May 2001
Just had the 40,000 mile service on our 1.9 SE Golf. Main dealer advised change of cam belt at same time. Could not believe the high cost! Total bill £630 of which 4 hours (at £65) just for the cam belt plus parts of almost £100 again just for the cam belt. They sell you on the good fuel consumption but forget to tell you of the ridiculous running costs. How can a cam belt on a modern engine really take 4 hours? Any ideas? Read more
My favourite is www.multimap.com that allows you to look anywhere in UK at a variety of scales down to scale 1/10000. Prints out super colour. Works on postcode as well.
The site rated best for insurance was www.axamotor.co.uk No mention of the budget site which suprised me. Read more
See what you make of this one! It is in Swedish but not too difficult to sort out.
www.tv4.se/lattjo/kojan/bilbanan.asp
Heady days before we could drive real motors.
Ok, as some cars now come with backwards sweeping window wipers, eg some french cars, are these actually better?
If they are better, in countries where they drive on the right, do their wipers go the 'wrong' way ie. the way ours do? Or do we only have this device?
Or is it just cheaper in production? surely not?
Cheers, Kev Read more
Back in the days of the Rover SD1 and 2 a faulty door mirror could prevent the engine from starting
Finally after much trying got hold of a 375ml can of this at exorbitant price £11.74 MOT centre told me to put it in the fuel filter and bit left over in the tank.
Before Forte Average emission test 3.29m-1 (Fail as limit 2.5)
After Forte and 15 mile full throttle run Average 1.21m-1. Oh joy!
(Did try other brand Injector cleaner from Halfords before in the tank but did not help)
Wonder if the secret to get quick results was putting the fuel additive in the Fuel filter? Read more
The trouble with this sort of stuff it it's haz-chem. To supply it to punters in the UK it would have to be fitted with childproof bottle caps, and there are probably other restrictions as well. That's why VAG's excellent petrol fuel system cleaner (the proper, highly concentrated variety) is so hard to get hold of.
HJ
Hi
I asked my usual garage that looks after my Mondeo (97 my) how much they would charge for a cam belt change.
The price for the belt itself was about £140 including labour but they suggested the idler pulleys should be changed as well thus hiking up the price even more.
Any ideas?Is this an attempt to wring more dosh from me or is it a good recommendation to follow? The car will be 5 and will have covered about 40K miles.
Thanks in advance
John Read more
Yes, David, you're right. It is a gamble - and this belt's got to the 5 year stage, when a change is recommended, never mind the mileage. If it was mine, I'd change it.
Regards
John
On our way back North after a weekend away in Nottingham, I noticed clusters of tubes in a fetching mauve colour sprouting up from the outer edge of the hard shoulder of the M1. The tubes seemed about 4 inches across and seemed to be laid in clusters of 4 or 5 every couple of miles. They looked as if they might be persuaded to carry cables. Anyone know what they are for? Speed detection systems? Safe transit for moles? HGV driver wake-up systems? Read more
They are undoubtedly underground cable ducts that have either been laid and it was the protuding ends you saw, or they were ducts waiting to be laid. This has happened betwen Junctions 27 and 30 of the M5 nearby over the past 2 months. The A38 between Taunton and M5 J27 has been dug up for this work over the winter. It is the information technology revolution (Internet to you and me!) that has caused the need for these cable links. Many of the cable duct laying works around here have caused massive traffic jams with the dreaded temporary traffic lights (Interesting enough, rented from a company called Renteque - geddit??) The resulting reinstated road surface left by the contractors is of inferior quality.
Any one else ordered a Skoda Fabia. How long have you waited for the car to show up. Now waited a total of 10 weeks and still waiting. Read more
My father ordered a Fabia comfort......delivred in his choice of colour within 5 weeks. Slaters of Abergele ( N Wales) - I think he delayed it as he wanted it on a Y not an X plate.
I have just had a very nasty shock...
My father purchased a car from a private individual back in 1999, and I purchased it from him last year. The person selling the car still owed HP on it, and promised my father that he would settle the outstanding finance when cashing the bankers draft (my father would have provided 2, one for the finance agreement the other for the balance for the owner, except he only told him about the finance after he had drawn the drafts from the bank and therefore only drew 1 cheque).
Two years later (this morning), a rep from the finance co dropped a card through my door. I rang them up and it turns out that there is still finance outstanding on the car (Toilet urgently required at this point). After numerous 'phone calls, it transpires that the previous owner has not been paying, but they have been chased and a cheque received for the outstanding money has been received by the finance co, so with any luck the matter will be closed.
The Lessons:
ALWAYS get a HPI check;
IF finance is outstanding, ALWAYS pay with 2 cheques, one for the finance and the other for the owner.
NEVER TRUST the previous owner to do what they say they will
I have learnt a valuable lesson (albeit not my fault)
I hope that others will not have to go through this, as it is extremely worrying to think that they may just come and repossess the car, or you have to pay the outstanding finance to keep it.
Any others with similar experiences? Read more
Good warning... it would be awful if that happened
Thanks to the respondents to my earlier message Re: Dilemma a little while ago I have decided to go along the route of disposing the Volvo privately (results of MOT permitting!)
My new dilemma is where and how to place an ad. Remember the car is a 94L Volvo 850 T5 saloon with 82k miles on the clock.
Should I go the conventional route ie. local paper or use one of the regional trader magazines (eg. Auto Trader/Exchange and Mart)?
Or should I go on-line and bung my ad on, for example, Auto Trader on-line only. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has used this service. What was the take-up like?
Any advice would be welcomed. Read more
Thankyou for all your help, gentlemen!!
In the end I ended up bottling it and doing a part-ex with the Volvo and Punto for a 00W Fiesta Zetec (8k miles on the clock).
On a car originally advertised at £7k I got it for £6250 (paying the £1200 difference).
Time was against me (MOT, insurance and tax due on the Volvo) and I bottled it!!!
I know - HJ will be spitting but I felt as though I got a relatively good deal. No doubt you'll tell me otherwise!!
Just had a tyre balanced.
Instead of ripping the old weigth off before starting the process, they just added a new balance in addition to the old one.
Am I right to be very annoyed? Read more
David Lacey wrote:
>
> Being rude and arrogant = no excuse for that - tell your
> friends how you were treated.
I'd like to - and will - but the only alternatives have bad reputations. This place is supposed to be v. good.
I don't want to put people of this place only for people to go somewhere worse.
> But does your steering wheel shake at speed? If not then all
> is well (Tyre and wheel in balance) then I shouldn't worry
> too much about the original weight.
It's balanced fine. It's not a big issue. Just annoys me that every time I clean it I'll see something that's not right. ANd it's not even my fault. At the same time it's not worth the fiver to start from scratch.
What annoys me more is that the new weight is opposite and therefore clearly balancing out the old one!
> Were they alloy wheels with stick-on weights? These can be a
> real pain to remove and the remaining stick can damage the
> laquer when removed especially if the wheel is corroded even
> slightly.
Yes alloys. The new weight is a stick on, The old weight is a 'proper one.
Don't even get me started on how much I hate 'stick on' weights.
Dave
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I think there's a market out there to chuck away all cam belts and replace with proper duplex chains and sprockets and with some engine oil splashing around. In my limited experience the chain system always gives noisy warning of failure.