Showing results in  Forum [Show all channels]

Sort by: Relevance | Newest first | Oldest first

• USA Driving Standards 4 Sep 2002 (Forum)
  I drive regularly in the States and I am amazed at how many vehicles veer from their lanes and sometimes simply run off the road. It seems that the combination of large, easy to drive automatics with cruise control encourage inattentive driving. The use of the dreaded mobile phone, which is now endemic, doesn't help.
• Diesel starting - glow plugs help 24 Aug 2002 (Forum)
  Can you help with the folowing problem - now when starting the glow plug light comes on constant, then starts to flash, then goes off. Car turns over very well, but only starts reluctantly. Once started the engine runs fine, glow plug light then begins to flash on and off about 6 - 8 times then stays off. Its not damp and all connections seem tight and OK, there is no Haynes manual for this car, and the Haynes generic Diesel engine manual only covers the VW 1.9 D engines, and says nothing about starting systems anyway, the VW Golf manual with car only says "if Glow plug light begins to flash call expert assistance" Any constuctive advice would be helpful, thanks
• South Americans trash air-con 20 Jun 2002 (Forum)
  I knew the air-con was working by hearing the radiator/condenser fans come on at low speed and feeling the engine revs dip as the compressor kicked in. Now, whatever the position of the air-con switch, the condenser fans are running, but the compressor is not and, tragically, no cold air comes out of the heater vents. It may be that the system is empty and needs recharging, but doen't that mean that it will be filled with refrigerant the system wasn't designed for?
• Future collectible cars? 17 Mar 2002 (Forum)
  There's obviously the styling issue, and all that - marketing gurus have become quite cute at telling us what we want, and making sure that yesterday's cars are seen to be passé. However, what about some of the other things to do with keeping the car running? Just consider: 1. All petrol cars made since 1993 have cats and ECUs. So do common rail diesels. 2. Most cars will have ABS brakes (ABS pumps and ECUs, again). 3. Most cars will have quite sophisticated immobilisers. 4.
• Xantia - strange noise 13 Mar 2002 (Forum)
  My 18000 mile, 1 yr old Xantia Hdi 110 sometimes makes a strange gruff 'buzzing' noise once its run a few miles (10 plus). The noise is not engine speed related - and is not either of the cooling/air con fans. (Yes I've checked the fans physically - I know the aircon comes on on 'demist' even if its not on at the switch!)
• Mystery 309! What is wrong? 24 Jan 2002 (Forum)
  just spoke to the mechanic who was looking at the peugeot today. Apparantly he says its a lost cause, doesn' want to get involved becasue the motor is only running on two cylinders, is burning diesel oil (smoky exhaust) and the heater is pushing humid water into the car causing moisture on the windows internally!!! all very odd for a car that goes relatively well.
• Engines, 1960's & Today 9 Jan 2002 (Forum)
  Was it the availability of better oil chemistry perhaps, (Duckhams 20/50 and BP Viscostatic were available in the early 60's) or the increasing opportunity to run at higher constant road speeds for long periods? The M1, the UK's first motorway, opened in 1959 with constant speed motoring limited to A road dual carriageways by and large until the late 1960's mid 1970's.
• Can I have my money back please? 28 Oct 2001 (Forum)
  They regas it and about 2 weeks later I'm back to square one. (The evaporator is sound) My patience has run out and I've asked the dealer for a full refund on the grounds that the car was never of satisfactory quality under basic consumer rights. He's reluctant to take the car back (presumably because he'll find it difficult to shift) and says that he'll only refund me the current trade value, not the amount I originally paid back in June.
• More ammo for HJ 21 Oct 2001 (Forum)
  Aha, but there's a pictogram on the dash which indicates useful things like "there's a door not closed", "a tyre is overinflated", "a tyre is underinflated", etc, etc. After replacing the wheel with the spare, this indicated that I was running on three wheels! There are small senders on the valve of each tyre - which signal the computer - but not on the spare! The sender is one of those devices which apparently has to be set up by a Renault dealer (remember the old Ford non-standard spanners?)
• Kwik Fit offering car checks for £59 15 Oct 2001 (Forum)
  What do people think, will it be used to drum up spurious business, a practice that fast fit centres run by some companies have been accused of in the past.
