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• Ford Focus Zetec 1.6 TDCI 09 plate - Ford Focus 09 - loss of power, intermittant 24 Jun 2014 (Forum)
  My 09 Focus has an intermittant issue - when I'm driving along (and sometimes while stationary), all power to the engine goes, and the engine cuts out. When I'm driving and it does it, it feels like I've hit the brakes; the revs carry on, but when I coast to a standstill, it stalls and cuts out. I can normally re-start it, but it happens 2 or 3 times in a row! I'm not very technical I'm afraid, and it's just passed it's service - they couldn't see any obvious faults anywhere.
• Ford Galaxy - Is all this "equipment" stuff that goes wrong? 26 Mar 2014 (Forum)
  Never having had a higher end vehicle, I was blown away by the programmable self adjusting seat/mirror thing, the dual zone climate control, the central locked fuel filler, the electric parking brake, the tyre pressure monitoring, etc, etc. I really wanted to buy it. It had been well looked after, 75k miles and pretty much good as new. But a little pragmatic voice kept telling me all that comfort equipment was just going to fail and cost a fortune to put right.
• Cleaning alloy wheels 11 Jan 2014 (Forum)
  I just had an epiphany whilst cleaning swmbo's car this morning.   The alloys were looking pretty grubby with road salt, brake dust and general muck from the roads. Cleaning with soapy water hasn't been too effective in the past and I am loathe to use "alloy wheel cleaner" as they can often be too harsh (especially as the alloys are rather brittle mazda ones).
• V reg 1.8 Ford Focus - Ford Focus rear lights 28 Nov 2013 (Forum)
  Dashboard lights are also off, not sure if they were before or not. I took the reg plate bulbs out and they looked blown. Front lights, brake lights, hazard, indicators etc work Tried checking fuses, didn't see any obvious problems but not sure if I even checked the correct ones. Any suggestions? Could it just be all the bulbs blew?
• Passat Pd100 B5.5 - Passat tdi no boost, vacuum lines 11 Nov 2013 (Forum)
  Any help appreciated, I've only been able to find the Jetta diagram online which looks a bit different. Brakes etc are fine, it's only a boost issue. Thanks
• Ford S-MAX - Reasonable wear and tear? 2 Oct 2013 (Forum)
    We've done about 5000 miles so the total is now about 57k. The work to do are new front brake pads and discs, rear shocks (one was leaking) but the main bit (£1300) has been to investigate an engine management light which revealed that I need to replace the breather pipe. My question is does this seam reasonable - and I'm just unlucky - or do I have any basis to complain to the original dealer for selling a car not of reasonable quality?
• vauxhall astra 1.7 dth 2007 - no fuel at injectors 1 Jul 2013 (Forum)
  the pump pulley has 2 holes in which would both line up with timing hole. there are no fault codes stored. i have tried by squirting a bit of brake cleaner into air intake ( i know its not ideal ) and engine ran fine for a few seconds so im pretty sure it is just the fuel problem, any ideas ? wasthinking about just running some fuel direct into the top of the pump , would this work ?
• 2005 Ford Mondeo Estate - Sources for good rear caliper 23 Apr 2013 (Forum)
  I own a 2005 Ford Mondeo Estate 2.2l TDCi.  The rear Caliper is causing the hand brake to stick on just the drivers side.  I am trying to find the best place to source the parts for.  My mechanic priced one out for me at 230 Euro (I'm in Germany)!  I found one in the past on ebay.de but he says they are junk.
• Dark nights- Bright lights!! 9 Nov 2012 (Forum)
  There must be an awful lot of cars that don't have a handbrake fitted. Every man and his wife seems to sit at traffic lights, junctions etc with their foot on the brake pedal. Blinding the manure out of anyone around them. It is ridiculous, not only do they blind the sugar out of drivers behind them, it is poor driving practice and a waste of energy. Then we come to the headlights- or more precisely the lack of one out of two.
• BMW 320i E92 2007 - Handing car back to finance company 24 Aug 2012 (Forum)
  I am due an MOT in November and will need to spend around £500 on maintenance elements by then - tyres, brakes, etc. I don't see any point in spending this amount of money when there is potentially only a couple of months to go and I don't wish to refinance the value of the balloon payment. In practice am I able to over pay my finance payments in order to hit 50% before November and thus hand the car back early or will Santander see what I am doing and block it in some way.
