[Good Independant South Yorks area]

West rather than South, but still Yorkshire. I'd recommend Sprockets & Spanners in Bradford..

[Wig like material out of car exhaust]

Is it the carpet coming out?

PS Had it on my old Primera, didn't cause a problem but I changed back bit of exhaust anyway.

[Cambelt done - just in time!]

Well I finally stopped putting it off and had my cambelt done on Thursday.

The old water pump had a crack right across the impeller, so not a moment too soon!

The car was built in April 2004, so I'm a few months past the four year mark but only 73,500km covered (46,000 miles).

Cost was rather painful:

Spark plugs: $100 (bought in UK)

Cambelt, water pump, tensioners etc $520 (mostly bought in UK)

Oil and filter $120

Labour $660

Total $1400 = about 500 quid at current exchange rates.

Still over $500 less than the dealer quote though

Had mine done recently at a garage in Bradford, cost quite a bit less than yours. Car's similar age & milage, mechanic showed me the old water pump & cam belt.

There was a small crack in the impeller on the water pump & the cambelt was starting to fray:eek:

[ASR??? What is it :S]

Funny thing happens with my ASR. Sometimes the ASR light comes on mid journey, then stays on till the end of the journey, on next restart all OK.

Doesn't bother me too much as it has no effect on driving and won't result in an MOT failure, but having said that I'd prefer to either get rid of the fault or totally disable the system.

[MOT Fail CO2 emissions]

This CO2 stuff is a modern day fad. CO2 is produced in massive quantities by mother nature - we even breath out the stuff ourselves.

[vrs insurance.]

Don't forget there's insurance and there's insurance. For example excess varies, some companies provide courtesy cars & some companies are just plain tight with claims

[vrs insurance.]

45 yo, full NCB, legal insurance, roadside assistance & protected NCB - including business use. Esure are quoting £550 for renewal, but my bank's already said they'l beat that by at least 10%..

[100k]

Aircon check?

[cam belt change]

Some cars have a chain which never needs changing, anyone know why Octy engines don't have this?

[Ex Police Octy VRS]

Guess an ex police Octy is not likely to be stolen goods