In a mood with my car...

[spyro_7*]

Even though its not really its fault..
Took it to the garage today, and after a guy spending an hour in it, he came to the conclusion that...
Its tracking was out slightly.
There was something that needed doing to the steering.
A tire had been put on backwards by the last person to put a tire on it.
Not one of the tires is the same make as another.
Its back brake is possibly leaking brake fluid.
Its brake discs are rusty.
Something to do with a brake servo (or something) being corroded and having a nice crack in something...
And... When the guy was driving it, it kept cutting out.

When I drove it home, I noticed that now my brake pedal doesn't feel as hard to press as it did before, and neither does my clutch...
Now I've just gotta hope it will last until next month...

 

[Poopensharten]

See what this guy has told you, take it to another mechanic and pass comment on the things that he said as if it were coming from you (like you know what your talking about) then see what he says.

 

[spyro_7*]

The only problem is persuading my mother of doing that.
(Since I've passed my test and been drving its like I've gone back to being 8 and she feels the need to interfere and tell my what to do with my car.)

 

[Ben.]

sounds like you got one of the good ones

 

[sh33n]

Even though its not really its fault..
Took it to the garage today, and after a guy spending an hour in it, he came to the conclusion that...
Its tracking was out slightly.
There was something that needed doing to the steering.
A tire had been put on backwards by the last person to put a tire on it.
Not one of the tires is the same make as another.
Its back brake is possibly leaking brake fluid.
Its brake discs are rusty.
Something to do with a brake servo (or something) being corroded and having a nice crack in something...
And... When the guy was driving it, it kept cutting out.

When I drove it home, I noticed that now my brake pedal doesn't feel as hard to press as it did before, and neither does my clutch...
Now I've just gotta hope it will last until next month...

Half that stuff you could work out yourself and sort it with the help of tyre place anyway.

Do a search for cutting power, I'm sure there's lots of info on the HT leads, or coil packs are prone to going easily on the 1.6.

 

[spyro_7*]

Maybe I should add that I know absolutely nothing about cars...
Took me about 2 days to find the stupid oil dipstick thingie... Lol.

 

[sh33n]

Maybe I should add that I know absolutely nothing about cars...
Took me about 2 days to find the stupid oil dipstick thingie... Lol.

lol.

You'll pick no end of stuff up on here if you filter out the rubbish, there's plenty of decent info

 

[RichRSi]

Even though its not really its fault..
Took it to the garage today, and after a guy spending an hour in it, he came to the conclusion that...

Its tracking was out slightly.

About £15-30 some places like kwikfit offer a warranty on this too, so if you knock it out, take it back to have it adjusted again.

There was something that needed doing to the steering.

something small like Bushes? or something bigger like the rack?

A tire had been put on backwards by the last person to put a tire on it.

If it's a directional tread pattern, it's not ideal you can use that wheel on the other side of the car I suppose if you look at what I suggest below

Not one of the tyres is the same make as another.

Not ideal either if they are spreading grip unevenly, but when you go in to get the tracking done see what deal they can offer you on tyres and replace the worse two

Its back brake is possibly leaking brake fluid.

Did he do a brake test, if the brakes work ok that is the main thing, is there signs of a leak or is he guessing there is one, is the brake fluid low for example. Top up and keep a regular check on it

Its brake discs are rusty.
Something to do with a brake servo (or something) being corroded and having a nice crack in something...

How rusty, all brake discs go rusty, even brand new ones go rusty after being driven in the rain was it just an observation he made. If they are corroded or pitted that's a different matter.

And... When the guy was driving it, it kept cutting out.

When at idle? could be idle control valve clogging up, pretty common on other cars, can be removed and cleaned with petrol, not sure about this fault tbh

When I drove it home, I noticed that now my brake pedal doesn't feel as hard to press as it did before, and neither does my clutch...

Could be low fluid levels, btw if you have a clio with a soft clutch pedal you've just won the lottery lol, in all honesty though I'm not sure what that could be, the clutch cable is self adjusting iirc so long as it changes gears smoothly, doesn't slip and reaches the biting point it should be ok

Now I've just gotta hope it will last until next month...

 

[spyro_7*]

He did the tracking, and something to the steering, but as whenever my mother gets the phone first, you only get about a tenth of the actual information, so I don't know what exactly it was that needed doing to the steering.
The wrongly facing tire, that was on the back passenger side, has now been moved to the front, on the drivers side, as a temporary measure.
New tires are going on when I get money, just don't really know which ones to have replaced, as they all look pretty new to me.
I don't think he did a brake test, he didn't say. But he had my car up, and took me under it to show, and I could see that there was some fluid on the one. But I thought my brakes were quite okay, they stopped me really instantly, but now its not quite as instantly... If that makes sense.
I don't quite know how rusty... I couldn't see any rust on them, they actually looked quite shiny to me.. :S
When he was revving it, it cut out. But in the whole week of me driving it, it hasn't done that to me...

Ha, I was just getting used to it being hard, and now it's gone and changed. But now it's easier to change gear.... So I guess I can't complain about it that much.


Conclusion: I know very little about cars, and what has actually been done and needs doing to my car...

 

[AlexS]

sounds like you got one of the good ones

FPMSL