September 2009
I thought I was the only one with this problem until I saw a similar question in a well-known weekly car magazine this week - with a no-answer answer, if you know what I mean.
Our kids have, in passing, put sun-cream covered hands on our cars paintwork - and it is impossible to remove. It seems to 'soak in' to the paintwork and won't wash out. When I didn't know what it was, a paintshop suggested polishing with an orbital machine (to heat the paint) thinking it was moisture under the lacquer. This seemed to help for a while, but it returned. Does anyone have any ideas? (I suppose I should really post this on detailersworld.com, or somesuch). Read more
I now own both a petrol-engined car and a diesel-engined campervan, and am a little concerned that this presents an ideal recipe for the momentary confusion which can lead to misfuelling. So I am thinking of getting one of the devices designed to prevent me from putting petrol in my campervan, but would welcome any suggestions on which one to get. From the reading I have done so far, there seem to be two sorts of gadgets available: those which offer an audible or visual warning, and those which physically prevent a petrol nozzle from being inserted into the van's filling pipe. The latter seems to me to be a much better idea, because no warning is ever quite as effective as actual prevention. From what I can see so far, the three devices currently available are:
* Fuel Angel - www.misfuellingprevention.co.uk/... Read more
get the petrol company to make the diesel nozzle a triangle shaped end. and car manufacturer to make a triangled insert to the tank.
I would be interested in any updates on the court case too. Just had my experience recently. The emmission light came on accompanied by a noise from under the bonnet. It was recovered to the local VX dealer where a snapped exhaust camshaft was diagnosed - cost £460 please! I have a 05 plate Corsa 1200, 25,000 miles on clock, and had it since it was a year old, all servicing by main dealer. I have written to VX to let them know how disappointed I am, and would they like to contribute to the repair - how many others must there be out there? Got the car back repaired next day, all fixed, so they must have a stock of these items ready to replace, as I do not think a camshaft is the sort of item garages would normally keep on the shelf. I have been told the other camshaft is OK, but it also needed a couple of new exhaust valves fitting. VX have refused to entertain any compensation, as its outside the timed warrantly period. I asked them if this was a common problem, but for some reason they did not answr that query!
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I thought they only admitted that 1.2s were faulty but I could be wrong.
At some point they changed from using old fashioned solid cast iron camshafts to hollow ones, which looked better on the computer. If yours are hollow all the way along, like a tube, I'd go for it....
Just had my AA renewal in and have found that Green Flag offer same level of cover much cheaper. Is anybody with Green Flag? Are they any good???? Read more
I have been with all of the 3--and am currently with GF. Never had to make a claim so far-but it's the cheapest and thus the best value piece of mind available. I have the basic cover....
What are these yellow signs with black symbols for, usually a square, diamond, spot and triangle? All the highway code says is that they are diversion signs, but they are permanent and seem to be on every roundabout. Read more
So thousand of these signs put just in case there may one day be a major road closure? I can see the sense with M ways but A roads?? There are sat navs, traffic report interrupts, maps, are we all helpless? It's another example of extravagant and unnecessary public sector spending.
I just went to top up the washer fluid and check the oil level today and noticed oil on the large intercooler pipe coming from a small crack next to the bracket that holds it onto the engine block, I understand this was a design fault on the 2005 focus.
I am a little bit worried as I thought only air is meant to be in that pipe and not oil, the oil level of the car is down slightly but I wouldn't have noticed this problem if I hadn't been looking under the bonnet (no loss of power, no hissing, no black smoke etc)
Is the 1st signs of the turbo going? The car has only done 60k so I would be really hacked off if it is!
Incidently I had the engine light on a few months back and Ford told me it was a dirty EGR valve and they cleaned it, the light went off but then came back on. I was told to take the revs a little higher and the light did go back off and hasn't been back on, could this be related?
Thanks in advance. Read more
You guys need to start using BG products they basically have products that do clean your engine from harmful deposits.
Hi,
I am in the process of taking out insurance (on an 09 reg Mondeo). As it is my first car I have no idea what my annual mileage will be (although I would estimate between 5,000 and 10,000).
I will likely go with Admiral, so I called them and asked them what happens if I go over my estimate. They told me that I would call them and then would adjust the premium. However, when I asked them how much they would adjust it by, they said that they couldn't say (due to changing prices etc) and could even guess (fair enough, because they don't want to be held to any guesses).
