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• Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDDi Duratorq 2001 Model 25 Jun 2004 (Forum)
  Not sure about this model. Insulation and cladding rubbers in engine become brittle and breaks easily, even in BMW and S-500 Merz. Also, I try to service my car (changing Engine Oil and filter) for every 5,000km distance travelled. Book recommends 3,000 miles which is more or less 5,000km. And it recommends engine oil of grade 5W-30, but I cannot find such grades locally.
• Would you accept this offer? 1 Mar 2004 (Forum)
  > Look forward to hearing from you Sent: Friday, February 27, 2004 11:14 AM Subject: payment and shipping arrangement Thanks for the mail,i really appreciate your speedy response and all the details.as for payment ,there is an associate of mine in U.K who is owing me the sum of £5000 he did promise to pay me by issuing me a cashier\'s check of that amount since this is the case i will not like to delay you, i will instruct him to issue out payment that he is owning me to you so that you can deduct your £675 and send the remining to my shipping agent in italy that will settle the shipping company for the pick upplease i am willing to trust my balance to you after you have deducted your own money and any other charges. please i do not intend to send any fund to my shipper for picking up.this mean without any delay in the shipping, once the payment is in your possession i will like you to send the balance of the payment to my hipping agent via WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER ASAP.for the picking i am doing this to hesten the shipping.if this proccedure is okay by y ou i will like you to forward me your contact adress where the payment will be sent to or your account information, immediatly,so as to send it to my associate immediatly to issue you the payment as soon as possible, as follow NAME...........
• Good therapist needed urgently 20 Feb 2004 (Forum)
  As always with these old big block live-for-ever Fords, whisper-quiet mechanically, no evidence of smoke but with the bellow of an enraged bull when floored, brutal acceleration, trans takes up with a postive clonk straight away, brakes with loads of travel but work fine, some evidence of the traditional Mustang overheating (it's 34 C today), the anti-diluvian Bendix a/c works fine (the seller has a car air-con shop!), delightfully woolly one-finger p/s, lots of body rattles... I haven't been underneath yet but rust should not be a big issue in this climate. New belts, hoses, all the electrics seem OK, electronic ignition conversion...... But, along with the exhaust note, that incomparable four-light shark-nose that was just MADE for tail-gating lesser mortals....that satisfying V-8 body wriggle when gunning the engine at the lights.....hairdressers in Beemers eat your hearts out...this is serious muscle.
• Audi 80 vs BMW 3-series for £2,000 20 Dec 2003 (Forum)
  I make it a golden rule never to consider anything without a full service history, which means there are a lot more Audis in the frame than Beemers. 8 valve 80's seem to abound more than the 16-valve version, but my brother has done his homework on the insurance front and seems dead set on the 16-valve version. Has anyone had experience of running one of these cars, and knows what to look for?
• Omega Maintainance Costs 30 Oct 2003 (Forum)
  (Fully validated mileage and very low at the time for a 6 year old car ex Network Q plus one elderly owner) The Omega now belongs to "she who must be obeyed" and will be doing less than 10K a year while I have gone to a 1998 Audi A4 1.9 Tdi quattro Avant. Wow............ 50 mpg...ish from low to high 20's.......... very refreshing :D Things that have been done in that 3 Year Period in no particular order - 1-Timing Belt Kit @ 80K - £365.00 2-New ECC "Switch/Regulator" The Big 3 Dial Controller - £413.00 3-Multi Function Display Unit - £273.00 4-Coolant Leak & Oil Leak Repairs - (Heater Valve, Oil Cooler Seals & New Oil Cooler.... threads stripped upon removal :( and Cam Cover Seals, New Oil Pressure Switch leaking oil through switch body - £724.00 5-Glove Box Lock Assembly - £12.00 6-New Discs & Pads All Around & Rear H/brake Shoes & Cables - £350.00 7-New Complete Front Wishbone Arms & Stabiliser Link Bars - £145.00 8-New Cat Back Exhaust System - £250.00 9-Auto Transmission Lower Gasket Leak Fix & Fluid change - £50.00 I think I need therapy having looked at this list.......... but hey it is such a nice drive when everything is working right.
• In praise of old clunkers 14 Sep 2003 (Forum)
  Most importantly the horn is very loud and works. It is a bit sluggish on the uptake (I've been too used to low revving torquey V-8's for too long) but wind it up and it goes like the proverbial off a shovel. There are some interesting clunks and clonks from below but it travels in a straight line unless directed otherwise. It also costs only a few shillings to fill up as opposed to most of the contents of my wallet.
• House Swap.... 8 Nov 2001 (Forum)
  No bills involved, i.e. you don't pay my electricity/telephone, I don't pay yours. Weather here at that time is hot (30's) , but subject to rain. When it rains, its normally warm rain and doesn't last long. Most of the time is hot and sunny. You'd find life easier with Portuguese, or perhaps Spanish, but it doesn't really matter, since you'll find the locals pretty accomodating.
• Letter Fom The Colonies Vol 11 14 Mar 2005 (Forum)
  I am an OAP, I will never need to claim the UK OAP heating allowance, Maybe a munificent HMG can subsidise a cooling allowance instead? The last 4 days have seen the Manila Rugby 10's ,which are a popular sporting attraction much like the Hong Kong 7's, so we have seen an influx of brawny male expats from all over Asia, coinciding with busloads of pulchritude arriving from the provinces dressed in its best and with hope on its pretty face.
