February 2003
In the last 2 to 3 weeks i have encountered smokey exhaust problems which seem to be getting worse and worse. Start up is extremely smokey, and often runs quite lumpy.
The smoke is at its worst when at the lights, or when decelerating. It doesnt seem to be bad if i am accelerating (even very hard). The smoke is a white/grey colour
There doesnt seem to be any loss in power or consumption, however i have only had the car for a couple of months. It seems to be using a little bit of oil, but not excessive amounts. It isnt using any water.
The thermostat does seem to need attention, as it does take a long time to get to temperature, and also fluctuates slightly when it is at 'temperature', but i dont think this is the major problem.
Ok so it has done 140,000 miles, but it should be good for another 90ks right :-). I thought it may be injectors, valve stem seals, loss of compression, or air or water getting into the fuel lines? Can anyone help me?
Troubled Tom
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Anyone got any ideas about why my Previa (1994, 2.4 petrol, auto, 81k) stalls sometimes? Most of the time it's fine but on sometimes the idle flucutates (+/- 250 rpm) and when it's doing this if I change from neutral to drive or reverse, it sometimes stalls. A local toyota garage had it today and since they couldn't reproduce the fault, drew a blank.
Any suggestions appreciated.
Martin - Bristol, UK Read more
Is there any online info on Ford TSBs/recalls, in particular for the new Mondeo?
Thanks,
Tony Read more
Ian,
Thanks for that. A surprisingly short list ;-)
Tony
Carcraft were not recommended by contributors to an earlier thread.
However, further discussion of this would be counterproductive and as such I have removed the earlier thread to avoid any ambiguity or unsubstantiated commentary.
Therefore, we shall leave it at \"not recommended\".
Thank you. Read more
Hi, there was a thread about a year ago regarding a Kenlowe Hotstart in a Focus TDdi. How did it end as I don't seem to be able to tack another message on the end?
In anticipation.
Robert Read more
About to collect second hand car from a long standing dealer,have taken out 2 year warranty with the W.H group trading as "Drive assured" seems quite comprehensive anyone had dealings with such companies ??? Read more
My ** policy (from an unnamed warranty company because I've been chastised for naming companies here before but you can search the forum archive for it)
* will only pay their "approved national labour rate" - 25 pounds per hour, which barely covers a back-street garage let alone a main dealer
* will not pay for consequential failure (i.e. something fails and your engine is destroyed, they will only pay for the item that initially failed)
* will not pay for the "consequences of overheating"
Yours may be different. I would make sure you get in writing or record on tape any claims made by your salesman when selling you the warranty.
IME the only way to get the warranty company to pay out is to return the car to the garage you purchased it from, and let them deal with the hassle with the warranty. The ** phone number is almost permanently busy (and not just engaged, but you have to go through a dial-one-for-this call gate before getting told they are busy and getting cut off). At least if you return the car to the garage you bought it from it's the salesman's problem to get the warranty cover he promised you when he sold you the warranty.
The Warranty Direct policy looks better, at least they are up-front about everything not burying it in the small print. Alternatively you may be better off with no warranty at all.
mike
Car came back from service last night and I have been quoted £291 by local Honda dealer to replace the front discs on my new shape, 95,000mile 99 Accord, is this reasonable? Or is there somewhere cheaper, am selling the car in a few momnths time and trying to spend as little as possible on it. Read more
So Halfords don't list the Accord on their in-shop availability guide for replacement discs, huh?
Another approach, bit of a long shot tho', is to get the official part number from your Honda dealer parts counter and then ask him if any other models use the same part numer. (He should have a cross checking list to make it easy). If so, these other models can also be checked at the motor factor.
What about the Rover 600 - there is a potential for cross-model parts sharing with the Accord? Your local independant garage might have an idea on this?
I am sure that the parts availability guides (in Halfords and motor factors) are not 100% exhaustive. In other words, it is not unheard of for the part you want being listed under another model.
BTW, I am pretty sure Rimmer Brothers won't have anything for your Accord, they only do LR and old BL stuff (as far as I know). I only mentioned them to give you an idea of (the low) prices.
Incidentally, what is the the price of discs from the parts counter of the Honda dealer? Worth a call?
Billy
I drive a 1989 Renault 19 1.7 with the 1721 cc F2N, carburettor engine.
Over the last 3,000 miles (i.e., most of the winter) the car has had new plugs, air filter, HT leads and distributor cap - which it needed - a new starter motor - again needed, regardless of this fault - and will soon be getting a new fuel filter.
Nevertheless, when the car is cold, and irrespective of the manual choke setting, the car takes several goes to start. Changing the HT leads helped briefly, but now the problems are back. Also, it can be very jerky, moving forward suddenly, even when smooth throttle is applied. It also sounds quite rough, a bit like a diesel, and has difficulty idling. When warm, the car idles at the standard 900 revs.
All this applies only when the car is cold and has been left overnight. When the engine is up to temperature, it's fine - it gets 2/3 of the way up the gauge within 5 minutes and stays there whatever you do to it.
Does anyone have any suggestions? It's a good car but if it's not going to start reliably and I'm going to have difficulty shifting it, I'd look very seriously at just scrapping it before something else goes wrong. Read more
The plugs and filter were both Renault OE, the HT leads and cap weren't but don't appear to have caused any problems and work fine together. In all cases, they were quite explicit as to what engine they were for and I'm sure they're the right parts.
In the summer, and at normal running temperature, the engine is essentially perfect - it's quiet and efficient and starts first time when left.
Fuel economy is excellent (although that's another bugbear - the fuel gauge in the trip computer doesn't work). I get 45 mpg on a run if I stick to 70, and about 30 around London (lots of stop start), which is fine for the age and size of the car.
A big thanks to HJ and this site for alerting me to brokers. I've just bought a new UK Polo 1.2e 65bhp through ukcarbroker for £7400 - £1100, or 13%, below list. No hassle, no salesman to endure, all in all the only way to buy.
I was posted a while back about trying to decide between between a Polo, an Ibiza and a Fiesta, well the Polo won, primarily on comfort/driving position and the whopping discount.
Rev.
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From The Times this morning: -
?Mr Dempster, a self-styled friend of royalty and the stars who writes for the Daily Mail, is one of eight people jointly facing drink-driving charges in Richmond this week.
The defendants have been grouped together because their defence wants to claim in each case that the alcohol testing equipment used had been altered without permission from the Home Office, rendering it invalid.?
Bearing in mind Nigel Dempster is a Mail gossip hack who, apparantly crashed his car into a lamppost and legged it to an off license (of all places), where plod arrested him. He later tested positive at twice the limit!
Do we reckon this ?group? is influential enough to pull this off?
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Yes. Call me a cynic - but the quality of justice depends on what you pay. An interesting defence and look forward to how it
deveolps.
Browse
I forgot, smoke plumes when decelerating too and more jerky driving.
I suppose there are many things that can cause these symptoms but please get it checked sooner rather than later. The gasket is a common fault as i emphasised above!