June 2002
Hi
I have been reliably informed that my car (mazda mx6)has a non interference engine.
Now I take it that this means that should the cambelt (timing) belt snap, then the pistons won't touch the valves.
Firstly is this correct?
If so, why should I bother to change the cambelt, if its not going to damage the engine?
Are there any other cars out there which have non interference engines?
Thanks
Jonathan Read more
Has anyone got Sat-Nav fitted ?
I would like to know if it is worth paying out £1,800 to have it fitted as it would be very handy for my job, but the cost seems a bit much when I have survived using maps for so long.
I do an awful lot of traveling both in the U.K. and europe so would I need to buy different CD-ROMs for different countries and how much do these CD-ROMs cost.
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Well, I - well Heather, really, I am her chauffeur - had it on a Daewoo, a Leganza with all mod cons. It kept up brilliantly on a trip to Wales until the car navigator (my brother, as opposed to I the driver) gave the wrong direction, or we came to a diversion that was not on the CD, or something. It then went berserk, or told us to make a U-turn on a motorway(!) or something.
That's two years ago and they may have advanced, but I wonder!
Tomo
I own a Peugeot 306 1.6 XS (96N 8v). I was wondering if anyone could help to identify a noise that appears to come from the front of the car.
The noise occurs when turning at slow speed with about 3/4 lock or more applied while accelerating (eg car parks, mini roundabouts, etc. The noise is a continuous, whining/grumbling noise (ie not a clicking CV joint type noise). It never occurs when the accelerator is not pressed, regardless of speed or amount of steering applied, and this applies whether the car is under engine braking or coasting. The volume/noticeability generally increases as the amount of lock and/or speed increases. Interestingly, the noise also only seems to be resent once the car is warmed up.
When driving in slippery conditions recently, the same noise was made when the front wheels accelerated at different speeds without any steering lock applied - so it may be related to the front wheels turning at different speeds, just as they do when turning, particularly in tight circles.
The noise has been present for the last 10k miles (done since early February, until then it had covered 38k miles) but has not increased in severity over that time. There are also sometimes slight hesitations when accelerating through the rev range in 2nd, although this is still brisk and torquey from low revs and I do not believe the performance or handling characteristics of the car are impaired. The hesitations may or may not be related but I thought I would note them.
After a test drive, a Peugeot dealer suggested it was the power steering pump but I am dubious of this as the noise is present under certain conditions when there is no steering and it is only ever present when the car is accelerating.
Any help appreciated, many thanks in advance,
Keith Read more
Could be the Diff. Some parts of this unit work hard when the driven wheels are rotating at different speeds. Accelerating on a lock might load it enough to displace a worn diff. pinion / side gear and cause a noise.
I am picking up my new Citroen C5 2.0HDi Estate on the 16th June
6 days later i am setting off to mid spain a journey of some 1500 miles and all motorway driving. Can anybody tell me if I will have to do any specific running in of the engine before I set off or are new cars run in suffiently these days to be able to undertake journeys of this nature straight away.
Many thanks in advance for your help
Mark Read more
Now I ca understand why people do take care over there new car ( I would probably do the same ) but its new and so under warentny for three whole years (thats probably why u bought it) so why be so carful with it do as my friend did 8 months ago and hit the top revs as u almost leave the showroom and he is still running fine after 15000 care free miles with a chip and modified injectors ( which would be removed if it complains to the garrage) better thing to do i reckon is to start the car and drive it without hard acceleration until the engine gets warm
Like a I recently cleaned my car with a rough cloth, thereby introducing millions of tiny scratches on the bonnet (still didn\'t get the flies off). I believe the top coat is a lacquer over the metallic paint. T-Cut does not work (not even matalic T-Cut. Other than respraying my bonnet, anyone know of a lacquer T-Cut or any other cure?
Thanks Read more
The worst damage I have inflicted on a car was removing seagull poo. The little darlings swallow sand, so it is essential to thoroughly soak the blobs before persuading them off. Luckily I only damaged the rear screen! Paintwork would have been a disaster.
Thankyou for testing the swear filter. Next time I delete, not edit. DD.
Regular Backroomers may remember that a couple of weeks ago my Audi Coupe 20V was sideswiped by an unknown vehicle which, despite my best efforts, I have been unable to trace. It now has a deep scrape along most of the drivers side, which has dented the metal. As it stands now, the car is probably not worth very much. So do I claim on my insurance or not?
