December 2002
I am thinking about changeing my normal diesel engine for a turbo diesel engine.
Whot modifications will i need to make eg,
fuel tank
brakes
wireing harness
gearbox
air senses
thermostats
i have a complete car so i have access to all the parts on the td model
thanx could you plz tell me as i can do all the jobs myself Read more
any ideas on how to change the speedo has stopped working
tried to get the instrument cluster out but it wont come ithink the cable is stopping it and i cant get my hands behind to release the cable.
also where does it connect on the gearbox
many thanks Read more
Are you sure that you are removing all the screws from the speedo head? I say this because when I had, it pulled forward quite easily. The other option would be to take the "glovebox" off first,(which I think is only held on by 4 screws if my poor memory serves me well, and is a bit of a contortionists job) and cut the cable in two at that point. Then if it was the cable holding the speedo head back, that would definately release it, although you would then also definately need a new cable!
The only other point is that it is clipped in behind the heater with about two cleverly designed cable clips, and I did fail to re-clip it as access to the clips was nigh on impossible, but it appears to no ill effect. I never had any problems with the sound deadening as Andrew Moorey has had,I found a route through quite easily. And finally make a note of how it runs past the gear linkage before you take it off. It's much easier than trying to work it out afterwards as I did.
Good luck.
been on here a few times now for advice as I am selling my car soon (hopefully),
My mondeo (1993) is blowing out blue smoke while accelerating hard, or from a cold start, I have been told this is due to the oil valve stems.
Is this a job a novice could do, or is time for another trip to the garage? Prefer to have a go myself to be honest.
steve Read more
Blue smoke from oil valve stems usually appears during startup(OK) and usually when putting your foot down after a period of de-acceleration (oil is sucked down the stems). If blue smoke appears all the time during accelerating you may have a ring/bore problem. Try a compression test?
I like exchanging stories of nightmare car buys.
Has anyone out there got good stories of nightmare car buys, either due to condition or some other reason?
Come on - we;ve all done it!
My worst car buy was a Pug 104. When I bought it the previous owner told me he couldn't open the boot cos the previous seller said one key does all. A claim that I still believe to be true - he was a student type, and circumstances supported this.
I bought it for my girlfriend at the time (now my wife), but she never got to drive it.
It had 6 months MOT and was taxed till the end of the month. The engine sounded dead sweet and had only done 44,000, some docs to support this were available. The condition didn't look too bad so I offered £150, which was duly accepted.
I picked up said car and drove it home.
I took it to a friendly garage to get it checked over and MOT inspector identified leaky rear cylinders, less than adequate floorpan, needing patching and oneor two other bits, nothing too major.
Found key number for boot and ordered Key from dealer. Got boot open.
So - spend £30 on two new cylinders and fluid, £5 for a new wing and front valance from the breakers and drove it some 30 miles to Rugby to get my friend to do some welding on it.
As he was trying to weld the floor, I removed the trim from above the N/S rear suspension strut (this had coil suspension springs with the shocks running through). As the trim cam away, the car sank by about 1 inch! Well I was glad I got to Rugby safely. On closer inspection one of the 3 bolt holes had completely rusted away and the suspension was being kept in place by a small flap of rotting steel.
Car went back on AA transporter. Duly sold for spares for £180! The buyer needed an engine and box for a Talbot Samba (Same car). Read more
See "Dealer advice re naff Vauxhall" post.
And this was also a nearly new motor.
Never, never again will I line the pockets of Vauxhall or my local dealership with my hard earned. Life presents many challenges and I don't for one see why one of mine should be trying to get an expensive car forever sorted out!
Interesting re the Jap comments - Just had a work colleague extolling the virtues of his 4th 200k miler Honda Accord, a hapy experience after a nervous breakdown caused by a Fiat Tempra.
I am considering replacing my trusty but ancient Swedish (non-GM) SAAB with a 406 HDi, having been impressed by the 106D. I intend to buy as recent and low mileage a specimen as possible, and keep it well away from franchised dealers. This has worked well for the 106. Has anyone changed a timing belt on the 406 HDi? The Haynes book gives the 106 the 5 spanner rating, but I found it to be dead easy, after spending about an hour removing one cover bolt. Any comments appreciated. Read more
Hello. I am new to the forum but I have been an avid follower this site for a few months now. I have searched the site but I can?t find anything previously on my question topic.
