November 2003
Hi all .
Was wondering if anyone could give me some advice beofr i go to Fiat.
I have been going through about a lire of oil every 800-1000 miles, and Havr recently noticed that my coolant level has dropped, COuld this be a head gasket problem? There is no white gunk around the oil or coolant caps, but it does get a decent motorway run (150 miles) most weekends. The car is a Y reg Punto MK2 1.2 8v and has covered 24000 miles.
ANy help appreciated.
Cheers
Ross Read more
I have a 1994 Punto 75 with 59 000 on the clock.
The other day while tinkering around I noticed a while creamy sludge around the neck of the expansion tank neck on the radiator. There is not a great deal there and the water appears to be clear. Is it the head gasket gone do you think or is a little bit of gunk normal? There are no sign of water on the dipstick.
I am hoping this is not serious as the car has not covered that many miles, and has been serviced regulary!
Any view appreciated.
Many thanks,
FarmerPalmer
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Do you think it wil get any worse? I know things like this rarely get better!
Anyway, I will try and flush it this weekend, thanks
The car is a 1992 230E auto (124) with ventilated discs. About 3 years ago I replaced the front pads in about one and a half hours in a very straightforward and logical process. All was fine. Now they need doing again, and I want to replace the front discs which are probably original. The Haynes manual suggests 2 calliper bolts, and 2 disc screws. Is it really that easy? Has anyone experience of changing front discs. Does anything stick, or cause concern. I can't believe it is that easy, although most things on this model are very straightforward. Europarts suggests discs and pads for £80.
Advise welcome.
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Glad it worked out. Sounds like they've been replaced before, they would orginally have had cross-head screws - Allan screws were substituted later.
The Fiesta went into the dealers this morning to have the mis-fire looked at and now I'm waiting around feeling like a loved one is in hospital!
The mechanic who I showed it to said he had never noticed whether the noise was a natural feature of the car or not, but as I said it had recently got worse he said he would plug it into the diagnostic machine and get it all looked at so I left it with them for the day. I also mentioned the oil consumption and the occasional starting problem in case there is any connection...
Will post back with the results for anyuone who is interested, especially those who replied to my thread on technical matters, which may be where this belongs, I'll see what I have to report back with first!
I know there's very little point in this post so far, but I just feel like I have to do something! :-)
Blue Read more
My dad's got a company Fiesta. I don't know if this is the fizzing u describe, but at low revs (no labouring revs), when you push the accelerator, i.e. putting the engine under load, it sounds like a pneumatic road digger :-) ! Never had that on the previous 1.25.
I have just bought a second hand base model Micra - newest shape April 2003, privately.
When I wind the steering over to the right full lock and reverse I get a clunk from the front offside wheel area, about 1 time in 10. Also hear a similar noise from the rear nearside wheelarch, only heard it once there though. It sounds like a sticking pad or handbrake cable.
Any suggestions? Should I just book it into a stealership under warranty? Read more
I wobbled the wheels and when I move the wheel there seems to be some play in the steering, possibly the rack. Going to call the dealer this morning to get it seen to. Seems to be particularly bad when I run over a pothole and then wind the steering right over in reverse.
Many thanks
i own a mk1 1996 mondeo TD. have trouble starting it in the mornings. It will start at the third attempt. Large amount of smoke exits the exhaust when it first starts then settles down to normal idle. It will start first time afterwards even if left for 4 hours.
the glowplug fuse is okay, there is current going to each of the plugs. Have not removed the glow plugs yet. Seeing a large amount of smoke when it starts up i am guessing the fuel does get through okay.
any idea what can the problem be?
If one glow plug is faulty should it start up at first attempt like on petrol engine with a fauly plug???
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Do you really mean current? or voltage?
If it is voltage you detected, then a glow plug could still be blown.
Ideally you want to remove the glow plugs for inspection.
As a half measure, you could test the resistance of each glow plug (disconnecting the supply connection). Any open circuit (high resistance) glow plugs would be defective.
I would replace all four with good quality plugs, especially if it hasn\'t been done before.
Also check the state of your battery, as these glow plugs drain alot of current along with the starter motor.
It seems like there may be some gremlins in the electrics of the first batch of the new shape A3.
