The Transporter

Ha, yeah. Once you pop out the radiator there is enough room to dance a little jig in there. It's been a long time since I have had a vehicle with a transverse engine with a belt. the van has a chain and the Jeep, well I have no idea, I guess that it is a pushrod system but in nearly 170k the engine has never needed to be opened.

Fair comment, you have the experience to make an educated call on the condition... I recently changed my belt and tensioners, the car had done less than 50k but was more concerned with the age factor.. To be fair the belt looked like brand new but since the car tends sit on the drive for long periods and then suddenly gets driven down through mainland Europe I just decided that the timing belt was best changed for the few quid it cost to buy and a couple of hours in the evening to fit (Including tensioners, idler and waterpump) and she's ready to go

Nowt personal but you have got to be off your rocker... Do you have a look at your oil to decide when to change it too? Unless you have Xray specs then you have no clue of the condition of that belt or how long that belt has been on other than the service documentation. The pictures of worn belts are very unusual and is indicative of worn tensioners or idlers... Usually belts just snap with no warning. Good luck.

http://www.carbatteriesonline.co.uk/ for a Bosch, fit it yourself...

The IS is as good as any other rear wheel drive car in snow and ice...... Invest in a set of rims and Winter tyres.

Ha ha... Well in the middle of a crowd of blokes, I can announce that I'm going to get into the car and you can announce that you are going to get into Lawrence....

The Car....

Find yourself a garage who knows what they are doing... All you need is a breaker bar and a bit of timber..

That is an uncommonly good price, these are the guys who need our support rather than thickfit.... glad that it is a nice straight forward fix. Cant comment on the quality of the condenser, aftermarket condensers seem to be all made in the same factory with different stickers on

The condenser matrix is the radiator looking thing in front of the radiator... It is tricky to give a fixed price for a leak that you have no idea where it is but I'm sure someone may give you a quote.

Doing it yourself is tricky unless you have the connectors and hoses to connect to the aircon service ports and a bottle of Oxygen free Nitrogen to pressurise the system and a garden sprayer full of soapy water... First place that I would look is the condenser (In front of the radiator) for stone damage, corrosion or the like... Are there any oily patches on the matrix or pipework leading to it

It's unlikely that it is anything that you have done.. You need to find someone who can identify where the leak is... Thickfit.

Yep, that's a damned good clue that you may need a recharge... Normally when correctly charged, liquid refrigerant is forced through the expansion valve and is silent but when you are down to the last gasp of refrigerant then refrigerant gas or vapour is passing through the valve giving the hissing that you can hear (Behind the glove box, right?).... Your aircon compressor is lubricated by lubricant carried by the liquid refrigerant, no liquid equals no lubrication equals wrecked compressor equals big repair bill. Get it sorted. Generally speaking if it is cheap, then it will cost you, find someone locally who knows his stuff.

The IS200 / 300 is a very pretty car, when I bought it I almost waited for the new IS250 and I'm very glad that I didn't as the rest of the range is a bit Vanilla..... But then I still like the style of the Rover P6 and the Pug205

Generally speaking, the more that you use the car, longer journies and all that, the longer your exhaust will last. Short trips will cause water in the exhaust fumes to condense inside the exhaust. since the exhaust fumes also contain carbon dioxide, then the water will be a mild carbonic acid then you will find that the carbonic will eventually eat through the average silencer where it collects.... Long trips will get the exhaust hot and so the inside of the exhaust will be dry and will last longer. Although my car is nearly always used for long trips, it can be weeks inbetween trips so the exterior of the exhaust will get damp and not regularly be dried and so is rusting from the outside in rather than the more usual from the inside out... It is possible that various components of the exhaust system is some form of stainless, possibly the silencer (More vulnerable than the pipe) at the rear but the pipe from this silencer that runs to the cat is certainly mild steel.

Ha ha ha... Well you can come and polish the advanced flaking tarnish off the section that connects the cat to the back box on mine if you like...

If you pay a professional mechanic to check your cambelt, then there can be only one answer.... Replace. If the belt fails on your journey after he has OK'd it then you'll be back at his garage demanding a repair for free. Mechanics do not have Xray vision and although the belt may appear ok, you cannot see what is happening to the cords inside.. Consider how hard that belt works, how many times it flexes every mile that you drive in the cold of Winter and the heat that gathers under the bonnet in the Summer.... Also I would question how the tensioner and idlers can be checked without removing the belt..... So as has been said previously change the belt and idlers on milage/ age. By the time that you have paid a main dealer to replicate what the mechanic has already told you, you would have paid a fair portion of the price of replacing the belt.... It is beyond me why you would pay a mechanic for an opinion and then think that he is trying to con you.....What did you want him to say?

Try here http://www.carbatteriesonline.co.uk/ 55Quid for a Bosch or 63 quid for a posh Bosch including vat and delivery..

If you fancy having a go yourself then you can buy the kit from http://www.furnitureclinic.co.uk they provide repair kits for leather.... I've not been brave enough to have a go at a small rip that I have in my drivers seat yet

Yep, I see... The IS doesn't have the cartridge. The discs are fed in one by one through the cd slot and they are stored inside the head.

Can't comment on the Saab but if values have fallen then you can buy a lot of nice car for little money.. My buddy is a Volvo man (Loves them) and has had a T5 in the past... Very quick but they can drink like a good 'un and auto transmission problems can be expensive to sort

Mine will go flat if not used for about six weeks ending with a hissy fit from the alarm. Even though everything may be switched off, the alarm is still consuming a small current and will eventually drain the battery... Even though you may use your car every day your battery may only be partially charged or may be getting old and past it.... Every year I like to remove the battery and charge it slowly over a few days...

Yes, I believe that both of these problems can be repaired and be virtually invisible. There is a guy in my area who does this kind of work for the motor traders and they all swear by him so I guess that there must be someone similar in your area...

Not really familliar with the GS cd player but If the CDs are loaded into a sleeve and then inserted into a player somewhere in the car then you may be dissappointed, the CD player on the IS stores the six discs inside the head unit, they are fed in one at a time so there is no sleeve

Feel free to qualify your assertion. Not necessary, you do it for me each time you post. Best to ignore you It's a shame that you didn't then..... Six posts and four of them on little old me. Feel free to add something useful if you're not too hard of thinking