Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2025 i Car Mechanics

It has been rather mild down here in the south of England during October into November. Plenty of rain the last 30 days, but we still have a hosepipe ban. Like Peter Simpson in his column (see page 5), I’ve had 12V battery problems. Mainly with my Audi A8 4.0 TDI, which covers just 2000-3000 miles a year. I bought this A8 in 2012 and I’m on the third 12V battery replacement. As the car sits around for a week or three at a time, I decided last time to fit an AGM battery in the hope of having a longer battery life. Being a 21-year-old car, it does have a simple battery monitoring system, and you are meant to tell the ECU that a new battery has been installed.…

Going back to the time before motor vehicles, when stagecoaches first started racing around the country, even though they would have been quite loud I am sure that there were a few collisions due to the poor visibility in the dark. Lamps burning oil were often used to provide a little light, but I would expect that the horse’s better eyesight was the main reason that more accidents did not occur. When the motor car was invented, the ability to see clearly was then placed into the control of the driver. The early oil lamps were replaced with an electric light. The electric light bulb used a filament to produce light, and this filament was delicate. The shock of the dips and bumps in the rough roads would soon damage…

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A question of margin Saw an interesting discussion on a motor trade forum recently. A trader offering, to the trade, a 2018 Dacia Sandero which he was struggling to shift. On paper the car was right in pretty-much every respect; retail ready, serviced and valeted and just 58,000 miles on the clock. It was also a 1.0-litre petrol with 117g/km emissions (so £35 a year road tax) and Group 4 insurance. On the fae of it, I could see only two downsides. The first was that it was white. The second, obviously, was that it was a Dacia – not everyone’s cup of tea but actually a pretty good choice for someone simply wanting no-frills A to B transport. This particular example had aircon but not much else in the…

GENERAL Registration area Q I have an unusual request which I hope you, your team or fellow dealers can help me with. For months now I have noticed that here on the Isle of Wight there are an unusual number of Yorkshire registered vehicles (YA-Z). I went to Herefordshire last week and noticed that it was just the same for the whole journey. They are across the whole range of vehicles – cars, vans, lorries and buses of all ages. I can’t think of a logical reason for it as we are at the extreme ends of England. I hope you can throw some light on this mystery for me. Keith Ward A The identifying letters YA-YK do originate from Yorkshire in the Leeds area. The Isle of Wight has…

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As you’ve no doubt noticed, it’s turned a bit colder outside in recent weeks; autumn is definitely here, and that means winter can’t be far away. Maybe it’s an age thing, but I don’t really like winter much these days – damp, misty and short days. Nah, hibernation is now becoming an ever-more attractive idea. But there is one aspect of old, cold winters which I thought we had left behind. I’m referring to having to replace a car’s battery every second, third or fourth October. Once upon a time it was generally accepted that a car’s battery which had lasted more than three winters was doing well, but that was 40+ years ago. Since then, things have improved, to the extent that even 20 years ago it wasn’t uncommon…

MINI COOPER Good service The owner of this 2007 MINI Cooper 1.6 petrol said it needed a good service – the truth behind the matter was that the motor had not had a service in quite some time, and it was now well in need of the service. I must admit that carrying out a service on a motor such as this MINI which has been neglected for a while does give quite a bit of satisfaction. The replacement of the old and failing parts with the nice new fresh ones, gives the feeling that the engine is getting a fresh start and inevitably after having a service the previously neglected engine does appear to run with a smoother feel. When I was at college, many years ago, one of…

Launched in 2015, Jaguar’s entrylevel saloon, the XE, looked as promising as the successful X-TYPE. With some of these vehicles now approaching the end of their first decade, prices are still quite high at upwards of £3k, so servicing and maintenance are a worthwhile investment. We looked at a 2019 petrol engine model being serviced at independent specialist Elite & Performance Jags. If you are familiar with the suspension layouts of Jaguars such as the S-TYPE and XF, then there’s nothing too different on the XE. At the front, there are the typical banana-shaped track control arms, where the frontmost bush can wear. There’s also a single lower wishbone, a double upper wishbone and a coilover (spring and damper). At the rear, there are separate coil springs and dampers with…

GENERAL Code reading Q Do you know of any book that explains what test results from code readers mean? Either a manufacturer one or a third party. Reason I ask is because I’ve just got a Gendan NT301 and using it to test an O2 sensor after getting a code of P0172, I get test results of… Lean - rich threshold 0.460; Rich - lean threshold 0.460. And the code reader gives the following… Min test value. 0.07; Max test value. 1.275. Now to me it seems that 0.460 falls in the OK zone but I’m not sure if my thinking is right. The scopes and meters we used when I was at work testing telephone exchange equipment came with large (very large) manuals. Any help much appreciated. Dave Bennett…

For some time now I’ve been after a decent cheap estate car – the BMW 118d I have run for the past two years is just too small. It’s done very well really for the pittance it owes me. I’m going to keep the 118d – it’s worth next to nothing and I can’t face the drama of selling it. The choices were either an E91 3-Series Touring (06-12 model) or the 2012-20 F31. I like the E91 – parts are certainly super cheap and readily available, but as I’m looking for as-newa-car as possible, would an earlier F31 be much more money? The F31 has a much nicer interior and they ride better, plus they’re quieter with a slightly bigger boot. But they’re getting old and for me are…

The end of the road for the Civic Type-R Those who know me by now will not be surprised when I say that when it comes to my own personal modes of transport, I love a bit of retro. I still hanker for the cars I admired when I was a few stones lighter – Astra GTE, Maestro EFi and the good old Golf Mk2 GTI 8-valve were all the hot hatches on my radar. When it comes to modern tackle, I’ve never really bonded with Japanese stuff. The original MR2 in my opinion was a work of art, but kit like the Lancer Evo or the Subaru Impreza I never had time for. They are too noisy, too crude, they pop, bang, fart and spit fire out of the…

I was chatting with my neighbour in 2024, and she said to me that as her daughter was approaching her 18th birthday, would I look out for a small car for her. Well, she didn’t have to ask twice, as I knew that either a Citroën C1, Peugeot 107 or Toyota Aygo (all with the same drivetrain components) would be an ideal starter-car. Logging into my British Car Auctions (BCA) app, I created a watch list for these cars – in black or white – as either would be her ideal exterior colour. On average in 2024, there would be around 40 black and white models going through BCA UK sales each week. It didn’t take me long to find YC62 GYJ in a rather neglected state. I don’t think…

Despite Mk1 TT’s costing little more than a bag of chips not so very long ago, the original nineties design icon has finally been recognised as a classic, and prices have recovered accordingly. That said, the second-generation TT from 2006 was better, as was the car that replaced it in 2014, the even more svelte Mk3 (8S) – the model we’re twinkling a light on here. But here’s the thing. After a quarter of a century, with Audi switching its allegiance to battery-powered SUVs, it’s the last of the TTs. Production stopped for good in 2023. We’re not expecting the Mk3 to command the same collector interest as the 1998 original in years to come, but with a subtle and significant honing of that distinctive rounded profile and underpinnings bought…

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In my previous instalment you may have had a glimpse of my fifth acquisition: General Motors’ dip into the sports car realm of a rather respectable VX220. While great in my head, it did mean my driveway was beginning to look like a McDonald’s drive-thru at peak lunchtime hour. Scheduling services required forward planning, as it was a game of Tetris to get the car in question to the garage, which sits at the back of the driveway. If I wasn’t quite the enthusiast and had a sane number of vehicles, then my driveway and garage (which I converted into a nifty workshop back in CM June 2023 issue) would have been more than sufficient. Thinning out the fleet also wasn’t an option as they all had either some sentimental…