Grumpy

This problem is now making me nervous, when I first put down a deposit on the car, the dealer couldnt initially sort the problem and after a week of trying, I cancelled the purchace and had my deposit refunded. The dealer called a few days later to say the problem was sorted and that the car was ready, he assured me that it was definately fixed so I bought it. Seems that the problem was never sorted, just hidden by frigging the bonnet switch.

NikpV The check pads warning was present when I test drove the car and then it came back after 2 days of owning the car. The garage said they had traced this to the bonnet switch and replaced it. It was only today that, acting on the sugestion that the lack of indicator flashing when locking the car could be down to the bonnet switch, that the warning has returned (7 months on) I have not had the pads changed since I have had the car, from your post it seems that there might have been a pad problem when I bought the car then

HI When I bought my car (October 2005) there was a brake fault which came up on the display as "CHECK PADS". This fault was present on the test drive and the garage told me it was not a brake pad problem and would be sorted before the car was sold. I decided to buy the car and the dealer fixed this problem. The first journey with the car was a weekend away visiting some friends, the car behaved fine. After being parked up over the weekend we set back for home on the Sunday and immediatly the "CHECK PADS" warning came up on the display. I phoned the dealer on the Monday and they took the car away and lent me another for 3 days. They then phoned me and told me that their electrician had found that the problem was to do with the bonnet switch and that they had replaced the switch and all was fine. Now we come to today. In another thread I complained that the indicators only flashed when the car was unlocked and not when it was locked, it was sugested that the bonnet switch was not closing properly and that this could be the problem. I bent the striker plate down shut the bonnet and locked the car, the indicators flashed hurrah. Then I started the engine and the "CHECK PADS" warning bleeped merrily up on the display. 2 questions 1. Will I have any comeback from the dealer after 7 months? 2. Has anybody else had this problem and is there a solution? I have bent the switch plate back and all seems to be well again (except the indicators dont flash when I lock the car). I checked the alarm by leaving a window open, locking the car and then leaning in, th ealarm went off.

Matt What was your MPG before replacing the MAF sensor?

I once towed a twin axle car transporter trailer carrying an Opel Manta with an 84 Audi Avant 2.2. Unfortunatly I had reversed the Manta onto the trailer so that the weight of the engine was to the rear, this set up would start to snake if you got close to 50. The M23, M25 and M3 seem very long at this speed! Not as bad as Newcastle though. With my caravan I tend to keep as much weight out of it as possible when towing, I also keep the overhead lockers empty and ensure that the nose weight is correct, it all seems to help.

For a video showing the benifits of correct matching of car / caravan, see the following video. http://www.assz80.dsl.pipex.com/caravan.wmv (cut and paste to your browser) (or click...)

Thanks for the replies, perhaps I should change my name from Grumpy to Lazy, or just get the tools out and transfer the Bulldog plate over to the Galaxy instead. I must confess that during my first year of caravanning I didnt bother, and only had one occasion when on the M3 I was overtaken by a Discovery that was going a bit fast, that set up a slight snake.

Hi For the last 3 years I have towed my Abbey 416GTS Vogue with a Citroen Zantia, it towed fine without a stabiliser but I decided to add one for safety after the first year. This year I will be using my galaxy and cant decide wether or not to remove the stabiliser from the Citroen to fit to the Ford. Is the Galaxy stable without a stabiliser? I am assuming that with its greater weight and fairly short rear overhang it should be OK but does anybody have any comments. Cheers

Sounds reasonable, after all you have to keep a breast (or 2) of whats happening all over the world

Hi Around town the computer recons between 30 & 35, on a run just over 40. Unfortunately since we got ours most of the driving has been around town or dual carriageway with lots of roundabouts. Also through the winter the auxillary heater is using fuel (I dont know if the computer counts this). I keep a spreadsheet of all the fuel I use and this shows an average over the last 1700 miles of 28.37 (so I recon the aux heater is making the difference) :blink: Over Easter we will be doing some proper travelling so I hope to see a big improvement ps I hate to think what its going to be when we take the carvan out this summer

I taxed mine yesterday so at least I saved a bit this year

No offence taken, and my intention was not to offend you. However your thread was/is titled "Upgrade your Vcr To DVD For

I always think its misleading not to quote the full price, if you have to pay a total of

That must be

It would be nice, mine flashes when you unlock but not when you lock, as the central locking is fairly quiet I often find I have to check a door handle to confirm its locked.

I have a MIO 168 with TomTom5 Software, the built in antenna seems to work fine. The unit comes with an additional magnetic antenna, if you need it, that simply sticks to the roof. I always position the unit at the base of the windscreen near to the middle. The MIO does exactly the same job as a TOMTOM but has the added benefit of being a handheld computer as well (PDA) with Word, Excel etc plus it will play mp3's. A Jack of all trades but it still navigates fine.

Gazza007 "Flew in by chopper" Lazy sod, I walked down the Bright Angel Trail from the rim to the river and back in a day (when I was younger). It almost killed me! I think it was about a vertical mile deep at this point. What I would have given for a chopper, oops that could be taken the wrong way

OK then here's mine (just washed of course)

Mumof4 Please to meet you too. The face painting was during my eldests 3rd birthday in 2002, we hired a face painter for a couple of hours, I wanted her to make me look attractive but she couldnt work miracles! The balloon ride was a birthday pressie in 2003, I would recomend it to anybody, its such a peacefull way to travel just watching the scenery drift by. Its great. Wish I could afford to do it again.

Or is this any better

Well OK, you did ask

Why I Fired My Secretary Two weeks ago was my 35th birthday and I wasn't feeling too hot that morning anyway. I went to breakfast knowing my wife would be pleasant and say "Happy Birthday" and probably have a present for me. She didn't even say "Good Morning" let alone any "Happy Birthday." I thought, "Well, that's wives for you, the children will remember." The children came in to breakfast and didn't say a word. When I started to the office I was feeling pretty low and despondent. As I walked into my office my secretary, Janet, said, "Good morning, boss. Happy Birthday." And I felt a little better; someone had remembered. I worked until noon. Then, Janet knocked on my door and said, "You know, it's such a beautiful day outside and it's your birthday, let's go to lunch, just you and me." I said, "By George, that's the greatest thing I've heard all day. Let's go." We went to lunch. We didn't go where we normally go; we went out to the country to a little private place. We had two martinis and enjoyed lunch tremendously. On the way back to the office, she said, "You know, it's such a beautiful day. We don't need to go back to the office, do we?" I said, "No, I guess not." She said, "Let's go to my apartment." After arriving at her apartment she said, "Boss, if you don't mind, I think I'll go change." "Sure," I excitedly replied. She went into the bedroom and, in about six minutes, she came out carrying a big birthday cake, followed by my wife, children, and dozens of our friends, all singing Happy Birthday. And there I sat... on the couch... naked.

A man decides to have a face-lift for his birthday. He spends

gregers A bit like this? (see attached)

This is a true story. Some years back I was with my sister and brother-in-law when they picked up a fairly new convertible. When we got back to their house the brother-in-law went to park their new pride and joy in the garage. The new car was a little longer than the old one so he had to drive close to the workbench at the end of his garage. Once he had parked the car and confirmed that the garage door would shut OK, I sugested that he fix a piece of wood to the garage floor just in front of the front wheels to act as a stop. The wood was stored across the roof joists so my B-in-law stood in the car and pulled a piece down. The wood slipped out of his havd and landed corner first on the front wing leaving a dent about an inch across. I think that they had owned the car for approx 1 hour. I had to wathch as the B-in-law silently went into the house to confess to my sister - priceless!