engine | Ask Honest John

Ask Honest John

Most recently answered engine questions

The oil light on my Golf keeps coming on even when the oil level is correct. What could this be?

I picked up a new Nissan Qashqai 1.6 on Wednesday, then on Friday it stopped whilst driving. It did re start, with trouble. Later the engine management light came on. I took it back to the dealer who stated...

Pumper prised

I had my timing belt replaced 3 months ago, but it snapped. The garage says that the water pump broke and that caused the belt to break. The garage that recovered my car said that the waterpump should...

Wealth and efficiency

I am looking at changing from a VAG 1.6FSI petrol to a VAG 1.4TSI turbo petrol (Skoda). I have an unavoidable 40% proportion of sub-2 mile journeys from cool/cold. I do intermittent long motorway runs....

Smooth, creamy hell, man’s

My 65,000 mile 1999S petrol Mercedes Benz E240 has excessive white creamy sludge on the inside of the oil filler cap, particularly during cold weather, without noticeable loss of coolant. Should I be worried?

Completely pluggered

Recently I took my 2005 Ford Focus 1.6 Ghia for its 40,000-mile service to my local Ford garage from which I bought it new. They could not remove the sparking plugs to change them because the plugs had...

Attack is the best form of Defender

I have a 2004 Land Rover Defender and have seen may adverts about the merits of rechipping to improve economy and performance. What surprises me is that manufacturers do not already build the vehicle with...

The sin of lus

Recently I purchased an Alfa 159 Lusso JTDM 1.9 SportWagon. Its lovely to drive in every respect, except after 600 miles (3 motorway journeys) all at normal speeds mostly 4-5 and 6th gear, the car only...

Vol no vo

I have a 2000 Volvo V70 (170bhp) that has done 60,000 miles with FVSH (purchased ex-demo in early 2001). For the past 6 months, every time I have put petrol in, and then tried to start the car, it fires...

Simmer down under

When I was in Australia I borrowed a turbo-diesel people carrier. This had a device that could be set, if I remember correctly, to run the engine for 10-30 seconds after you got out. A good idea, I thought.