What is the law regarding traffic censuses (cencii?)?
On my way to work this morning I was held up as a traffic Policeman directed random cars into a cordoned off lane of the (40mph) dual carriageway so that a pair idiots with clipboards could ask the drivers where they were going. I didn?t get stopped myself but I know what they were asking as my brother got stopped at the same place last week.
What really annoyed me was the reduction from two lanes to one in order facilitate the census. This caused a traffic jam to back up to, and snarl up, a roundabout which connects three main roads and a High Street. Just what everyone needs at rush hour on their way to work!
I guess I have to follow the policeman?s directions but do I have to give time of day to the transport people? Can I tell them to stop wasting my time and be on my miserable way? Surely with all the Big Brother cameras bolted to every bridge and sign post is it beyond the wit of the transport planners to pick cars at random and follow them on their TV screens?
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It is an all encompassing section and used as such.
DVD
I think that Dan is following my thinking here.
Its not that I dislike the Police or anything. I have always been treated with courtesy, consideration and fairness by them. I may add that I have never been "Done" for anything by them and have no axe to grind. I just cannot see anything different between what they do on their stops compared to forcing you to stop as a pedestrian or breaking your house door down in order to allow a third party to enquire whether you have;
"Thought about allowing God into your life?"
or
"Considered the Benefits of uPVC windows?".
I don't blame the bloke in uniform who is doing his job . I just think that the powers at be above him are taking the Mick and if the laws of the land allow them to do this then I think they are disproportionate and George Orwell should get a posthumous award for describing the thin end of the wedge.
I think that there must be a number of bad laws in effect if what is happening now is legal. Law and natural justice are two different things.
I would like to add that I greatly appreciate DVD's input here. Its great to be able to have his sort of knowledge and experience at hand.
See www.sky.com/skynews/article/o,,30100-1218130,00.ht...l
This Article reported on the skynews website tells the story of how a RAC patrol went to help a mother who's Ford Focus wouldn't
start, The patrol noticed that the immobilser chip was missing from the ignition key. Apparantly the Mother remembered that her 1Year old had been playing with the key, and had had at one point the key in his mouth.
As a long shot the patrol asked the mother to place the child as close to the steering column as possible and BINGO the car started first time.
I promise the date is not April the first!!
Comments Please! Read more
Pull the other one, it's got bells on it.
FWIW I believe it.
I own a VW Golf VR6 (95N). It’s covered 110,000 miles and been regularly serviced since I purchased it new.
For the last 10,000 miles on any journey, excluding town driving, the engine records a water temp no higher than 70C when it would have normally reached 90C. There is no discernible impact on performance in fact the engine seems much smoother. Three garages (two franchises, one independent) have said the system operates within specification. The thermostat cuts in as intended to prevent overheating and there's no airlock. None conducted road tests.
Has the engine been performing to specification for the previous 100,000 miles or just the last 10,000 and does it really matter? Nobody seems to know.
Some background information you might find useful. In the last 15,000 miles, over and above normal servicing, a number of key components have failed and been replaced - the clutch; ignition pack; starter motor; temp sender; trailing arm bushes and rear discs / bearings / pads. Nothing unusual but there were problems during and following the clutch change.
At the time of the clutch change I failed to leave (never asked) the dealer with the key to isolate the alarm system (Scorpion 5000). On disconnecting the battery to undertake the clutch change the alarm activated on its backup system. After a while the engineer and other dealer staff became fed up with the noise (130db) and decided to deactivate the alarm by alternate means - never fully explained.
On collecting my car it was not possible to unlock the car electronically with either set of keys. They needed re-programming. The odometer had lost all details of the car's mileage and many wasted weeks of the dealer attempting to retrieve the data by interrogating the ECU resulted in nothing. The cabin alarm klaxon also wouldn't activate - now fixed. The dealer has since fitted a new dash insert at their cost. Both old and new temp gauges record similar water temps so I assume both operate/d correctly. ABS has also started playing up even after fitting new sensor to rear offside wheel.
