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• 1994 Fiesta - sudden dead battery 7 Dec 2006 (Forum)
  This is all very familiar to when my old fiesta's alternator gave up years ago, but not entirely... I'm pretty sure that it got to the point where it completely tried to run off the battery and couldn't be driven, whereas my wife's appears to be fine until the engine stops and the battery doesn't appear to be holding its charge, even when it has been fully charged... Anyone got any ideas on the problem based on this description please?
• Help please with Ford diesel 26 Sep 2006 (Forum)
  He also bought a 12 month warranty with it (not from Ford). The car has done about 60thousand miles. After 4-6 weeks it started to run badly and he took it back to the dealer who invoked the warranty. Some software was updated and a small part replaced and it was returned to him. After a month the problem resufaced. The problem was said to be an 'injector fault'.
• Yamaha FZ1 Fazer 1000 20 Sep 2006 (Forum)
  I do love riding the ZRX, it is more traditional, has real integrity and is close enough to the latest bikes to not be left behind dynamically however today's bikes are amazing, the Fazer has a totally contemporary chassis and brakes etc, it would run rings around a four or five year old Fireblade or GSXR and is a lot faster than any Ducati 999, all that and it is a comfortable as a Hornet or Bandit to ride. That appeals to me.
• Glass's Guide E39 5 Series values 21 Jul 2006 (Forum)
  It's quite staggering how much of an effect mileage has - it seems pretty good I can buy a car for less than £8k which, if it had half the miles and was on a dealers forecourt, would attract a price north of £16,000. Note, I'm aware of the running costs of the car, the potential pitfalls of buying at auction, etc etc - so this isnt an 'is it too good to be true' post.
• VAG Long Life servicing Dead? 10 Jan 2006 (Forum)
  Anyway, she called my mobile, but I didnt get to it in time so she left a message explaining that the mistake was that the long life box had been ticked and that it was on time / milegae servicing (not what I aksed for or I was told when I picked up the car - the car does 20K per annum so long life should reduce running costs a bit). the reason that standard oil had been used was that VW had instructed them to revert all vehicles they sell back to standard servicing and not use the long life regeime anymore? I hope she is mistaken, but so far in my dealing with her she has been very clued up and very honest - she is away all weekend, but has asked me to call her back on Monday to explain in more detail.
• New wheels for NoWheels 27 Oct 2005 (Forum)
  Since I work from home, I don't need it for commuting: it will be used for a strange mixture of local runs (shopping etc) and relatively frequent longer journeys, including five trips logging Ireland of abt 1000 miles each. I reckon on a total mileage of about 10K miles a year. I don't have children, but do have a small dog and lots of friends who will need lifts, so I need four doors and enough rear legroom for an adult woman without undue squeeze.
• At least you don't need to worry about.. 12 Sep 2005 (Forum)
  Ray Scarpelli, an Antioch Chevrolet dealer, said that Gulf Coast cars probably will show up in Chicago in about three months because it will take time to dry them out and get them running again by replacing computer electronics. But the evidence can't be completely covered up. "You may get the stink out with shampoo, but come the first hot day the smell will be back--and you can never get all the moisture out of an engine," Scarpelli said.
• WELCOME. PLEASE READ. 27 Jul 2005 (Forum)
  If anyone finds something that doesn't work as it ought, please email the moderators at mailto:moderators@honestjohn.co.uk , making sure to write the words "bug report" in the subject of your email. To make all of this run smoothly we have three moderators:- Dynamic Dave mailto:dave_moderator@honestjohn.co.uk , Smokie mailto:smokie_moderator@honestjohn.co.uk , and Pologirl mailto:pologirl_moderator@honestjohn.co.uk .
• Indirectly related to Susan's post 2 May 2005 (Forum)
  My builder down the road still uses his humble 1964 Toyopet pickup and an acquaintance maintains a pristine 1965 Corona in original metallic green. This presupposes there must be others running around. Our conversation brought Susan's post to mind.
• Cam Belt Badly Fitted? Vaux Frontera 9 Apr 2005 (Forum)
  I left the car with them and they replaced the cam belt and also the water pump as they said all the bearings had gone and this had contributed to the problem. Anyhow it came to £120 vat so I thought it seemed a reasonable price and the car was running fine. A couple of nights later I was out and accidentally left the lights on for a couple of hours, when I returned to the car the electrics were absolutely dead which was unusual as I've left them on all day before and it's been fine.
• 3 x idiots - 1 x unfortunate 22 Feb 2005 (Forum)
  When one of the staff pointed out the foolishness of this and told him not to use the leads on the forecourt, he let rip with a torrent of expletives and scared the life out of the poor girl. 3 - On Thursday night I was driving through the city at closing time when a young bloke who had obviously more alcohol in him than common sense decided he would run headlong towards oncoming traffic with both arms outstretched in a similar fasion to a primary school kid impersonating an aeroplane. There was much screaching of tyres and this fool missed being wiped out by about 8 - 10 feet as the driver of the on coming vehilce did not react as soon as (s)he might have.
