April 2003
hi i am selling my mums car i have a price in mind £375 ono
it is a ford sierra estate 1.8 (1992) 148k full fsh\alloys alarm in very good condition for year 6 months tax +6 months mot
every bill drives good is this a fair price your advice most welcome thank you graham Read more
can anyone help, when i start my 1995 1.8 td it smokes like a kipper at idle, its ok when its warm and it does not smoke when its being driven (or revved up a bit). i have done some basics of changing the air/oil/fuel filters, changing the oil its self, had the idle speeds checked but it does still smoke. it starts pretty well and you dont need to throttle it to get it going any suggestions?
cheers dave Read more
Just fitted new BERU plugs to my 405 TD. The difference to starting and cold idling is dramatic. The Champion ones that come out can't have been in long, they look like new.
Steve.
Hi there.
I'm a very infrequent poster but daily reader to the forum, which is why you've probably not seem me about much :)
I drive a Citroen Xantia 1.9TD. Recently, I'd been becoming worried that there might be a fault with my car becuase I was getting low fuel economy - usually about 32mpg.
Each weekday, I'll drive a mile down the single track lane linking my estate with a junction onto the A38 - an NSL dual carriageway. I'll then drive along this dual carraigeway for 5 miles, before pulling off and driving for another mile through very light (I rarely have to stop bar a single set of lights) urban traffic. I repeat this in the evening, and will often pop down the mile long lane in the evening to the shop etc, and back up. I don't drive around with my foot firmly planted on the accelerator. Now, that sounds like pretty untaxing usage - I'm never usually stuck crawling through rush hour traffic. I was very concerend about my low economy.
Last month, I travelled up to Southampton from Plymouth, which is a mixture of dual carriageway, and NSL A road's, with some steep hills. I wasn't hanging about. I also drove up to Didcot via the M3, out for a jolly in the New Forest, crawled around in traffic in Southampton, a city which simply has far to many traffic lights, and went for a trip to Fareham using standard urban A roads. I then returned to Plymouth. All on the same tank of fuel, which I calculated to be about 49mpg. Significantly improved over my usual usage.
Now, the single track lane I mentioned, which I'll negotiate anything up to 4 times each day, has 7 speed ramps on it. Not mild ones, or cushions, but full width ones, which are quite harsh - a family members Golf TDi with Sport Suspension grounds on them, for example. I usually have to slow to about 10mph to take them. It occours to me that the reason for my shocking fuel economy when at home could well be the slowing down and subsequent speeding up from using these speed ramps. Am I on the right lines here? Could it make such a difference?
Also, what effect are these ramps having on my car? I'm driving over in excess of 14 of these stupid things every single day :(
Ta! Read more
I recall that, because most Merc autoboxes change up and down at optimum rpm and speed combinations, some of them are more economical than manual boxes. That said, there are so few manual Mercs around it would be hard to establish the facts. I can't find any figures in the charts relating to comparisons between manual and auto boxes,only diesel and petrol engines of the same capacity where, obviously, diesel does better.
Hi all, been offline for months, finally back. Need advice with front seats for Citroen ZX 3-door. The passenger seat won't flip forward to allow access to the rear. The handle no doubt links to a rod going to the base, and has probably come adrift. Any clues on how to repair?
The workshop manual doesn't mention much aside from removing the seat, and with a baby on the way in the next few weeks it would be nice to use my car instead of the other half's Clio all the time.
Any help gratefully received asap, as I suspect I'm gonna be spending Saturday in/under/on the damn thing.
Regards
Dom F Read more
I've got the head gasket to do on a 1990 2 litre Sierra DOHC engine.Although doing the job doesn't bother me and seems relatively straight forward,I have a query.
I read that if torx type head bolts are fitted then they should be replaced with standard hex head bolts.Is this correct?If so why.
If I do need to change them does anyone have any idea how much the hex bolts are before I start making enquiries.
Last thing,is there any potential "banana skins" to watch for when doing the job?
Read more
There has been a 'design' mod on the bolts and the earlier bolts should be replaced for the modded items. I would imagine they will be around a couple of quid each. These bolts are stretch items so once used need to be replaced anyway. Watch out for the cam timing. For some reason (I suspect a cock-up in the 'design' dept), contrary to every other car I have worked on, the timing marks are correct when they are at an odd angle to each other. The other trap is the tensioner which needs to be replaced and is on a peculiar ratchet mechanism which is VERY difficult to retract if you inadvertantly let it go before you are ready.Amazingly this whole procedure is covered well by Haynes Manual so 'go buy the book'!
