owieprone

total vag have said that the oil was silver it was so full of swarf, nice. I DO check the oil, i am not a moron, i do the services on my mk1 golf including the oil change, i do KNOW how to check oil, oil lights in MOST cars are the last warning, get off your high horse. do you work for when the oil light came on the engine wasn't dry it was just lower than the markings, only needing a top up. there was no obvious signs on the dipstick or when you look in the top too little oil on the dipstick to be noticable, even total vag didnt mention that until they had drained the oil. The problem was there was no oil pressure, checkin the dipstick isn't going to diagnose that.

fto's are very fun to drive but expensive up keep. if you're looking at alfa's or anything that you can't fix and maintain easily yourself look at servicing costs as well as insurance costs as (especially with alfa's, it's not just a top gear myth) they may be more expensive and more frequent than you are able to cope with. mind that older cars like mk2 golfs etc may have a high milage but are cheap for what you get and are cheap and easy to fix (most of which can be done yourself, no funcy new electronics and lack of engine bay space to worry about). you can get a mint mk1 golf gti for 3k cheap insurance with low milage. new engines/gearboxes are cheap, and easy to find and replace/refurb when it's needed, ~£600 (the engine shop, in kent). i would recommend any mk1/mk2 vw. my mk1 had 185k on it before it needed the engine and gearbox done, it's had more owners than i've had cars. i'm also on the look out for a new car ( boohoo poor yeti) i'm looking at diesels due to driving 50 mile a day, have my eye on an beeza and an audi, OH has eye on the audi, if i buy it i get his remapped beeza yay! lol

what my dad says who's a mechanic/engineer, about the state of my car. "Tell your mechies to keep a sample of the oil, 'cos I don't believe that story, and ask the RAC to test it for you. It sounds to me that the whole engine is shagged, i.e. the head, bores and crank need refurbished, ask about a replacement half engine as well. The reason I say that is that to burn oil at that rate the bores must be badly worn and the valve guide seals must be badly worn or none existant, as the valves probably are as well. Just putting a new oil pump and bearings in will not solve your problem unless you fix it up and sell it immediately before it can go again. Running out of oil will not cook the oil and block the tubes that is a long term process. It is very likely that the oil pump has been on the way out anyway and unrelated to the wear in the engine which has caused the hot combustion gasses to pass the pistons and enter the sump leaving burnt oil deposits in the sump and oil galleries. The gritty burnt oil may have been the last straw for the oil pump causing it to wear more rapidly. These small engines are probably good for about 100,000 mls and then need replacing." i will be taking legal advice from RAC to see what comeback i have, this car was serviced all it's life by the same folk a vw dealership which, as i believe it, is under the same company that owns evans. i could have a long and possibly legal battle on myhands for the sake of £2500!!! plus any cost i incur this week to see how badly damaged it is etc. *insert lots of swear words here*

right the initial verdict is in. it's run out of oil, cooked what's left, blocked the sump sucker tube and consquently buggered the pump, leaving the engine oil starved as there's no oil pressure at all. now what i don't get is how! when the oil light went off about a month ago or so i got oil the same day topped her up and had no probs after that. it wasn't until tues that it conked out with no warning. so my guess is, it's run out of oil before i got it, starting the problem off, it ran low again, did the above and the pumps failed totally this time leaving me with no oil and no warning. Hopefully the engine isn't too damaged, the guys at total vag will be letting me know tmorn. i can only assume it wasn't me that broke it as i've only done 7k in her , she shouldn't be drinking what...3 litres of oil in 5 months. (sump holds 1.5l? ish i think), it's drunk a whole litre in a max of 2 months. my mk1 golf doesn't LEAK that amount! she had a full sump when i got her, i checked her about 2 months later when i got her back from the garage for the ecu problems, still a good level then. i should have asked total vag if they noticed any sawdust going to cost me £320 to sort out and that's if no other problems rear their ugly heads.

i checked last night, it's 7k i've driven in 6 months. i did tell the boy that it was a vw engine that's no amount of wear at all! my mk1 had 180k on the clock before it needed a refurb! it's a petrol and has had 8? odd owners! my lupo was owned by the same gadgy the whole time and apparently serviced at regular intervals. the boy tho as far as i can tell isn't a mechanic and i know more about motors than he does, as evidenced by the talks i've had with him. either that or he's really REALLY good at acting like a brainless girls groin. oh yeah and HE'S THE DEALER PRINCIPLE, i might write to their head office and tell them to employ someone who actually KNOWS what a car engine looks like and how it works. I'd like to make note of the fact the servicing was done by a branch of the company that owns evans so i can guess that it was serviced by monkeys trained in the art of bum scratching. And, i was told yeti would be serviced before i took her away, i've got NO paperwork to say that was done or a stamp in my service book. however i do only have mine and OH's say on this so i'm not going to bother phoning eejit up again and tell him his staff are liars as well as choring gimps. Yeti has gone off to TOTAL VAG in leighton buzzard, top bunch of blokes who know what they're on about and do a fab job for a good price. they were very accommodating and assured me my car would be in the forecourt which is locked up at night. i did of course say that no one would nick my car (as it doesn't actually run for more than 3 seconds) and could use it as a door stop (tiny enough). i've also told the rac manny that should he be near a cliff on the way over i'm sure he could pretend he's in the Italian Job (original) and do a remake of the ending. i'm quite depressed today I'm not looking forward to hearing what's wrong with her i can see lots of dosh being taken off my credit card in the very near future. please please please be an ECU problem I've been looking at a used furbie (non vrs) and a leon, the leons gone apparently :"( so the furbie it is, from a reputable dealership that we've bought 2 new cars from before, i WILL be getting the extended warranty with this one!!!

