November 2003
My dad recently bought a 406 DT. It ran fine until the rad went, he was driving on the motorway and couldn't stop immediatly. The overheat had warped the head, a local mobile mech came round and did the work. The head was skimmed and put back, the car started fine but the mech said that the head must be cracked as the cooling system was being overpressurised. He said there wasn't much he could do, knocked the labour charge of the bill and that was the last we saw of him.
One week later my dad tried to start the car but it wouldn't turn over. He thought the battery was flat so I lent him a charger. After a day on charge the engine still wouldn't turn over so I went round to give a jump start. Still the engine would not turn, the starter clicked and the engine seemed to turn a fraction.
A lot of the water had dissapeared somewhere, is it possible that over the week it seeped into the engine causing a hydraulic lock?
Any ideas? Read more
Just thought you all ought to know, someone out there obviusly thinks I came down with the last shower.
I advertised my car on Findit Freeads and received an e mail asking me what my lowest price was.
On replying, I then got this email, the contents of which I have cut ane pasted below.
"Thanks for your email,i have called my shipper and he has promised to
come for the pickup of Citroen as soon as we seal this
transaction.A client of mine is owing me some fund in GBP (£4500),I
will instruct him to issue a cashier cheque in your name and once the
cheque clears,You will deduct the cost of the Citroen plus the
tax and my balance will be send back to me via western union money
transfer for immediate shipping arrangment.The reason for this is
that it takes 1-2 days for a check to clear there while it takes a
longer time for a check to clear here.If this is okay with you do get
back to me immediately with your full name, contact address and phone
number for me to instruct my client to issue the check in your name.
Thanks for your understanding in anticipation.
Best regards,
Peter"
I suspect that the car would have been picked up and that would have been it.
Obviously I replied "Cash on Collection or no deal.
Are the Police aware of this and how can you report it and to whome??
Hugo
"Forever indebted to experience of others" Read more
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=17243
There are some worthwhile links on the above thread that will explain the whole thing. Rest assured, nobody will ever come to get the car.
ND
Last weekend car went for a full service at local garage, 2 days later diagnostic light came on and engine was missing. Fortunately have OBD2 diag cable (www.obd-2.com) - said P1203 Injector Cyl 3, fortunately thanks to this board that led me to either faulty spark plug, or coil pack breaking up.
Replaced the plug, no joy, new coil pack (bougicord type, instead of evidently rubbish sagem type) - 45+vat from gsfcarparts.com job done. Used my cable to turn the light off.
definately saved a few quid over taking it to the dealer.... thanks to this board.
Read more
Hi wonder if you can help, noticed you had a problem with your autodiag warning light?
My Peugeot 306 HDI's autodiag light has just come on, but the car is running great. I phoned the dealer and he wants £55 just to connect the car up to the computer, and rather worryingly says it could be the engine management system? What diag kit would you recommend, I couldnt make head or tail of the www.abd-2.com web site?
Thanks
John
It says on the site somewhere to expect a Japanese car to run faultlessly for five years from new, and then the repair bills start, and sure enough my 1998 1.6 has developed a behaviour to let me know it is no longer a new car.
The gearstick makes a buzzing/pulsing noise when lifting off the accelerator. At the moment it only does this at speed in top gear. Should I be concerned that it will develop into a costly repair, or is it just aquiring some character? [Character, in a four pot Nissan? - Steady!] Read more
I fitted a new sensor around 18 months ago (Cavalier 16V Ecotec - Simtec 56)- now I'm getting the warning light intermitantly, usually after about 5-10 minutes running. Fault code is 13 ('oxygen sensor open circuit').
I've done more than 10000 miles in that time.
Does anyone know if other factors can lead to early failure of the Lambda Sensor, or is it just a poor quality part (genuine GM - £115!)
I'll try cleaning it first - are there any fluids worth trying.
Any comments are most welcome. Read more
If you do renew, you dont have to buy a GM sensor,there is a multi - purpose sensor at Cafco for around £33. Any decent motor factor should supply them.
John
Sorry, it's the Astra again.
The last few days, and curiously since it returned from its latest trip to the Wilds of the North, I have begun to notice strange noises.
As always, noises are difficlut to describe, but sometimes it sounds as if there is someone in the boot playing a kind of Caribbean-style drum, with the beat completely in tune with the beat of the engine. (There was no-one there - I checked).
