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• Vauxhall Astra G Diesel (1998 - 2004) - 96 1.7 td Isuzu Diesel Cuts out & Lazy Alternator 14 Dec 2007 (Forum)
  Engine cut out Starts but after driving for about 50 yds it stalls and then proves to be very difficult to start again (often running the battery flat!). For some reason this seems to only happen if I park on a slope or slight gradient however it has occasionally done this after parking overnight on level groundl (Doesn't happen if the car is warm or within say 3 hours of parking).
• Mazda Mazda 6 (2002 - 2007) - 2.0 diesel -fuel warning light and remaining miles 10 Dec 2007 (Forum)
  I have had my Mazda6 2.0 diesel since late October. This week I let the fuel run lower than usual before re-filling (waiting for my fuel card but that's another story)... ... so it had got down to below a quarter of a tank with the "miles remaining" readout heading to single digits.
• Paid a deposit without seeing the car! 10 Dec 2007 (Forum)
  As always thanks for any advise,not only on the S line spec also whether I would be better off buying a similar spec 530d, which is much cheaper second hand.Or maybe a VW Phaeton TDI , which is probably even better. (My Passat TDi auction car is running strong and I dont intend to sell it , not for the time being anyway) On an aside, havent thought much and now have to shell out 22800 for this car! On the other hand I think , if not now , then when?
• Ford Escort (1993 - 2000) - 1998 TD - Delayed Turbo, fuel delivery problem? 3 Dec 2007 (Forum)
  I have noticed that instead of the turbo coming in at around 1500-2000 rev's as it should, it comes on at 4000-4500 rev's, when this happens it runs like a dream until the rev's drop below 2000 rev's and then there appears to be no boost again. Occasionally it will catch me out when pulling off because it does actually work sometimes, but just as quick, it doesn't work properly again.
• Ford C-MAX (2003 - 2010) - 06 1.8TDCi - MPG getting worse 26 Nov 2007 (Forum)
  Around town it's never been brilliant on the mpg, but its dropped from 30mpg to around 20mpg. The engine seems to run ok - it doesn't cut out or stall. Doesn't produce masses of smoke. It has however got much more clattery, sounding more diesel-like even when warm. Obviously it will be more clattery when cold in the winter, but this is much worse than it was last year.
• Minicab (RR etc) Scam To Avoid Congestion Charge 5 Nov 2007 (Forum)
  "Stop exemptions for minicabs" Jay Nagley, publisher of Clean Green Cars, said it was absurd that a private hire vehicle with a V12 engine does not pay the congestion charge when a family doing the school run with a Renault Espace 2.0T Auto is liable for the full £25 fee. "The logical move would be to stop exemptions for any minicabs that fall into Band G ? that way no-one would have an incentive to register their luxury car as a minicab.?
• Toyota Avensis (2003 - 2008) - Tyre Life 21 Oct 2007 (Forum)
  My second reason for concern is that the car has been in two front-end accidents - side swiped from both wings on separate occasions at low speed. The fronts were down to around 1.6/3/1.6 and 1.5/3/0 (yikes), but they have never been run under-inflated by more than 1-2 psi, so hopefully this wear pattern is normal, although the excessive wear on the outer right side of the drivers side tyre is a worry - there was not much tread on the outer 1cm or so of the tread pattern.
• Ford Focus (1998 - 2004) - 1.8 Zetec 2002, Petrol, Manual, Engine cut out 18 Oct 2007 (Forum)
  It's obviously quite dangerous and I know it could be so many things, a mechanic has recommended I use shell petrol instead of Tesco and run a higher octane through the tank once in a while. PLEASE HELP!
• Police pursuits in general 21 Sep 2007 (Forum)
  my view is that: -training should be 'top dollar' and not fudged as it can be now, often due to cost - the equipment has to be top dollar i.e. the pursuing cop has something that is adequate to catch up again should they wish to back off and give the offender the opportunity to slow a bit (often not the case due to half baked equipment.... but that is what is taught) - tactics need to be reviewed (as current tactics of terminating the pursuit if too dangerous or pursuing until there's a crash or chased vehicle runs out of fuel) means determined crooks will just drive like idiots when they've committed a crime, hoping the cop will either get called off by ther control room or the cop calls it off themselves.
• Do engines know whats best ?! 14 Aug 2007 (Forum)
  d plenty of ?Valvoline?, but the difference was absolutely amazing! After a couple of minutes rough running, the ?Qicksilvered? petrol started coming through, and she just settled down and purred! Needless to say I know where there?s a barrel of oil going cheap! So, do engines develop preferences or are certain ones just downright fussy?
• Peugeot 405 Petrol (1988 - 1996) - timing an engine without timing holes 14 Aug 2007 (Forum)
  right sorry for the ramblings, my heads a bit stuffed at moment with this damn car. Does all the following sound plausible? table of how the engine runs:- 1.......................3......................4..................2... .......... .... Fires..................Compresses.......Intake..........Exhaust....... . Exhaust.............Fire....................Compress.....Intake....... ...