i don't know if it is the ecu, i'm just guessing. if it's the cam shaft thats a 'new' problem as i didn't say it was a problem when i still had warrenty. but basicallythe cars not fit for what they were selling it for. if it did have the cam shaft problem they should have declared it when they were selling it to me, any good mechanic would have noticed it when they serviced it. i think i'll have to get someone to look at it (possibly rac) and see what they say it is, get it fixed if it's not too expensive, then trade it in for something else younger or new. if it's the ecu then they have to fix it as it's an on going warranty problem. the boy was saying oh you've put 9k on it (i guestimated) that will put alot of wear and tear on the engine. aye but enough for it to stop dead? 9k? it was already sounding like a diesel when i bought it, i thought it was an engine similar to the tappit happy ford ka's! going to check my paperwork to see what works been done on it, what's been replaced recenty etc. see if that'llhelp me out. also going to see what RAC legal team has to say about what i can do probably nothing gutting. v unhappy, not very sure how i'm going to get to work and back as i'm sure the boyfriend will get annoyed with the extra ferrying around he'll be doing to sort me out anyone know how much a new engine is? 1.4L 16v? lol

just got the call from evans halshaw. the basic message was unlucky get lost.

Thanks for finding the link! yes i have no sense of humour today at all, evans dp hasn't phoned back yet, i'm v v v v v v v unimpressed and ready to rip his head off at the first sign of no cooperation. i'm probably going to have to phone up the RAC legal team and get some advice. will be spelunking in my files for all the documents for the car. hopefully will get something off evans to recompense me for this. i can't afford to get it fixed, i can't afford NOT to have a car, cos it'll mean 4 hrs public transport every day to work, and god knows how much that will cost me. i can't get a courtesy car as it's like for like insurance, the lupo isn't even half the cost of the courtesy cars they have. i'm well and truly up the kazi with nae paddle this time and it's all evans' fault for selling me a complete raft when they knew it was. scuppered :"(

Topics merged from here... i thought i had posted up my problems with the above dealership in mk but i can't find it anywhere and am abit thick so can't even find the search option thingy! how rubbish am i? anyway my lupo 99 t reg, had cam sensor, cam to ecu loom replaced by D&A motors (v good garage in MK) for evans halshaw (v donkey poo dealership in mk) took 4 weeks, 3 weeks after i bought it, done on the 6 week warranty. i've owned the car for 6 months and only had it to drive for 5. i do 50 miles, 5 days a week, it has 91k on clock, it was supposedly serviced before i took it away. today it broke down the second i reached milton park, thank god it didn't do it on the a34 seconds earlier as there was a lorry up my rear. anyway. konked out another 2 times before i finally managed to abandon in in 2 disabled spaced infront of my work, i might not be disabled but the car certainly is. luckily we don't get disabled folks visiting as they can't get up the stairs! (nae lifts). it drinks oil like its going out of fashion, several other things haven't worked on it that should have been picked up (fast wipe on windscreens (fixed along with cam sensor), wing mirror mover on passenger side wire has gone, rear window heater switch doesn't stay on, same for recycle air button). it's not the fuel relay either as fuel gets in etc. battery is fine, the engine is very sluggish tho. rac have come out and basically said, phone up evans and see if they will take it back. cam shaft may be worn, the car sounds like a diesel (always has) the rac bloke actually checked for sparkplugs when he first lifted the bonnet cos he really thought it was a diesel! oh dear. i'm waiting for the dealer principle (useless untrained monkey) to call me back so i can say, a give me my money back (all of it including the deposit etc), b sort it out for free, c give me my money back, d, e and all the way to z options are all the same as a. i'm not very impressed. i'm thinking of just trading it in if evans refuse to co-orperate. i'd quite like a fiat 500 abarth ss, not likely to happen lol. i'll probably get a small diesel of some sort. much sympathy needed as i'm quite sad my wee yeti is possible beyond repair on my budget. (my budget = £0.)

i've always loved beetles, ever since i saw herbie when i was a kid (lame i know) fell in love with an neighbours mk1 and bought it off him wasn't safe enough or economical enough for a 50 mile round trip to work on the A34 (death-by-lorry alley) so got a lupo. i love small cars tho and am thinking of swapping it eventually for the fiat 500 abarth ss in a few years time would do it sooner but need a new kitchen first

i'm accident prone. not in my car i'd like to add, but while doing sports. my mtbing mantra is: "it's no fun if you don't fall off"

mine hisnae dropped ony! mine must all be on another server, makes me wish i wis a hacker, so i could trace it back and send them rubbish 10 times as bad if only i understood how computers worked too much for my wee brain.

