May 2005
Hi guys,
I went to test-drive a 214 Si 3door last night, and for the money (£300 - bargain) it seemed pretty good. One problem, however, was that the idle was extremely lumpy, revving between 1000 and 1300rpm and generally seeming way more active than it should. Then, when I drove the car, the power delivery too was lumpy, but only on light acceleration. I was expecting hard acceleration to be like sucking minestrone thru a straw, but in fact it seemed to be fine, if a little gutless.
So, to sum up, lumpy idle and lumpy power delivery at low revs. Any ideas what might be causing this? As you can tell from the price, I want a cheap, no hassle car to last me the summer. If it's going to be a case of a flush of the fuel lines and injectors, then I can probably cope with it - if it's going to mean new injectors or anything over £100, I'd be inclined to let someone else buy it.
Another question is how long you could viably drive a car with these problems? I could probably put up with them if they aren't going to do long-term damage.
Thanks for your help with this guys,
Russell Read more
Odd one this, which has left me and the garage foxed.
N reg 1.0 VW Polo starts fine from cold, but if stopped and restarted starts playing up. Ignition turns over, but the engine will only eventually fire up reluctantly with the accelerator fully depressed.
Needless to say, when the car went to the garage a month or so ago for this it behaved perfectly. The problem has reappeared yesterday and today.
Any ideas? Read more
Could well be engine coolant temperature sensor giving incorrect reading to engine management control system causing overfuelling when hot.The sensor is easy to change & is usually blue or green in colour .(cost about £20)
i have a 95 vauxhall vectra 1.8i the engine management light keeps coming on every 2-3 days (3 times yesterday) with loss of power (and being overtaken by OAPs) ive done the paperclip test and its not showing up any logged faults with the engine running. without the engine running it shows up 0335(cranshaft sensor) which ive heard is normal and shows ive got my paperclip in the right place. does this intermitant fault mean something is about to die?(probably the cranshaft sensor this car has had 4 from previous owner receipts) any ideas would be very helpful Read more
Yep, more than likely it's the crankshaft or camshaft sensor. Sometimes a clean of the plug / socket connector and a spray of wd-40 gets rid of the problem.
The camshaft sensor can sometimes throw up an error if the cambelt isn't tight enough, regardless that the sensor is perfectly ok.
Details of how to clean the camshaft sensor here:- snipurl.com/lchv
Some other info here:-
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=30...9
If you use parking meters in London, the Independent yesterday warned several boroughs are now using ParkingEye technology immported from America. The meter texts the warden as soon as your time is up. Just one more thing to watch out for - and no doubt will be taken up in other cities soon. Read more
Hi gang - a neighbour of mine is finally getting shot of the ancient Ford Cortina estate which has been in his garage for about the last 20 years having been stolen, involved in an accident, recovered and then purchased back from his insurers. He'd intended to restore the car but never got around to it! Anyway, the trouble is that he can't find the registration document and can't recall what he told the DVLC (then) abut the car at the time. He hasn't received anything from them regarding the car in years but is hoping to sell it shortly and needs to know what the position regarding documentation etc. is. Can anyone shed any light please? Many thanks. Read more
Yes - I felt that way too when I saw it on his drive for the first time. It was certainly a lot lower than I remembered and when compared to my old 940 estate. Also, the vinyl roof seemed sooooooo old fashioned.
Never having owned a bike, I've always vaguely assumed that sidecars were bolted on the nearside of the bike.
Yesterday I saw one with the sidecar on the offside. The bike was doing about 70, facing oncoming traffic doing the same speed. The man's wife in the sidecar didn't look at all alarmed, but it occured to me that I'd be scared stiff, sitting in a plastic bubble one foot off the ground, watching cars and lorries hurtling at me at perhaps 150 mph.
The car was not particularly visible, especially so as the bike had its headlight on full. At night the combination would have been suicidal.
Are there any rules about this? What about touring abroad - are sidecars reversible? Read more
Some sidecars have sidelights on them.