• UK car market and tax changes 10 Aug 2007 (Forum)
  It's got me thinking - the UK market (outside of the company car tax regime and all its various changes over the years) has never been hugely influenced in the past by tax levels in terms of the cars bought (beyond cars that are heavy on fuel being expensive to run). Now that there are both car tax itself and if required residents permits rated quite exponentially on CO2 emissions can you see the market moving more to what used to happen in France that effectively a car with much more than a 2.0ltr engine was very rare indeed.
• Alfa 156 1.8 Cam belt & big end failure 1 Aug 2007 (Forum)
  has had a 156 1.8 twin spark in his workshop.He got in towed in,as the cam belt failed.He had to get the head overhauled due to piston contact.The owner said that she was driving at 15mph when it went.The head was re-installed and new belts and tensioners.3 weeks later it gets towed back in with the big ends knocking.He spoke to the local Alfa garage they said it was common with people who don't check oil levels enough and they run dry.This has we believe been compounded by the higher compression of a rebuilt 60k head with new valves and seats etc.They had rebuilt the bottom ends on 3 cars in the last 6 months.Apparently they are strong bottom ends and can just have the shells replaced.My mate replaced the shells on the bottom end and replaced the sump.The car ran for 3 weeks and again the number 3 big end went again.The journal was fine on both visuals and number 4 is last in line and is fine too.The next issue is the owner,obviously not happy and threatening legal action,claiming that she had spoken to 2 or 3 garages (possibly main dealers) who claim to change all the bottom end shells on a head job!!!!.
• The Right to Repair Campaign 31 Jul 2007 (Forum)
  Following on from some of the threads about main dealer alleged 'rip offs' I thought that BR members might like to know about the Right to Repair Campaign which is being run by the Independent motor repair trade across Europe. Motor manufacturers have been working hard over the last 10-15 years to keep repair work in their franchised dealer network. In the past they've lobbied the EU to ban aftermarket replacement parts (which failed, thankfully) and they are now lobbying to keep repair work in the dealer network.
• Honda Accord Tourer - Views 26 Jul 2007 (Forum)
  Well I decided the old Civic was getting a bit long in the tooth at seven years old and a bit boring so after a month or so of consideration and checking prices, I went out to the local Honda Main Dealer on Friday and bought a 2.4 EX Honda Accord Tourer . 04 plate. one owner car, 24 k miles ie barely run in for around half the new price . I'm picking it up on Friday and obviously read HJ's CBCB so was looking out for the problem areas. Had a good test drive and a look round the car and the only problem I found was uneven wear on the outside edges of the front tyres which suggests a tracking problem although the tyres ( Michelin Pilot Premacy ) still have plenty of tread .
• Car selling scam? 18 May 2007 (Forum)
  We noticed your Advertisement on the Internet (we do not use mailing lists) and we are writing to let you know about an offer we are running for people selling Cars like yours. Our Website has been open since 1999 and we are listed on over 1500 Search Engines World-Wide. The site is interactive which enables you to create the best Advertisement for your Car and change your Selling Price whenever you want.
• Peugeout 106 1.5 XL Diesel 1998 15 May 2007 (Forum)
  Is this a common fault & are replacement casings readily available? Secondly, whilst the engine was running, I noticed diesel leaking from the injectors on cylinders 1 & 2, also possible traces on the other two. The diesel leak is worst on cylinder one and is leaking from the join between the injector & the head and also at the next joint up.
• Used car roadshow recordings 4 May 2007 (Forum)
  action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=361 ) I'm well documented on here as having a fondness for Penny Mallory (_proper_ driver, ex world rally champion, none of this giggling, guffawing VBH nonsense {runs!}) - a photo of this thread's author with said top lady is here : ( http://groups.msn.com/honestjohn/2007album.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=359 ). She's every bit as nice in real life, if not more so, than she is on TV.
• Hydraulic brakes fault 16 Apr 2007 (Forum)
  The symptoms are that after a week or two the brakes go very soft ? to the extent that hard application of the pedal is capable of running out of travel. Pumping them makes very little difference. However, I can cure the problem by bleeding one slave cylinder ? it is always the same one (but not the same one in each car ? one its offside rear and the other its nearside rear).
• Misfiring Vauxhall Astra 14 Mar 2007 (Forum)
  Since then I have change the spark plugs, HT leads and used numerous tankfulls of redex and the like, cleaned the injector inlet using injector cleaner, poured redex into the cylinder and leaving it for a whilst. After all of this the car is running better but still has an intermittant misfire on cylinder 3. The car is producing fault codes 300 (multiple cylinder misfire) and 303 (cylinder 3 misfire) but not all the time, it has also thrown up a 136 fault code (O2 sensor) since cleaning the cylinder with redex but I think that may be because the exhaust still had some in it..