April 2003
wheres the ecu on a 1.6 efi ford escort? Read more
I've just received a letter from Renault stating that "due to the differing legislative requirements of countries where Kangoo and Clio versions are sold, we are required to replace the accessory belt tensioner."
A recall to replace a possible dodgy item on my Clio, fair enough. But due to the legislation of different countries, I don't quite grasp. Neither did the service manager where I booked it in.
Mine is the new type Clio dci (late 2001)if anyone is concerned about what year may be affected. Read more
After leaving home for a long journey yesterday I noticed 2 cars in quick succesion that had broken down. I decided to try and count the number of broken down vehicles on the road during my journey to try and relieve boredom.
I saw 2 Hondas, 2 Vauxhalls, 1 Ford, 1 Toyota, 1 V.W. and 1 Nissan.
To be fair the toyota was an old supra with full bodykit and wings and deserved to be broken down and the V.W. was an old transporter van but all the others were relatively modern.
The one noticable thing about this is that out of 8 vehicles 4 of them were japanese.
An awfull lot of the people on this site go on and on about Japanese reliability which frankly doesn't appear to exist. I know they always top the reliability charts but most reps and animals like myself don't own them so they are always going to do well as they don't get a particularly harsh life.
I'm not saying most old people own a Honda but you know what I mean, it's always the sensible ones. Read more
I bought a Honda bike and it's made in Spain - 15,000 miles, S reg and the paint is falling off the frame and engine. Nuts and bolts are rusting up, plastic is cracking. Not what you'd see on a 'made in Japan' bike I think.
My R reg Yamaha bike is at 50,000 miles and except for some stone chips at the front of the bellypan, looks and runs like new.
H reg Mazda car with 124k miles looks like new underneath. The only signs of rust I can see are on the cast iron block and diff housing.
Ok - firstly apologies if this later seems like a stupid question, but here goes..
We are currently a 2 car family - Audi A6 & Fiesta Zetec. We now are thinking we need only one car, and will be looking to update within the next few months.
Part Exchanging 2 used cars for one new one in a single transaction at dealerships, car supermarkets etc. -- Can it be done, or has anyone tried???
Many thanks. Read more
Of course it can be done, but you will end up with dealer p/x price (or less) on both, best to sell them both privately, or advertise both and if you can only sell one then p/x the remaining one.
Last month my nearside door blew open and caught the window ledge on the front of the house. Bit of a dent on the lip of the door about one inch deep which I managed to pull reasonably straight with a mole grip and then covered with one of those stick on door protectors. Job well done and forgotten till today when I saw what looked like a more attractive set of door protectors in Halfords. You can guess the rest, pulling off the original protector took a chunk of paint with it!
s**s law, this is just big enough to remain unhidden under the door protector. Galvanised body on the Lupo, so no worries there but it looks unsightly. Any idea what I might be looking at cost wise for a minor repair and a small bit of paint touch-up, or do they just want to replace the whole panel nowadays? Read more
Much obliged, Doc. I've sent them an email with the details.
I'm thinking of buying one of these new (..& cheap) but am interested in hearing whether they are as unreliable now as they were at launch. Anyone any tales to tell?
FWIW the alternative is a C70 Cabriolet (chalk'n'cheese) as I can't bring myself to buy any of the mainstream german offerings.
Any help gratefully received.
thanks Read more
I had a 166 with the same motor build quality Zero and does about 18 if you are lucky .Superb to drive though,have C5 diesel now boring but pratical.
To save me ploughing through the whole lot, does anyone know which cars are rated 'highly recommended'? Read more
MINI gets a very good write up (*unless it's yellow with 17" alloys)
Bit of a broad question though, surely you'd be better following FiF's advice.
Lee
MINI adventure in progress
I have just purchased a 97 TDi Sport for a very nice price of £4000.
However, there was one problem with the car; the climate control was not working. After a quick look under the bonnet, I have noticed that there is a belt missing for the aircon unit. I dont know if this was deliberately taken off by the dealer as a red herring for more serious problems, but has anyone else had experience of getting these belts changed, or any other usual causes of aircon failure?
BB Read more
I would imagine either the compressor has seized, or the clutch bearing has siezed. See if the outer pulley turns freely by hand (clutch bearing), and then see if the compressor hub turns reasonably freely and smoothly.
Basically, if it fails these tests, then you need a new compressor. I think they're about £750 from VW, but less from the aftermarket. If the compressor's seized, then it's quite likely that it's puked it's guts on the system, meaning the whole lot will need flushing, a new orifice tube, and a new accumulator/drier fitted. It may also have a leak, but that will need to be tackled later.
I've just done one this morning, and it took about 4.5 hours to fit all the parts and carry out a proper flush. If you don't flush it properly (and many don't, or don't have the equipment) then your new compressor will go the same way in a very short period of time.
If I was you, I'd get back to the dealer and get it fixed. And make sure they fix it properly otherwise you'll be back there shortly. There's only one way to fix a/c, and that means doing it properly, and getting it right first time.
I have 5K to spend on a used car which has to be:
low tax and insurance
good build quality, cheap servicing
5 door hatch preferably
not French unless a damn good reason to buy!
so I have been looking at:
Seat Ibiza 1.4 (V, W Reg)
Ford Fiesta 1.25 or Ford Ka
Vauxhall Astra 1.4
VW Polo
I am tempted by the Seat as it has a good sporty look and as a VW Polo clone has the build quality I am looking for. I plan to test drive all of these apart from the Ka which I have driven before and quite liked. I also like the Clio but it's French and have had so many problems with reliability with my past French cars. As for Japanese I know the quality is great but parts seem very expensive
Your opinions on these and the pros and cons would be great. I have read HJ's breakdown on all these cars but some owners views of these would really help. Read more
Good to see it's sorted now - trust it remains so. Maybe see you report in with a new one in due course? Better call a halt to this exchange or risk a stern glance or two for veering off topic. Maybe it could/should have been tacked on to the Japanese reliability thread currently running?
Rgds,
KB.
The correspondence on starting problems on Mondeo and Focus brought a comment on diesel knock at 2,000 rpm. That problem hit my Mondeo at 700 miles and the dealer has run a diagnostic check and found the earth error (corrected). They also loaded the latest Mondeo software module. No improvement. Dealer is getting the car again this Wednesday. The real problem is the loss of power. The engine ghanges up gear at 2,000 approx. and then sometimes fails to find the power for the higher gear. The result is that the revs fall to about 1,200 and stays in the higher gear. Driving in traffic is dreadful, knock, knock, knock at any steady 30, 40, 50 or 60mph on light to moderate throttle at 2,000 rpm. The dealer says that Ford cannot accept the call for help because this problem does not exist and all help from Ford has to be logged on a fault code. This fault has no code! Car is now 1,000 miles old. Help please.
Read more
Ford do not have a problem with an engine that loses
power and knocks at 1,600-2,200 rpm.
Not true, they have produced regular sofware updates.
Your garage can do no more than run the Ford diagnostic software and the computer will respond with a no fault reply
>>
Not true they can request input from Ford technical. Try another garage.
I have had no reply to my complaints, including a letter to the Chief Executive. Ford do not care.
>>
I wrote to Ford customer services (based Glasgow) concerning a relatively minor issue, they were very attentive, liased with the dealer and Ford's tech dept then, once all was sorted they sent me a letter offering a free service, saved me £200 on a major service.
Regards.
Browse
To just add slightly to Andrews answer, according to the trusty Haynes manual, it's behind the panel to the left of your left foot if you were to sit in the front passenger seat.
PP