December 2002
I have a bizarre intermittant starting problem with my 1999/T clio 1.2, 44k on the clock.
Basically, from time to time I get in the car, turn the key... ...absolutely nothing at all; engine doesn't even turn over - no noise from the bonnet at all.
Try again, again and again, still nothing. Eventually it starts absolutely fine (like a brand new car in fact) with less than a second of starter motor. The first time it took just one re-try, the last time it took about 10! It has happened to me three times now in six months, but twice in the past two weeks. I'm worried that it will eventually refuse to start at all and of course, it will be when I'm in a hurry!
Any ideas? Immobiliser fault? Wouldn't the engine turn over but not fire?
The fault comes up so rarely that I don't have a chance in the world of showing it to a garage, let alone getting it fixed.
Just wondered if it was a known problem with a known fix??
thanks,
Andy Read more
Hi all
This is all 3rd hand information so please excuse me if I am a bit vague.
My sisters Boyfriend owns a peugeot 106GTI. SOme months ago, 6 to be exact. He suffered a suspected head gasket failure. HE took the car to the local dealer. who did all the neccesary repair work. Skimmed head etc. However when he took delivery of the repaired car there was a tapping sound. H efeared something had gone wrong with the repair and so returned it to the garage.
To cut along story short He has now had the car back at the garage every month since the original incident and each time they have kept it for a couple of weeks. They then return it, repaired! Only for the same fault to remerge after a few miles.
I dont know much about this stuff but my initial thought was that there was something wrong with the cylinder head and that replacing it would probably solve the problem??
Any one else got any more of an educated idea than mine?
Any advice would be appreciated so that he can go in armed with some ammunition next time he has to go back to the dealer!
Cheers
Ross
P.S. I think he said that the car also becomes hesitant upon acceleration. Read more
Sounds to me like it's the hydraulic valve lifters (tappets) - if the 106 has them fitted?
Similar thing happened with my old mk3 Cavalier. Garage changed head gasket, and afterwards it tapped all the time (worse on startup) The garage had left the lifters lying around for a week while they sent the head away for machining as it was warped. What they should have done was to submerge them in a container of oil.
The M25 has always seemed to suffer from a ripple effect - hold ups which suddenly appear then disappear for no apparent reason.
I've hear it is due to the combination of high volumes of traffic and the erratic braking of some drivers. If this is so, why havn't I ever come across the ripple effect on other busy motorways ?
Have I missed something or is the M25 a special case for some reason ?
Any ideas anyone ? Read more
Teabelly
Without reading the whole of this article, isn't he advocating exactly the same principle as the M25 variable speed limits - i.e. getting everyone moving at teh same (slower) speed gives better progress than stop/start
Last week-end parked up outside a guest house in Haymarket area where we were staying the night at 12.20pm Saturday. Took a quick shufti at the parking sign and read something to the effect "Restrictions apply Mon-Fri 8.00 -6.30". Thought, fine be alright here for the duration of our stay. Ten minutes later, returned to car after stowing luggage in hotel to find a fixed penalty parking ticket on the screen. Re-read sign which actually read, "Restrictions apply Mon-Fri 8.00- 6.30" and then below this, "Sat 8.30-6.30". What on earth is the twisted logic here? Why not, "Mon -Sat 8.00 -6.30" and have done with it?
Several people I spoke to over the week-end, all Edinburgh residents, had been caught out in a similar way at various times. It seems that Mon - Sat, the City employs 24hour parking wardens. At least two people I was with had been booked late at night for as little as five minutes illegal parking, one being my son!
Alright, I should have read the sign more carefully but even so, this smacks of a licence to print money at £60 a throw (£30, if paid within 14 days). Anyway, I pass on the story as a warning to anyone not already in the know, who is venturing to Edinburgh, which in all other respects is a fantastic place to be.
Regards
Ken A Read more
Hi
I got a ticket for parking in a residents only parking bay in Edinburgh, which was directly adjacent to a pay and display section of on road parking. I successfully appealed the ticket because the paint on the road was in a very poor condition and it was impossible to tell where one ends and the other starts. There were signs showing the demarkation, but these have to be painted as well for the law to be enforced.
Jonathan
i have been told from a relable source that jaguar are bring out a diesel x-type. do u think this is a good move. i do hope it has a turbo because it will be slow as hell. Read more
In reply to Brian W
The tax regime is stacked in favour of the diesel at the moment because the comparative CO2 emmission is much lower (despite the loading). Current price of diesel is about the same as unleaded - don't see a reason why it should be cheaper unless you're a haulier.
The power band on my V6 petrol is between 1500 revs and 6000 revs, so I'm not constantly 'rowing' the car along with the gear stick. Auto box makes a lot more sense with a diesel.