Andrew
Happiness is a T70 at full chat!
Does anyone have experience of changing the cambelt on a 1.9dti
I have just replaced mine, complete with new idler pulleys,
couple of odd things, first checked out timing marks, i.e.
crank tdc, pegged crank with timing pin in cyl. block, fuel
injector pump, ok. but noted camshaft alighment to pointer on
camcover appeared 1 notch out. Although engine running fine.
I've fitted new belt and left marks as i found them, and all still seems fine, plenty of power, no smoke, or starting problems
just seemed strange. Anyone else done this work??
I'm still a little concerned over the correct tension of belt,
I've set it able to twist belt on longest run by approx. 45 degree, same as noted before removing the old belt. Haynes manual
talks about Renault tool MOT1? Local dealer had no idea what I was talking about. Problem I have is slight whine at 1,000 rpm
which disappears above and below this speed. Is belt to tight?
Also per similar thread on Alternator recall, dealer offered
FOC. Work on fan belt and pulley, its going in soon. Suppose
noise could be in this area, but only seems apparent since belt change. Any feedback welcome.
Read more
AHHGHH
So you've guessed my age from my old belt twisting techniques
I'm going to panic now and worry about resetting the belt correctly.
And yes I've got a Triumph Stag, 1973 Sapphire Blue, fitted
with Rover 3.5 V8 Goes like hell, in a straight line, but
quite an handful when pushed to limits, i've had it side ways
well almost a couple of times, I prefer the steady plod of diesels these days.
Thanks for the comments. Surely there must be some Renault
lads ot there??
Hi all,
Hopefully you will have been enticed as to what I'm after .....
Well, if any of you will be frequenting breakers yards in the coming week or so - could you keep eyes open for nearly new Ford Focusses.
I need a main cable loom connector and Ford don't sell them separately. So, rather than buy a whole new harness I thought why not get my automative pals to report back.
Now then, there are 3 different versions of the part I want (the newest), so can you confine your reports to 03 and late 52 plate cars. Petrol/Diesel/Hatch/Estate/Saloon makes no difference.
One final point - please make sure that the car is for breaking as opposed to salvage as I don't want to get to wherever and find that its "out of bounds".
In anticipation & happy easter ......
Robert Read more
How do I haggle with a main dealer?
I have made a preliminary look at a secondhand Micra Sport Plus 1.4 (quite rare) which is ex demo. The dealer is asking £5995, which is about £800 above Parkers guide.
They are willing to do a part exchange on my old 1993 Rover Metro but no price has been discussed.
We have gone through the 'mats and mud flaps' routine which the dealer says is worth £100.
He seems keen to do a deal on an overall package, but not to lower the asking price too much.
I have pointed out various marks on the bodywork and an odd tyre, but he says these will be fixed and a new tyre will be supplied to match the other three.
Any ideas on what approach I should take when I go tomorrow for a test run?
I will be paying cash. Read more
Offer him £5500 wihtout the part exchange and walk away if he says no. Try and make sure he has your contact details. If he is overcharging then he knows it and will get back to you with a more realistic offer after a week. This will work if he really wants a sale.
I recently had my head gasket changed and ever since then the performance of the car under 3000 revs has been very poor.It seems as though without the turbo the engine is really weak.I took the car back to the garage but they said they could find nothing wrong.Someone told me it could be due to incorrect timing so I took the car to FIAT to get the timing checked and they said all was fine.I didn't ask them to look any further into the problem due to their ridiculous labour charges!!
Anyone got any ideas? Read more
Thanks for the reply Adam.
Is this something any garage can do or should I only take it to FIAT?
Does anyone know the current situation re bull bars?
I know I read a report quite a time ago which showed they greatly increase the injuries if the vehicle hits apedestrian, and I was sure legislation was going to outlaw them.
That's apart from the stupid waste of energy carting around several kilos of ugly ironmongery .
Anyway someone near me recently took delivery of a 4x4 , with the usual profile of a garden shed and the handling characteristics of a block of flats and he's got one Read more
Along the lines of "whoops it is definately(sic) easy to have a typo"!!
Browse
i dropped of a new ford focus thursday so i dont think she complaining to much