July 2003

hootie

was going to say book by it's cover, not very 'motoring' though is it.

Further to recent conversations, just explaining my way of thinking really, and something that set it off.

On discussing whether old or young drivers are the worst, my train of thought was how awful it is to generalise, and to put people in little boxes

Young - all boy racers with no manners (not true)
Elderly - all doddering (with no manners or thought for anyone else either) - not true

You never know, one of those old geezers could be a former racing driver (even I know it's not all formula 1)etc. etc. ;) Whatever, you get the gist..

I look like I'd be all girly and drive some so called hairdresser type car - but I'm not, and I don't (unless it suits to play that card sometimes to fob someone off "oooh no, I really couldn't make a decision on buying that lovely double glazing, you'd need to talk to my husband")


Anyway, once, I had a car to drive (through work) that had been worked on by a team of apprentices - amazing paint job, would get you noticed wherever you were, chrome exhaust, even a chrome engine. The outward appearance of this car raised a few hackles, drew far too much attention for my liking, and worse lead some people to believe it was a really souped up machine. Unfortunately it wasn't, it was a true sheep in wolf's clothing, and I hated it (for that reason I'm not even going into any more detail) I couldn't wait to get rid.

That's what lead me to say that appearances can be deceptive, and I'm sure it's not just me who's experienced that? Anymore examples (motoring ones) ? Read more

Dynamic Dave

Now we've established who's who, etc, some motoring discussion wouldn't go amiss!!

junkit

The car heater fan has stopped working. Its been cutting out for a couple of weeks, but has now finally given up the ghost. Its not the fuse, and the heat still comes through, so its just the fan.

Can anybody advise me what I should do?

Junkit Read more

junkit

Well it turns out it was the fan unit. I found this detailed link of how to change it. website.lineone.net/~quigger/heater.htm

Picked one up from a junk yard for £5. Thanks for the help.

Junkit

Ian P

A little challenge, all thoughts / comments welcome,

I have a 98 Ford Galaxy which very intermittantly stalls as you dip the clutch changing down to 1st or 2nd gear on the approach to a give way or roundabout. Sometimes won't do it for a week, sometimes several times within an hour, sometimes it nearly stalls (Rev counter hits the stop but recovers in less than a second).

It doesn't exhibit any other problems at any other times. Never seen it do it cold although its so intermittant that may be a red herring.

Ford dealer looked, changed a few bits (including coils) and I gave up throwing money away.

My own ignornace may show through in my further descriptions of whats going on :

A small local garage reset the Cars error log on its last service. It had been misfiring and a spark plug had apparently broken down. The car ran fine afterwards except for the intermittant stalling which was still present.

On the last visit to my local garage, to look in this stalling, the Cars error log now reports a code that translates into a 'Vehicle Speed Sensor' problem. They are ordering a replacement sensor as its only c. £15 and minutes to fit. Apparently it could also be wiring between the sensor and ECU which will cost a lot in labour to trace.

Why would a faulty speed sensor exhibit these symptoms ?

Also, and more interesting, my local garage spoke with a technician from Ford (or probably a dealer contact) who asked straight away, after hearing the symptoms, whether the radio / cassette had been changed !!!! and if so was it changed to the correct model !

In fact it was changed a couple of years ago and while I can't be sure the two co-incide we've certainly had the stalling for a couple of years . . . weird huh !

The replacement radio is Ford but a different model and the column mount audio controls ceased to work form the point that the radio / casette was swapped.

Now, and I have no idea what I'm talking about now, apparently the vehicle speed sensor is wired through the radio as well as to the ECU. This is so that the volume can be increased slightly as the car gets more noisy at increased speed.

The Ford Tech said he'd seen another case where swapping out the radio / cassette had led to these kinds of problems. In that instance they put the old Ford radio back in - jobs a good un !

Now, I can see that if the speed sensor is wired to Radio & ECU (possibly to ECU via radio internals) a radio swap could affect the function of this sensor / signal system.

What I don't understand is :

Why might speed sensor problems cause our Car's symptoms in the first place ?

If the problem was that the ECU speed signal is derived via the radio, and the replacement radio & wiring didn't relay the signal on to the ECU properly (or interferred with the signal), why might it be so intermittant ?

Anyone shed any light on any of this ?

Does it all sound like a load of tripe ?

Any and all constructive thoughts or comments greatly appreciated. On a serious note, my wife taxis our three young kids around in the Galaxy and a stall at the wrong moment when pulling on to a busy road could be very dangerous.

Thanks & regards

Ian Read more

Altea Ego

What decisions does the ECU make based on the signal from
the vehicle speed sensor ?

