June 2009
can someone please explain what the spigot bearing does and what effects it has when it has gone Thanks Gaz Read more
Well it has gone. Sold it last month through sure-sell. Easy process, dropped it off at the auction site and they took care of everything. Cheque arrived the following week. Painless really and a fair price was achieved.
Never an easy decision, it had been bought last July as heir apparent to the trusty old Mondeo estate. In the end I never could bring myself to sell the old one. In the ten months the Signum covered 25k miles and the Mondeo did approx 15k. The Vauxhall was a 2.2 petrol Design model and was in very good order when I bought it.
Sportier ( if that is a word ) than the diesel Mondeo with noticleably harder suspension. Strangely though the Ford always felt more planted somehow. Loadspace was very good in the VX but not surprisingly compromised by comparison to a true estate. Not very fair to criticise it for that though. Seats were half leather bucket jobs which while they were reasonably comfortable I could never get out of it at the end of a long run without being a bit stiff. Conversely the full leather ones in the Mondeo keep me comfortable on all occasions no matter how long I have to sit in them.
The Vauxhall was much quieter both in terms of engine and wind noise and had a lovely swell of torque which made it surprisingly diesel like to drive in the best sense. Never a keen revver though with a funny flat spot about 4.5k revs. Fuel consumption was good at around 37 mpg with my mainly long haul, fully laden usage and as mentioned elsewhere, when the fuel price differential was 10p a litre it worked out at the same pence per mile fuel cost as the Mondeo.
It was in fact a good tool. Just outgunned by my old one in so many ways. Family pressure to keep the Mondy coupled with a number of niggly problems with the Signum forced the decision in the end. In its short time with us it had two boot locks, various bits of trim fell off, early signs of rust on the door bottoms and wheel arches and finally a suspected fuel pump problem ( which may have been the root cause of the flat spot ) signed its ticket to ride. Various rattles and squeaks had started in the cabin which led me to think that it maybe wasn't quite as well put together as the Ford which despite having more than three times the mileage on it remains like new.
Aesthetically, it maybe looked better, certainly the rear and side views. Always, perhaps childishly liked the big fat twin chrome exhausts. Must be my latent inner boy racer.
Headlamps were rubbish. Dipped beam spread was very poor and they were properly adjusted. Apparently this is a known thing on Vectra Cs and their derivatives.
I grew to like the auto wipers but never came to terms with the daft indicators.
Would I recommend one to others ? Yes I would, it was basically fine but it was just never quite right for me.
I dropped a couple of grand on it in the end but given that I got 25k miles for that I'm not complaining.
Will keep the old faithful Mondeo for now but, well, you know how it is........ Read more
If I ignore temporary allocation of vehicles including hire cars, then the two I owned and the company ones come to: 9 in 14 years (not quite 14). And I had two cars for 4 years each! Add in the semi-permanent ones like the cars when the Golf was stolen and the Passat being fixed and that jumps to: 13 in 14 years! And that does not include use of any hire cars. Still have the Mazda6 (2 years this October).
No wonder the neighbours thought I was a car dealer or something when I met my wife.
My dad came home today having just had a heart bypass and valve replacement.
He cant drive for 8 weeks anyway but he is also suffering from confusion and short-term memory loss ( known as POCD apparently covering a wode range of odd behavior post OP ).
Has anyone here had this problem as we are not sure if my dad is fully aware how away with the fairies he sometimes is and Im wondering if he will be able to make the right judgement on when he is ready to drive again.
Apparently this condition is quite common so Im hoping someone here has some insight into how we should approach this with him as he is somewhat irritable so do we hide the car keys until we are sure, or will he know?
Any advice much appreciated.
{typo in header corrected} Read more
He has improved greatly since I first posted although this morning he downed all 15 odd pills he takes over the day in one go! Doctor said not to worry but hide the pills from him now as he is having very severe short-term memory issues.
Car is disabled - I removed a few fuses in the end, seemed easiest way to do it and hardest to detect - as it is he just sits in his chair most of the day and watches TV, such is his lack of will to do anything really as he gets cold easily and still a bit tender.
The most positive thing is that he is aware of how his mind is now, so lets us organise him.
Thanks for all the advice, its been very helpful indeed as NOBODY in the NHS seems to think to even mention what can happen, which is frankly disgusting.
I own a 1999 Ford Focus (petrol engine) which has covered 80k miles. I feel that I need advice on how to tell if the noise I think I can hear coming from somewhere from the car is due to a coolant pump, alternator or power steering pump problem e.g. worn bearings. What sort of noise would this make ?
What about worn big-end or main bearings what sort of noise should I look out for ?
The car has a full service history with most of the services being done at Ford dealers. Would big-end or main bearings be going wrong on a car of my age and mileage ?
Thanks.
