July 2002
Hi
I have have my C5 Estate since Feb2002 and had a few problems and was wondering if anyone else have the same. I am intrested to see if any of them have been resolved.
a. Sometimes when under moderate braking the brake pedal seems not to be smooth and also the real of the car starts to rise as if i have yanked on.
b. The headlights flicker sometimes at night.
c. The radio when on RDS cuts in and out
d. I roof lining creaks and is noisy.
Can anyone shed any light, my local dealer is only small and has had not look with the brake problem.
Thanks
Darren
Read more
And yes, supermarkets do buy from the big oil companies Exxon etc
and their wholesalers, but they buy the cheapo reject petrol that
doesn't get sold at the branded garages. :-)
Can someone settle this with a definative and objective answer.
Is the petrol delivered to Supermarkets different to other brands?
If so what are the chemical differences and what effect do these differences have on the engine?
--
Parp, Parp!
Note: All Toad posts come with an implied smiley. Read more
All the tankers are outsourced now. Shell owns no tankers whatsoever nor does BP. Its a result of union activity in the 70's. When the TGWU wanted a pay rise they crippled the county by pulling the final link in the petrol distribution chain.
I don't know but would suspect that under the contract Shell gets and pays for X number of livery jobs. Nothing to do with whats in the tanker itself.
Recently, particularly in 2nd, the gear knob on my ZX 2.0i Volcane (124000 m) has started to shake quite violently under full throttle. Previously it has been completely rigid not even moving when I have lifted off the throttle as all my prvious cars have done. It does happen in other gears (4th particularly) but not in the others. Is this the signal from my gearbox that it's about to give up the ghost or is it an engine thing, a fuelling problem or something?
Any help much appreciated!
Humpy Read more
Thanks everyone for your help, off the the garage now!!
Having recently acquired a 95 Honda Civic, I need to fit beam deflectors before driving in France. The headlight glass has a (polycarbonate?) cover about an inch in front of the lens, so the deflector can't be positioned accurately. Has anyone a solution? Or do I (as suggested by HJ)just leave the beam adjusted to its lowest position and forget about the deflector?
Regards,
P.
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Glaikit Wee Scunner,
Yes I stick duck tape onto my headlamp protectors when I go to France, that way it's not stuck directly to the lense.
having told the AA where to stick their bill in disgust at their spokesmans pro-speed camera rant on the radio...
who is giving the best deal for breakdown, recovery, etc ? and do they give one car- any driver, or one driver - any car cover etc
what about the RAC ?
versus the others ? Read more
Anyone tried Capita £65 a year for European and cover for £65 a year.
Try to fix problem at Roadside: Yes
Recovery to the nearest garage only: Yes - Your car will be transported to a local garage, which is capable of carrying out the repairs within a reasonable amount of time, your home or original destination.
Roadside help: Yes
Recovery to any UK destination: Yes
Recovery of up to 7 passengers: Yes
Home start up: Yes - Includes problems occurring within one mile of your home.
Car hire/Train ticket/Accommodation: Yes - Applies if customers are leaving the car for local repair.
Caravan or Trailer included? Yes
Average call out time: Within the hour
Maximum number of calls per annum: Unlimited
No claims discount: ---
Exclusive Features: Includes full European cover.
more detail through here www.moneysupermarket.com/RoadsideRescueP/
Just read HJs comments on yesterday's auction at Blackbushe, and they rang utterly true.
I was up there on Friday, buying a car for my father in law (99T Mazda626 for £2600) and in the interminable wait for the provisional bid to be sorted out - two and a half hours, for God's sake - I watched the action.
Why don't private buyers keep an eye on who they are bidding against? I watched a couple of blokes drive a Focus up by nearly £2000 after the point where the traders had stopped. The Interleasing rep who was down at the front was shaking his head in bemusement by the end of it; they ended up paying around forecourt price.
Also, why won't they buy a car with any kind of damage whatsoever? Have a ten minute look at, say, all the Vectras that are going through. You can tell that the best looking one will sell for a fortune more than others that have utterly cosmetic £50 fixable damage, because the better looking one will draw all the private buyers into a bidding war.
I don't claim to be the world's best auction buyer, but it's not too hard to keep an eye on the price you're prepared to bid and who you're bidding against, surely?
V Read more
I also find car auctions fascinating. Only ever bought one car there and it was a real bargain. What amazes me most though is the speed at which the cars go. At the time I bought my auction car I also used to go to a general auction house that had plant (the flowering type) sales. In the time they would sell a begonia for a fiver the car auctioneer would do 2 or 3 cars for thousands.
Following on from the resounding success of Vin's "Life outside the Backroom" thread in Discussion, it seems a good idea to have a similar idea about cars and other vehicles owned/driven by contributors.