My advice, give her a few months worth of vouchers for her prefered salon.

there were only 3 of us at work that day and we all completely forgot, i rememberd at about 1! however, imo it is up to each person when they have their minute of silence, just because they don't do it at the internationally accepted time that the war stopped, doesn't mean they don't hold it later, or on another day that one of their relatives died on. they may see it as a more personal or family thing to do and want to do it with their family around them or at the grave of their relative. as long as you show respect to the whole then missing the mins silence should bring accusations of disrespect. i do reckon it should be a national holiday to honour them all, but as most of the ceremonys are held on sunday i can't see this happening.

how about ewok? v cute cat bet the fishes don't think so! lol poor furball, imagine being ousted cos of a bloody kid? i know which i'd keep

do what i do, wave a copy of the highway code at them. what he did was an illegal manouver as he was "closing the gap" when you were legally overtaking him. he was also driving too slow for the road and driving without due car and attention (imho obviously) he should be made to resit his test and failed on principle i read the highway code the other day... learnt 2 things that i didn't know amazing everydays a school day.

i agree with most folk on here, have something about an hour before you go to the gym, a banana or a couple of ryvita etc. i find that if i have an apple or anything 'watery' it adds to the sloshing feeling drinking too much too quickly gives you. I'd also suggest protein shakes (as someone else mentioned) but only after your workout, unless you have that as your snack. all depends on what your trying to achieve tho. well done for doing so well on the stepper tho i HATE those things! the only time i managed 30 mins on one was when the gyms heating was broken best workout i'd done in years! I'd try a few things out to see what works best for you, everyones different. good luck mate.

see i'm abit on the fence on this one, jamie prefers cats as they're less hassle, but would like a dog should one of us be around the house more to walk it and keep it company. i prefer dogs, but can see that cats and rats are the only animals i'll be allowed for the time being. Cats are nice but much more unpredicatble than dogs and rats. rats are the only rodent worth having, i would have ferrets but i'm not allowed them as we have rats. luckily we have a dogitty (cat that thinks it's a dog) so i'm happy for the mo.

that question wouldn't even come up in a conversation/arguement with me and the husband, neither of us would give up our cars, it's a stupid ultimatum in our household as we're both car nuts. husband knows i love my cars, just in a completely different way from how i love him, and i wouldn't give up any of them:P how any girl could give that ultimatum to their bf is beyond my reckoning. i might, however, one day get the ultimatum "it's me or the rats" seeing as we now own 8 of the furrie critters cuteness!

autumn. better weather generally and it's pretty. summer and winter are overated due to their lack of being unproper anymore. eee when i were a lad... erm... a lass, it were proper 4 feet of snow in my backyard, with months of skiing available and summers were inevitably indian summers... not like today, when both of them are just ****. Can't mind the last time there was enough snow up at the lecht to bother making the trek, and when you did there was no need for the snow poles at the side of the road... not like when i was young and the snow chains were on, the poles had disappeared, everywhere was WHITE! pants now, everythings still green including the pistes.

rose street is the back street that runs parallel to Princes street (main shopping street if you dunno) hard rock is on george street which runs parallel to rose street lol. I thoroughly recommend Studio 24 check the below website for more good pubs/clubs http://www.nightnews.net/Club2k.htm

3 seconds in the kitchen, 5 everywhere else. (cats live in the kitchen)

defenestration, the act of throwing someone or something out of a window...it's a beautifully descriptive and apt word that should be used more often got to use it recently while talking about my work computer and our IT dept.

have had an album of his for what a year now? some folk are sooo slow to catch up. who the hell still listens to the charts? it's riddled with pop rubbish and too few good songs imho, sss is obviously one of the few good ones to wiggle their way in.

that in a diesel is nothing as everyone else has said, diesels are made to run forever, if in doubt go down a local farm yard and ask the farmer to start up his 1920's tractor. diesels run forever, vw's one's are especially good. having said that tho, my petrol lupo has jsut passed 90k and despite the problems it had when i bought it, hasn't got anythign else wrong with it that i know of. my petrol mk1 golf has 190k on it and didn't even need the engine refurb i gave her, did need the gearbox refurb tho. drive the car slowly, reverse and as fast as possible (do not exceed road limit obvioulsy ) to see how she feels pulling away going slow, round corners, try and fully lock the wheels round corners to make sure no cv problems. don't have music on, but do check it works lol you know the drill, just check there's nothing niggly that might signal an expensive fault, but don't expect to find one, jsut cos it's done alot of miles. you could always ask to see the v5 to see how many owners its had? ask the owner how far work is, if it's a daily drive, why they're changing car, but the service history should tell you all you need to know about whether it's worth buying.