Any thoughts? A friend in the computer industry suggested that the ECU could have been affected by incorrect isolation of the alarm – power surge. ECU websites suggest inadequate earthing at key moments after the clutch and starter motor changes could be the cause. Should I be concerned about these readings and if so, how should I go about rectifying the problem which no garage seems to perceive as important?
Despite the problems I'm very attached to this car. It still goes like a train, returns 30+ mpg on motorway journeys and has only broken down once. Many say get rid of it but I'm disinclined to do so unless the bills are going to start spiralling in which case it might make good sense.
Any thoughts or suggestions on the temperature problem?
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Thanks for the follow-up, very interesting indeed.
I suggest you foward the garage in question to the list of 'Good Garages' on the HJ site itself. Well done lads!
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groups.msn.com/honestjohn - Pictures say a thousand words.....
This seemed to get lost in the thread on the Favorit (unless of course no-one has any advice!)
The consensus seems to be that the Favorit, no matter how good, can be bettered for the money. Does anyone have any other suggestions for where to look? Should we avoid private at this price point? And what sort of model? Toad's thread seems to be aiming for the larger cars - unless there is a good reason to go for one of these, I think a smaller car would be a better idea - she's used to small cars and the insurance will be less of a burden.
Her total budget is about £2k, but as insurance looks like being about £700 (this is what I was quoted on the Favorit, but should come down a bit with shopping around) and she might have stuff like tax to add, so we can look at up to £1.5k. However, I'm wondering if it's worth paying this much - she only really needs something to last a year for now, and can review the situation once she knows if her contract will be extended after the year is up.
I've been told to avoid stuff like Fiestas as they are so easily nicked at this age. (Ditto Escorts - I had a friend who's was always getting broken in to and / or stolen) Are Micras of this age a good bet, or are the problems starting to show through? Are we likely to see something like a Starlet in this price range, and should we avoid it if we do anyway? Anything else?
Thanks for replies so far, and TIA! Read more
Have you considerd the newer shape Rover 200s or the Pug 106 or 306 td, or even a citroen ZX 1.9td?
The Rovers never held their value well, so finding a cheapish one at auction may not be that difficult. Aviod the metro or Rover 100!
The Pugs/citroens on the other hand are pretty good. My sister had the ZX 1.9td and it was surprisingly nippy. The Citroens are another car that held their value.
The other tack you could take is to keep your eyes open for a much cheaper car that has been garaged and well looked after and has low mileage - eg an older shape rover 200, or even the honda equivilent. A relative just got £700 for a K reg in very good condition with reasonable milage. Trick here is to think which cars are not popular with boy racers.
Suggest for insurance you try Prudential or Peter Goord in Plymouth on 01752 361888. I'm with the latter - cheapest premium for top quality cover, and he throws in free ULRS cover, useful if you're tpft, as I found out!
Also, try Esure on the net!
After 20 years of company cars my employer is pulling the plug and giving me a monthly allowance instead. As I do 20-25K a year, mostly private miles, this won't let me run a nice new Volvo as I've been doing. My Volvo is 3 years old, has done 75,000 miles. Nothing's gone wrong with it apart from headlight bulbs and a mirror that didn't heat up any more.
Its the previous model, Classic with loas dof extars as the run out model. 140 bhp.
The leasing company want about £9500 for it.
Good buy? Likley to continue to be reliable?
What else could I get for the money that will do my miles? I've been looking at secondhand deisels to reduce my fuel cost. Not found anything yet I like driving as much as the Volvo. It gives 31 to the gallon overall which is tolerable.
Any bright thoughts anyone????? Read more
Good point - risk of course of not finding it but if not too bothered either way then not a huge loss either. I remember when they took my old Mondeo away - I was sitting in the canteen and watched it being loaded onto a transporter and taken away. The transporter was from a car disposal company, from Cardiff or Bristol if I remember rightly.
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Lee,
You don\'t need multiple threads. Please confine all questions on the same subject to one place. Every time you add a note it will push your thread to the top of the list anyway.
Mark.