I am currently being quoted £710 for 5,000 miles and £776 for 10,000 miles. I am tempted to say 5,000 miles (it may well be that few), but am concerned that I could end up getting charged far more than the additional £66 if it turns out to be 10,000 miles.
Does anybody have any experience that they could share, where they have had to up their estimate, and whether the extra they were charged was much more than if they had just given a higher estimate in the first place.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks.
EDIT - btw that quote includes £30 for Personal Injury Cover (up to £30,000) and £30 for a hire car if I write of the insured vehicle Read more
I'm sure AE is right. What you describe sounds to me like normal behaviour for
the brake pedal. Enjoy your new Mondy!
Thanks. I did call the dealer and mention it. The guy I spoke to said that it didn't sound right, and that I should bring it in to have an engineer listen to it. However, when I called back to ask when I can bring it in, I spoken to another guy who said that it had driven the car and that it was fine when he drove it (not really sure what difference that makes to the condition now).
Anyway, I am going to take it in tomorrow, just because the first guy suggested that I should. No doubt it will be OK, as you guys say, but I guess it doesn't hurt for them to check it.
Electrics are a problem on this car. I've done the "lights come on when heater is turned on" fix, had a lot of intermittent steering pump problems (now seem to have gone away) , now I have "wipers stop working".
Is this a common fault? When I've found them to stop I blip the stalk back to the top for the 'one-shot' and it seems to fix it with the wipers starting again (ie dodgy contacts) , but wife says this doesn't work all the time.
When you're driving on the motorway in the pouring rain and you suddenly lose all visibility, it's not funny.
Is it just replace the steering column stalks? - I see it's all one piece including the indicators, or is there some other systemic fault? relay? bad earth ?
Would be good to know before I go and shell out for the stalks.
thanks. Read more
firstly you have to take the wiper arms off if you are to to get
the plastic scuttle trim off and these can seize
you are correct, they must be removed first and in my haste i ommitted this from my post. however i have never personally had a wiper arm seize onto the spindle, just giving it a slight wiggle while pulling upwards from the lower part of the arm always works for me. however, take your own precautions if you feel you have to as i obviously cannot vouch for the state of your wipers.
secondly you have to remove the windshield side rubbers from the scuttle trim these clip
into a piece of plastic either side
not strictly true - with the 3 screws removed, lift the scuttle from the middle and it will flex you then just need to manipulate each side out from under the rubber trim at the A posts.
dont know if it will cure the above problem but just thought i would advise
anyway
no problems, just passing on what I have learnt and what worked for me, as always anyone reading should take their own precautions.
one final thing is to lubricate all of the ball and socket joints on the linkage as well, just a squirt of maintenance spray or light grease will do. if any feel a bit sloppy just grip them tight in your hand and squeeze, that is enough pressure to pop the joint fully home if it has worked loose
Where is the best place to report an uninsured car? Police? DVLA? Local Authority?
.............. Thinks........... I wonder how many posters will answer the question and how many will raise other questions? Read more
Where do we report DVLA for selling OUR information to cowboy clampers and Italian cities like Florence and Pisa with strange city centre driving rules?
The Timing Chain on my Nissan Almera stretched and now it takes me forever to start it and it's very jerky and it even stalls without any warning.
Google suggested this is common problem with the Almeras and it's very expensive to repaire: Nissan quoted me £900-£1000.
Nissan are still refusing to issue a recall and repair their own defective timing chain and said they are not aware there's any problem with the Timing Chain and no one reported it!
TheAA recommended Nationwide Autocentres who quoted me £530 for non-genuine Timing Chain kit. There's £200 difference between a genuine Nissan part and non-genuine one.
Am I making a mistake by using non-genuine timing chain kit?
The car is only worth 2k or 2.5k max.
Thanks for your advice.
P.s Will never buy a Nissan car again let alone an Almera. Read more
Why the current fetish timing chains, they often stretched and rattled like billio on old designs, i'm perfectly happy with a cambelt, i know it will want renewing at a sensible point and it won't need the engine dismantling to do the job, good opportunity to renew the water pump if driven by the belt.
Buy a north south engine and the cambelt might be an hours easy job anyway...Toyota 3 litre 4 pot Diesels for example.
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I accidentally splashed sun cream on my speaker grill and I can’t get it off. Little white dots in the tiny circular holes of the grill. I’ve tried a cotton bud soaked in soapy water, meths, white spirit and cellulose and none will touch it.