January 2005
I'm sorry if this has been covered before.
My daughter has a 1994 306D Turbo with 161000 on clock.
The heater stopped blowing hot air last week and then on Friday the temp gauge went up to 100 instead of running at mid 70s. As we didnt want to risk her breaking down we took it to the garage yesterday and they have said that a lot of air had got into the system - they removed air and more air got back in.
They reckon it is the head gasket and quoted around £500. Daughter in a real state as its her first car and cant afford new car or major repairs. Today we ran car engine whilst stationery. Temp seemed OK but heaters not working. Has anybody any idea of anything else it could be apart from head gasket. Oil hasnt any white deposits and not throwing out white smoke from exhaust.
If the problem is simpler than head gasket it would be really good. The car runs fine when driving.
Look forward to hearing from anyway who can help.
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Has anyone else noticed the 'stiction' with the Type S? There appears to be a real relutance to allow very slight steeing adjustments especially when at speed on a straight road.
A slight, minor correction in road position normally just requires a tiny turn of the wheel but (my) Type S steering doesn't want to move until an appreciable force is applied and then, of course, the correction is too much.
Is this a function of the electrically assisted steering or tyre pressure or what I wonder?
Any thoughts?
Kind Regards
Hugh Milsom
PS '03 Type S, not the latest VSA version
hjm Read more
I'll ask the question for you - to be honest yesterday I was just grateful that the work had been done and didn't question them. But the first dealer ( the ones who rejected my claim) used a 'test rig' that put the steering under load and was able to measure resistance and other stuff PLUS they said (?) that they could interrogate the steering electronics and download data such as steering load. They also claimed to be able to detect things like large pot holes .... I wonder!
Kind Regards
Hugh
Hi,
Wonder if there are any Citroen Guru's out there?
My Wife's car 'Citroen Xsara 1400 Forte Regeration 2000' has just been serviced and broke down this evening as the fuel filter clip had not been done up properly.
Green Flag got it going and I think needed to use the starter a lot to get the fuel going again.
Here is the problem.
The the Rev counter and Speeometer have some how spun round and are now resting the opoisite side of the speedo stop. (Where the needle rests against the stop the needle is the wrong side)
The rev counter did this one other cold moring when trying to jump start the car (The speedo and rev needle went haywire) but then fixed its self.
Anyideas on how to correct this problem.
Thanks in advance!
Jlo Read more
Just tried this trick on my 1998 citroen xsara and it was a life saver. Amazing that this still works 20 years after the original post.
Thank you so much for this
Despite asking several VW dealers I've never got a definitive answer on which oil I should use in a year 2000 golf non-PD TDI (90bhp). I currently use SLX Long life which is a quality oil but is expensive and may be an over kill considering I change the oil every 4000 miles/6 months. Are there any cheaper alternatives? Read more
Dealers! Dealers! 10w-40 in a Zetec NO - 5w-30 only.
Cheers
Simon
My wife's car, a silver Peugeot 406 estate has a handprint, from my son's greasy hand, on the bonnet. I've tried to wash it off, polished it, and have just tried Autoglym Tar Remover, and nothing works. As we want to sell it soon, any suggestions??
Thank you in anticipation..... Read more
Did you remember to repolish the area/panel. Regards Peter
A couple of times recently I've noticed houses on terraced streets, with no parking restrictions, with signs in the window regarding parking. Neither were particularly polite - one just said "No Parking", the other "You don't live here, don't park here". Both these streets were not near a town centre or somewhere where people park all day, but were near shops, where presumably people frequently park for a couple of minutes.
Whilst I appreciate that these signs are completely unenforcable, what do people think of this practice? I try to be a considerate parker and would never block a driveway etc, but I personally think this is going a bit far. These houses are on public roads with no parking restrictions and the signs are demands, not requests. I can sympathise with people who live somewhere where there are cars constantly parked outside their houses all day, but the two I have seen aren't on particularly busy roads.
