February 2001
Hi HJ
My lovely non-spelling partner Dieselwitch has posted you a query re estates earlier & thanks for your sugg of Mk111 Golf TDI. However, I coming round to opinion that if you're going to do the estate thing, it might as well be a big one & have done with it. Reasons: this new dog is a bassett hound, & is going to be enormous. We also have older parents & part of the plot is to bundle every body into car, dog in the back & go for walks & picnics & dare I say, the pub! & I'm sure she won't mind me saying but I guess small human puppys might appear in the near future. & we've all seen the strruggle in the supermarket car park with mums juggling sprogs & shopping & baby kit. So, as I am something of a fan of VW warrantys I am leaning towards passatt tdi. But am I getting best value for my £. All those daily mail mums in there Volvo estates can't be wrong? Actually.....I bet thet don't have 2 go to Cornwall from Hants every week. One last thing- really does need to have a bit of power to join Motorway safely.
Best regards & thanks
Pablo Read more
Has anyone experienced water leaks from the plastic manifold -front nearside of the engine. Does anyone know where or if there is a drain tap/point for coolant on the VR6
Thanks Read more
Just been told by my friendly Rover service manager that head gasket has blown on my Nov '97 Rover Sterling 2.5, it just having done the phenomenal mileage of 57K, and having had full dealer service history. Even worse he tells me that because the engine block has suffered erosion, I'll need a new engine (£4,500). I gave up a 250,000 mile '86 Scorpio for this.
I understand this is not an unusual occurence with the K-engine
Sounds like I'm in a hole, the car itself would probably only fetch between £8-10K (you'll be lucky did I hear someone say!!)
How do I get out of this mess, with any semblance of financial dignity.
Otherwise, a lovely car, but I can certainly do without this headache.
Ideas would be welcome.
Thanks.
I don't think I am mistaken, but there seem to be lots of cars with only one working dipped headlamp these days. In two evening drives recently of about 30 mins. each, I totted up 9 one-eyed cars, and this was only on averagely busy roads. I guess about 1 car in every 30-40. Does this mean lax MoT testing, poorer-quality halogen bulbs, careless owners, or what? Read more
If people can't notice that their headlights are only casting out half as much light as normal then I'm afraid that they probably wouldn't notice a little warning light (or at least take any notice of it) on their dash.
I am looking for a 3 or 4 year old car to last about 6 years at 7,000 or 8,000 miles per year.
Would a car in good condition but with 90,000 or 100,000miles miles be a good bet?
If so which of the golf or larger estates would you recomend I look at? Read more
What about an Omega. Massive estate (truly massive) 30mpg in mixed use, 5-6K at 70K miles at auction due to daft depreciation. The Omega is a comfortable mile eater - I drive 120 miles a day in one and feel great at the end of it. Get an automatic that's been looked after and they can't have strained the engine. If it's off a fleet and well serviced, you should be OK> The Omega got a terrific write up from Telegraph readers when asked for their views. The only one that got any stick was the diesel.
Worth reading. Ford Rapidfit came out well. ATS and Quickfit critisized.
According to local Ford rapidfit they do the same as Ford garage just up road. However they do not provide courtesy car and are cheaper! Read more
Hi,
I am 18, been driving a petrol VW Polo for just under a year. Unfortunately, yesterday the beast perished, and may not be coming back. I am looking for a new car, but am not sure what to get and whether to go diesel (turbo) or petrol. I know diesel is more economic (more mpg) and has a lot of torque in low gears, but I don't want anything that is sluggish at higher speeds.
I'd like my car to be stylish and a good performer, but not to cripple me with insurance and fuel bills. I like the Seat Ibiza Cupra, but I think insurance will be a b*****d.
Any suggestions/ comments on choice or on the diesel/ petrol thing?
Thanks a lot,
Giles Read more
Yeah, I know you replied HJ but I couldn't get the post thing to work, so I tried again, and it did. Seat Arosa maybe, but I'll keep looking. I'm also wondering about something 4X4 ish cos my area floods a lot and the roads are full of holes.
Giles
I'm thinking of buying an Astra fitted with this motor but I've heard from various sources including HJ that it can use more oil than most modern engines. Does anyone have any personal experiences with this motor, good or bad? Should I steer clear? Read more
Alvin is dead right about his dipstick instructions. This turned out to be the real 'problem' with high oil consumption on the DI engine. Owners were dipping them before the oil had drained back and were then overfilling them and burning off the excess oil. It is extremely dangerous to overfill a diesel because the engine can start running on its sump oil and when it does that the only way to stop it is to forcibly stallit in gear against the brakes.
HJ
Does anyone have experience of using this device, esp. on a Focus tdi?
I find that performance is very much enhanced, but at the cost getting only about 38mpg, plus a very smoky exhaust when accelerating.
Perhaps I've just got a thirsty Focus, anyway, as the consumption was only 2-3 mpg better before trying the T Box! Read more
I have been in contact with the Belgian TB manufacturer, via the very helpful importer. They advise that Ford has experienced some problems with smoky exhausts on Focus tdi's, apparently traced to the Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) valve, and that some dealers simply "disconnect the pipe at the vave" (!)
I was again advised to get it tested & report back.
Has anyone out there had problems with smoky Focus diesels?
I've been looking at several used 230 TE's ( 90 - 140 k ) and all have enough crankcase pressure/ cylinder blowby to chuff oil out of the filler ( small amounts ). The 6 cylinder ones I've seen don't seem to have the same trait.
Q. Is this a normal occurance with the 4 cylinders of this age or signs of serious wear? Read more
I'm not familiar with Merc engines, but all engines have a breather system which enables normal crankcase compression to be relieved unnoticably.
Should the filters in the system become blocked, internal pressure will result in oil being blown out of the filler cap. When the filler cap is a tight fit, oil will be forced out of oil seals.
Are there any reputable, reliable, well engineered aftermarket aircon fitting companies out there. I am looking for a Fiat Coupe 20v turbo preferably with aircon and was wondering if it is possible to have aftermarket aircon fitted to a car where it was not factory fitted. Fiat dealers do not do this (unlike for example Subaru who will fit aftermarket aircon to Imprezas for around £900). The system would have to interface with the climate control which is standard fit and controls the inside temperature but which does not cool below outside ambient temperatures unless the aircon is fitted.
IM Read more
Hi Ian, I think it was you I spoke to on the phone this morning. I hope the information was useful.
For those of you are thinking of having a/c fitted, and I've recieved a number of calls about this lately, here is what I said:-
There are a number of companies that will fit a/c, and they usually use a kit of generic parts where possible. What this means is that the switch you see on your dash is original equipment, but the other parts may not. Namely all the underbonnet stuff. There shouldn't be any real problems with this, except if it needs repairing at some time in the future, in which case it can sometimes be hard to work out what parts are used, as it's not a simple matter of going to a catalogue for that vehicle. Cost tends to be aroung £1000-1500 fitted. In other words, quite a big expenditure. The other route is to use all OE parts, but this usually puts the price up drastically, (the OE Land Rover kit for a discovery is £1700). However, there are a number of manufacturers, usually japanese, that offer competitively priced kits, all OE parts, and fitting can be quite fast, as the dash may not need to be removed. Subaru, Mazda, Toyota & Mitsubishi usually, so it's always worth having a chat with them first to gauge costs etc. You could of course always fit it yourself if it's any of the above, and get someone to come and leak check and gas it. Though if it doesn't work you may be into discharging it and recharging again.
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What are the symptoms of the oval bores (and worn injectors)? Oil smoke (black smoke and loss of power)?