June 2002
...is it worth it? Read more
SWMBO's ageing Renault 5 has started (hmm, I'd like to have avoided that word) to play up on the starting front. The starter motor intermittently refuses to crank the engine over. I've checked that there's a 12V feed from the ignition switch 'D' position to the starter soleniod - there is - and the main high current connection to the solenoid and earthing are all fine. She's generally OK when she's cold, but drive her a while, stop and then trying to restart tends to highlight the problem. Could be heat related?
Anyone experienced similar intermittent behaviour from a starter/solenoid combination before? I guess that either the solenoid itself or the starter motor brushes are in the process of packing up, I'm just surprised it's so intermittent.
Any previous experience or words of wisdom gratefully listened to before I head off to the scrapyard in search of booty.
Rich Read more
Peter,
I'm going to dismantle and inspect. If I do need a source of brushes then I'll reappend here.
Thanks for your offer of help
Rich
I need to get a full four wheel alignment,inc the camber and castor etc, done on my old Jetta 16v, as I have fitted some lowered springs. Does anyone here know of anywhere in south east London or Kent that could do this for me? I dont really want to drive all the way to Micheldever tyres.
Ben. Read more
Thanks for the information. I managed to get the car set-up today at Tyre Trax in Norwood SE25. I had tracking camber etc all checked and adjusted. Cost £46.88, but i think it was worth.
I thought about going to michledever, but they only take bookings at 8am in the morning, and couldnt do it untill the middle of july!
Ben
In about 2-3 months my wife wants to purchase a new car to replace her extremely reliable 1992 Daihatsu Charade TD which she has owned since new.
Two cars are currently on her list:
VW Polo 1.2 S 5 door
Toyota Corolla 1.4 T2 5 door
Both are approximately £11,300 (you have to add about £1000 to the Polo to bring it up to the spec of the Corolla)
We have driven the Polo and are impressed with the build and the drive of it. However, the 3 cylinder engine did sound slightly course.
We have sat in the Corolla and we are very impressed with the layout and the overall build quality, but we have yet to find a garage who have a 1.4 to test drive.
We intend to keep the car for approx. 5-8 years.
My heart says the Polo, but my head says go for the Corolla!!!
If anybody has any views, they would be very welcome.
Perhaps you may have another suggestion - our criteria is as follows:-
5 door small hatch
Safe
Reliable
Good residuals
Approximately £11,000
Thanks
Jason
PS - Do you think the VW Golf 1.6 S is worth an extra £1000 at £12,190
PPS - Slightly reluctant to go for import
Read more
For reliablity chose the Toyota, chaps i work with have had many problems with VW cars
My brakes have got worse now to the state of squeaking when ever the brakes are applied, what causes this?? How do i stop the noise??
Any help would be great
Chris Read more
Are the brakes missing antivibration springs? I had to replace mine on my van as they were rusted away. Could a little shamfering off leading edge help?
I just spent half a weekend struggling to persuade a Lucas dynamo charging system to do what it was designed to do. While looking for information on the control box, I came across this, which should amuse anyone who has ever owned an old Landie or British Leyland car:
www.landroverclub.net/Club/HTML/Humor_electrics.htm
By the way, can anyone explain to me, very simply, what the three coils in a Lucas control box actually do?
Richard Hall
bangernomics.tripod.com Read more
The first one determines when the dynamo voltage is greater than the battery voltage and clicks in as you should obverse. This extinguishes the red light and the contacts remain closed until the engine is turned off. Failure or miss adjustment of this will cause the light to stay on and current to be drawn by the dynamo until the battery is almost flat.
The second coil controls the field coil in the dynamo thus controlling the output current of the dynamo. The third controls the maximum voltage that will be applied across the battery 14.2 max.
The previous version only had two coils, Charge or not and current. These were ok but were prone to over charging a battery by too higher terminal voltage and boiling them dry.
From memory the 3 stage units also required a direct dedicated wire connection from the unit to the battery to sense the voltage at the battery.
