Nadz1lla

Okay so I got the car put through MOT, but I could only afford for them to fix the MOT-related stuff. This problem, as far as I am aware, is still ongoing but I've not had the chance to take it up the motorway for a test recently. I did take the car to a car park and put on full-lock ion both directions for a few circles, and didn't hear anything clunking around. Maybe I wasn't trying hard enough, hah! The car itself in general is in a bit of a sorry state, so I am going to keep it and think of it as a rolling project. I intend to replace all the parts that could be causing the problem one by one over the next year, which should nullify the problem anyway. I've never "worked on" a car in my life but would love to start, as my Dad and I would some day like to restore a Mini together as a home project. So getting my welding and rust-solving skills up will be perfect on this car. She's got surface rust in all the usual places, but I know for a fact that the entire windscreen frame is rusted really badly all the way around inside, which is going to be way beyond my skills to repair, so I will have to consider over the next year whether I am going to re-MOT her again or send her to the graveyard (unless anyone has any cheap tips on how to replace the whole window section? *wishful thinking, heh*). I'll keep y'all posted, whatever happens.

Aye cheers, it's something to tell the mechanics to focus on when I take it in on Tuesday.

Guys, you are all brilliant, thank you! That's the kind of thing I was thinking it could be but not being a mechanic / all that knowledgable I couldn't quite put it into words properly, it was just a gut feeling I had. If it helps, it did seem to be triggered by travelling fast along a prolonged bend in the motorway, so my steering wheel would have been in a slightly turned position for a relatively extended period whilst at speed. I will certainly do those tests, thanks. A friend of mine at work who builds Hot Rods for a hobby also told me to take it to a car park, put the full lock on and do a few circles to see if I heard knocking, and he said pretty much the same about the C.V joints too. Again, thank you all, this seems to be the exact problem I am having!

Hey guys, This wasn't something I was familiar with, and wasn't sure whether or not it was a common problem on the Felicia 1.3 Estate (X reg). Basically, on long journeys, about 1.5 - 2 hours into a motorway journey my steering wheel would start to wriggle quite badly, getting worse in a matter of seconds. I would have to pull over into a layby or just the hard shoulder and wait half an hour until whatever it was cooled down so I could get back on the road. One day I was coming home in the wee hours of the morning from Bristol to Exeter, it started up again. Got so bad I was driving at 15mph on the hard shoulder just to get off the motorway, and the steering wheel was REALLY going for it, rotating itself slowly both ways but to quite an extreme degree. I got it into Exeter and something went *SNAP*, suddenly I could steer again, so I veeeeery slowly drove it carefully the rest of the way home. Next day I decided to take it to my garage so they could have a look. Started pulling out of my road (the car was "clunking" and rattling by now) and something else went *SNAP!* again. This time everything died, I couldn't start the car, but could still steer. The guys came out and towed me to the garage. For the life of me I can't remember what he told me had snapped, but I am leaning towards "prop shaft". Anyway, they replaced it and all was dandy. Until last year, we went for another cheap holiday to Cornwall, halfway there it started to judder again. (Cue me rolling my eyes and letting out an exasperated sigh!). It's only happened once again since then as I now refuse to make long journeys in it, preferring to rent a car if I am going anywhere long distance. Is this a common problem with the Felicia Estate, or just my individual car that keeps messing up? I have to say, it's pretty bloody frustrating! If it's just my car that does it, does anyone know what could be causing this to happen in my individual case? Could I have something else faulty in the chain of mechanics that could be aggravating or causing this? Seeing as it was a new part that was doing the same thing, tells me there's more to this than the same part going wrong again. If you need to ask any questions about circumstances etc to get a better idea of what it might be, please go ahead, as I'd like to keep my cheap runner on the road as long as possible (there's no way I can afford a new / replacement car for at least another two years, damn debts!). Cheers! Nadz

No worries dude, thanks anyway!

PM Sent dude.

How much you looking at letting it go for, dude?

Cheers chap! I'm down in (not so) sunny Devon, heh.

Eyup chaps and chapettes! I am missing the rear-most half of the two parcel shelves you get in a Felicia estate. Is it the same part as the Felicia hatchback that I am looking for? I always assumed they used the same shelf but with the slimmer second shelf directly behind the seats for the added length of the estate? Was looking at grabbing this: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280725931936 Unless anyone can point me in the direction of a cheaper one at all? Cheers in advance for any advice!

Ooo, I'd not thought of that! Thanks for the quick reply!

Yeah, got a weird one... I am 100% positive this is due to the kind of weather we had last night, but I got in my car about 10:30pm last night to pick the Mrs up from work (hadn't touched the car all day before this point) and when I put my feet down in the foot well I felt cold water and heard a deep sounding "Splosh". Turned on my interior light, the driver side foot well was under 3 - 4 inches of water. Looked around for leaks, couldn't see any. Passenger side and rear foot wells were bone dry but the car was sitting in the camber of the road, drivers side down towards the pavement so I'm guessing that's what saved my Mrs' feet. Felt around a bit and all up the back of the dash was dripping wet, so the only conclusion I can come to is that water got into the air intake on the bonnet, as would usually happen in rainy weather, but the force of the winds pushed the water into places it wouldn't normally reach on a "normal" rainy day, and made it spill down behind where the blowers would usually meet the intake. Does this sound feasible? Or do I have a duff Felly? Considering the week before last my Cat just snapped away from the rest of the exhaust for no apparent reason (wasn't actually as corroded as I had thought, apparently) and now this, do I just have a "trouble" version of what should normally be a reliable car? Should I take it back to where I bought it and tell them I want my money back? Because this is getting ridiculous! I can see the funny side now but after the year I've had (laid off twice, used to work in IT and now clean toilets part-time because the Jobcentre made me accept the first offer that came along...and the rest...), last night I was just getting to the end of my tether. Another massive kick in the balls, so to speak.:rotz:

I'm in Exeter, but I think it's all been sorted out. My Dad called the garage today and I think he managed to sort some kind of deal out. I think it's guilt, he convinced me to buy from a second hand dealer ages ago and was adamant they wouldn't screw me. They did, the car may as well have just been a write-off. Ever since I think he's been trying to make up for it and he's been on this garage's butt to try and squeeze it in under the 3 month guarantee.

The mid section has been replaced fairly recently I would imagine, there's an unmistakeable shiny new bit clamped and welded in the middle. Back box looks in fairly good nick and I believe it's still the original.

It's a petrol 1.3, wasn't sure it made a difference. will do some trudging around on Ebay, but I need to find out from the garage what my 3 month guarantee entails, as it's not even been 2 months since I bought it from them yet. I may be able to wangle the price of a new one down to a reasonable amount, as I am told that cats from scrap yards / ebay can sometimes be a little hit and miss.

I'll suggest it, thanks! It will at least buy me some time to save up for a proper cat replacement, it's obvious this one's on the way out by the level of general corrosion all over the darn thing.