July 2002
Got a 1996 Golf GTI 2.0 with 30000 miles. Still on original timing belt. Should I have it changed? VW interval is 60000 I think. Read more
Back in Feb Adrian Fieldhouse was looking for Fertan. I'd like to let him know that I'm the UK importer / distributor for Fertan and would be happy to help him. alan thomas
07980 984 497 or alaninhamble@aol.com Read more
Son has a Ford Puma coming up for 50K service & asked about timing belt renewal. Main dealer says that doesn't require replacing till 100K! Is it actually a chain? Does anyone know whether this is the reccomended interval. Many thanks in advance
Dave Y Read more
HJ
Totally agree with your cautious advice.
Charles
I am not sure if it is my mind playing tricks on me or not, but I feel that the power output of my 3.0 diesel (190 odd bhp) is lacking quite a bit recently and it can only just keep up with a VAG 130PD (which I know is a great unit). Can I check whether this is the case or not? Can the dealer plug in a computer and see what's going on or do I have to go to a specialist? Read more
I should also have pointed out that the engine will not be homologated if it produces too much power;the limits are something like +/-2% power and +/-4% torque;remember many countries use the engine power for tax/insurance purposes.
There is hope.
After comment last week I decided to try and free the plug from a friends 1.3 Fiesta.
An Recommended garage in the south had been unable to get it out at it's last service.
Incidently there was a lot of rust coating the cylinder head.
Started by removing all the plugs and copperslipping them. The stuck one was still stuck - that springy feeling in the breaker bar was enough warning to not try to hard.
Plus Gas saved the day. The design of the head allowed a nice pool of plus gas to form and over two hours it soaked in nicely. The plug pinged off with a satisfying cracking noise and with very little pressure. The thread of all four plugs was perfect.
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Parp, Parp! Read more
Yes you are correct this is the same product. The can has a number of quite worrying warnings. Just that this stuff is so good on exhaust manifolds etc I do not know of any suitable alternative. I think copperslip tends to "dry out" a bit . I have used Rocol and this seems to be quite good.
This isn't looking good:
news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_2097000/209787...m Read more
Presumably this "scheme" will only be applicable if the cyclist/pedestrian is adhereing to the laws of the land.
If they got hit when they were drunk and without lights or jay-walking, I would think that any lawyer worth his salt could overturn this.
How difficult is it to replace the rear wheel bearings on a P reg Escort ? Is this an easy job or should I leave it to the pros ? Any ideas on cost for the job would be most apreciated. Read more
Martin,
A very easy job when you've done loads before. As a first-timer the greatest problem is knocking the old ones out and then driving in the new ones without damaging them.
The bearings are about £8-£12 a side from most discount places.
If you took this into a dealer the labour is booked at under 2hrs for both sides, plus the bearings may well be more expensive at full retail. Perhaps £60 labour and £30 for the bearings??
David W
Been driving a company supplied astra diesel van for a couple of weeks now. Interesting, as i haven't really driven diesels before. Couple of things spring to mind though.
First an easy one; do diesels still have glow plug lights? i thought this van did (an orange outline of a car with a spanner through it, comes on with the ignition then goes out after a few seconds) but my dad (font of all wisdom) reckons they don't have them anymore. If this light isn't glow plug related, anybody know what it is, 'cos now it doesn't go out until the engine is running (helpfully there is no handbook supplied with the van)
More generally, quite like driving it. Love the torque available from low down. Don't like the way you can floor it and have nothing happen. Been caught out by that at a couple of junctions. The biggest thing is that there seems to be rather a lot of flywheel effect - the engine just doesn't lose revs quickly at all. Because of this (i think because of this, i've never had problems with any other car) i just can't make a nice gearchange, and miss useful engine braking. Any thoughts?
Apart from that, i think i could be tempted into running a diesel as my own car. How easy are they to service etc. I do all my own work, but frankly haven't been sufficiently interested in diesels to pay any attention to them. Not even sure i know how the things work. But i do like the idea of better economy and engines good for 250000 miles plus. Read more
a car with a spanner through it, comes on with the ignition
then goes out after a few seconds
It's the maintenance light to inform that a service is due. The clue is the spanner!!
