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Also I'm not sure I'd be willing to cheap out on something like a brake hose. That much of a price difference is probably for a reason!

Hi @djgrubber I personally wouldn't bother unless it was indicated by an MOT or a garage. You can find the part numbers for your car on here: http://toylexparts.com then see what vehicles they are compatible with. If US-model RX-330s have the same part number then that answers your question.

After my battery was replaced I needed to complete the window re-learn procedure in order to be able to open and close them all from the driver seat. I had thought this was: hold the drivers window lever up and then fully open and then fully close each of the other three windows. This works, however when I did it today I suddenly found that my driver side window no longer worked properly, it went down several inches and then wouldn't move. Fearing the worst I sat there for a minute wondering what to do and then tried again and it worked perfectly. Tried again a few times later and it was fine. I now suspect that I have the procedure wrong and that holding the up lever on the drivers window caused the motor to overheat. Is it possible the re-learn procedure is just to fully open and close them and that I don't need to hold the drivers window lever up?

I was over the moon with how quickly that was sorted out, best £200 I’ve ever spent. The alternative would have either been several more nights of hotel bills waiting for a garage to replace the alternator (at 4x the cost at best), or (more likely) having the RAC transport us and the car home and lose over a grand on the accommodation we booked. Cracking bit of luck that it failed within 10 miles of that guy!

Absolutely John, I tried to post this earlier but has no signal. Mark Autos (guy’s name is Mark) at 11 Hall St, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent ST6 4BB, 01782 577251 Specialises in alternator and starter motor repairs.

Car is fixed, he asked for £150, I gave him £200 with a smile on my face.

He called me at 8.13 and said it’ll be done in half an hour.

Also another part of the story that I think is worth sharing here is that when I went to Halfords for a battery test, the young lad who did the test told me that "the alternator is working, but it's only charging to 12.2v". I was rather dubious of this given that all he'd done was attach leads to the battery terminals so it would have been impossible to tell whether that 12v was coming from the alternator or the battery, and in any case if the alternator was putting out 12v I doubt it would have charged the battery anyway. He said that when he was in a similar situation he'd made it to manchester and seemed to be suggesting that carrying on to scotland might be viable. He also said the battery was good. When the RAC turned up they told me the alternator was completely dead and the battery was knackered. Take Halfords advice at your own risk!

Well I dropped the car off at 7am and the guy had a quick look under the bonnet and said it'll be fixed by 10. That's amazing!

The guy followed us to the hotel and put a new battery in so tomorrow should be no problem getting to the garage. Just praying the guy can fix it! I think he rebuilds alternators and it’s right at the top of the engine bay so should be good, fingers crossed

Found a local guy who repairs alternators, he said if we take it to him at 7am tomorrow he’ll have us back on the road by the afternoon. Booked a hotel for the night.

Hello friends On my way from London to Scotland, im stoke on trent, the battery light came on. Stopped and found a Halfords, battery tests ok so it’s likely the alternator. RAC are on the way but all the local garages are all booked up. Ideas please!

So glad to hear that Piers! Congrats.

PM2.5 is killing humans, not so much the planet. It's CO2 that's ruining the planet the most.

Ethanol has 33% less energy than petrol so you're losing about 3.3% of your mileage with E10 and thus burning more fuel overall. I'm somewhat skeptical that this is going to make a significant difference to the carbon problem. Seems much more like an easy way for Bojo&co to say "look what we're doing".

I'm late to this thread but wishing you well too Piers.

I looked into it for mine but came to the conclusion that my engine isn’t suited to it due to the soft valve seats. There are several reports of VSR even with flashlube systems fitted.

How long ago was that Herbie? Are you not worried about valve seat regression?

I would guess no but the owners manual would tell you for sure.

Run at 10% below the maximum rated pressure on the sidewall of the tyre. Adjust downwards in small increments until ride comfort is satisfactory.

A hydrocarbon test would confirm head gasket diagnosis.

I've used felt tape on a few bits of my car, worth having a roll handy. To find the source of a noise what you ideally need is someone else driving so you can investigate - try pressing on different areas to see if the noise stops.

I get about 375-400 miles out of mine depending on how I drive 😄 benefits of only having a puny 4-pot.

New plan: I'm going to change the radiator cap and keep an eye on it. If it still loses coolant I'll take it to a specialist.

Hi Jon I don't know about refurbing those but I would recommend fixing it as soon as possible. If the impeller comes apart and spreads debris throughout the system it can be very hard to fix - you have to replace several components in order to make sure the system doesn't remain contaminated. If there's debris left in the system after a repair it will take out a new pump in short order. Some good information on AC repair here: http://www.agcoauto.com/content/news/p2_articleid/259 (this is part 4 of a 4-part series). Mark