January 2003
The car is a 1997 Mondeo 2.0 GLX 16v automatic estate. It won?t start intermittently. Usually you can hear the starter motor solenoid click, but the starter motor doesn?t turn. The lights don?t dim, suggesting the starter motor?s contacts aren?t contacting.
Every time this has happened, it has started eventually, for no apparent reason, after about 10 minutes and numerous attempts. It generally happens when the car is cold, but not invariably. The car is mostly used for two, 10 or 15 minute runs in the morning and evening.
The prime suspect is the starter motor?s solenoid or contacts. The battery (at least 2 years old) seems to be well charged; it operates the electric windows for example, with no sign of the sluggishness you might expect of a defective battery. The voltage starts at 12.6V, drops to about 12.2V on switching on the ignition and drops to 10.6V when turning the engine over; the intermittent fault vanishes as soon as you get the multi-meter out, of course.
A colleague had a similar problem with a Mk2 Golf automatic, which would fail to re-start when it was hot. The fault was cured by fitting a relay. I think that there was too much voltage drop through the gearbox interlock circuit, so that there was insufficient voltage to operate the solenoid. He only found that this was a known defect after changing the starter motors, batteries, gearbox switches, etc. on 2 cars. I'm a little reluctant to rush in and change the starter motor, because I'm not entirely convinced that this is the problem.
Does anyone have any previous experience of this problem? Am I doomed to spend Sunday changing the starter motor? Are Halford?s starter motors any good? Can you find out if all the recall modifications have been carried out work on a Ford Mondeo?
Should I call the RAC? ;-)All contributions gratefully accepted.
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In today's DT, HJ responds to T.M. "Nearly everyone has one conviction, or will have by the end of 2003". I don't intend this to sound smug, but I haven't had a conviction in 25 years of driving. Am I really in such a minority?
I would add that I regularly drive at 80-85mph on motorways when safe to do so but rarely, in my opinion, drive dangerously. Neither do I drink and drive, drive through red lights, drive uninsured or do any of the other things that get noticed by plod. Yes, I may be boring!
How many other backroomers are now thinking 2003 might not be such a happy new year?
Chris M Read more
{bump}
In case anyone's interested (my little story above), I pleaded guilty by letter, and I've just got the paperwork back: three penalty points and a £160 fine with £35 costs. £195 in total. I knew that the fine would be a big one, but I'm pleased I got only the standard three points. It seems that if you delay the conviction then only the fine is bigger.
chris
Sirs
I recently purchased an Astra 2ldti 51 plate, the car has now covered some 18k miles, and I am currently using 1ltr of oil per 1k miles. The dealer tells me that this is acceptable and that consumption will drop as the car gets more miles under its belt. Are they fobbing me off, I have heard that this 2ltr and the 2.2ltr engines have oil burning problems that Vauxhall except no responsibility for. Will the consumption slow down; semi synthetic oil is not cheap! Can I take this matter up directly with Vauxhall or would I be wasting my time?
Benjamin Read more
Billy no it doesn?t leak any oil whatsoever. Bought this one from new in 1993 L reg and was one of the last ones although I have seen a couple of M reg ones.
Yes we prefer the Maestro although having said that I couldn?t really make any criticisms of the Vectra. Great engine and very light controls. I follow discussions on this site with interest such as a present running one titled "Vauxhall Vectra are they that bad" and with the hundred of thousands sold there must inevitably be some bad ones out there.
But it?s horses for courses and I like the Maestro.. Noisy TD engine... yes it is at low speeds but get up to a nice cruising speed of 80 and it?s as quite as others. Also I actually like the sound of that Perkins engine. Some like their cars to be either absolutely quiet or in the case of the kids round my town with Nova?s who manage to make them sound like a F1 car. Give me a diesel with no pretensions to be anything else and no electronic gubbins.
Must be in the genes as my brother has one or two cars yet whenever I see him he?s in his Montego diesel. He even had it re-sprayed recently which must have cost many times the value of it.
alvin
I'm attempting to fit a set of Ford mudflaps to a new shape Mondeo. On the front the instructions show the wheel arch liner being pulled back in order to fit the screw brackets onto the wheel arch (after first removing plastic caps). Any idea how this is done? It seems impossible without removing the wheel and liner entirely. Read more
Fiesta mudflaps from Ford come with a clear plastic sticky to adhere to the wing to prevent rusts. They are much better than any aftermarket ones.
I would suggest it is likely Ford ones will be the same for a Mondeo..(More expensive in case of a Fiesta (£22 versus £14) than aftermarket but MUCH better quality).
madf
I have got 37 mpg out of every tankful (now at 7,000 miles)against quoted figues of 51 rural and 43 combined. 90% of my mileage is on a quiet motorway at legal speed. I would have expected 40-45 mpg. Am I being unreasonable?
(my wife's Clio and my previous Primera both bettered quoted figures for the same journey profle)
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I've got a Peugeot 307 90 HDI which came with Continental tyres. The fronts lasted 17000 miles and I expect the rears not to give more than 30000 at present rates of wear.
As to consumption I get about 45 MPG on mostly steady 5th gear running - nothing like the quoted figures.