Lots. Now this is not specific for your car but
It is used for fuel consumption savings (shuts off fuel on the over run), anti stalling features (tries to fuel car if its stalling) air bag deployment (not at all, half or full) Auto box (if it has one)trip computer. Radio volume. Traction control, possibly ABS.
I'm trying to understand how this signal getting messed up might
cause the symptoms we're experiencing.


See the links to traction control, consumption, anti stall. They link to the ECU and alter the fuelling to the car.
Is the Speedo measurement driven from the vehicle speed sensor

Yes
>>(because the speedo reading appears entirely stable the whole time . . . I haven't noticed it doing anything strange at the same time as the stalling episodes)

Because it might be driving the speedo directly, which may be immune to spikes, low levels or fluctuations. Also the speedo will average out speed readings (pulses) so you may not see fluctuations.


The only way to disprove the radio is as i said, take it out.


beerthunderman

My two year old berlingo\'s dash has recently started playing up. On startup, the needles and gauges randomly bounce up and down and the clock resets itself. Its as if the pwr supply to the dash is intermittant. I have checked all the fuses and wiring as far as I can.
Has anyone had a similar fault with their cit dash? Read more

hansi

I have a lot of oil residue under the timing belt cover on my 1995 Micra 1.3 SLX Auto.I asked the garage to fit a new gasket last service but they jsut tightened it and cleaned the residue away. It was ok for a while but now it\'s starting to come back again. Should I insist on a new gasket this year or is there another solution? Read more

Greenparrot

Hi Hansi

If you're talking about the metal plate on the offside of the block this is a well known weak spot for oil leaks in the K11 micra - needless to say the dealer knows the fix but they may not have wanted to land you with a bill for 1 hours labour and £30 worth of sealant.
If you or any one you know is handy with a spanner it is a very straight forward fix.
1) Support engine via sump
2) Remove offside engine mount - 4 bolts
3) Remove 10ml bolts holding timing chain cover
4) Gently prise away cover
5) Remove all old sealant & oil from both surfaces
6) Reaseal with a good quality oil resistant sealant & re-
assemble

The timing chain rattle is OK at idle, the sign of problems is when it is more or less constant with engine revs.

Hope this helps

hansi

Anyone got one of these cars? Im thinking about buying the 1.4 auto, it's on 3 years 0% at the moment. Had a test drive, seemed ok, but didn't go far. Read more

DavidHM

If you're happy with the car, keep it. However, for when you do shift it, I should point out that part exchange prices are all relative.

If a car is £2000 overpriced then it's not especially generous of a garage to offer you an extra £1k for the old one. The only figure that matters when deciding where to buy is the cost to change, including interest charges.

What to buy also depends on insurance, economy, maintenance and depreciation. And those are just the financial factors.

wibbler

Hi,
My dad got a caught last year, and is soon to be tested so that he can have his licence back. But no-one can tell him what the limits are for this test (ie what readings his tests have to result in, in order for him to pass). He is particularly worried about the liver test. Of course he has been drinking since he was banned - he goes to the pub, to parties, has drinks with the wife - but not to excess. He doesn't know at what point he should stop/cut down on drinking in order to pass...
Can anyone help? Read more

mr_right

I personally would tell him not to worry, my dad got done for dd and when he applied to get his license back he had to have a blood test etc, he still drank again at parties and the occasional night out he went for the test and was ok. I think it is to see if the person drinks HIGH amounts of alcohol (alcoholic) on a regular basis not someone who drinks in moderation (like most of us).

Halmer

In our

2002 2.0 Passat
1987 1.3 Golf

We use normal unleaded. I've never put Super unleaded in either of them. Should I? Read more

NitroBurner

No!

Pete

Some considerable time ago, a thread was running about the legal situation when driving in a Supermarket car park, as to the question of if the rules of the road apply. Though there was considerable response to the posting, the question was not resolved.

I would wish to ask again,
Do the rules of the road apply when driving in a carpark which is private (not adopted public highway) but to which the public have access?

Is anyone aware of any ruling or court precedent, which would cause the normal rules of the road to apply in a private car park, Supermarket or any other ?

Thank you, Pete. Read more

X5

Reminds me of the Matt cartoon in the Telegraph at the height of the BSE scare.

Matt's usual bloke is sat in a bus, with empty seats all around him except the one right by him, where a happy-looking cow has placed itself. Matt's bloke is muttering something like "Typical - why does the nutter always have to come and sit next to you?"

El Dingo

I have just 'taken over' servicing our 1996 A4 2.6 V6 and would like to know how to reset the service indicator located in the odometer.

Other forums are vague on this point - some later cars can be reset by a combination of push/pulls on the clock set/odo reset pins - this does not work on my car.

Do I have to buy VAG-COM software to do this?
Any other ideas?


El Dingo (Martin). Read more

SamH

I think this will do what you want (although it's not cheap)...

www.international-tool.com/display.asp?sku=ITC-SIR...0