Car advice

[Ross.]

On the motorway on Monday heading to the office. Foot down to overtake and nothing happened. Big yellow light appears on the dashboard, EPC. Managed to cruise another couple of KM at 100+ and pull in at a truck stop. Turbo charger gone and the cost of replacing it is about 50% of what the car is worth, at best. Not sure if this is a blessing in disguise or a pain in the arse, at least I have been looking around for a while, just slightly annoying that the trade in value of the old one has tanked!

[Soapy FFC]

On 13/03/2023 at 17:19, Soapy FFC said:

Had the car in for a service and it’s first MOT today. I was sent a vehicle health check that said the rear brake discs and pads were in a critical condition, with the discs needing immediate replacement, and the pads needing replaced to maintain safe operation. The garage then phoned to say the car is ready for pick up and the car had passed it’s MOT with no failures or advisories. I’m a bit puzzled how the health check can say brake discs need immediate replacement, but the MOT is OK. Maybe something to do with the fact they don’t have the brake parts in stock so they couldn’t sting me for new brakes to pass the MOT. They then quoted £400 to replace back pads and discs, which seems extremely expensive to me.

Just to follow up on this. I took the car to my trusted local garage today and they replaced the pads and discs for £250. The discs were worn and pitted with bits falling off the edge, but the guy said he wouldn't fail them for an MOT as they were still performing OK although they would need replaced before the next MOT, so I just got them done.

[TxRover]

52 minutes ago, Soapy FFC said:

Just to follow up on this. I took the car to my trusted local garage today and they replaced the pads and discs for £250. The discs were worn and pitted with bits falling off the edge, but the guy said he wouldn't fail them for an MOT as they were still performing OK although they would need replaced before the next MOT, so I just got them done.

Sounds like the initial assessment of failing discs was correct, but the urgency was overstated. Nice to have a trusted local garage! It’s a bit weird, as good quality discs are cheap as chips these days, so a quote for £400 is daylight robbery unless they were quoting some magically, fairy dust containing pads that would stop you instantly.

I will say anyone with a modicum of mechanical knowledge/ability can change pads, and usually discs, in less than an hour a corner IF there aren’t any additional issues. Just, please, check for shims to reuse…ask how I know.

[Ross.]

On 11/05/2023 at 13:36, Ross. said:

On the motorway on Monday heading to the office. Foot down to overtake and nothing happened. Big yellow light appears on the dashboard, EPC. Managed to cruise another couple of KM at 100+ and pull in at a truck stop. Turbo charger gone and the cost of replacing it is about 50% of what the car is worth, at best. Not sure if this is a blessing in disguise or a pain in the arse, at least I have been looking around for a while, just slightly annoying that the trade in value of the old one has tanked!

Settled on a second hand Skoda Kamiq. Looked at a few different things and that ticked the majority of the boxes. Just the formalities to sort out and should pick it up in the next 10 days.

[RH33]

Adopting a labradour, when you have a dog and three kids, but only two staying with me, and an A1 was a bit daft.

[Arch Stanton]

Citroen C4. Gearstick will only move from neutral to 2nd, won't move into any other gear position.

Linkages gubbed or something more serious?

[alta-pete]

21 minutes ago, RH33 said:

Adopting a labradour, when you have a dog and three kids, but only two staying with me, and an A1 was a bit daft.

Not to worry, I’m sure you’ll cheer him up. 

[TxRover]

1 hour ago, Arch Stanton said:

Citroen C4. Gearstick will only move from neutral to 2nd, won't move into any other gear position.

Linkages gubbed or something more serious?

There is a mention on a Citroen forum of an official procedure to correctly align the “selector”…which suggests your guess on the linkage might be correct. However, there’s several other items that can also cause similar issues, and none of them are good from a mechanical point of view.

[supermik]

Got a neighbour who changes his car two, sometimes three times a year. He’s been doing it for at least the past nine or ten years. It’s not as if they are hired cars as he has a private registration number that he has put on all of them. They are all new looking top notch motors like Mercs, Jags, Lexus and x5’s. Must be costing him a few quid.

Is it a money laundering scheme?

[TxRover]

1 hour ago, supermik said:

Got a neighbour who changes his car two, sometimes three times a year. He’s been doing it for at least the past nine or ten years. It’s not as if they are hired cars as he has a private registration number that he has put on all of them. They are all new looking top notch motors like Mercs, Jags, Lexus and x5’s. Must be costing him a few quid.

