October 2002
Hello all
Could any of you buffs please give me as many reasons as possible to convince my main dealer that HE should pay for the head gasket blowing after only 5 weeks! I am no mechanic but i need to have as many reaons as possible to hit him with so that he can't balme me... I was driving along and then the engine became "clunky" , smoke coming out exhaust BUT NO INDICATION OF OVER HEATING!!!!
What could have caused it? Could it have been soemthing I did? is it reasonable that a car should do this after only five week driving? HELP!!!!!!!!!
How quickly can an engine overheat and blow the head gasket?
The car is a 1.9 TD Xantia(1995)
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
colm Read more
Not sure if this should be in Technical / Discussion but........
Pleased to see that LED lighting is coming in, esp on commercial vehicles.
It is clear that for PCV/HGV the motivation is lower maintenance costs, in that the price of the bulb is not the only factor but also cost of fitter's time, cost of vehicle off road and so on.
So wondered when this technology was going to filter down onto normal cars and get rid of the high frequency we all see of cars diving round with light(s) out.
Seen quite a few of the new Range Rover, but yesterday was the first time I'd followed one. LED rear lights I noticed, great.
One thing I didn't like though was that the amber indicator LED's appeared to be in a single layer ring around the brake lights. Fine when just indicators on, but when braking and indicating not quite so visible.
Anyone else noticed this effect or was it just me? Read more
Dangerous and crazy IMO
Borrowed a TD6 Range Rover last weekend, very nice but not sure if I'd want to spend £47K on one......
MG-Rover Questions? forums.mg-rover.org/
Dear all,
I now own a 95M Suzuki Swift 1.0GC 5dr, which I've had for about 3 weeks and am so far delighted with it. The only problem is with the front washer jets: you have to engage the jets for ages before anything happens, and then when it does the water comes out as drips and then builds up to something more akin to a jet. It may be a consequence of the car having sat on a forecourt for a month, but all the same I don't think it's a blockage as the jets do work... eventually.
Any ideas on what to do and how to go about doing it would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks,
Rob E. Read more
Could be that the one way valve has failed, or there isn't one fitted. New ones can be had from Halfords.
Hello all
Could any of you buffs please give me as many reasons as possible to convince my main dealer that HE should pay for the head gasket blowing after only 5 weeks! I am no mechanic but i need to have as many reaons as possible to hit him with so that he can't balme me... I was driving along and then the engine became "clunky" , smoke coming out exhaust BUT NO INDICATION OF OVER HEATING!!!!
What could have caused it? Could it have been soemthing I did? is it reasonable that a car should do this after only five week driving? HELP!!!!!!!!!
The car is a 1.9 TD Xantia(1995)
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
colm Read more
By the way you would be better off posting this request in technical matters. Some of the technical backroomers don't visit the discussion forum. Oh, and I should have said blown head gaskets are something.....
Currently have standard fit radio/cassette player on W reg Space Wagon with integral display button for computer display . What are my options for fitting a cd player ? Read more
any particular model recommended ? How does this work ?
I've got a P-reg MK2 Ford Mondeo GLX TD. The rear heated screen has stopped working & so has the wash/wipe on the front screen. Would the rear screen heater relay have anything to do with this?
Both stopped working at the same time. All other electrics working fine ????? Can anyone advise? Cheers
Read more
One of my friends is an independent garage owner. He told me of a customer with a Granada where a faulty rear window heater caused a misfire because of the interdependency between various elements of the car's electronic systems.
does anybody know anything about mkIII golfs basicaly from 92 to about 96, all i know is that they look lovely in black. I am going to look at some tomorrow and need a few tips, can anybody help,
many thanks
lisa Read more
Haven't driven one myself, but my impression of other people's opinions is that it's a good solid car, unlike the current model. I think it looks better too - the new one is too lardy. Then again, you could try doing a search on the Autotrader site for cars in the same price range and age bracket to see what it comes up with.
I have an 'M' reg Scorpio Estate (before the facelift).
It has developed a miserable intermitent fault where it cuts out and will not start for between 2-25 minutes. It will turn over but not fire.
It seems to happen 2-3 times in the morning (I start the car and go and have breakfast) and increasing numbers of time in the evening ( 2-6 )
Ford dealer has hooked the car up and tested for 2 days and the fault didn't occur. Suggested changing ECU but warned that this might not solve the problems. Other people have said that the ECU will either work or not so it's probably a fault in the distributor or coil.
I have no idea and can't really afford to risk changing the ECU (£350 i think) and it not solving the problem.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated .. Read more
smokie
Yup; he's - probably - sorted it by now....
[Or it's in the crusher somewhere.]
Is this engine new, better, improved etc compared
with the zetec? Apparantly it is only 2 valves per
cylinder and due to be used in the trendy new StreetKa.
Surely its not the old Fiesta pushrod block?
Meldrew
(I just do not believe it!) Read more
I think it says more about Ford not wanting to spend the money to make a modern engine to meet the new emmision regs. I can't see Honda and Toyota reverting to an antique push-rod engine.
I thought they didn't make Ford Escorts anymore but I saw a '52' reg Escxort van today.
How come?
Read more
They do actually. I saw a fairly recent (X or Y reg) one in a dealer's in South London. I think he wanted about £7k for it, but how do you value a car like that over here?
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Yes, overheating causes the head to warp, and XUD units are sensitive to this. Make sure that the dealer checks the water pump, checks / flushes the radiator, checks the cooling fans, checks the operation of the overtemp warning lights and fits a new thermostat before rebuilding the engine.
Overheating can only be caused by lack of coolant, or lack of cooling of the coolant. Eg, if you lose the coolant it will overheat, if your pump is duff, low circualation will cause overheating, poor radiator performance (either blocked or cooling fan not working).
You may just have been unlucky, and the head cracked of its own volition, and this caused local overheating leading to the warping of the head.
Richard