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• Buying an economical/reliable car - which one?? 10 Feb 2010 (Forum)
  So far im considering: Fiesta 1.4TDCI Corsa 1.3CDTI Clio 1.5DCI Im thinking diesel as they are cheaper to run, i do about 15K miles a year. Are diesels more prone to failures than petrols? I have 3K to spend and I dont really want to go any older than 02 reg and 90K miles. Problem is everytime I start researching a type of car I just read about loads of problems and people saying do not buy!
• Parking in front of house of raised kerb 2 Feb 2010 (Forum)
  The side streets in the area are always full, so I am keen to continue parking in front of the house, as the landlord will not pay to drop the kerb, however I wonder what risk I am running by continuing. I am not sure if any of my neighbours have received similar complaints, but they are all still parking in front of their houses.
• Bent wheel ! 29 Jan 2010 (Forum)
  The "cant get fitter" (though could be quicker;-) ) guys called me over to the balancing machine to show me that the alloy wheel that had been on the NSF (NSR before that) is not running true. I guess the wheel must have been kerbed or potholed by the previous driver so now I need a new wheel. Though why didnt the very well renown tyre fitter/wholesaler notice the distorted wheel when apparently balancing the wheels to a very precise degree?
• Renault Espace (2002 - ) - three way swap advice 21 Jan 2010 (Forum)
  Our friends have a s-reg Espace, which they too like, but they can now get ours for whatever trade offer for it. In addition we also know another a couple with a P-reg 806 which is pretty abused, but runs. Plan is friend 1 has the 06 ESpace, friend 2 has the s-reg Espace, and I take the 806 as the P/E to offer against new or nearly new smaller 7-seater, possibly as scrappage. is there anything I need to consider in this?
• Aping their betters 17 Jan 2010 (Forum)
  Like the sinister, seething swarm of clacking bureaucrats who have made London such an obstacle course for the unwary, the crooked builders and smirking small-time retail tycoons who run piddling small towns have jostled to squeeze a quart into a pint pot and cover the narrow streets of their cities with incomprehensible paint and irritating signs and arrows. In the case of Bath, these frightful men and women, worthy successors to the syphilitic, nose-dripping, smelly-trousered aldermen of a couple of centuries ago, and the vacant uprooted peasants who man their Mickey Mouse camera systems, have made their jerry-built Georgian Butlin's-for-toffs noticeably traffic-free.
• Peugeot 306 (1993 - 2001) - 99 1.9HDi will not start 20 Dec 2009 (Forum)
  My peugeot 306 L hdi 2.0L estate,(1999), just cut out on me after it had been running o.k. The breakdown engineer could not start it, so towed me home. I took it to a peugeot dealer the diagnostics could not be accessed,they told me a new wiring loom + ecu MIGHT be required (cost £2400.00) When the engine cut out there was no engine mil light on the dash, yet the engine would turn over but would not start.
• Ford Focus II (2004 - 2007) - 06 1.8 What is the correct battery spec? 17 Dec 2009 (Forum)
  Turned over but would not go. Managed to jump start it later and checked battery voltage which was 14.4V whilst running, so believe alternator is OK.
• Ford Focus (1998 - 2004) - 03 1.6 Estate prosepctive buy questions 5 Dec 2009 (Forum)
  hi, shopping around for something to replace my now-way-too-small polo (two kids and a tendency to hump around large amounts of music gear), i had been set on a mondeo hatch for my family's needs - space / comfort / good to drive, but have been somewhat put off by the tdci horror stories, and the (comparatively) high running costs of a petrol model. i've now seen a 81k miles 1.6 focus estate (53 plate) for £2,900. i haven't driven one, but opportunities for that are limited as i live in orkney and as far as i'm aware there is no estate version for sale at any of the dealers up here at the moment. the one i've seen is in aberdeenshire, so no quick journey to view (£150 flight plus £40 taxi), but i wondered if i may ask a few questions that might save me a trip if a few key areas aren't what i'm looking for; 1) are these generally reliable?
• SEAT Leon (1999 - 2005) - 02 1.9 Starting Problems with 110 TDI 1 Dec 2009 (Forum)
  Luckily the car does start from cold without the glow plugs however it cant be doing ity much good! The car runs perfectly once started. Anyone have any ideas or heard of this type of problem before? Cheers in advance!
• Ford Focus (1998 - 2004) - 01 1.8 Please help... my car won't start 21 Nov 2009 (Forum)
  There is no smell of fuel at the a*se end, so even with pedal to the metal she's not flooding. My guess is that I'm going to need a diagnostics test run, however, with her not starting, I'm going to have to have her towed, I think. I'm a 24 year old female and am worried about being majorly ripped off by a garage. I'm open to any/all suggestions.
• Peugeot 306 (1993 - 2001) - 96 1.9 damage by garage?!? 19 Nov 2009 (Forum)
  Called the RAC out, and it turns out the car is hydrolocked! Apparently, the garage left off the ducting running from the air filter to the back of the engine, and it sucked up great gulps of water! I returned to the garage and they admitted the mistake (still on the workshop floor!) and are happy to "have a look".
