Jay23Sx

I've just had mine done, although as I am only TPFT (I've only been driving about 8 months!) I had to pay full whack for it. Had a phone around, Auto Glass wanted £590 while Auto Windescreens (ex RAC) only wanted £330. Was a tad worried about what I'd get as I'd heard they make there own screens but was happy to find when I picked it up that they'd fitted a Sekurit screen. The previous sreen was Pilkington and because I haven't got a receipt for a new one, despite having a folder of the most unusual items, I would be tempted to say it was installed with it originally.

Talk about digging up a post from the past .. I'm about ready to do this job now and replace the wishbone(s). How hard is this to do on a DIY basis? I'm expecting to have to pay a bog standard garage about £80 inc VAT if I get them to do it (the same as it cost to do a front wheel bearing). Either that, or is there anyone down in West Sussex that may be willing to help me out in return for some liquid persuasion and a slightly greasy palm? (That sounds really dodgy).

I was almost hoping the cut off point was 1989 for the rally, not 1982. Could have seen an early 1.8 in there then and as they were actually looking after them for this feature it wouldn't have been a problem.

I'm going to say that it's the wishbone, mine came up as an MOT advisory (wearing but not causing movement) and gradually I've noticed your symptoms start to appear. I'm planning to change mine next month as the aprt is only around £18 (for the wishbone with bushes already installed) and I expect if I have to send it to the garage to be fitted it'll be around £80 inc VAT on a labour only rate (1.5 hours, the same as I paid for the front wheel bearing).

I've added some notes about adding the "safety camera" warnings to the post above. You get all software updates free in the UK, it's just the maps they charge for.

If you want the official Tom Tom updates then go to http://www.tomtom.com and download Tom Tom Home. Once you've got this installed on your PC (or Mac) plug your device into your PC via USB and the software will check for the latest software updates for your device. It will also update your maps, for a charge, if you want to. Oh, and in a nutshell the instructions for using the PocketGPSWorld safety camera lists is as follows: 1) Connect your Tom Tom to your PC or Mac via USB so it appears as a removal storage device 2) Download the relevant list (OV2 for Tom Tom) from http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/modules.php?name=Cameras 3) Extract all files in the database zip you've just downloaded to the relevant folder on the Tom Tom device. This folder will be the name of the map you have installed, for example United_Kingdom_and_Republic_of_Ireland 4) Enable "Warn when near POI" (under Change Preferences, Manage POI) for "pocketgps uk .." (there may be more than one) 5) Specify the distance before the POI to receive a warning 6) Specify the sound to play when warning about the POI Note: If you select "Warn only if POI is on route" it will only alert you to the POI if you are currently following navigation instructions. If you want it to warn you even if you just have the device on, but have no route planned, then do not tick this box. If you want more detailed instructions go to http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/uksafetyc ... om-ov2.php where you can also find a guide on how to set the warning distance based on speed and the amount of warning you want.

Looking good, I'm down your way at the weekend in mine but it's for a wedding on the A27, won't really have time to take a butchers.

Your only real method of bleeding the cooling system is to leave the cap of the expansion tank and bring the engine up to temp (from cold). This gives all the air time to work its way to the top of the system. However if you took your time filling, I think the Haynes manual says to take at least 5 minutes, and the heater controls were on maximum then you shouldn't have a major problem anyway. To check for blocks feel both the bottom and top hoses to make sure they are both hot (and that the water is circulaating) and that you get hot air out of the heater.

I've got standard 10W-40 at the moment, I assume my best synthetic would be the Gulf ?

VW are your best bet for hoses, most of the other spares companies don't sell much unless you go performance. I had the same on mine last week, in my case it was a small 6" hose that connects the water pump to the metal water pipe down near the bottom of the engine. That one cost 9.99, expect to pay about £15 for the radiator hose (well, at least thats what they charged me for the top hose).

No wonder people go 3rd party, control arm including bushes is about £18-£25 from AVS and that includes VAT.

Well I changed the fuse last night, let the car sit there and warm up and at about 90 on the water gauge the fan started, was on for about a minute and stopped. Not long after it came back on again. Great I thought, it was the fuse. Until I tested the fuse (it was a full sealed opaque one) and it came up as good. Now either I was imagining the fact that the fan wasn't running, it's OK on speed 1 but not 2 or a simple "switch it off and on again" solved it. Haven't decided which yet.

It was, although my fan isn't running any more so I'm having to be careful of the temp. I don't think this caused the problem in the first place, because I'm pretty sure the fan was working up until the hose problem. Need to run a few checks and avoid journeys which may include getting stuck in traffic for the time being. Any suggestions now I've mentioned it? I want to bridge the terminals first to check the fan actually works still but haven't had time to do it yet. I've checked for any wires that may have been knocked off while we struggled with the hose but couldn't find any. The fuse may also be something to check as the fan was probably running when the hose burst, maybe blowing a fuse in the process?

This is what an unloved 16V engine bay looks like, but it is almost 19 years old. It's slightly cleaner now, only because it's had a new distributor.

Well as I said, it dropped all of the coolant (what's that, 4.5L?) in a matter of seconds. Only refilled this afternoon after work (the hose was actually changed at lunch) and pleased to say it appears to be water tight, although I'll know more after a few days of course.

Finally managed to change it today (well, maintenance at work did) and this is how much the hose had split. Edit: Sorry about the bad cam pic, borrowed a work phone again. If you don't know this hose it's about 6" long and split runs almost th entire length.

The item that was replaced was the dark grey stumpy cylinder (1"?) with two air hoses at 90 degrees to each other and an electrical connection.

Well mine just won't come off. Working for a big manufacturing company we've got a maintenance department that's used to dealing with small spaces so the manager has kindly tried for me as well with no luck. They are going to go back during there tea break, cut the hose in half and try and pull it off from each end instead.

Maybe it is .. the garage that did the work just listed the part as "Vacuum Valve" on the invoice.

Now I've gone to look at it again I'm not entirely sure this is the aux air valve, but this is the item they replaced to cure my idle problem.

I've circled the hose in question, £9.99 from the dealers. Hose 3 is the one that gets in the way, may be made a little easier by removing the bottom radiator hose as well.

Sounds like the right one, I should correct my post as it's not the one that goes from the pump to the oil cooler, as I just worked out that also goes off to the flange. This one is very short and has a step in it. It's partially blocked by another hose which is the main problem in changing it.

Right, I've found the hose - unfortunately it appears to be one that can only be got at from the underneath of the car. About 10" long, it runs from (at a guess) the water pump to the oil cooler in a straight line. It's got about a 1" gash in the side of it. This isn't one I've replaced recently (probably the only one I haven't).

Your door handle is probably held in with the wrong screw. I had the same problem on mine, it appears that after repairing the door handle they just put it together with the wrong screw (I think it was one from a window winder). I replaced it with the correct one and it's now sturdy as a rock.

Hope you kept hold of the original wheels, they are in demand at the moment with more people looking for a factory fresh look.