My Corsa (1.7 diesel, 50K miles) has a clutch pedal which disengages at only a small distance off the floor, in other words it has to be pushed down almost as far as it will go before dis-engaging. In fact, before I last brought it in I had to make sure that the thin rubber mat was completely drawn back so I could engage gear without a crunch. The garage mechanic(it was formerly a Vauxhall agency) says that this is typical of Corsas and could only readjust it marginally. He didn't think that it had stretched. Has anyone had a similar Corsa clutch? Thanks. Read more

This is a follow up to an earlier post regarding VW505.01 oil.
It only applies tdi pd engines that require fixed 10,000 mile servicing - or so I was told.

I spent ages today on the phone to numerous SEAT dealers, VW dealers, SEAT HQ, VW HQ, Castrol and Millers. The bottom line is total confusion everywhere.

I rang 12 SEAT dealers - all but one (I'll come back to which one)said that VW 505.01 must be (and is)used. Half of those said that this oil is only available in fully synthetic form. The others said its available in both synthetic and part-synthetic form. One said it is mineral oil. But, all stressed that VW505.01 MUST be used. The same applied to the 6 VW dealers I rang. All said that they use VAG sourced oil. This includes the SEAT used Quantum brand (I think this is supplied by Castrol). The VW dealers I spoke to use Castrol. Both HQ's confirmed that 505.01 MUST be used. VW said synthetic must be used, SEAT said "don't know".

I also rang Castrol's technical department and spent about 20 mins chatting with a very helpful guy who explained why this oil must be used. Basically, the camshaft driven injector pumps run at an extremely higher pressure on pump dusse TDi engines than they do on the 'older' design TDi's, and therefore require an oil that will offer a far higher degree of sheer(breakdown)resistance. The VW 501.01 (or higher)spec oils offer this and oils that fail to meet this spec must not be used. He even went as far as to say that engines run on non 505.01 spec oil are a time bomb waiting to go off and WILL be damaged (what!!!). He also said that 505.01 is only availble in synthetic form.

Millers now do an oil that meets the 505.01 spec. It's called XFE PD, but strangely, it's part synthetic and retails for about £20.00.

The SEAT dealer who didn't follow suit with the others was the one who's serviced my car (it would be wouldn't it). They told me that in my car (Arosa 1.4 tdi pd)they used Castrol magnatec. I was told I could use 505.01 but it wasn't neccessary. They also said that a leasing company who uses them to service their Alhambra's won't pay the extra cost for 505.01, so magnatec is also used for those as well. As a side note, the price quoted for 505.01 at all the dealers I spoke to was no more than the price my dealer quoted for magnatec.

This evening I went to the dealer where I purchased my car. They are part of the same group as the dealer who originally supplied and serviced it for the first owner. The car was transfered to them for my purchase.(Incidentley, the dealer I purchased the car from uses the correct oil). I spoke to the General Manager and explained the above re. the use of magnatec. He spoke to the service manager at the dealer who's done the servicing to find out what oil had been used. Although he was aware that 505.01 should be used for PD engines he thought that the 1.4 tdi pd was a non pump dusse engine. He checked the engine code which confirmed it was in fact a pd. He then confirmed that magnatec had been used on both the 10k and 20k service. (Great!!).

As a result, these are the options I've been offered:

1.An oil cange to the correct oil and a free 4th year warranty.
2.A full refund of my money.
3.A brand new car, and I pay the difference.
4.Try to locate another used car of same price, age, mileage etc.

Option 4, apparently, is as likely as finding rocking horse s***, as used 1.4 tdi's are very rare. Option 3 will cost me loads, option 2 leaves me with no car and loads of hassle, option one leaves my with doubt and worry (I planned on keeping this car for a few years).

So there you have it. Sorry about the length of this post,but I feel people ought to be aware of the confusion and the importance of making sure the correct oil is used in your car.
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I have an L reg citroen ZX 1.9 diesel and after driving for about 5 minutes the engine oile temperature guage gradually sneaks up to the red. In addition, NO heat is coming out of the air fan heaters for the inside of the car.

I've checked that there is enough oil in the engine, and enough water in the radiator and there is. The radiatior gets warm when the engine first starts, and all the pipes too and from it get warm as the engine heats up, but once it gets into the top end of the temperature scale, the radiator gets very cold (fans come on too, but I'd expect a little residual heat in there coming off from the cooling fans?) The big pipe at the top of the radiator gets VERY hot and the other pipe on the other side that comes into the bottom (on the side where you pour the water in the radiator) just goes cold.

I guess its blocked, but I cannot work out where or how, does anyone have any clues at all please?

A Read more

With the cold weather coming, what oil should I use for the door locks? WD40, 3 in 1 or grease? Read more

For years I have always thought "one of theses days a another car is going to smack mine off" and you know what? They have! Not only that they don't even stop to say sorry. I guess the problem is that it's very difficult to prove who was at fault if anyone.

My particular circumstance was that as I was driving down the road when a car comming the other way decides to go around a car that was parked in thier path thus moving onto my side of the road and as they do so we collide wing mirror to wing mirror.

Has anyone had any luck getting someone else to pay or is this part of the everyday risk we take when motoring?

Theses days electric wing mirrors can be expensive.

PS anyone know where I can get a drivers wing mirror for a Mazda 323 (95) .

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