June 2003
I have a 94 Vauxhall Carlton 2L manual diplomat with 140,000 miles on the clock, full service history etc and generally in very good condition. In the last couple of weeks a nasty little problem has cropped up with is rapidly getting worse.
About a week ago I noticed the temperature gauge slightly higher than normal, usually sits just above the blue marking but now hovers around the next marker above. This is also when I noticed a slight lack of power when putting the boot down i.e. 5 up and going up a hill.
Yesterday a quick trip on the motorway revealed just how bad the problem is becoming, I was seriously struggling to reach 70mph and dropping down to 45-50 uphill.
When cruising all seems fine except the slightly high temperature gauge, push the throttle a little, nothing happens, push the throttle a little more, the exhaust note drops noticeably, car starts to slowly lose speed, foot down a little more engine rattles (pinking?) and temp gauge starts to climb.
Could the exhaust be partially blocked choking the engine? would this cause high temp / pinking ?
Fuel filter blocked ? How do you check?
There does not appear to be water in the oil or oil in the water although it has lost a little coolant lately. Does all of this stink of head gasket failure !?!
any help or suggestions ?
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Thinking of buying 1.6SE new 5 door any comments about this car would be welcomed. Thanks Read more
Read HJ's comment on this web site. In general VW quality and reliability has fallen over the last few years and attitude of dealers poor. Also new model VW GOlf based on Audi A3 out next year.
Do a search on this site under VW.
I owned an A3 1.8T Sport for a couple of years - (bought it at a year old with 40k on the clock!).
I noticed the new model in a showroom near here, so went for a look - It was a 2.0 FSi Sport (in yellow?!) and despite the colour I thought it looked quite drab. It had a few bells and whistles - but standard cloth interior and it was up at more than £22k. I can't help thinking that's a bit steep - in fact I reckon you'd get a same spec A4 for equal money.
But really wht struck me was that it didn't strike me - if you see what I mean - dull. Makes a Leon Cupra at about £14200 with some haggling look cheap - despite the badge. Read more
Audi - the car for people who'd really like an Mitsubishi EVO, but might feel a bit embarassed in one at the golf club...
That would be me then!
Hi All
I?ve recently noticed that my 306 xsi's rear suspension is not level. The Drivers side is about an inch lower than the n/s.
It's constantly like this, but the car feels fine when pushing down on each corner ( falls and rises smoothly )
It?s a '94 with 97000 on clock.
I've read that it might be the axle bearings, but no real idea.
Any suggestions? Any need to worry?
And how much is it likely to cost to repair?
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Haven't any personal experience of rear torsion bar problems, but I recently collected a friend from the airport in his 94L 405 diesel, and one of the rear bars failed suddenly on a pothole. He was piggybacked back home, and the local Peugeot dealer (Carlisle) fitted a new bar the next day, so the job can't be enormous.
If this subject has been raised before... my apologies. Speed bumps are making car repairers rich ! Most modern car suspensions were never designed for the continuous and massive flexing of suspension components like shock absorbers and bushes etc., caused by mile after mile of steep angled road bumps. Most inexpensive cars have very limited engineering tolerances in all suspension and steering components simply to keep manufacturing costs down. In 2003 the car has reached a superb standard of sophistication only to have all that brilliant engineering reduced to inoperability by a crude, retrograde and deliberate wrecking of safe smooth road surfaces for a highly debatable gain in claimed road safety.
I am all for forcing the worst drivers to slow down, but this system is just not good enough. Read more
Speed bumps are ridiculous. If all the money spent on building them were instead spent on improving junction layouts, relocating dangerously placed lampposts and signs, etc., more lives could be saved than ill-thought out bumps.
Near to where I live, someone was killed recently when a joyrider lost control when hitting a speedbump while pursued by police and ploughed into their car. Freak accident maybe, but not everything's as black and white as it at first seems.