• Peugeot 207 - Bought car fault advice please 10 Apr 2025 (Forum)
  After only ten days I got a dashboard light start to come on each time I turn the ignition on with an exclamation mark in a triangle saying engine fault: repair needed followed by airbag(s) or pretensioner seat belt(s) faulty then ‘risk of particle filter clogging: see handbook’ Contacted them straight away about it and they booked it in for an initial diagnostic in their workshop for two weeks later.
• ID3 initial impressions. 26 Sep 2025 (Forum)
  Beyond that it is a Golf sized car on the outside, Passat sized on the inside. It’s as quick to accelerate as a GTi yet smooth as an S class. There’s no noisy combustion motor up front rattling away and no complex automatic gearbox - it’s a battery and a big electric motor. It’ll cost buttons to fuel, and it cost nearly £20,000 less than its new price at less than 3yrs old with 18,000 miles up and it looks like a new car.
• Seizure notice & potential for letter of indemnity 1 Mar 2024 (Forum)
  They said this part invalidates my right to drive the new purchased car , because it wasn't someone else's car :s, "Cause you just bought it " They said its likely I will get 6 points and a fine, probably several hundred pounds or magistrates court if I contest it   . A letter  would be sent to me for points/ fine within a few months, though the copper reluctantly mentioned that that I  maybe able to contest it ( though doubtful ) and they may   'drop the case' if my 'other-owned' car insurers ( Lancaster/ KGM) are willing to write a letter of indemnity for this newly purchased car  Irrespective of the penalty points and fine , I can still recover the car for £200 within 14 days , as long as a certificate of insurance is provided and V5  If nothing else , hope this post saves someone else that made the silly mistakes I made .
• Mazda 3 - Engine check light codes 15 Jan 2024 (Forum)
    The car seemed fine otherwise, and managed to get home without issue. When I returned, I used my OBD-II scanner to check what code(s) it was, and it came up as: P0031 - HO2S Heater Control Circuit Low, Bank 1, Sensor 1 I checked on the interwebs, and the consensus generally (not for my specific model or engine) was that it could be down to: 1.
• Kia Sportage Vs Skoda Karoq (and others) 6 Nov 2022 (Forum)
  .), I test drove a further two cars last weekend - a Sportage and a Karoq. The Sportage was first.  It was a GT Line S with every toy imaginable (ventilated seats??). It was a 1.6 turbo petrol with the 7 speed DCT box.  It took about ten feet for me to decide I didn't like it; the DCT box was incredibly slow to engage.
• Peugeot 2008 1.2 PureTech 130 EAT6 Allure Premium - Progress report 25 May 2021 (Forum)
  (My TR7 2.0 litre is much thrashier with fifth gear only 21mph per 1000 revs).  For boy racers there is an ‘S’ for sport (holds lower gears for longer) and for rapid overtaking there is an instant ‘kickdown’ response, dropping gears to eagerly red-line at just below 6,000 revs.  I hardly ever use the manual ‘tiptronic’ option, Mrs F never does.
• bmw s1000xr - accident claim confusion 25 Mar 2021 (Forum)
  Now I've informed my insurance (lexham) and fill in all statement info inc pictures. They provided me with a replacement bike, matched CC`s but it's one old (`15) nasty dirty (not washed) bike with engine oil looking like milk, and even found some cracks in the fairing. They told me that excess will be 600 quid in case of any damage to it.
• Multiple - Thoughts / opinions on the listed car ads 2 Mar 2019 (Forum)
  Please can you give me your thoughts / opinions on them... The first 2 are Honda Jazzes. The other 3 are Avensi(s)? All from private sellers. 1) https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201902064652555 The car seems competitively priced compared to others in a 50 mile radius. But is the dent on the boot door something to be concerned about?
• Renault Scenic (1999 - 2003) - Heater motor only works on high speed setting 5 Nov 2018 (Forum)
  Remove top part of dash ( 2 screw either side under speaker covers) once removed remove heater duct from n/s just above heater box have a look at http://3lib.ukonline.co.uk/scenic/trouble.html here you will see the part and how to remove the resistor pack. This is a fairly common fault and is down to a faulty resistor pack next to the fan motor.
• VW Crafter CR35 2.5TDI - DPF!!! As usual. 20 Nov 2016 (Forum)
  To make sure im not going mad, just wanted to find out if im not the only one who thinks thats a load of s***. As i've refused to take the van out of the dealership, we currently have a courtesy van from enterprise paid by VW when the van was in for repair, im not giving that back either as the business needs to run.
• Comparison information required. - 4x4, AWD, AllGrip, AllRoad, what's the difference? 12 Nov 2015 (Forum)
  Must not forget the Torque Biasing differentials, as well as the old clutch style Limited Slip. I know of the centre differential viscous coupling used by the 1990's Land Rovers, but I've heard of Haldex systems, without understanding the detail, and there are probably others. Apparently overlaid on any '4WD' system there is Traction Control, where a fast spinning wheel is braked, but I think the requirement is for automatic best traction and grip in normal driving, rather than recovering from a 'stuck' situation.
• Lexus, Toyota, GM, others - Hybrids - good to drive? how about 2nd hand 24 Jan 2014 (Forum)
  I would also consider a non hybrid solution, such a good diesel (e.g. Audi A4 2.0 Tdi), or a small(ish) petrol,   but I currently drive Jag S Type V6 3.0, so small buzzy petrol won't float my boat, and my experience this week put me off a diesel with stop/start. Probably asking the impossible (tin hat on)