• Fed up with VAG cars 22 Jun 2011 (Forum)
  How come the rest of the car can look pristine, the engine/gearbox is great, but they cant even put a decent coat of paint on those under body components and afford them no protection whatsoever. Brake components also dont seem to be very durable either. And Skoda dealers now seem to be charging Audi prices for repairs. Should I consider Toyota or any other make - all I want a car thats cheap to run and built to last at least 200,000 miles without having to be rebuilt every 5 years.
• FOrd fiesta 1.3 LX - Smoke bellowing out of EXHAUST 21 Jun 2011 (Forum)
  I recently got a new / used ford fiesta 1.3 unleaded petrol car, the clutch pedal occasioanlly gets stuck down and i have to lift it with my foot to change gear, it normally just does this when getting in to first ie at traffic lights, traffic, so i normally get the hand brake up ... anyway, seems to make a few strange noises i can mell burning and the WHITE SMOKE wont stop coming out of the exhaust ... anyone??? i know the AA guy said the hydrolics need a seeing too, and the clutch will be sorted (i think) but suddenly the smoke has started and wont stop ...... really smelly and really embarraaing... i hope i can get this fixed very cheaply if atall..??
• Alfa 156 - Engine failure after 5 months 19 May 2011 (Forum)
    Since getting the car we have had the anti roll bars repaired, the wishbones & brushes and replaced all the brakes so a fair bit of money spent... The car consumed lots of oil from the off (symptomatic of big end?) and also developed a tappitty noise (checked at a garage). Yesterday it began a horrendous knocking from the engine.
• Peugeot 306 - Help with poor fuel economy on 306 hdi 16 Mar 2011 (Forum)
  Now ive noticed when I brim the tank im getting around 500miles. Ive checked that there are no fuel leaks, brakes binding etc and the car recently had a full service so what could the problem be? Ive also noticed a high pitch whistling when driving at around 30-40mph. This only happens when the revs are constant and goes when I accelerate or decelerate.
• Honda Accord UK (2003 - 2008) - 04 2.2 Intermittent loss of power when acceleratin 23 Feb 2011 (Forum)
  It makes the car jerk about 4-8 times, then it rectifies itself at around 4k rpm. (It's a similar sensation to hitting the brakes for a split-second when speeding up.) I took it to the garage, but they said that they couldn't find anything wrong with it. (Despite having it for 3 days.) Have any of you got the faintest idea what may be the problem?
• Volvo v50 - Volvo v50 - master cylinder failure? ££? 14 Feb 2011 (Forum)
  The V50 1.8 petrol has done 96,000 and it looks like the master cylinder has gone, possibly taking the clutch with it. There's no brakes and you can't get it in gear - it just went last night without any apparent warning - died an a junction near home. This has happened before, last time was under warranty at 50,000. Its now done 96,000.
• Standing in line on zigzag line 27 Jan 2011 (Forum)
  During the whole period of standing which is about 1min the engine is running, full lights are on, I have my foot on the brake, and the engine is running and nobody leave the car. Question is if this qualifies under point 240 "You MUST NOT stop or park on the area marked by the zig-zag lines" My view is that I'm in traffic just as for example standing in a car queue for red light in front of a pedestrian crossing.
• Peugeot 106 diesel - winter tyres all year round 1 Dec 2010 (Forum)
  I need to replace my old tyres anyway and wondered if it would be sensible to get winter tyres, and leave them on for the few summer miles i drive. They are all on empty country roads where i hardly have to brake anyway. i am assuming if i don't modify the wheels i don't need to inform my insurance company.
• Ford Fiesta 1.25 - Servicing 18 Aug 2010 (Forum)
  One concern with going to an independent is that The Ford dealers claim that they will update the ECU software - is this a reason to stick to the main dealer? I should add that I normally do all my own basic servicing (oil, filter , brake pad changes etc) but normally with cars out of warranty and we usually reckon to keep cars for a fair number of years.    
• Chrysler Grand Voyager - I have a hissing noise 4 Jul 2010 (Forum)
     inside the gaitor I could hear the hissing, which eases off  when driving at speed and when braking.    It has not got any worse, or better ! over the time I have owned it, but I need to know weather it is safe (if a little annoying) to keep going as is, or replace the master cylinder, or if I can do anything to fix it myself?