There are many articles on diesel particles(!). Here's a link to one
www.ecocouncil.dk/download/dieselpjece_eng.pdf
and finally, don't some buses run on gas nowadays?
I AM HAVING TROUBLE SELLING A BMW 318 IS COUPE WITH ABOUT 90000 MILES ON THE CLOCK FULL (MAINLY BMW) SERVICE HISTORY.THE CAR IS A 1997 MODEL WITH A 1.9 LITRE ENGINE.
I HAVE ADVERTISED IT AT £6500 AND EVENTUALLY COME DOWN TO £6000 AND STILL NO OFFERS. HAVING LOOKED IN AUTO TRADER THIS SEEMS A MORE THAN REASONABLE PRICE BUT STILL NO PHONE CALLS.
HAS ANYONE GOT ANY IDEAS PLEASE? Read more
It also depends on how you're wording your advert....
And how it's presented Dominic. Typing the ad solely in UPPER CASE, for example, IMHO won't do you any favours :o)
I'm currently in a cold, white, Sweden, with a rental Hyundai Matrix at my disposal. Ahem :-(
Apart from the Landrover-esque thrum generated by metal studded snow tyres, the least pleasant aspect of the car is the centrally mounted instrument binnacle.
There is something pyschologically odd about having a black void in front of you when driving at night, instead of a nice warm glow.
There is something equally odd about having the bright (non-dimmable) light source that is the instrument binnacle to one side of your vision, in the middle of the dashboard.
Am I alone in prefering conventional instruments in a conventional location? Hyundai don't even seem to have had production engineering in the front of their minds, because the instrument binnacle is angled towards the driver, inferring another moulding for other markets such as the UK.
What's it like to drive? Hard to say fairly, as the only clear road driven on so far is the E4 motorway, where the winter tyres drowned out everything, but a tall bodyshell and degree of steering inertness is not very confidence inspiring when the going gets twisty. It looks complete cack, too!
I must say though that fully studded winter tyres are awesome. What a shame we're not allowed to use them in Blighty. On an icy road where I nearly fell over whilst getting in to the car, I had to consciously try in order to provoke wheelspin, such was the available grip.
What a pleasure too driving in a country that if switched on it's southern shore would reach Rome, but has less population than London.... Oh well, M25 here I come in two hours time...
/Steve Read more
I was driving around town today (including over the spot where those unfortunate people were burnt in their car after a tree fell on it) when I thought how the traffic laws are not the same for all road users.
Fair enough that we car drivers get flashed and punished for jumping red lights (esp as the number of times I have nearly T-boned or been T-boned is ever increasing) but what about pedestrians. There are green and red lights for them telling them when to cross but there seems to be zero enforcement of this. IMHO if saving life is the main reason behind enforcement then surely "unprotected" pedestrians should be saved from themselves. Read more
Actually I haven't done much other than maintenance and care
for a while.
Does that mean we get a share of your Ploughmans lunch for good behaviour?
Would someone please explain why it should be of any concern to an insurer just how many cars an insured has 'access' to?
I can drive my wife's car as a named driver - so what? I have a 'classic' (well it's a classic to me!) separately insured which I can also drive - so what?
How does that alter the fact that 99% of the time I will be driving the car for which I'm applying for insurance??? Read more
Does it work the other way round, e.g., if you are the 17 year old driver of the Mini, and you have access to Mummy's 3 Series, would you at least get a small discount?
My 90k 1996 Rover 416 auto is off to pastures new. As I pay each new maintenance bill with the words "well there's nothing left to replace now" I just know I'm asking for trouble. (now you see why I chose "No Dosh")
I have my eye on a 2001 V40 S 1.9TD. It's has 60k on the clock and FSH (volvo). The dealer is asking £9.5k but obviously I'm going to push for a deal.
Now I know HJ has his views on V40s..... what I need to know is did Volvo improve matters with the 2000MY enough to make this car a worthwhile buy? I would be particularly interested to know if the problem with suspension bottom ball joints was fixed for these later cars.
Over to you lot.....
Read more
You're probably all going to roll on the floor laughing at this point..... I've just seen an Alfa 156 Veloce Sportswagon 2.4 JTD and can't stop drooling.
Somebody stop me before I hurt myself and my bank balance!
Browse
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Andyeb - re-reading your query, it sounds very like SWMBO's 205 diesel, which did this occasionally, most often when warm. When it happened, the trick was to turn the ign.key quickly back and forward again. It never took ten tries, however! But cleaning up the battery connections usually made things better, and the garage claimed to find loose starter-motor connections on one occasion. The symptoms are reminiscent of a solenoid or relay sticking somewhere.
Battery posts - a gentle go with wire-wool, thin smear of grease, tighten up firmly, and a little grease over the lot. The fiddly bit is re-entering radio codes, etc.