• Peugeot 307 SW (2002 - 2008) - 06 1.6 (petrol) lumpy idling 22 Oct 2009 (Forum)
  Hi All, I have a 2006 307SW 1.6 petrol with 55k on the clock. It runs fine, no error codes are present, but.. most times, not all, it's lumpy at idle. The rev counter doesn't show any variation, sticking at around 700 ish but you can feel it missing a beat. It's got a full Pug service history and was serviced about 4 months ago, I did ask my local main dealer to have a quick look and he said it's fine and even hooked it up to a fault reader which showed nothing.
• Vauxhall - movano van - 03 2.2 not starting 9 Oct 2009 (Forum)
  Checked seals to diesel filter all fine, fuel filter has just been replaced checked for problems it to was fine, disconnected hose from fuel filter to diesel injection pump & turned van over to check for fuel, this to was working so pump in tank working. disconnected fuel union nut at fuel accumulator turned van over but no fuel delivery, could this mean injection pump goosed or is there something else i might have missed before i change pump as its not cheap. IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE I COULD TRY OR TEST. van was running fine when it was parked up before work started on gearbox, Cheers
• Ford Mondeo II (1996 - 2000) - 98 2.0 Automatic gearbox slipping 8 Oct 2009 (Forum)
  Hi I was given a Mondeo 2.0i Ghia (1998) with only 28,000 miles on it from new, and a full service history earlier this year. It has run beautifully for the past 9 months/12,000 miles, although the auto gearbox has never quite felt 'right' - but as I've never owned an automatic before I just put it down to, well, being automatic. Anyway, driving home tonight I put my foot down to overtake on a hill and although the engine revved perfectly smoothly up to 5,500 rpm, and the gearbox kicked down, it didn't result in much increase in speed - perhaps and extra 5mph.
• Diesels of Yesteryear - pre 2000 1 Oct 2009 (Forum)
  It is an extremely slow car. Why did I buy it? Coz I was trying to find the cheapest car possible to buy and run. Previous to this, I had a Mercedes SEC so I really have gone from one end of motoring to another. The thing is, I have grown to quite like this little Pug and marvel at how I can get 75mpg (yes you read that correctly), sitting at 60mph on the motorway.
• Traveller vehicles legality issues 26 Aug 2009 (Forum)
  I was talking to a fab guy who had set up camp and was selling wood carvings by the side of the road, all his family living in the back of a very old converted Bedford lorry the other day and it crossed my mind, how do you insure something like that if you dont live anywhere in particular and how about things like road tax renewals - Im assuming that he was legal of course, he seemed quite straight up to me. Do you have to have a fixed address to run a car/etc? Im not so much talking about the criminal element of the community that get so much action on TV, more the hippy types, if you know the sort I mean - is it new age travellers, I heard someone call them that once, but Im sure there is a politically correct term out there.
• BMW 5-Series E39 (1996 - 2003) - Opinions on BMW 523i 23 Aug 2009 (Forum)
  Is the BMW 523i 170bhp a good car/engine and is it a good price at £2000 or should I haggle? Finally, apart from running costs, is the BMW superior in every way to drive and be a passenger in? Or should I just keep the focus?
• Citroen Xsara Picasso (2000 - 2010) - 01 1.8 key fob not working 19 Aug 2009 (Forum)
  The other night i forgot, i was late for work and was in a rush. when i came out to go home i could not unlock my doors with the key fob - not enough power in the battery i think, i eventually got my door lock to open, it was a bit stiff to open due to the fact they never get used, anyway i got the car running. When i got home i went to lock it with the key fob and nothing is happening. is it just coincidence the battery as gone in my remote or do i need to get it re-coded? never experienced this before, thanks glyn..........
• Ford Focus II (2004 - 2007) - 05 1.6 engine systems failure 27 Jul 2009 (Forum)
  hi everyone, i have been having intermittent problems with my focus over the last couple of months, which now seem to be getting more frequent, and i wondered if anyone else has experienced this or got an ideas how to sort it out. when i turn the ignition on i get a message saying 'engine systems failure', this is swiftly followed by a message saying 'speed limit mode'. on tick over it idles at just over 1000rpm which fluctuates significantly, when trying to acclerate there is an extremely slow pull off, with a maximum speed of 20mph reached. i have usually be able to correct this by turning the engine off and restarting again after a couple of minutes, with the car running normally and no error messages displayed. however this is becoming more frequent now, and i dont fancy going to ford's to be charged an arm and a leg to fix something simple i could do myself. so if anyone has had the same problem or ideas how to sort it out i'd be very grateful.
• Peugeot 307 SW (2002 - 2008) - 03 2.0 Knocking noise from engine 22 Jun 2009 (Forum)
  Hi, I have recently re engined my Pug with an engine from a breakers. All seemed well, the engine starts easily, runs smoothly and feels like a tight low mileage engine, except it has developed a knocking noise and behaviour I don?t recognise and I would value second opinions. Occasionally, perhaps once every other trip, a light metallic clicking noise will develop at about 2.5-3k revs.