Honest John - modern diesels

Surely diesel was not meant for such drivers and If they cannot bother checking the oil level then that says more about their stupidity than anything about the car.

and for Connors old banger - You may not know but its advised to check oil levels quite often on new cars

If you check the feedback/owners comments on whatcar about the Avensis then one of the major complaints is the oil usage after about 40K miles BUT then servicing every 20k is short tetrm/keeping fleet managers happy rather than helping a long/healthy life

I had it happen to me in a Fiat Uno diesel back in 1994. I'd borrowed my mates car, he'd overfilled it with oil. When I changed down into 2nd to go round a sharp bend quite quickly, the revs went up and just kept going up and up. I'd no clue what was wrong with it, I just stopped at the side of the road, turned the key off and stood at a safe distance. It didn't blow up, it just stopped when it burnt all some oil off. Called the AA out, they came out, looked at it, drained some oil off for me and it ran for another 5 years with no problems - my mate used to hammer it from Birmingham to Arisaig twice a month, and it never broke once.

Mike P

I did say from new, after 42k we are usually on the second or third owner and who knows what servicing they have had.

I service three Avensiii two petrol one diesel, none of them are ever down on oil and I know that at least two of them don't have the bonnet open between services. Not multi thousand vehicles I know, but indicative, I know of far more mondeos and they ALL have major issues, I only work on three mondeos now, and when they go I won't take on any more.

With most of my cars I can just look underneath and check how much has fallen out...

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Fair cop guv, make that 96.

Bad form to followup my own post, I know. But isn't this marvellous?

Willy Eckerslyke gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Seriously, the 92, 93, 94 (Sonett) and early 95/96 were all two-smoke. Later 95/96 were the v4s.

I wants a two-smoke. Actually, I'm fighting off an urge to sleazyjet to Budapest, buy a Trab or Barkas and smoke it back. D'you think I should resist or give in?

Give in.

"Duncan Wood" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

You're not helping.

So - Trab or Barkas?

You could keep a Trabant under the kitchen table...

WEll most of the worlds going to mistake a Barkas for a badly modded VW, the Trabant's a bit more of a statement

Ian Dalziel gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

I could, but for the small detail that my kitchen doesn't have a table in it.

Seconded!

Barkas.

Or the kitchen table under the Barkas. Oh hang on, I'm mixing them up with Uaz, those top heavy 4x4 vans that look a bit like old Commas. I wouldn't mind one of them.

Willy Eckerslyke gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Mmmm. But they're not two-smoke, and I don't fancy going to Russia.

That's on my to-do list this summer as well. I want a Trabi or a Wartburg

Mike P

Are they major issues, or just the usual irritating Ford "glitches"? The 4 Mondeos I've have all had sound "important" mechanical bits like the engine, box, steering. The electricals on them have been almost alfa-esque though - Windows, Alarms, sensors etc have all failed regularly.

Mike P

Oops, Commers, of course.

Mere details.

I also rather fancy buying an old tractor in East Germany or Poland and driving it home, but I may wait until I retire.

Willy Eckerslyke gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

An easy copaslip to make.