Jammy007

Cheers for the help guys as usual.

I'll just get myself a tomtom as the garmin maps seem harder to come across and update for free

We stayed in the Jurys Inn on Albert Docks and that was nice. One of the footy lads organised it but we only paid about £30 each (twin rooms). I don't know if that was because it was an introductory offer as it had just opened.

Only about 10 minute walk from city centre.

Although the travel lodge that Martin is talking about it bang on for location.

But can the cheaper models accept US maps if I got a version of these from a "friend"?

Hi guys,

I'm off to America in April (Disney) and as this is my first trip to the states and also my first driving experience of an automatic and a LHD I'm going to have to be concentrating on the roads for the first couple of days before I get the hang of the car and their system.

I'm looking at getting a sat nav for the zed and was wondering if there was one that can be updated with the florida maps so I can take it with me rather than hire one over there.

I obviously would like to obtain these maps free from the internet rather than pay half the cost of the sat nav again to never use the florida maps again. I know we had trouble finding garmin maps for my work colleague so what does everyone recommend?

I know they can be hired over there but as I'm looking at buyig a sat nav anyways, its kind of pointless hiring one.

Any info / help would be appreciated

Cheers,

Jamie

On my FTO I had a burning smell coming from the car, was very noticeable once getting out of the car after a run.

Looked underneath and there was something plastic (probably a carrier bag) stuck to my mongoose.

Took a bit of scraping to get it off there but made me feel 10 times better once I'd actually realised what it was.

Get on your hands and knees and have a good look! Can't do any harm if you don't touch anything, thats my motto!

Am I right in saying the cubby door is a different shade on the 03 models to the rest?

Agree with you totally Chris, I always though they could only repair chips and buff scratches out.

I'd want a new screen in the zed, but for a works van thats probably ran into the ground anyway and is only used locally then would it make much of a difference?

Called in to see a local guy yesterday who sorts out chips, scratches & cracks on windscreens. Works for a company called optic-kleer which are a franchise. This guys been about for about 3-4 years now I believe.

Now I wasn't sure if free was actually free. So beforehand I rang my insurers up (Admiral) to ask for their views on the "free" windscreen repair and the lady on the other end of the phone informed me that it doesn't affect my no-claims, there's no excess to pay and will not show up anywhere on my insurance records. I also done a check on the internet to see other peoples experiences.

Showed him the small chip I had in the windscreen and he said it was repairable so stood talking to him for 20 mins while he sorted it.

Before he started he asked which insurance firm I was through and if I was fully comp. He said most insurance firms let him bill them direct but as you're with Admiral then I have to charge you and you claim it back from your insurers by sending off a receipt i'll give you and they'll send you a cheque out, usually within 30 days. The price is just shy of £49. The reason for this, which didn't surprise me, was that people who have these franchises in cities had cottoned on to how easy it was to put multiple claims through for a previous customer. Therefore only carrying out one repair but then putting 2 additional claims in for the same customer at later dates which means another £98 in the opti-kleer reps back pocket!!

He thinks most insurers will eventually follow suit with Admiral as charging the customer up front stops any false claims being processed.

He then started talking about Autoglass (sorry if there's any guys on here who work for them) but also applies to any larger firms who repair windscreens but also replace.

He said that a guy who was on his way to Autoglass, but had just nipped to do a little bit of shopping with the missus, had brought his van to him (he was at a stand in our local supermarket carpark) with a 2-3 inch crack in his windscreen and asked if it was repairable. It was repairable and he said that Autoglass would have told the customer that it wasn't repairable and that he'd have to have a new windscreen fitted. The reason they do this is because its more profitable to them to replace a windscreen than it is to fix a small chip / crack.

Another customer overheard this and asked him to look at a small chip he had in his windscreen, which again the Optic-Kleer guy said he could fix. The customer then stated that Autoglass told him they couldn't fix it and a new windscreen was required.

Now thats all fine and dandy but that would have cost the customer his £50-70 windscreen excess rather than having the chip fixed for free.

