March 2004
Help... Diesel injection pumps used to be contolled by rods and visible thngs! Am I right in thinking that all functions of a pump are now controlled by an Ecu, and any faults are only repairable by someone with the software/reader etc to read the faults. My Rover 600 Diesel runs beatifully most of the time but just recently has started to almost stall on roundabouts etc and the yellow engine warning light comes on., then it will pick up again and run for a day or so without occyuring again... Any ideas ? Read more
South on the A306 Rocks Lane Barnes, where it crosses the A205 Upper Richmond road. I Timed it - 8 - yes 8 lousy rotten seconds. One poor bloke didnt even have time to get his car in gear and handbrake off. Average was three cars across. What is the point! 15 minutes to travel the two hundred yards to the traffic lights - on a Sunday. Read more
How about driving like the cyclists in London: just drive through the red light?
I`m just outside london and most drivers do.cameras or not
Hi folks. Can anyone advise on when to replace the timing belt on a 1.6 1998 A4 Avant? It has 62k miles on the clock. Also, what should I pay for this job?
Cheers
Cas Read more
The front of the car has to be shifted out of the way to gain access to the belt!
I now have these belts down to a fine art!
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groups.msn.com/honestjohn - Pictures say a thousand words.....
Got back this morning from a week in the sun, only to find that the battery on my car was almost completely dead. The parking company (at Gatwick) got me started and said that it's a very common occurence, particularly with new batteries.
The guy told me that the unusually high number of flat batteries had prompted an investigation by BAA which found that the problem was caused by the high levels of EM radiation in certain areas around the airport. Alarms and immobilisers are also affected.
I can understand how poorly designed alarms/immobilisers/ECUs etc. are affected by EMI, but batteries?
The only thing I can think of is that the EMI was causing lights or other circuits to be switched on but there was no indication that the alarm had been activated.
Ideas anyone?
Kevin...
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First you need to find a place where it happens. So you might drive into several parking places and try each one but that is hit and miss and could take a very long time. Each time inserting a meter in series with the battery, preferably without breaking the connection and losing coding. Then taking the meter out ditto and driving to the next place.
Instead it would be far quicker and more informative if you had with you a spectrum analyser that showed what frequecies were present and in what strengths at the various places (together with suitable aerials that receive on all the frequencies of interest).
That equipment is expensive and would need plugging into a power point or you would need to use a motor generator. So you are into spending some money. Secondly you need to test the car placing it at various angles because it may be OK at one angle but not at another.
I suspect it would not be long before you attracted the attention of the security staff and you were given your marching orders.
Impressed by the response to the TDCi cooling thread so I thought I would try you guys with this one.
My May 2002 Ghia X TDCi, now 70k miles, exhibits a low speed clonk and high speed low frequency vibration from the area of the osf suspension, this has been apparent since approx 5k miles though the Ford dealers have not been able to get to the bottom of it. Lower wishbones were changed early on to no avail, it has just very slowly got worse over time.
Any thoughts?
Regards. Read more
Hi, Did have a clonk through the steering particularly on left hand lock that was sorted and has not come back, the problem is an audible clonk that you can feel through the floor/brake/accelerator.
Regards.
I am servicing a friends Vauxhall Combo Van. It is a 1.7 diesel (non turbo) Isuzu engine.
When checking the charging circuit operation I found the following:
If I connect a voltmeter to the battery and then start the engine, the running no load voltage is 13.2 volts. After about 2 minutes (I haven't timed this exactly) the voltage jumps suddenly to 14.0 volts.
This isn't a fluke; I first thought maybe I had a dodgy connection, but I have repeated the test 4 times with the same result each time.
The battery is about 50-70% charged and so has plenty of room for more charge to be accepted.
13.2 is too low to charge the battery fully, but 14.0 is quite acceptable. Once the 14v charge is initiated the full load voltage only drops to 13.7, again quite acceptable.
Is this normal for this charging circuit? is there some device which limits the voltage initially? or is this indicative of some fault?
the Haynes is no help on this matter. Read more
Many thanks, 659.
Went to change the oil this weekend on my 95 plate 620 only to find that the clown who did it last must have tightened it as hard as he could. Try as I might with my fairly hefty socket, I couldn't get it to budge, even with a spray of Plus Gas and little blast with a blow torch.