I?ve just had my 2 week old Audi A3 taken by the RAC to my Audi dealer with non-functioning wipers (very entertaining on the M5 today in torrential rain). Upon explaining the problem to reception they asked me to park it next to the other two A3?s with the same problem which have been awaiting parts for 2 weeks or more ?The RAC guy was quite familiar with the new A3 having been called out to a few with electrical problems but in the other cases he was able to cure by resetting the system.
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I've just had an update on this and there is an accepted problem and Audi are considering a recall. It's a faulty wiper motor and I've been quoted between 3 and 5 weeks for delivery. Hopefully this doesn't turn out like the coil problem that VAG had last year.
Having just had my much loved Rover 214is written off for me on the delightful M25 am faced with having to find something else. Have just test driven a Rover 25 1.8 GTi W reg and wonder whether anyone out there could comment on this model. Its got 16500 on the clock and apart from being in a boring blue seems not too bad. Thanks Maz Read more
The Watchdog programme was a catalogue of complaints from owners with K-series problems going back over three years. In fact, Watchdog had to put an addendum to the programme the following week to say that Powertrain had made a number of modifications to the 1.8 K in 2000 and the number of reported HGF had subsequently fallen. The programme wasn't helped by a 'technical' expert that not only had the wrong gasket on the show but also didn't know what MGR had done to resolve these failures.
The list includes:
Redesigned gaskets.
New metal locator dowels in the head and upper block.
New revised tolerance stretch bolts.
Of course, Land Rover said any problems and they wouldn't argue with customers and do any rectification work free of charge. They didn't say that the engine had a problem, that was Watchdog's deduction. But then, this is the Discovery we are talking about, not the most reliable of cars.
The K-series engine is one of the most proven and successful car engines of all time. Used in racing and a range of cars from 1.1L to 2.5L, almost two million of them have been manufactured. It is still one of the highest-tech engines around, the casting techniques are patented by MGR and licensed to companies like Jaguar and Aston Martin for their engine manufacture.
i have a peugeot 406 1.9dt which the engine is knocking,
when you listen to the exaust note it sounds like it is missing a beat, i have losened all the injector pipes one at a time and lisened for change in engine noise, all injectors when lisened too had a noise change.
the car pulls well and stars okay on the 2nd blast of the glow plugs
has anyone got any ideas? Read more
hole in exhaust manifold gasket?
madf
After this morning's hot thread it's clear that buying a car buys you an image, sometimes good and sometimes bad. Are there any cars which this does not apply to?
This idea has been talked about by a few friends of mine when considering a company car (coincidentally, they are all company owners and seem interested in projecting the best image).
Their reasoning (all very different companies) is that people don't want to give their money to you if you seem to flashy, something that just about staggers into the car park looks like you are about to go under and something way-out makes you look like a loose cannon.
The only ideas I could come up with are a Land Rover Defender - because you wouldn't be surprised if the Queen got out of one or if a farm worker got out of one. Alternatively a Mk1 Golf GTi could maybe swing it if it was completely standard and in a dark colour, but that's a bit old for reliable driving and modern service intervals.
One friend eventually went for a Renault Safranne because it isn't "aspirational", wasn't expensive as a 2 year old car and most people wouldn't remember what it was.
Over to you guys for some ideas!
Gareth
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Strange the different reactions these cars provoke. There's a beautiful red E-type that I often see round here and I must admit that it makes me smile to see such a wonderful car. Another factor mught be that E-types are often driven by people who are "getting on a bit" (no offence Morris!!)and it makes me think "there's s guy who has hankered after one since he was a youth and now his kids no longer demand all his money he has fulfilled his life's ambition - good for him and maybe one day......", what's more the people driving them often have a permanent smile from the pleasure they get from it.
Not sure about the Mulsanne - I tend to look at the car not the driver and admire that - bloke driving has probably earned it anyway - and the ain't no envy - just nice to see such (British????) engineering.By the way - just had two very good experiences with BMW drivers - one who let me out of a side road with a cheery wave yesterday and today where I made a real c***-up and got in the wrong lane, who let me in and saved me a great deal of embarassment and possible obstruction to other road users? Yep a 5 series. Thank you!
Browse
was there oil leaking from the old rocker cover gasket? If not, sounds like a fob-off as it's quick and easy to do.
However, not doing themselves any favours as you'll only go back when it drops again!
Keep an eye on how much coolant are you losing.