I would have been wary about how honest that story was, but I'd just been on the internet 30 minutes before and had seen similar stories where people are advising customers to stay away from Autoglass as they try and push for a new windscreen fitted rather than repair the problem.

I just thought I would pass this on for reference to anyone on here who's likely to be getting this done in the near future.

On a lighter note............ I did see a brand spanking new white Evo while talking to him. Those are some seriously nice cars!!

HTH someone and sorry the novel!!

Jamie

Stan that number plate looks VERY familiar to me aswell and I'm not sure why. Don't know if I've seen it on pistonheads, autotrader or ebay when I was looking for mine 4 months ago. I'm sure though that I'd seen the numberplate at either Westway Nissan or on the nissanusedcars website..... strange!

And just my two pence worth. I only paid £13.5k for a 2004 with 15k on the clock (identical spec) 4 months ago. So I'd be wanting that car for around the £12k thats been quoted on here.

I'd either buy a members car (private sale) or buy from a main Nissan Dealership although I had a bit of hassle with mine. Have a look at some of my older posts and you'll see why. Although in the end I did get everything repaired under warranty

Yeah they're the zed ones I meant and probably the ones srobrien also wanted so I'll let him get in contact with you both first. Cheers guys

Yeah same here, would prefer the satin / chrome ones although may just stick with the Nissan ones I'm not sure yet.

Thanks Nurrish and looks like they're all yours DJsickboy.

Cheers,

Jamie

Can I jump on the bandwagon if there's a spare set available from one of you kind gentlemen please? Obviously once srobrien has been sorted out

Payment Made

PM replied to Rob with details

YES!! Looks like I've got it after a second application. Its been raining night and some of today and not one wet spot.

I might start to charge on the Clio Owners club as the garage up the road from me said it was 4hrs labour to repair and that just involved tightening bolts up!! joke!

Thanks for the help guys, the girlfriend owes you a few beers!

Well got up this morning aftert a very heavy nights worth of rain and although the headlining has a small wet 'strip' right on a corner where the headlining drops in to allow the visor to sit flush. It is nowhere near as bad as it has been previously.

The leak is definately between the frame and the roof, and not the seals between frame and glass as this part is completely dry.

All I can assume is that I've still not completely sealed it as I only applied a small sliver around the whole roof due to the fact I wanted it to be neaqrly perfect. Looks like a bit more will be applied when I get back from football this afternoon. I'm starting to get a bit disheartened by the whole thing again, but won't give in!!!

Had a really good look at the sunroof this morning while we had some dry weather and noticed that the frame has lifted from the roof of the car ever so slightly. So I went down the following route (maybe overkill but while I'm at it):

Removed the glass from the sun roof and removed the rubber seal. Cleaned the seal and dried it. Also cleaned the groove as it was filthy and dried all this with a hairdryer. Used some 'powerbond' to stick the seal in position and then also ran some powerbond around the seal edge aswell once it was fixed in position.

Then I removed the rubber from around the sunroof, pulled the headlining down and tightened all the bolts as they were between half a turn and a full turn slack.

Once I done this I then masked off around the edge of the frame and ran the powerbond around the edge of the frame and fillings the gaps where it had lifted away from the roof. Hopefully this should do the trick but wanted to let the powerbond cure before I tested it out.

So fingers crossed it'll all work and be hunky dory again. 2 degrees isn't the most pleasing weather to be doing that kind work in!!

Thanks for the help guys and I'll let you know if it leaks in again.

Cheers Squarehead. I'll see how I get on with it all on Saturday and report back with findings. Did you also remove the A-Pillars & the handle (and blanking plates) above the doors? Or is it possible to just get at the headlining by removing the sunvisors and rubber?

I assume the rubber re-attaches once removed?

And I also assume that head lining is held by clips similar to that the blanking plates above the drivers door?

I'll take some pictures of where I think the seals come away.

