engine | Ask Honest John

Ask Honest John

Most recently answered engine questions

Back in August 2010 I emailed you about my FIAT 500 diesel. At 2 years old the engine blew up. Glynn Hopkins, FIAT dealers at Chadwell Heath, Essex did not know what was wrong with it but you did. (Choked...

Scenic rout

At the moment my son is running a 2002 Renault Scenic 1.6, which he has had 4 years. It has always been very greedy and underpowered and overall a big disappointment and averages about 34mpg, even on motorways,...

Double charged

I have a VW 1.4 Twincharger, 2 years old, which has developed a frequent slight hesitation at about 3,500 rpm when accelerating; this may be as it switches from the supercharger to the turbocharger. The...

Bolt-on wonderer

I contacted you a while back about great customer service I received at Toyota when replacing my engine and cat after developing a fault after 5 years and 90,000 miles. Well, here's one from the other...

Honest engine?

I would be pleased to receive any thoughts/comments you have to make about the Seat Leon engines available. My choice appears to be between a 1.4TSi SE or a 1.9TDi SE. I drive approx 15,000 miles pa, of...

Octave lower

For the past four years we have been running an Octavia Estate fitted with the 115 bhp diesel and it goes very well. We find it a much more practical vehicle than the Passat we ran for 11 years and covered...

Trailer of destruction

I’m thinking of buying a used Nissan X-Trail 2.2 diesel 2006 – 2007 to tow my caravan but I have read a lot about failing turbos and a replacement cost of around £2,000. Are you able to say if this is...

Urban car boy

Now in retirement, I am in the process of downsizing from a long line of 5 Series BMWs to a more practical, versatile and economical car. I have selected the Golf Plus SE including a few goodies as the...

Camshafts in the wind

I really like the idea of gear train driven camshafts instead of belts or chains, since it obviously makes the engines virtually bomb-proof - a pity more manufacturers don't go down this route, although...

Dura talk

I’m replacing a 2001/51 Mondeo Estate, 115bhp diesel engine, with a new Ford Focus ECOnetic with a 1.8 or 2.0 litre TDCi Duratorq diesel engine as shown below. The 1.8 is 139 g/km (5-door)/142 g/km (estate),...