• Warranty woes - I need legal advice! 16 Feb 2005 (Forum)
  I rang the garage that sold me the warranty and spoke to the Sales Manager who told me that:- 1) the salesman couldn't have sold me a "Gilt Edged" plan since it doesn't cover vehicles over 100k miles and runs for a minimum of a year (NEITHER of which are mentioned on the application form or in the Motorcare Warranties booklet they gave me) 2) the salesman couldn't have performed the upgrade if I didn't physically sign for the it (which is rubbish since it WAS upgraded, but only one step from "Silver" to "Gold") 3) the salesman who sold me the warranty has left the company can't be questioned 4) the relevant documentation is in storage for a company move so is unaccessible and will be for a period of time All the Sales Manager would offer me was a refund of the extra £50 I paid for the additional step from "Gold" to "Gilted Edge" cover, but obviously that's not what I want since it leaves me with a £500+ bill to pay!
• Spinning Ostriches 16 Aug 2004 (Forum)
  No divorce, thus abandoned wives and illegimate offspring keep on rising in numbers. Uncollected customs duties run into billions. Try bringing a motor vehicle into this country (we just brought a bike). Money under the table at every stage. Even when you get as far as the gate to leave the Customs yard, the guard requires a "consideration" to let you out.
• Luddites of the world unite 23 Apr 2004 (Forum)
  I remember spending hours keeping my Mini on the road. Constantly having to work on it just keep the damned thing running. Now, I bet you could buy a MINI, change the oil every 5000 miles, never do ANYTHING else to it and it would go on for tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of miles. I remember trips to the coast as a kid (early 1970s) when there would be a broken down car every few miles.
• coolant flow and rad problems. Pug 306td 19 Apr 2004 (Forum)
  I will try and paint a picture in your head with what I am working with in the hope you will understand it and know how to advise me best. ok, This is how I\'ve worked it out, start at the radiator and ther are two hose bottom left, one is the degassing pipe from thermostat housing, then thereis the big bayonet type pipe that runs to the pump, from the pump there are 3 external pipes, one to heater matrix, one to oil cooler and one to underside of thermostat housing, the heater matrix then comes back out to the back of the cylinder head, which in turn goes back through the block to the thermo house, which all makes sense. there is then the radiator top hose which goes from thermo housing direct to top of radiator opposite side to expansion tank.
• Service Areas at Christmas 7 Jan 2004 (Forum)
  The service area building closed and locked, no access to toilets even. Now the filling station shop is open admittedly, with two staff running round like blue rear ended flies dealing with the fuel forecourt, serving shop customers, plus making coffee & sandwiches. Presumably their duties also include cleaning the one trap toilet/disabled facilities/baby changing area.
• Advice needed - Smokey Escort TD. 4 Jan 2004 (Forum)
  It came from a Ford main dealership btw. They originally tried to tell me it was getting used to doing long runs everyday and was \'settling down\'. At which point i got a bit cross and told the service manager he was talking rubbish as if it was settled by nearly 80k then there was a massive problem! Anyways, they took it back in and told me it needed a new turbo and they had ordered one but it would take a while.
• Old vw beetle for potential restore. 9 Dec 2003 (Forum)
  Of course I was third party insurance tho so my insurers didn\'t have anything to gain by chasing it if the other woman wasn\'t bothered and hence they didn\'t give a toss about whether I could afford to run it at the higher rate (which I couldn\'t). The woman never bothered filling in a form and sending it back (must have decided to get the work done herself) so I had to wait a full year while my insurers tried to get her insurers to send them a form.
• Omega Maintainance Costs 30 Oct 2003 (Forum)
  I think it is a good looking vehicle finished in Titanium with a front Irmscher Grill & Rear Tailgate Spoiler c/w built in brake light, not forgeting my boy racer BIG Twin 76mm Sports Exhaust Back Box by SteinMetz! Feel better now but I think I need an appointment with the quack to discuss Running Costs! Cheers Dave PS - Almost forgot.......... When I get my Timing Belt Kit done @ 120K should I have the Water Pump & Oil Pump replaced? Do the PAS & Air Con Compressor nedd to be removed to do this?
• New wheels for a gigging musician? 13 Oct 2003 (Forum)
  The main requirements for the car are a) reliability b) boot space and c) suitability for motorway use: a) Breaking down on the road to a gig is A Very Bad Thing[TM], so her car needs to be very reliable and cheap to run -- which seems to point to a new car of a reliable sort (a time with a French car has left some lasting trauma, and wont be repeated) b) The boot has to be able to fit a big guitar and lots of bags, and ordinary hatchbacks don't work -- a Ford Focus ends up with half the luggage on the back seat exposed to view, though a previous Ford Orion had an excellent boot.