Peugeot key, two screwdrivers and a pack of batteries

How to change the battery in a Peugeot/Citroen key fob (2-button)

When your car key battery starts to fail, your garage will be happy to offer to replace the battery for a fee. Mine quoted me £25 (circa $30) for this insanely simple task… crazy! I thought I’d do a quick guide for others who may be cautious of just diving in with a screwdriver! I’ve […]

Using an ARC / IMO Car Wash

Car washes like the popular ARC / IMO drive-throughs are a quick and easy way to stay on-top of cleaning your car. Whilst the results don’t match up to a decent hand car wash, I thought I’d take a video of the car wash experience to help inform those that are nervous of using them. […]

Automative Maintenance: Basic Car Maintenance – How to check your car

Whether you’re looking to save money by reducing garage bills, or looking to improve your safety, and that of your passengers, good car maintenance is an excellent place to start. A well maintained car runs more efficiently, and attracts a better price when selling. This post aims to document some of the basics of car […]

Guide to Car Cleaning – Taking care of your car

General Exterior – Wash 1. Use plenty of water. If possible, rinse the car down with a hose first (low pressure so as to wash off grit etc.. without scratching the paintwork). 2. Use a car specific soap (NOT washing up liquid). I use Triplewax Car Shampoo (available from Amazon or eBay, if you don’t […]

Peugeot 206 – Guide to topping up your engine oil

Engine oil is an amazingly under-appreciated element of a car. Many believe you can wait until this gets low to top it up, or wait for your next service. This simply isn’t the case. Once your engine oil gets low the top of the engine WILL be incurring higher wear and tear, with higher friction. […]

Peugeot 206 with headlights turned on

Are high performance car light bulbs worth it? – the experiment

This post came from an assumption that the standard “generic” bulbs I was buying meant I was possibly sacrificing visibility, and therefore safety in my bulb choice. Particularly having seen the claims of market leader Osram with their “up to 90% more light” “up to 10% whiter light”, and up to 35 metres more visibility, […]

Audi A3 – Power Steering Noise

As with all older cars they often come with noises which start off small but eventually get so bad you have to do something about it. I had the exact case when I bought my A3. The power steering pump and rack was making a small whining noise when the steering was turned. My initial […]

Young Driver – Cheap Car Insurance

I have just been looking for new insurance. As I am a young driver with no no-claims bonus, I am the worst type of driver an insurance company wanted on their books. To make the matter worse the car I wanted to insure was not the best either – an Audi A3 sport. I tried […]

Trick of the trade – Turning bumpers back to black permanently

Many of us suffer with this problem and up until recently I have been reapplying bumper restorer each time I wash the car. I became frustrated at this process and eventually looked for a new answer to the solution. I came across one talking to my local mechanic. You need to clean the whole car […]

How do I check the power steering fluid on an Audi A3?

Well I have created this post after I was monitoring the search terms used to come to this blog. Checking the power steering fluid is very easy on an Audi A3 but I have included a few extra checks just to make sure that everything is working as it should. Firstly open up the bonnet […]