This is a cry for help.
I run a 1996 Rover 216si new shape car. 2 months ago the engine blew which resulted in my having an ivor searle re-manufactured engine installed. However while the engine is great I am having terrible problems with the cooling system which which just does not seem to function. It did prior to the blowup.Now my repairer has had the car back to bleed the system on numerous occasions, the last time using vacuum equipment. I have called out green flag on several occasions. As I type the coolant has been discharging through the pressure cap on the coolant tank after a short drive (8 miles)The water pump,thermostat,coolant tank pressure cap are all new. The temp gauge is reading way below the horizontal. There is no hot air coming through the heater when full on. It was ok yesterday.
Any suggestions please.
Read more
Well I have now had the car back 3 weeks with a replacement Ivor Seale engine and have notched up 2000+ miles. So far so good.There has been no loss of coolant like I had with the previous replacement unit. In fact the car drives really well. The engine was supplied free by Ivor Searle and installed by their nominated garage with the labour costs being paid for by the garage that installed the previous replacement engine. The reason for the engine failure was in the opinion of the nominated garage was that after the previous replacement engine was installed the cooling system was not bled completely therefore overheating took place with the result that the liners failed allowing gases to enter the cooling system.
Oh and the car was delivered back completely valeted.
John D S
My trusty 1994 1.8i Cavalier has completed 212,000 miles but has just developed a problem. On moderate throttle demand it hesitates and loses power requiring immediate backing off the throttle to maintain original speed. Tick over is fine and driven gently it can be coaxed to motorway speeds but forget it if you want to accelerate. Just before this happened the ECU warning light came on when demanding throttle and went off again when throttle was backed off.I have checked the fault codes (thanks to www.topbuzz.co uk who give a fine way to do this with just a paper clip!)and code 44 came up - faulty oxygen sensor. This I changed - fault codes are now clear but problem is still there but except now the ECU light does not come on. Any ideas would be much appreciated.
Read more
Archie
Interesting, isn't it. A number of years back and it would have been off with the distributor cap, out with the plugs, check the points etc. Now, these basics are ignored. It's plug in the computer and if that doesn't find it, then oh, dear, what do we do next? A worrying trend.
Even when the fault should show on the computer the system system isn't that clever either. I had a problem with a Vectra a few years back, which turned out to be the camshaft sensor. When it played up it lit the 'fault' light. Howevr, a quick stop, switch off and back on and it was fine. The fault wasn't registered on the computer though. I was told by a friend who recently had the identical problem fixed on his car that the dealer had said it was necessary to drive for some time (30 minutes was suggested) with the light on to get the fault to register. Momentary faults were not logged. On both our cars about 2 hours did it.
Regards
John S
Browse
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OK lets start again Dave. The chap at the top of this thread asked if his 6 year old golf with 30000 miles needed a new cambelt. Personally i would of asked the dealer to change the belt when i bought it(assumming dealer supplied). If not i would stick to the 40000 mile change(as most manuals state). It is of my personal opinion that what you said could make people panick that their engine may blow up. What i suggested was sensible, have the belt thoroughly checked by a main dealer (if you can't yourself) because 30000 miles is a short life for a cambelt. If you look at any VW handbook it will tell you the interval is 60000 miles(not years) so changing at 40000 miles is totally adequate. Not everyone can afford to get a belt change done, when it can be easily be checked by a qualified person so what you said was in my opinion wrong and could worry a lot of people unnessarily. This is why i may have been a little rude. I wish to give solid advise based on PRACTICAL experience not on what i've read in the haynes manual. Oh and by the way you can check the condition of a tensioner, make sure the retaining bolt is tight and make sure the tensioner spins freely. I no longer wish to argue and if anyone has any questions regarding mk2 or mk3 golfs i will be glad to answer.