This seems to happen only in low gear, when driving slowly. Once third and maybe 25-30 is reached it goes away.
The sound could also be likened to an amplified heartbeat sound through a hospital monitor.
Would just like to be reassured that this isn't another sign of woes to come.
Thanks for any comments - I know this sounds ridiculous but I need to know that my car isn't dying.
HF Read more
Oo-er, good job I got it fixed then! (Actually Rob takes credit for that - had it been down to me I would have used my tried and trusted 'wait till it becomes crucial or beyond repair' method).
Hi Everyone,
I have a pug 306 1.4 XN (126,000 miles)
The problem is that after about 5 minutes of driving the engine will just cut out. It has happened 3 or 4 times now and can happen at anytime even when just driving along the motorway (i.e. not just slowing down for a round about).
The car will then not start for about 1 minute (guess it is flooded). After this it will then run fine for the rest of the journey and not cut out anymore.
If anyone can help or give a suggestion. thnaks
GT Read more
Replace the temperature sensor on the gearbox end of the cylinder head - I had one doing exactly the same.....gave me the runaround!
--
groups.msn.com/honestjohn - Pictures say a thousand words.....
When in France a month or two back, I saw lots of the new look (well they're new to me anyway) Renaults. Meganes of course and the occasional Scenic or Espace.
... and those with strange names ... is it Avantime and Vel Sartis? Well it's something like that anyway.
The thing is, I've never managed to see an Avantime and Vel Sartis together, side by side. So I've never figured out if they're actually the same car, just with different trim levels and badges, or whether they really are totally different. They certainly look very similar, but is one larger than other?
My curiosity's driving me mad (well almost).
Thanks in advance
Les Read more
Thanks for the clarification, I'm grateful.
Unreliable or not, I've seen some very smart looking Vel Statises (well what would you suggest for a plural?!). I've only seen one in this neck of the woods though.
I have a MK2 celica supra which I have restored over the last two years as a hobby. I was offered a place to display the car at a Jap car show but was only given a weeks notice. I took the Friday off work and took the car for it's MOT, which it passed. The Saturday morning I went to get the tax only to find the insurance company had one letter of the reg wrong on the covernote and they wouldn't let me get the road tax. Desperate not to loose my chance to show the car I decided to take the car and get the tax in the week when the correct covernote came through.
Driving up the M1 I was stopped by the police and reported for no road tax. In the week I bought the road tax (backdated) and thought nothing more of it. 4 Months later I get a summons to appear in court and am being accused of dodging road for the two years that the car was in the garage. I admit that I should not have used the car without tax, but no way have I been dodging tax for two years! I have been told that it is up to me to prove that the car was not used the road during that period.
Guilty untill proven innocent? Is this true? Read more
maybe so in the end!
but he had to endure almost seven months of hassle(various court appearances, solicitor and barrister appointments, time off work to attend various "meetings" and also the inevetable scorn of some of the local community,and some of "the mud is still sticking")
whole thing leaves a bitter taste in my mouth!!
A mate of mine has a \'W\' Reg Vectra 2.0 TD. Upon revving to about 4000 - 4500 ish revs, the engine cuts out, and limits to about 2000 revs. It remains like this until the engine is turned off, and it then resets itself, and is okay again until revved to this amount.
Any ideas??
THANKS Read more
Hello,
I had a similar problem last year:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=7566&m...e
The eventual diagnosis was a couple of perished vac hoses (the computer diagnosis cost £50.40 VAT and the two vacuum pipes were £1.55 VAT each)
I also had a problem very recently resulting in the \"expensive\" light coming on when the engine was under load and at the top of the turbo range - this resulted in the car dropping into \"limp home\" mode (revs limited much lower and no turbo) - this time it was sorted with a new airflow meter:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=10729&...e
Hope this is of some help to you.
Kind regards,
Cyrill666
Browse
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Thanks to everyone for the replies. The car only cost £600 so I think it may be best and least hassle to scrap the car. Seems a shame as other than the engine it's in perfect condition.
Any suggestions on a cheap car for my Dad? It needs to be very cheap and reliable(OAP's don't have much cash, and I'm probably going to end up buying it for him). He's not bothered about electric windows, alloy wheels etc - just a basic car that does the job.
I'm thinking old toyota/nissan