So please, add a note here mentioning what cars you own/drive. No problem with mentioning cars you have owned, but its what people drive now that interests me.
Mark. Read more
2000 X Omega Elite 3.0 Estate - brilliant caravan towcar and surprisingly economical.
Also have a Triumph TR7 convertable - currently laid up - much underrated car.
Previous cars
2000 Ford Explorer North Face - the worst towcar and worst motorway cruiser I have ever owned or driven. Very comfortable when stationary.
1997 Nissan Terrano diesel - good towcar otherwise hopeless
1996 Mondeo 24valve Ghia X estate - not too bad
1992 Audi 100 Avant Turbo - great cruiser.
1990 Sierra Ghia - better than might be expected
1988 Carlton
1986 Escort
and back to my first car which was a 1962 Ford 100E bought in 1967.
A few weeks ago, the diff failed in the gearbox of our 3 year old VW Golf (an import) which caused a hole in the gearbox casing - we were left with a huge bill for a new gearbox and a new clutch - we're currently corresponding with VW, but so far no joy, but we'll keep battling on. The car had only done 29,440 miles at the time - VW say that the fault developed now, we say it was a manufacturing fault
Has anyone else heard of this happening? Read more
This type of failure is all too common on VW transmissions and is, I believe caused by the fixing of the diff "crown" wheel to the carrier with rivets rather than bolts. The problem with using rivets here is that when fixing hardened components, it's very hard indeed to determine the pre-load (stretch) on the rivets, so there is virtually no margin between the thing being either loose or over-stressed. After a few thousand miles and a bit of thermal cycling, the inevitable will happen to a few transmissions, with destructive results.
Most other manufacturers use high strength steel bolts in this position (two of which may have extended noses to locate the bevel gears' axle) which can be torqued or angle tightened to give a closely determined pre-load.
The screw thread really was a splendid invention.
659.
Has anyone one of these electronic/digital car compass thingys?
Any idea of a supplier, on-line perhaps. Didn't turn up much with a search.
David W Read more
Yes, these cool boxes utilise the Peltier effect. There's a single stage Bismuth telluride Peltier module in the lid, sandwiched between two finned heatsinks (one inside the box, one outside the box). Usually there's also a pair of fans to assist air flow through the heat sinks. The module pumps heat in one direction, either from inside the box to the outside or vice versa if current flow is reversed. Some boxes have a reversing switch which allows you to warm the inside of the box as opposed to cooling it. The modules usually take around 50W, they need very smooth d.c. otherwise they heat up (Joule effect) and become less effective. What you must remember is that they pump heat from inside to outside, and so the outside temperature will influence how effective the cooling is. If you put them in a hot boot, the unit isnt very effective as putting it say in the rear of the car with the window open when driving. The more heat you can extract from the outside, the better is the cooling.
ANother problem with many of them is condensation - there is nothing to remove moisture from inside the box, so it often forms on the internal heatsink. If its excessive and the unit isnt well sealed, it can lead to corrosion. A bag of silica gel in the box works well, as does plenty of air circulation in the box (try not to obstruct the fan at the top).
Regards
Simon
SVPworld
The petrol tank on my 1989F Nova Hatchback appears to be leaking at the top seam.
This is only noticeable when the tank is fully filled .
Is there anything that will repair it without taking the tank off the car or is the only answer a new tank?
Thanks
Vic Read more
Vic,
Worth checking as Adam mentions, then if it really is the seam a new tank is the only answer.
As a matter of interest I\'ve just repaired a leak on the tractor diesel tank with one of these tubes of \"tank-repair\" putty*. It seems to have worked OK.
The tank was in excellent order and only holed due to another component \"rubbing through\" a pin-hole in the metal just above the 3/4 full level.
I was able to sand to clean steel for a good key, clean well with petrol and dry off.
Now topped up to full with diesel, so far so good.
*Plastic Padding Leak-Fix.
David W
Browse
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I have just returned from a 3 week road trip through the Free State, Northern Cape, into the Karoo, Then the Eastern Cape, on to the Garden Route, then down the Western Cape coatsl route to Hermanus near Cape Town (over 1,600 kms each way) in my Citroen C5 2 litre Petrol Automatic with over 90,000 kms on the clock. I kept up with the fancy new BMWs, Audis, Mercs, Toyota Prados and other large SUVs costing four times as much as the Citroen was when new!
I drove at our Speed Limit (120 kms per hour) and averaged 8.61 litres/100 kms. In the three weeks ( and 4,000 kms later) my Citroen C5 gave me no trouble whatsover in spite of the outside temperatures exceeding 40 C. And the comfort was absolutely superb with the Hydramatic Suspension even over the numerous pot-holed roads we have here in South Africa. The air-conditioning kept us in total comfort throughout!...