I spoke to a friends friend who's the manager for a local Autoglass and he said it usually is the frames that warp on them though and the best bet is to look for one from a scrap yard as "they're f00king expensive"

Funnily enough I typed clio sunroof on ebay and found that there's a guy in the south that repairs them and he says its water getting between the frame and the body. Which was my first thoughts after looking at it yesterday.

Touche!

I had a look at dinnertime and on the passenger side front of the sunroof, in the groove (between edge of glass and edge of roof) it seems to be be gathering a pool of water.

I dried this out and then had a look in this corner and found that the rubber seal seems to have come away slightly from the corner of the roof/frame. I should have taken a photo really, will get one tonight hopefully.

So this looks likely to be the problem area. I personally think a good clean and dry tonight (lending a garage) and then some silicone sealant in that corner (only a 5-10mm gap around the radius) should do the trick. What do people this on this as a horses for course action. The sealant won't come into contact with the glass (so the sunroof can be used - I'll advise her not to) but it should do the trick shouldn't it?!

The girlfriend says there's no way on gods green earth she's paying £500+ to get the sunroof sorted (which has left it in my hands to resolve - as usual)

I've just made a few phone calls to various garages that I use / know.

Local Renault Garages reply was: "Some people actually think its the seal but we've had a few in now and its the actual frame thats warping and needs replaced" Cost of new frame (all in one jobby with the sunroof) is £500+Vat + 4 hours labour!!!

Local Garage who she uses alot: "Some people think its the seal but its actually the frame thats become slightly loose. If you remove the head lining what you'll find is the screws that hold the frame in place have possibly become 1/2 turn loose. Tighten these up and it should sort it". Their estimated labour time is still around 4 hours though as it includes removing the headlining and replacing.

My question is, how easy to remove a cars headlining?! I wouldn't even know where to start and as its not my car (and try not to go anywhere in it) I can't hardly picture where clips, screws etc are.

I've also been told that the clio with the tilt (non slide) sunroof doesn't have the drains that we've been talking about. This is only found on clio's with the tilt and slide sunroof.

Martin, he still gets the same crappy Cumbrian weather as me

I'm still waiting for a dry weekend but thats my plan as soon as I get one AK350z. Do I apply the vaseline when the sunroofs open and then close it, or apply the vas around the seals when the sunroofs closed? (I assume the first but just checking)

I'm also gonna check the drains as suggested by a few people but like I said I can't in this weather and I'm not posh enough to have a garage

There's no water dripping, or I've never seen any although the passenger seat was a touch damp this time around so I assume its dripping somewhere. So I couldn't tell you if it leaked more or less when driving.How did you solve it Auto Express?

Just an update for everyone on here and a thanks for everyone thats helped, especially Martinmac who went beyond the call of duty with the amount of replies and advice. I haven't really been on here much (other than to check the for sale section) as there's been a lot happening recently.

To cut a long story short, I finally got the dealership to agree to fit a "new" headunit under warranty. They removed the BOSE, took the serial number and then refitted the unit and ordered a new one.

I then went down 2 weeks later and had the old unit replaced with a brand spanker (maybe a refurb but no wear on knobs etc to suggest that).

I've decided that I'm now going to wash my hands of that dealership with regards to small scratches on the alloys and the marks on the calipers and put it down to experience. In a way, even with all the fighting I had to do, I'm still glad I bought it from a Nissan garage or I'd have struggled to get the axle and BOSE problems sorted. Especially with some stealers up this way.

I also got the dealership to write down the serial number of the new unit that they fitted "just incase".

I've now decided to live with the BOSE rather than change for a nice double din touch screen, sat nav all in one jobby but at least the options there for me now.

Finally I'm starting to enjoy driving the car now. Thankyou so much everyone and keep up the good work

Sorry guys for the lack of replies. I haven't had time to check the clio yet unfortunately and was waiting until I got a dry weekend. I guess I should have said thanks for the replies though. My bad and I apologise but stop with the hostility!

Got a 9.5v 1.5A and a 9v 3A laying about in the house. Any of those a bit better?