I have protected NCB but a £300 excess. I reckon the damage will cost at least £1,000 to put right, possibly a lot more (new door skin, a lot of panelbeating and a respray in metallic paint down one side), and due to the age (1990) and mileage (141,000) I suspect the insurers may write it off as uneconomic to repair. Repaired, I might get £2,000 for it as a private sale on a good day. I've recently spent quite a bit on bringing it back up to a decent standard (new shocks, brake discs and pads, distributor, front wishbone bushes and silencer box).
So what I would like ideally is for the insurers to pay me the insured value, less the salvage value and excess, and let me keep the car. I'll run it until something major goes wrong, then sell it for spares. Has anyone managed to persuade an insurer to do this? And will they still let me insure the car even though they have already written it off?
Richard Hall
bangernomics.tripod.com Read more
Thanks for all the advice everyone. I don't think I will claim, mainly because I want to buy an Audi S2 (group 19 insurance!) when my house purchase is out of the way, and the loading on my premium (which I hadn't considered) would wipe out any saving I might make by claiming for the repair now.
Richard Hall
bangernomics.tripod.com
We've just bought a Honda Civic, 1995, which is our first catalysed car. Am I correct in thinking that you shouldn't drive through water deep enough to make contact with the cat. as the thermal shock could crack the ceramic core? (I did try the search facility but couldn't find any details)
Any advice welcomed.
Many thanks,
P. Read more
Main things to bear in mind about a cat (although I'm no expert these are just some basic points:
Obviously, never use LRP, just unleaded
Try to avoid driving through deep puddles etc where the cat is immersed/ heavily splashed
Try to avoid extremely short journeys repeatedly (unburnt substances passing through the cat is bad news), as engine doesn't warm up enough for cat to come into play properly.
Let's hope the previous owner(s) adhered to the above! Bear in mind also that most cats have had it by 10 years or before and need replacing to get through MOT.
Regards
Rob E
Does anyone know what the oil capacity of a 1998 Fiat Brava 1.4SX is? Have lost my manual!
Any idea what oil is recommended. I have always used Mobil 1 on other cars. Is this OK?
Cheers Read more
Check www.fiatbravo.org.uk
Think you're being a bit extravagent with Mobil 1, most 10/40 semi synthetics more than adequate. Check out the deals at your Vauxhall dealer, probably around £10 including VAT.
Check through the threads for lots of oil comments.
Mark
How badly corroded do brake disks have to be in order to fail the MOT? Is there somewhere on the net that has photos of what would fail and what would pass? I have just bought a car which was MOT\'d on Saturday and I have noticed that the rear driver\'s side disk has quote corroded, worse than the rear disk on the other side, and the outer edge has chunks missing out of it but not within the area swept by the pads. I queried the condition of the discs when I first saw the car and said I thought they should be changed but the dealer gave the usual \'everything will be sorted that needs it for the mot\' sort of answer rather than a definite yes or no so I don\'t know whether I have much recourse.
I know now why I kept my last car for so long as changing cars is a PITA!
TIA Read more
You'll find this page useful (and hopefully not too depressing):
www.evocars.com/buyGuide.htm
Richard Hall
bangernomics.tripod.com
Similar story to David W's job back in October 01.
Car lost power at 70 MPH/3000 RPM and ground to a halt. Belt and tensioners had been changed at 30K and car had now done 71K. It was due for a change but there was no noise whatsoever coming from that end of the engine.
Engine stripped - 16 valves bent, 6 Valve guides cracked and cosmetically marked pistons. There is no evidence of oil or coolant leaks in the cambelt area that could have contaminated the belt.
What caused the failure? The belt itself. Although I am replacing them anyway, the tensioners, water pump etc are all OK with no play or noise in them.
Point of the story is, like David W's job, these belts made by Gates for Vauxhall/Opel are suspect as well.
As the engine was running on the later modified parts it seems that the belts are letting go now instead.
Has anyone else experienced a similar scenario and, more importantly, did they get anywhere with Vauxhall?
Charles
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The type of motoring I do mainly is A road minimum of 20 miles each way to work. The reason for not replacing the whole engine is that the piston marking is very minor, almost scratches, rather than indentations.
After the rebuild I will get the guys to do an MOT emissions test, compression test and a coolant pressure test which should pick up on anything not quite right.
If anything significant does crop up after using this strategy I will keep you posted.
Regards
Charles
Browse
Thanks Mark