• Polo problems persist 10 Sep 2001 (Forum)
  A while back I posted on here about a problem I was having with my VW Polo as it has a tendency to run rough when cold. I had a few replies but alas the problem still won't go away. My problem is that when cold the engine will idle roughly and when I pull away there is a lack of power and if I have to stop within the first couple of minutes of driving it will probably stall.
• Lexus RX400h - RX400h owner's review for gordonbennet 20 Jun 2019 (Forum)
  Costs: Other than the 90K cambelt service (+£700 to usual service bill) there haven’t been any extra costs associated with running the car, I ditched the horrible squealy half-worn Bridgestones Duallers when I first got it and fitted road biased Toyo Open Country HT Mud&Snow tyres, the fronts are now down to 3mm after 40K miles and need replacing (I didn’t rotate them).
• Citroen Berlingo Multispace - Dad-to-be swapping small van for a LAV - which one 20 Mar 2017 (Forum)
  Currently have 2 vehicles - a nice 2008 Volvo V50 T5 dual fuel and a battered 2005 Ford Transit Connect T200 TDDI van - the V50 being my "luxury rather fast car" and the van for work & own business - despite the van being battered and ugly as hell, it's awesome as it has a massive "trunk" that swallows anything when I use it for tip runs, Costco runs and when I move stuff. You can even fit two pallets in the back. I often pick up my wife from the city using the van. While the engine has 100k miles on it, it is utterly reliable, starts on the button and I am fully confident it'll last for another 100k easily.
• Daihatsu Charade (2003 - 2006) - 12000 mile report 3 Nov 2013 (Forum)
  Now its run up to a shade under 37k and ive owned it 10 months - Im doing more miles in it than I thought and most likely far more than the average Charade owner judging by the 25k my car had on it at 4.5 years old.
• Rover 45 2003 1.4 - Help am I being ripped off 17 Jun 2011 (Forum)
  Four days later engine had been returned to breakers yard where it had been purchased and they would check it. Next correspondence was that engine was running fine with they're gearbox and starter and they had requested that my mechanic remove gearbox and starter from rover to go to yard and check them I'm now told today gearbox and starter are faulty and they can repair for £385.
• Renault Megane (1999 - 2002) - 01 1.6 inlet valves bent on test drive after newca 17 Feb 2010 (Forum)
  I asked what happened and they told me that he was wiping the engine down with a rag (whilst it was running) and the rag got caught in the Aux drive belt. It trapped his hand knocking his knuckles repeatedly against one of the pulleys. Idiot! Anyway it drove and idles absolutely perfectly. Only problem was a small amount of smoke coming from the rear of the engine.
• BMW I3 - I bought a used BMW I3- a story to be updated . 13 Sep 2025 (Forum)
  Using granny charger and standard Electricity tariff (12 months fixed ) equates to 5.25p/mile vs Jazz petrol of c 14,1p/mile Going to run charge down to get Range extender to run.. just to see what it is like.  Yet to read manual and don't yet know more than  1% of IDrive system which controls all electronics.. Simple You Tube guide helped me drive it with no issues.
• Mazda 3 - Engine check light codes 15 Jan 2024 (Forum)
  - - - - Any of the causes of the fault may put the ECU into a 'safe mode' for the air-fuel mix and lead to poor running or mpg and even possibly other faults if not fixed. Needless to say, the test drive (25 miles, 2x 12.5 mile trips within 2 hrs) did not register the fault again, and so I'm keeping an eye on it.
• Mazda 2 - Used car advice, been standing 30 Sep 2022 (Forum)
    The garage has had it for 6 months with no interest but this is what he says about it ... On the up side, it does seem to be a very genuine little car, in good condition, runs and drives well and it has obviously been well serviced and looked after and has not been passed about, it's only had 2 owners from new (plus us on the V5). You are right in mentioning the notorious Mazda rust, however this affected pre 2008ish cars,-  Mazda sorted this out years ago and the later cars are not affected by the old rust problem.
• Peugeot 2008 1.2 PureTech 130 EAT6 Allure Premium - Progress report 25 May 2021 (Forum)
    The first has not been reset since we got it and reads 31mph/41.4mpg/5267 miles.  I have reset it today to see what it will read after another year now the engine is run in, hopefully including some long distance trips which we have yet to do.   On the second trip recorder I recently recorded two outings on A and B roads to nearby towns, driven by me, purposely economically but not slowly.