Normally I would have got the breaker bar out. However, the sump looks to be made out of the same stuff that the oil pump housing is i.e. some type of really soft casting. In a previous misadventure, I only had to show the pump a spanner for it to split left right and center.
Getting to my point, is anyone familiar with these and how much brute force do you reckon it'll take? Read more
Well, had another go it this weekend and everthing went OK. As I didn't really want to take a lump hammer to my socket wrench if I could avoid it (couldn't use a spanner as mentioned before), and I hadn't yet slipped down Maplins to get some component freezer, I decided to test the water with my breaker bar after all. Happily, as I gently applied the force the plug spun free after a moments resistance.
Thanks to all that replied. I'll keep all the tips in mind next time I come across something thats really stuck.
I run a 1966 Landrover with 245000 miles on the clock and would like to be able to see more miles but I have a problem in the dark. At night other drivers comin towards me think the I am a tractor and am moving at about 20mph - this is about 30- 40 mph slower than I am travelling - they then overtake directly at me !!. The reason is because the lights are in the middle with the parking lamps at the edge. What is the law regarding extra \"running lamps\" ? I don\'t want to become one of those fools who illegally run with fog lamps in good weather but I don\'t want a head on accident.
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Here in Nelson B.C Canada, Our M.V. regs allow fog lamps alone as long as the tail lamps and marker lamps are lit as well
And we can use the fog lamps with low beams but we must shut off the fog lamps when the weather clears.
Auxillary driving lamps are allowed with the high beam operations,
Please visit the link below to view a complaint and resolution on a 2004 Ford Freestar mini van
www.rafeonline.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3035
Cheers BJ
My local Nissan dealer has a number of 'new' Micras (3 door, 'E' spec) - actually with up to 800 miles on, but all unmarked and on 03 plates. They're priced at £5995 (+ extra for metallic) Problem is, the dealer can't seem to explain how it comes about that these cars have so little mileage and why he has so many (6). The mileage seems to low for either rental or demonstrator and too high for 'delivery miles'
Should I be worried in case they've been in a field somewhere, or just accept that it's a good discount - even if the warranty will be somewhat reduced? Or shall I just buy the Panda I tried today....... Read more
That site could really use some work, they should take a leaf out of Ford's book
On-line presence seems to be a problem with lots of manufacturers. The Fiat 'car configurator' is still broken, other sites have broken links, outdated information etc. Dealers' websites are often even worse, being clones of the original site, but not properly update.
Maybe manufacturers think that if they ignore the internet it will go away.....
Am I going a bit OTT.
My Leon for the last 3 years has been serviced by my local dealership. That has been six services and a turbo replacement. I serviced the car myself on Saturday last, and could not believe the number of minor items which had been IMO damaged by them. There were a couple of multi-plugs which had been damaged so they no-longer click into place, they are now easily removable without any form of resistance. The boot lining panel which was removed to repair the notorious leaking rear washer jet problem, has been cracked in three locations due to poor design and excessive use of force to remove or replace it.
The cosmetic / sound damping engine cover has which is held in place by three mounting bolts which screw into a plastic / rubber retaining bolt, two of these have been damaged due to overtightening, the plastic covers which hide the bolt heads from view have been removed and not replaced.
Am I making a fuss about nothing?? I cant help but think that if they are this careless and inattentive to such minor detail, do they possess the engineering skill required to carry out a more major engine repair? In my view they broke the multi-plug connectors they should replace them with new, same with the tailgate lining panel and the other aforementioned items!
Leon Read more
I've never done it, but someone should. IE, mark the componets that should be checked, etc under the service you pay for, including tyre pressures, etc (as one member mentioned earlier0 and then report to the local Trading Standards. Because we all maon but do not officially complain is the reason the main dealers and the rest get away with it.
In the main dealers favour - they may appear to cost more initially, but normally work out cheaper as they normally are more aware of common faults and will not try and beat you up if you are not happy with the service.
MM
Browse
Yes, I agree - most likely a sensor or connection issue. ECU failure is very very rare - and mostly only seen when careless jump-starting has taken place.
The brake pedal switch requires accurate adjustment, this might be a contributory factor.
You need specialist software & hardware to interpret the system.
Find a Bosch Diesel service centre - they'll be able to sort it for you. Having the fault light come on is actually a good thing - it means a fault has been recognised and logged, which should aid diagnosis & final rectification.
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groups.msn.com/honestjohn - Pictures say a thousand words.....