Regards
Peter
My '93 309 1.4 has done 78000 miles. I had the nearside driveshaft replaced recently, and the car has developed a 'wobbling.' I don't know whether this is related to the new driveshaft. I do know the offside driveshaft may need work in the near future. The car wobbles slightly under acceleration but between 40 and 50mph it shakes, quite violently at times. The pedals and gear lever wobble about. When getting towed due to the state of the nearside CV joints after a long journey, the AA patrol suggested worn engine mountings and told me not to worry.
Any ideas?
Do I worry?
Read more
If the shake developed as a result of the shaft change, I wonder if it's bent or out-of-balance? Some shafts (eg Fiesta) use a bolt-on balance weight to prevent such problems - anything different like that comparing new and old shafts?
Regards
John S
Having spent the last 2 weekends fitting PAS to my Nan's 1995 Skoda Felica 1.3LXi I was very disheartended to find the biggest problem out of the whole job is the lack of charge on the alternator...
Having solved all the mechanical problems of fitting a PAS kit from a 1999 car (that when PAS became available on the Felica 1.3), which included a second hand alternator, I came against an electrical problem which is not my pet subject.
Symptom as below:
Start engine, battery charge light on dash is dim, rev engine, light get brighter.
1. check Voltage over battery with engine off = 12v
2. check voltage over battery with engine on = 12v
3. check voltage over battery with engine running, plus lights, blower, rear sreen, radio etc running = 10v
4. check voltage across alternator feed to battery, and dash light feed = 5v
I changed the regulator/brush unit over from the old alternator, and still no luck. The Skoda Spares place I got the kit from also confirmed it was charging ok before it was shipped.
I think it maybe an earth problem, although it could only be between the alternator and the engine block as the Starter motor works fine....surely this would have problems if it was the earth from engine block to body??
One thing I haven't tried is voltage between alternator and earth, also I haven't checked resistence between block and alternator.
I have now brought the car back to my house to solve this problem, having driven 80miles (crrying a spare battery and jump leads), and it doesn't seem to bad, taking only 3-4 amps on the battery charger. Clearly something is wrong, but what? I am stuck on...
cheers
Neil T
SEAT Leon TDi 150 Read more
More news, the compnay that supplied the parts are sending me a new another alternator FOC to see if its any better. At least it will tell me if it "is" an alternator problem, or something I have disturbed in the car. It should be here Friday, although fitting isn't planned till Tuesday as I have to go up to Suffolf after work to do it. The acr is back on the road at the moment with the dash light unplugged.
Neil T
SEAT Leon TDi 150
I'm looking to buy a 5 series BMW (who isn't according to HJ!), I consider Trade Sales to offer the lowest priced retail cars I can find and will shortly take at look to see their quality. I've also thought about buying at auction using a buyer to try to beat even the likes of GTC's buyers, my question is really do decent specced reasonably well kept cars end up at auction or does the trade "snaffle" them up before they get there? I'm looking for a 528 with leather. Is it unrealistic to expect an auction buyer to come up with a decent car? I went to Interleasing's direct to public outlet in Brum over the weekend and the prices and quality of the stock is ok but not outstanding (12k for a R reg 76,000 528i se auto with leather), £9500 at auction? They say only their rubbish goes to auction but they would wouldn't they?
Ian Read more
My last three diesels bought from BCA have never given me any trouble. And I've kept them for two years each.
I am think of buying a new Audi A4 Avant with multitronic transmission for my wife and kids. Has any one heard of any reliability problems with this gearbox? I am aware of how it works (and how the old DAF Variomatic used an ealry version of the CVT gearbox) but as an engineer myself I am only too aware that the first version of any new product ALWAYS contains bugs..I just want to be sure I am do not read stories in 2004 that contain statements like "..early Audi MultiTronic gearboxes where prone to suffer from..". Comments welcome (but please can we keep to the topic and not wander off talking about DAFs 8-).) Read more
Have an A6 2.7 TDI with 33000 miles, and so far just like an ordinary auto box. Have used paddles about twice!
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