I didn't park, on the basis that I didn't want to take the risk return to a scratched car. What would other people do?
Brian Read more
I think the idea that someone mentioned above - that bad parkers and inconsiderate car users are the same outside the car as in it - is correct.
I have the misfortune of living next to a noisy neighbour who always parks her car badly and regularly blocks the entrance the my house so I have to squeeze through a gap a few inches wide to get to the door. Her car is covered in dents and scratches so I put mine in the garage to avoid her driving into it! However, then comes the problem of blocking in the garage...!
Agree with the comments above about universities - I work for a UK university and the parking situation is terrible. There are a few car parks which are used by commuters even though they are supposed to be permit only - the university hardly ever checks!
'N' Reg Mondeo 2 litre T.C.i. Petrol injection.
Problem with an engine misfire between 2000 - 2500 r.p.m In top gear this is approx 25-30 m.p.h and therefore occurs whilst town driving mainly under light load conditions. Any ideas what this could be?
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Richteo, many thanks for your thoughts, I'll leave it disconnected for the time being. Percy.
I drove for a while behind a Mondeo TDCi yesterday, that was blowing big puffs of black smoke out of it's exhaust for most of the time. We were not travelling particularly quickly (60 mph max) and for part of the time we were travelling through a 30 mph limit. It was smoking badly under the most gentle acceleration and it is just one of many that I have seen do this.
Is this not recognised as a widespread problem by Ford and have they tried to rectify it? I have seen it with Focus TDCis too. Read more
I am glad someone else has noticed it, I was beginning to think I was hallucinating.
tonight i left work car started fine drove 4 miles to local garage filled up with diesel jumped back into car went to start it and it was as flat. got it jumped all lights are as bright as a candle. started to drive it home then the stereo started to go on and off airbag light come on. is it the battery or the alternator.... its a 1.7td 1996 astra.
please help me... Read more
Gendan do a "VauxCheck" system which runs on alaptop
I got flashed by what I think was a truvello camera the other day. It was a camera that faced me, with a small number of closely spaced white lines on the road. Thing is though, I thought truvellos used an infrared flash that isn't visible, which is why they can face you. But this one was clearly visible, in fact it was quite startling especially as it was late afternoon. Am I correct in thinking it was a truvello, and is it right that they flash in your face? Read more
I think my sarcasm was too subtle for Lucien so I'll be more specific.
Whenever the issues of tax cameras comes up someone starts banging on about about speeding and running down children. Why running over a child is worse than a granny or even a middle aged man I am not sure but anyhow...
IF the tax cameras were all located in areas where it was even likely that children would be mown down then I feel sure that no one on here would opbject but they are not. By their nature such places are urban and speeding is not usually possible and thus the tax cameras would not generate enough wonga. They are mostly located in areas where the roads are wider, clearer and speedng is possible or even likely. Sitting here thinking about it I can not recall seeing even one camera placed outside a school or hospital, there must be some but I bet not many. I can however remember them being placed on a clear stretch of a brand new dual carriageway (how can a new road be deemed dangerous before its even opened I wonder?).
That is why we are all so negative about them and why I now sigh when someone starts on about 'won't we please think of the CHILDREN' (copyright The Simpsons) because its just a cynical ploy to justify an additional tax on motorists whilst at the sme time doing nothing about bad driving and inapproriate (but legal) speed in urban area which actually can harm children!
Browse
XUD head gasket failures to me seem more common in 306 TDs than other cars with the same engine i.e ZX, 309, 405, 406, Xantia etc and marr what is an otherwise lovely engine. The problem also seems to occur more in Phase 1 306s i.e. up to 1996 than the later ones from late 96 onwards. Maybe they fitted a different type of gasket to the later ones. The engine in my 94 306 is from a late 1996 car, so fingers crossed I may be ok. True to say that infrequent coolant changes contribute to head gasket failures.
Martin