Is it a money laundering scheme?

Perhaps it is business related, decent write offs:

https://www.selectcarleasing.co.uk/short-term-leasing

[Guest ICTFCwife]

2 hours ago, supermik said:

Got a neighbour who changes his car two, sometimes three times a year. He’s been doing it for at least the past nine or ten years. It’s not as if they are hired cars as he has a private registration number that he has put on all of them. They are all new looking top notch motors like Mercs, Jags, Lexus and x5’s. Must be costing him a few quid.

Is it a money laundering scheme?

Potentially it could be.I’m on a PCP for my car I’ve had it a few months now and I get offers regularly about trading it in for a newer model perhaps he is doing something like that? However changing his car two to three times I would imagine must be costing him a fortune especially with the models that he’s going for. 

[Empty It]

15 hours ago, supermik said:

Got a neighbour who changes his car two, sometimes three times a year. He’s been doing it for at least the past nine or ten years. It’s not as if they are hired cars as he has a private registration number that he has put on all of them. They are all new looking top notch motors like Mercs, Jags, Lexus and x5’s. Must be costing him a few quid.

Is it a money laundering scheme?

Drug dealer.

[thistledo]

On 14/05/2023 at 19:42, supermik said:

Got a neighbour who changes his car two, sometimes three times a year. He’s been doing it for at least the past nine or ten years. It’s not as if they are hired cars as he has a private registration number that he has put on all of them. They are all new looking top notch motors like Mercs, Jags, Lexus and x5’s. Must be costing him a few quid.

Is it a money laundering scheme?

 

On 14/05/2023 at 21:43, TxRover said:

Perhaps it is business related, decent write offs:

https://www.selectcarleasing.co.uk/short-term-leasing

Benefit in Kind tax here would probably be awful if it was through a company. Unless these are all electric. 

If they are fairly new and not brand new he might have bought one of them outright and then just needs to be the odd grand or two to change whenever he wants. Once the initial new car depreciation is over a lot of cars will hold a reasonable value for the next year or so, especially with low mileage. 

Edited May 16, 2023 by thistledo

[alta-pete]

Maybe one for @RandomGuy. ; when I apply the brakes, for the first second or so - or until I increase the pedal pressure or ease off - I’m getting a low volume high pitched squeal coming from the front discs. I’m guessing it’s just the pads nearing the end of their life? 

[RandomGuy.]

1 hour ago, alta-pete said:

Maybe one for @RandomGuy. ; when I apply the brakes, for the first second or so - or until I increase the pedal pressure or ease off - I’m getting a low volume high pitched squeal coming from the front discs. I’m guessing it’s just the pads nearing the end of their life? 

A lot of pads are designed with a "screamer", just a wee metal bit that overhangs the last few mm or so of the pad so it hits the disks and warns you of low pads, so aye, sounds like its a safe bet to say your pads are wearing down.

[TxRover]

2 hours ago, alta-pete said:

Maybe one for @RandomGuy. ; when I apply the brakes, for the first second or so - or until I increase the pedal pressure or ease off - I’m getting a low volume high pitched squeal coming from the front discs. I’m guessing it’s just the pads nearing the end of their life? 

Any chance they were squealing a bit in reverse first? Most squealer tabs make a noise in reverse a little before while going forward?

[Andy Dufresne]

I was in a Octavia taxi in Lanzarote yesterday and It was a 2018 that had done 776k km.

Edited May 18, 2023 by Andy Dufresne

[flyingscot]

12 hours ago, Andy Dufresne said:

I was in a Octavia taxi in Lanzarote yesterday and It was a 2018 that had done 776k km.

The early 2000s Octavias were terrific. We had a diesel one and to be honest it was just an excellent car. 

[TxRover]

Any experts or serious amateurs in automotive paint? Need some advice on wet sanding/buffing/polishing automotive clear coat paint. I’ve stopped the rot, but now need to make it look prettier.

[jimmy boo]

1 hour ago, TxRover said:

Any experts or serious amateurs in automotive paint? Need some advice on wet sanding/buffing/polishing automotive clear coat paint. I’ve stopped the rot, but now need to make it look prettier.

I get all my advice from Car SOS and Wheeler Dealers. I'm still useless!!