flappypenguin

cheers for the replies all, sorry about taking ages to respond... been really busy, will be in touch with someone soon :)

Hey all, anyone recommend a good (not overly expensive) garage in the Dunfermline area? Done 10k in the last 7-8 months miles and its last service was about that long ago so i think i should go get it checked over. Cheers :)

my car goes sideways in the rain with TRC on :|

£420 / fully comp / 5 years Protected no claims - standard IS200 2002 model. Im 27 with 3 points on lisence.

They didnt as it would appear. It happened again on friday evening and again this morning... need to phone them and get it booked back in. Starting to wish i'd never bought this car, my 14 year old MR2 was more reliable!!!!

It seemed the problem with the car was a "blocked breather valve", due to the mechanical valve failing accroding to the garage, which was supposedly fixed, yet the problem still exists.

cheers Ed, yes i assumed there would be but i didnt know what to search for lol.

Hello again everyone, just me asking aniother pointless and annoying question... i heard from someone that the IS200 has a variable valve (or was it cylinder?) engine... can someone explain to me how this works? does it only use a certain amount of them up till a specific amount of revs or something?

Thanks for the advice Kev Dood, will bare that in mind if they hit me with a heafty bill... rang them there and got he receptionist who said "they found a blocked valve someplace", didnt say where but im assuming that would be one of the 24 valves? there has been no mention of cost so far so im assuming its udner warenty, they are letting the car run for an hour, then cool down, then run for another hours so i've to call back at the end of the day to see if its been fixed.

UPDATE: Right, its back at the dealer where i bught it from (under warenty), i just rang them and asked what was happening, and they have said they are going to keep it over night and ring me tomorrow (like a hospital patient lol), but apparently the machanic "doesnt think its the head gasket", whats the chances that it IS the head gasket, and they are fixing it but then saying its something else that isnt covered under warenty so they can bill me???

Hi again all, thanks for all the responses... Im trying to check if my coolant is low or not, but im having trouble... i leaned over the bonnet and can see the ittle window that indicates the level, but its sort of frosted plastic and i cant really see any sort of level in it, which means it ither way past empty or above full i guess? i removed the coolant cap and looked inside and i can see some purple fluid in there (anti freeze coolant?), if i can see fluid there does that mean that my coolant level is fine for now? i need to drive the car tomoz to my work, then its going to the garage to get looked at (through the dealer under warenty), the dealer told me if my coolent level is ok then the car is fine to drive, i just cant tell lol.

Hi mate, i cant swap the wheels cos my spare doesnt match the rest... i have aftermarket wheels that are a different size to the original wheels. Not sure if you read this or not, but i got my rear wheels balanced and it fixed the vibration problem^^ maybe it would fix yours too?

pm'd u mate.

Hi everyone, i spoke to someone else today who knows a little about cars, and he also suggested that the head gasket sounds like its burst, .. i checked the dip stick and sure enough it had little bits of sludge on it too, so im going to assume thats whats wrong seen as 2 people have said that now. Asi, i'll PM you.

Anyone know of any good, trustworthy mechanics in Dunfermline? I've only recently moved through here so dot know the area well, i had good mechanics i could trust in Dundee (Rosefield motors), but its a bit far for me to travel these days, and they arent open at weekends. Cheers :)