Read more
That was supposed to read:
"I thought my water pump was knackered as it was making a noise" ....
{Amended for you. There is an edit button that works for up to 5 mins after posting, or until someone replies to your post - whichever comes sooner. DD}
Hi,
has anyone had a Legacy converted to run on LPG?
Am interested in getting this done, so would like to hear anyones experirences, especially if its with the 3.0 Read more
Further to the above, they still do offer conversions and on the three litre (but in the Tribeca).
tinyurl.com/l2zgqf
It may well be cheaper elsewhere of course.
Hi all,
Been looking to purchase a MK3 Mondeo in Germany. I don't want a diesel, so the petrol i'm most inclined to get is 3.0 V6, the 204PS version, not the ST220)
Now a lot of these V6 are available with 5-Tronic Durashift auto box, but i can only find a couple of reviews with this gearbox. HJ review of TDCI with this gearbox is thin.
Does anyone have any experience with this gearbox or how does it drive?
Is this 3.0 engine reliable? I'm guessing it should be less stressed then ST220.
Thank you all,
Cepi. Read more
Don't know if it makes any difference to you or not but these 2.5 V6's
are rated at 170PS/125KW not >200PS as you originally intended buying.
Yes thanks. I've driven a manual 2.5 and performance wasn't that much better then a normal 2.0 Duratec. I guess i might go for the 3.0 Manual after i drive it.
Thankf for your replies.
Cepi.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8090559.stm
I saw this, and noticed that nowhere did it mention that these scams draw people in by offering cars at way below typical prices, relying on buyers' greed to drive the deal forwards. Invariably the "car" is not in the UK - who in their right mind pays for a car (£15,000 in the case of the buyer shown) that they have not seen/driven? Read more
Why is somebody running somebody up a "con man". If you can't stand the heat, don't go into the kitchen and if you don't know what you are doing don't go to a car auction.
All is fair in love and war, and car auctions - it is an even playing field for all. If someone does not know how to play the game them people will take advantage of them.
On that note, I better complete the entry forms for some I've got going to the block on Friday...two look nice but haven't got any brakes, one has 93k on the clock and looks like it has but I know it had two old MOT's with 240k and 255k recorded! The old MOT's will not be included.
hello, have got a new radio to fit into car, could you tell me how to remove the old one thanks john Read more
thankyou
I have a vauxhall zafira 1.6 petrol 2004. After about 10 minutes on the motorway doing 70-75 mph, the car looses power and the car/spanner icon appears on the dashboard. I'm assuming the car is going into some type of 'limp home mode' because if I then keep the revs below 3000 rpm you can't tell there is a problem (although the dashboard icon stays lit up) When I then stop and then restart the engine, the fault icon has reset itself.
Any ideas as to what is causing the fault and also will the fault be recorded in the ECU if the dashboard icon is no longer lit.
i don't really want to take it to a garage and be charged for them to interrogate the ECU if nothing is going to show up as a fault
Thanks Read more
will the fault be recorded in the ECU if the dashboard icon is no longer lit.
It should be, providing the light has been on for longer that approx 30 seconds. However, any stored fault codes generally get deleted after 'x' days or 30 or so clean start ups. By that, I mean 30 or so turns of the ignition key where no more faults occur.
I've got what is probably a simple question to answer, but the Citroen dealer I went to was a bit unclear and all over the place!
I have a Renault Laguna 1.9 dCi Privilege Estate. I've had it 2 years and bought it on a 48 month finance deal from Cars 4 Staff (Lloyds Car Select). I was just finishing Uni when I purchased the car, hence the small deposit and 4 year payments.
The Laguna is a nice car but we've put miles on it quicker than expected due to a variety of different events and circumstances. It now has 74,000 on the clock and I'm worried about all the potential things that can go wrong - just read any motoring forum to see problems with this car!
I have £3200 left to pay and trade-in value I've been offered is around £2700. My question is this, does the £2700 that the dealer pays to Cars 4 Staff also count as a deposit on a new car or do I have to find that separately?
I'm looking at Citroen Nemo Multispace (how uncool!) or the new C3 Picasso.
Made non-model specific and amended the thread title, Rob Read more
>>the lenders have made their own beds...
...and that's exactly why VT exists.
Browse
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To add a little to the above, most German power units of this design (layshaft box) use a needle roller bearing rather than a bush in this position.
The needle roller is an inappropriate choice because it is very liable to be damaged when the gearbox is removed and refitted under "in vehicle" conditions of poor alignment and dirt.
Damage to this bearing following clutch replacement is fairly common, giving rise to clutch drag and further damage to the gearbox primary shaft. The heavier the gearbox, the more the likelihood of damage. Big manual M-Bs and BMWs are candidates, but the Audi/VW N-S gearbox is heavy as it contains the final drive. Fast fit centres generally don't score too well here.
659.