I should add, I don't thrash my car.
please help up until recently i put £10 petrol in i got about 90mpg its ok... but from last week it dropped down to 50 - 60 mpg please help im only a student and its gettin expensive... Read more
I would check the basics first..
I would make sure no fuels leaking out .. are the fuel supply pipes heavily corroded and leaking ?..
Then check the plugs , leads, rotor arm and distributor cap are all clean and in good condition
If the plugs are very sooty you have a fuel problem.
Make sure the choke goes off when the engine warms up and the air filter is clean (replace if in any doubt) . Check that all connections around the engine are good (remove the connectors to check their making good contact).
If your car has a carburettor the air correctors could be bunged up causing it to run too rich. Something else to check is that the advance mechanism in the distributor isnt seized if your uno doesnt have ecu controlled ignition.
If the car isnt getting hot enough (failed thermostat) replace it as your engine wont be running efficiently if its not getting hot enough.
hope this helps
steve
I'm thinking of buying an Elise or MR 2 as second car. Any thoughts or opinions please? Read more
Will this be a used or a new buy? If reliability is a must then it has to be the Toyota but if it's pure driving pleasure then (according to the magazine reviews as I haven't driven either) it has to be the Lotus.
If it was my cash I'd get the MR2 as I hate unreliable cars and according to some wag Lotus stands for 'Lots of trouble - usually serious' :-)
Why not test drive both and see what you think as it's your cash you'll be spending - either way I'm sure you'll be happy - being able to have either of these as a second car should put a smile on your face - you lucky man.....!
I have a chance of buying a 3 year old peugeot 206 glx 1400 with a kosher 13000 miles on it. It will be available in february. What would be a fair price for it.any suggestions.THANKS.
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V or W reg?
206 prices are very high and I can see this going at a main dealer for £6995. If you can generally buy similar cars off the fleet but with higher mileage, it probably isn't worth offering more than £5500 for it. I've just talked myself up to include a premium for the low mileage; not really sure if that's wise though :-)
Don't forget that a car like that will either have stood for a long time or been used only on short journeys. The most unreliable car my parents ever owned was a Rover bought at four years and 18k, replacing a 100k Audi that never missed a beat. (It's fair to say that Audis are generally better built than Rovers, but still...)
Seems to have been a clumsy week for the girls in our office - two of them have had minor shunts in traffic, and they both need NEARSIDE headlamps! Kind soul that I am, said I'd try and get them cheap if i could. Trouble is, neither headlamp seems to be stocked by the usual pattern part suppliers, and the main dealers want well over £100 each! Anybody know where I might be able to save a few pennies? The cars which need headlamps are:
97R Mitsubishi Carisma
93K Escort Cabriolet (with the RS type headlamp, separate dip/main reflectors) Read more
No need to go to RLBS for it... when I used Bodybits for a back arch for my car, it was ridiculously cheap (£15 + VAT), ordered on Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m. and in my local branch at 9 the next morning.
Well, I must be getting older, because I now have fully comprehensive insurance, a clean licence and a full (protected) NCD. And I've just turned 30, which the motor insurers seem to like.
So it's time to get rid of the family runaround and get a proper car! Currently we have a P-plate Peugeot 405 TD Style estate, ex-minicab, mega mileage, mega basic spec, mega rattly, worth £1000 in part-ex. SWMBO drives it most days, me at weekends and on holiday. Annual mileage around 9,000.
MY requirements are:
Aircon
ABS
Quiet, smooth petrol engine!
Fair bit of poke, at least 120bhp, preferably more
Some toys to keep me happy, ie elec windows, cruise control would be nice
5 doors
Luxury rather than outright sportiness
Group 14 insurance or less
Cheap to service
Reliable
Not too thirsty, V6 would be nice but too expensive to run at the mo
HER requirements are:
Decent size boot for all the clutter that goes with kids of 4 and 2
Manual, not auto gearbox
Remote central locking
No more length than the 405, that's difficult enough to park!
We're looking at R,S and T reg cars at places like the GTC or similar, up to about £4k (will be on finance). Likely candidates include Honda Accord, Toyota Avensis, Nissan Primera, Ford Mondeo. SWMBO fell in love with an 85k mile 98S Mondeo Ghia X 2.0 16v manual with leather, air and cruise for £3899 screen price last weekend, but now it's been sold. Should we look for another Ghia or Ghia X? Any other recommendations please? Read more
I understand their trade-in prices are very low, and there is
no opportunity to haggle down their prices. Is that right?
Yes, Yes!
My trade-in price was low but the car was coming up for MOT and would have needed at least a few 100 spent on it plus servicing so I couldn't complain. Also the cat relieved himself in it about 6 months previously and I gave up trying to get rid of the smell!!!! Otherwise, I would suggest trying a private sale although, thinking about that, I'm not sure if I could be bothered with the hassle for a not guaranteed extra few 100.
Haggling - there was no haggling on their asking price and, regarding the trade in, he tried to make me think I'd moved him from 800 to 1K but this was definitely in his calculations all along.
Splodgeface
Browse
If low voltage, how can it have plenty of charge? That's like saying my watering can is empty but I can still water the garden with it!!!