January 2003
I have a fiesta which I bought from a dealer who is of reasonable size but independant. I am not sure if i got a 1 month or 3 month warranty! I have had the car just over 1 month and found out today from Ford main dealer that i need a new ABS sensor (Well done and thanks JamesH, HJ technical, 7/1/2003). The problem as only just recently occurred. Should this be covered by a warranty? Is it simply wear and tear? I know warranties vary depending on dealer. I am sure mine is only the absolute minimum in line with sale of goods act. I am sure these warranties only cover major disasters.
Neil. Read more
Due to a change in my vehicle needs, I find myself very close to buying an Isuzu Trooper. 3.1TD SWB, 1993/L, 115K, genuine UK vehicle with 2 lady owners and no signs of hard use. Interior is unusually tidy, and no dents anywhere. Dealer wants £5,695 (with full service and new MOT) and I persuaded him to chuck in four new tyres as part of the deal.
It's not Sale of the Century, but does that sound like a reasonable deal? I can't find anyone who has a bad word to say about Troopers, reliability wise. And do they have cambelts?
Richard Hall
bangernomics.tripod.com Read more
Theres a 1998 Vauxhall Monterey in the trader this week, 1 owner, ave. miles for £7K.
(With due deference to Gary Larson).
Insights into another culture:
How about these philosophies? All come from a survey of drivers done by the Philippine Sun-Star Daily during last year's Buckle Up For Safety Week:
Some have been translated from the vernacular...and we have to bear in mind that here what looks like familiar English often has in fact nuances of meaning here which we would not find in UK:
"You only need to wear a seat belt if it's the law in that particular town." (meaning "you must...)"
"If there are traffic police about you have to wear your belt, otherwise it's not needed."
"I have never had an accident, I don't need to wear a seat belt"
"My car doesn't have seat belts. I took them out"
"Seat belts hold you to the seat and make it difficult to move about, reach the radio, find your phone when it falls on the floor or light your cigarette. It is also difficult to eat while wearing one"
"Seat belts are advisable for learner drivers and timid people. Once you have your license you shouldn't need them as you become more confident".
"The traffic police are always coming up with these new ideas so they can extract ligay (bribes). Buckle Up Week is just another police scam for raising money". (wait till we get speed cameras!)
"It's pointless putting seat belts in the car's rear. The accident will be at the front".
"If you are a senior citizen you should be exempt from wearing seat belts".
"Seatbelts are crazy, like those on airplanes. Suppose an airplane crashes. What's a seat belt gonna do for you then?"
"Seat belts are a good idea in town where you're always meeting accidents. But you can take them off once you get on the highway. and it's possible to drive fast without them."
"Why do they put seatbelts in expensive cars? Like they're saying their cars aren't safe or something. Korean stuff, OK, but a Mercedes? No way, man".
"Actually I think seatbelts are a good idea if they help prevent accidents".
"Of course seatbelts are a good idea but not for everyone. This isn't a dictatorship like Singapore, the Philippines is a democracy so people should have the right to drive any way they want".
"Women should be forced to wear seatbelts because they are the worst drivers".
"The goddam government doesn't tell me what to wear in my house and I'm damned if it's gonna tell me what to wear in my automobile..."
"Buckle Up Week huh? It's all BS, next week it'll be Don't Smoke Week, Use a Condom Week, Be Nice to Your Housemaid Week, they just do this stuff to distract you from the other crap that's going on -- forget it....."
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...as ever I stand by my sources, which are impeccable, Sun-Star Daily from Cebu. Re snow et al over mountain passes, the last time I used chains (outside the bedroom) was on a Bedford CA van in the mountains somewhere near Sofia circa 1970. We were smoking some soothing Afghan cigarettes at the time which undoubtedly helped. That was the first time I saw Turkish and Iranian truck drivers lighting fires under their fuel tanks to unfreeze the diesel.
...don't get me started....
I have a mk2 golf driver 1.8L J'reg 1992. on a cold start the throttle sticks at 3500rpm, i have been told this may be due to a faulty waxstat, im not sure. And also if i make a short joruney when the car is acting this way, when i turn the engin off it keeps running(well splutering and backfire) for up to 30 seconds after taking the key out of the igniton!! please help as i havent a clue what this is. I love my golf and i want her to be a healthy one!! Read more
If the Weber conversion is still available go for it. I did this back in the late 90s with a 1.8GL that had the same symptoms and I spent a long time trying to get the Pierburg to perform properly. The Weber transforms the car. Manual choke, so complete control over the warm up cycle and twin barrel so economy and performance when required ( as far as 90 hp allowed ).
My car also had a GTI back box and went very well. Sold it to fund my first Audi ( 2.3 E quattro followed by an S2 ). Let us know how you get on....
Hello,
I'm hoping for some advice about my '97 1.25 fiesta. For the past 45K miles (the car has done 66k), the clutch, when cold, has had a very mild judder when made to slip under heavy load, with this judder almost undetectable when the car is warm. Just recently (inline with the recent low temps, oddly enough) the clutch judder when cold has got notably worse to the point where the whole car shakes in my opinion quite violently, but lessons greatly when the car is hot - it is hard to detect.
Would anyone care to suggest what the problem is? I think I know what the cause is, but I don't wish to steer comments in any way.
Any help greatly appreciated.