Now that Renault have seen fit to cease production of their highly successful Espace series at the French Matra factory, and are now making them 'in house', will the quality and reliability decline to the alarming levels encountered on other Renault models. Apparently the Matra built Espaces are far more reliable than other current Renault models and this could have a very interesting effect on sales and prices of used examples from differing sources. Read more
Sorry, but I think you are greatly mistaken !!
The Matra products are no better than the in house products.
Remember the mechnical items are exactly the same
VW's have taken to supplying their new cars with a changed remote control zapping system. My wife's new Polo requires two 'zaps' of the remote to open all the doors and boot; one 'zap' opens the driver's door only. I know it sounds trivial but it can be very irritating when you have a passenger standing in the rain or a boot full of shopping and you think you've pressed the zapper twice!
I know that this is for security - one person returning to the car alone at night, etc.
However she is willing to take the risk and would prefer one zap to open all the doors. As usual VW dealers are very vague about this - they promise to 'check with technical' but we have never got an answer.
I know this modification can be done on a Passat (the computer has to be re-programmed) but does any one know whether it can be done on a Polo please?
Thanks in advance. Read more
Ring VW direct ( Goto Web site for technical support Number ) Personnaly I like the dual opening and it stops you from driving around with all the doors unlocked. I would leave it as it is and educate the driver. Regards Peter
So an article in yesterday's Swedish Dagens Nyheter stated.
Basically in a short article which mentioned that technical improvements in car, bus and lorry technology had been offset by increasing traffic volumes was the gem quoted in the title.
The main culprit being NOx. It appears a bus with 20 passengers produces 30% more NOx per passenger kilometer than a car with 1.5 passengers. Or to put it another way a bus with 17 passengers produces roughly the same NOx per passenger kilometer as a single occupancy car.
Methinks cue for a rant from the public transport mob saying its all lies, or unfair statistics.
Considering typical passenger numbers on UK buses, not to mention the vehicles are generally older, I wonder how much worse the situation is in Blighty.
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I should have said, BTW, that I wasn't looking forward to our little journey last weekend but the service really has been transformed in recent years. Yes there are still many serious problems with the rail network which will take years to address but, even so, the stations I've used are better/ cleaner, announcements are more frequent (and intelligible too !!), indicator boards actually work and the whole ethos seems to be more passenger friendly. All in all I think we should give some credit for that because it's deserved even though things are far from perfect.
Until more people start to use buses etc. for some of their journeys the mistaken belief that the whole system is a complete shambles will prevail and conditions on our roads will only get worse. The truth is that far too many short journeys are made by car when there are suitable alternatives available, including walking! Unless we get real, the price for exercising the presumed 'right' to drive everywhere will be that our freedom to choose is eroded to the point where driving becomes a privilege reserved for the few and guess who they'll be !
Can anybody tell me if pistons from a 205 xtdt 1769 cc are the same as the non turbo 1769 cc.
I am after a set of 2 hand pistons anybody Read more
Is it really worth dabbling with 2nd hand engine internals?
Why do you need two slugs anyway?
Yep, the turbo and non-turbo pistons, as mentioned above, are different...
I did have a set under my bench some years ago...sadly now long gone otherwise you'd have been welcome to them.
I have a 96 1.8 LS Vectra and o a trip down the dual carridge way my fuel consumption seemed to half, I went about 90miles and used more than half a tank of fuel.
What could be causing this? Read more
Sorry I may have not explained the problem correctly.
The fuel consumption is halved as in I only get so many miles to the gallon, I am burning more fuel than I should be.
The fuel gauge is fine.
M
Browse
New back box on and wow what a difference, the car is quiet, fast and a pleasure to drive again. Had foregotten what a great car these Carltons were. Got all the power back and some that I don't ever remeber having. No pinking, temprature still a little high but that could be more to do with the recent hot spell of weather.
Many many thanks to all to helped.
....One very happy Carlton driver....