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Yes, but even so, they are pretty unnoticeable if the bike's headlight is on. I was wondering about the risk of someone oncoming simply not noticing the sidecar sticking out beyond the headlight, and driving head-on into it.
Can't find my service book, so can't look this up. Is the alternator belt a scheduled service or inspection item?
Reason for asking is that mine is frayed on one side after 54k miles, and when I called in for my local mechanic have a look at it, he insisted on driving me home in his car so that mine wouldn't go another yard before the belt was changed. He asked if I'd kept up the service schedule, which I have - I even had the timing belt changed early and I change oil/filters more frequently than the schedule. He didn't want to commit himself, but wondered if the frayed edge might have been spotted or the belt changed before now.
The last time the main dealer saw the car was in October for the timing belt job. So, I want to know if the alternator belt has a specific replacement schedule and how long one is supposed to last, also if there's a specific service at which it's supposed to be inspected.
PS all my receipts are in my service book ... so can't check back through them either.
TIA
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andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmm, doughnuts ... Read more
I am sorry to hear trevor has moved on. That reduces the number of trusted service people in my contacts book to one.
Any news of where Trevor has gone?
Will stop by tomorrow afternoon, only need about a tenners worth have been slumming it in the Impreza of late!
Later,
Leon
Brother in law recently ordered a Scenic 1.5 DCi through motability. The garage has called him tonight to say that the car is no longer produced and he must pay £200 extra for the 1.9.
Can anyone advise where he stands please. Following similar threads on here I said probably best to go through motability as they are the purchasers. He's not paid anything yet so is considering pulling out and going elsewhere.
My only concern is that he knows nothing about cars- and could also be blinded by jargon into paying the extra.
Finally, he is a low mileage fairly slow driver- have mentioned that may be better off with a petrol. Are the petrol ones any good?
Any comments gratefully received. Read more
Just spoken to Brother in law. Seems Renault have swapped the DCi 80 for DCi 100- but is still a 1.5.
Dealers are not going to charge the extra now- so he is sticking with the car. Car is for the benefit of my niece who has the disability- but car won't need to be modified.
The amount of her allowance going towards the hire cost makes it cheaper to do this way then purchasing themselves.
Many thanks for all the above comments. Been very useful.
Pete.
Volvo V40 1.8 HDI petrol (mitsubishi engine).71,000 miles.V plate
Failed MOT on emissions, co too high (0.38%).
Volvo tell me it needs a de-coke, plus hydraulic tappets, followers, & possibly injectors at a cost of £2,500 !!!
Is there any product I can put down the bores to shift the coke & get it through the MOT? Have already put injector cleaner in the fuel. Read more
With reference to my earlier post, the proof that driving style affects coking is in the MOT Hydro-Carbon readings.
The first year after I bought the car from my father the HC reading almost failed (over 200ppm fails):
47,600 miles - HC 173ppm
56,500 miles - HC 63ppm
67,200 miles - HC 0ppm (obviously a reading failure)
77,400 miles - HC 13ppm (after 8 months exclusive Optimax use)
I believe that these readings show that the engine is cleaner now than it ever has been (sice the day it was bought). Driving style is the key to keeping it clean.
Hi all,
Could anyone give me some advise on the best way to remove front suspension struts from the front of a ford fiesta mk 3 1.6 1991.
They seem quite tight in hub carrier and only seem to move when the carrier is hit downwards with a hammer but is this ok to do and then is it also ok to hammer the hub carrier back on to the new strut? (I have unbolted the trackrod ends and lower wishbone arms to give me more movement oh and obviously the strut pinch bolt) Any advise appriciated.
Many Thanks
Steveo Read more
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They can run perfectly ok for a while.I would suggest you run till hot and see what happens..
Ht problems would cause it Coil dist/cap/HT leads or possibly an air leak on inlet manifold.
even Idle air control valve problem
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Steve