the belts would be "handed" left-right as the direction of the braking force would be different side-to-side. Well, Halfords had 20 different types of belt, but no sign of left-right differences.
• What happened to talking cars? 8 Jul 2003 (Forum)
  with voice synthesiser. It started off as a gimmick but it actually said some useful stuff like, \"Brake problem! Emergency circuits in operation. Avoid braking hard. Service as soon as possible\" .. which turned out to be low brake fluid. My S-Class Merc doesn\'t tell me even 1/2 as much as the Renault did.
• Overheated Brakes 16 Apr 2003 (Forum)
  Today, immediately after a 10 mile run at 70mph (the first journey over 25 mph and 2 miles) the rear drum brakes seriously overheated (tons of smoke). I thought the whole car was going to go up in flames. Luckily, I had a bottle of water to hand to cool things off with, though after 1.5 litres carefully poured over the drum, it was still hot enough to turn the water into steam.
• VW Polo pdi engine management problem 7 Feb 2003 (Forum)
  Obviously I have to take it to a VW dealer to check out. I phoned the dealer who said to check the brake lights! If they were still working then the problem isn't urgent. If the brake lights are not working then to bring the car in immediately. The brake lights are working so this means they can't look at the car until next week.
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  Work Recommended and Completed was Not Required for Elderly Vulnerable Customer at £650 5 Sep 2015 (Ask HJ)
  My Dad, age 79, took his Toyota Auris to a retail chain for tyres. While killing time in a nearby supermarket they called him to say his rear brakes were...
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  Would you recommend a Beetle or MINI convertible, and should I buy an automatic? 12 Oct 2013 (Ask HJ)
  I am a fit and active 75-year-old and learned to drive in London in a Ford Popular when I was 17. I have always driven manual cars. Being barely five foot...
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  Are Vauxhall Agilas prone to ABS faults? 10 Jun 2016 (Ask HJ)
  I'm thinking of buying a Vauxhall Agila 1.2 petrol (2011 model with 12,876 miles) for £4995 But I'm worried after reading about the ABS/ESP brake pressure...
• Volvo V50. 05 plate - Anti skid message brake failure, immobilser activa 30 Oct 2015 (Forum)
  And indicators not working, all wile the brake messages and limp mode activated. The day before yesterday my car failed its mot and had the following work done. Rear brakes cleaned and adjusted, n/s/f coil spring supplied and fitted. Rear number plate bulb Do you think the two are related or is it just a coincidence that this has happened now?
• Volkswagen Passat (2001 - 2005) - 02 1.9TDI ABS & Oil level light and alarm problems 5 Jan 2009 (Forum)
  I have owned the car virtually from new and it is now coming up to 120K miles. Car has developed a continuing problem with both brake warning lights coming on (ABS and Brake system). Codes indicate a brake stop light switch problem. This has been replaced 3 times (twice by VW dealers) in the last 18 months. But problem still persists.
• Traffic cops related question 11 Nov 2006 (Forum)
  So would any of the following possibly saved her life: 1 - If she had left a bigger gap between her and the car in front, would this have reduced the severity of the impact at all by allowing her to move further forward? 2 - Similar to number one, if the brakes (foot and hand brake) were off, would the car have moved forward more reducing the impact? 3 - If she had read the road ahead and started to brake very early would the lorry driver have maybe noticed the stopping traffic and braked?
• New discs & pads for PUG 205 GTi 30 Mar 2005 (Forum)
  By reading through the forums here (and not wishing to re-hash old topics) and my own 'real life' driving experience, I accept that the PUG doesn't have the best of brakes. Since I believe I have factory original discs with aftermarket (Unipart?) pads the braking is OK - not awful, but not great. So I've always thought about upgrading the discs and pads. Upon checking my brakes today I found the pads to be very close to wear and a definite (but even) 'lip' on the discs.
• mobiles and driving 4 Dec 2001 (Forum)
  Im not one to make calls on the mobile in general when driving, but crossing the M62 to Manchester at 06:30 on the way to work this morning, (Frost in Huddersfield so used the car and not the Blackbird) I was behind an Escort type van. I was braking but still catching it up and cars in front had their brake lights on. The van had one DIM rear light on. Then as the other brake lights went out the rear lights came on at normal brightness. A poor earth somewhere I think, but also a major problem for anyone behind!
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  Should I have an engine flush at every service? 30 Jan 2020 (Ask HJ)
  I have just had a reminder for my Corsa 1.4T third year service and MoT from the dealership. It came with recommended TLC like bacterial cleanse at £24.95,...
• Daihatsu Skywing - Slow Brake Fluid Drop 2 Apr 2018 (Forum)
  Might finally be a bit of substance to back up the criticism of my brake maintenance, since I appear to have a very slight fluid leak. Due a flush and a check on brake hardware anyway. I put this wheel cylinder back on after cleaning it up about a year and half ago.
• Vauxhall Corsa-e - Rear brakes badly scored 19 Jan 2024 (Forum)
  My electric Corsa had only done 7k miles at the first service. I was informed that due to both rear discs badly scored the pads and discs need replaced....
• 2003 Ford Fiesta 1.4 diesel - Mot failure 25 Mar 2023 (Forum)
  Just to ask what would the likely cost of repairs for brake pipe excessively corroded nearside and offside front to rear pipe . Brakes imbalance across the rear axle. Fuel pipe chafing on top of filter . Monitor and repair advisories play in steering rack (slight play in both sides power steering noisy ) 2 tyres worn on edge .