Fiestaman
p.s. what would be the expected price for a new friction plate, bearing, etc to do the job of replacing the unit properly?
p.p.s what a reasonable lifespan of a clutch that has had a good spread of town / motorway driving, and is driven pretty damn hard. (it's only little engine and needs encouraging...) Read more
As above: but sounds very much like mountings..
madf
As you may have read in the tailgaiting thread, my mate's Mondeo was hit from the rear by a van on Wednesday night, which also managed to push him into the van in front (who proceeded to naff off after the accident without giving details)
He's been told today that the car is very close to been a write-off and could well yet turn out to be one once the estimate is calculated. BUT, the car is in *very* good condition, it's only had 1 former keeper who was an old bloke who serviced it at the Ford dealers religously. Also, the accident hasn't caused (much) significant structural damage, so he would have no problem with driving it again after a repair, it's just the labour charges on an L reg car are likely to outsrtrip it's value. If the bill is almost the same as the car's value (which we've been told it surely will be) can he ask that the insurance company pay for the repairs rather than pay out for the car? 'Cos he really doesn't want to have to buy a replacement.
Plus it would seem a shame to write off a car that is still driveable, is in superb mechanical condition, and isn't even that badly damaged to look at.
Also, if they do insist on writing it off, can he have any recent bills included in the settlement, such as the 4 new tyres and engine tune that he's had this week?
Blue Read more
Hi Blue - someone posted this some time ago (sorry, can't remember who)
www.theiob.org.uk/digest/v/valuation_of_motor_vehi...l
I'd guess it would go on the register as a class D writeoff - sounds bad, but thats life. From what I've seen of these, very roughly, I'd say you'd have to knock 25% off the price after it's been fixed.
The link above gives hints as to 'value' of a repaired writeoff.
Sometime soon I think the law changes and the car has to be inspected before it can go back on the road and this is recorded on the V5. (not sure when, but I saw it on a leaflet that came with my road fund renewal.
Martin
General Question well 2 really.
First has anyone any experience of these new fangled test meters for use on timing belts? From what I understand they use the frequency of vibration when the belt is 'pinged' (engine stationary of course) to determine/judge the correct tension.
Second - does anyone know of a UK facility that hires out specialist automotive tools (like one above and others) to punters?
NormanB Read more
Hi - thanks for the replies.
It was not my intention to set any hares running - as I said I was just curious with the theory, practice and the forums opinions on the 'frequency' approach to achieving correct tension.
I would never consider reusing a belt with an unknown history - if I have got the far with a job I don't want to be going back!
Once again thanks
I am at present looking to buy a new car to replace my 1994 rover 218d. But im stuck between a 1998 rover 420sdi and a 1998 mondeo 1.8.td any good bad points about these cars will be apprieated.
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My local garage told me at the last (passed) MOT (12 year-old BX Diesel), "If someone had said this morning that a 12 year-old BX would pass its MOT I wouldn't have believed it." When I replied that mechanically it was running very well too, the mechanic actually said: "Well, there's not much to go wrong is there?" Wise words indeed.
I see Ford exhibited a Model U vehicle at the Detroit Motor Show, which they claim no part of the vehicle, would ever end up in a landfill site. Many of the plastics used being soy based, rather than conventional petroleum based plastics, which can be composted when the vehicle is eventually scrapped.!! Should be just the thing to grow a few spuds in the allotment!!! Read more
Ford are a bit behind the times I'm afraid.
Back in the mid-Seventies a fellow worker had a Morris Traveller, it got so damp in the back in the autumn that he had a crop of mushrooms growing out of the woodwork. He said they were mushrooms but we never plucked up the courage to actually eat them!! Morris had developed a car that could feed you as well as get you from A to B (most of the time).
When the car finally 'died' he took a torch to the body and made quite a useful cold frame out of it, it used to 'bring on' the tomato plants a treat.
Cockle
Late '97, 306 XSi 2.0 16v:
In July after a 100 mile trip, my engine died and the engine warning lamp came on. It restarted OK and warning went away.
Over the next few weeks the problem started happening more frequently. Pug dealer said it needed new plugs, HT leads and coil pack. I changed all of these (except no HT leads, the coil pack sits on the plugs directly) but the problem persisted and it's happening more often.
A reliable way to bring the problem about is to hoof it over 5000 rpm for a sprint. After a few seconds, the engine loses power, then often cuts back in, then maybe the warning light comes on for a few seconds goes off. Throttle can become jerky, like an on/off switch.
When it's in this mood and I put it in neutral and take my foot off the throttle normally the engine sinks below idle and dies. Sometimes the ECU revs the car repeatedly and the revs bounce and sometimes it recovers and idles normally.
I've just taken it to an independent garage, he cleaned the stepper, changed the fuel filter and refitted the plugs and coil pack. It was fine! the problem appeared to have been fixed, I could boot it no trouble but...
25 miles later it's back, engine lost power completely, warning lamp on, the complete show.
Fuel problem? ignition problem? or something more fundamental like a head gasket?
any ideas please? Read more
Thanks for replying, it is odd that it behaved itself for the time it was with the garage, but not beyond chance. I agree that if it is anything he did then the stepper seems the most likely candidate but can a stepper motor fault affect anything other than idle speed?
It's unlikely to be two separate faults as the stalling always occurs after a jumpy loss of power during accelaration - they're not independent problems.
Someone else has suggested a faulty oxygen sensor, could this produce these symptoms?
Browse
shakes head
You been sniffing the Vodka again?