February 2006
Astra air conditioning been checked today leak found no gas in system new seals and re-gas required 185 pounds no guarantee aircon will work correctly in case of further faults when tested again.
Is there any other checks that can be done before seals and gas renewed?
Since no gas in system can seals be renewed on a DIY basis if so where can I buy seal kits?
What else could be wrong with the aircon system?
Aircon was re-gassed last May at different garage no leaks detected first re-gas since new car now 6 years old in August.
Suspect I have not been using the aircon enough throughout winter months which has cause the seals to dry out but possible been leaking before last re-gas because not been getting cold for a few months.
Any advice welcome.
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Just taken two weeks' worth of grime from the car and noticed a number of small pieces or flecks of what I think are tar plastered on the bonnet and up the driver's door pillar and back of wing-mirror.
It's hard to see until you're close and when rubbed by a fingernail it appears to take the black layer away to leave an ugly yellow stain?? I've tried a little bit of meths in an inconspicuous part but to no avail. Any suggestions welcome, please!
Cheers
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"Added a liberal dose of Turtle Wax to the area, buffed and it now looks like new!"
Turtle Wax also do "Bug and Tar Remover" which works very well -also adds wax. Costs about £4ish and I've used my sprayer for several years - only needs a little bit each time, spray on, wait 1 minute and wipe off.
--
Phil
dont know if anyone can help me but all my power steering fluid has leaked out, the car is going back to the garage under warrenty but as i drive for a living i need a quick fix until it does is there anything i can substute for the fluid or if not which do i need.
thanks any help is appreciated. Read more
You don't say what year the car is but I've found a few Vectra's where the feed or return banjo bolt on the steering rack had worked loose, and hence the reason for the lost fluid.
Re-tightening the bolt has cured the leak on every occasion so far...
I am not one for causing upsets with my neighbours but I have a case, at present, where I do not feel obliged to back down. We have quite a long frontage on our house and we do, occasionally, leave our cars parked on the road, rather than on our drive, which is just big enough to take two cars, parked in tandem. However, if we want to use the one that is blocked in, it means moving the other one, so the reason for parking on the road from time to time.
I decided to leave the Xantia on the road for a few days and it has now caused the neighbour who lives opposite to complain that he can't reverse out onto the road because of the Xantia's postion. Now I don't park opposite his drive but I do park on my side of the road, either side of his drive. If I leave it one side of his drive, he can't reverse out one way (in his opinion), if I leave the other side, he can't reverse out the other way. So I moved it the other side of the road, as yesterday we were having a new gas meter fitted, and I couldn't park on the drive anyway.
This morning, he has enlisted the help of his next door neighbour to complain (as I was parked outside his house) that I am taking up the space of his visitors.
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Let that be an end to it then.
Fair enough - thread locked. It would have been interesting to hear your neighbours POV, but I expect my mod buttons would have been on overtime if he had of done.
DD.
Ive got a Citroen C5 2.0HDI and basically im wondering if they are a good long term prospect. I have owned it from new and get the oil changed every 6k miles.
My questions is very simple; do these engines last well, or are they a load of short lived complicated rubbish?
Opinions seem to vary wildly.
I have seen statements to the effect that they are a very well designed, robust engine, easily capable of 200,000 miles.
But ive also seen it said that they are a disaster waiting to happen and can go badly wrong after 70,000 miles.
Which of these statements is near the truth please? Read more
Hmm... although I'm a fan of this motor, I suspect that
may say more about the "I am" observers than about the
engine...!
He wasn't deaf and old!
This is my first posting although I have been reading for a while.
I have a 2000 Mitsubishi Space Wagon 2.4GDI with 37000 on the clock. It has always been serviced by the main dealer, including the optional oil flush and fuel additive. I have always used 98 Oct petrol as well. Despite this I have started to notice all the signs of carbon build up within the engine.(rough running, poor starting, occasional tappet noise at low revs) A quick look at mitsubushi forums shows that almost everyone with a GDI engine (some volvo's too)has the smae problem, yet Mitsubishi only advise a strip down and clean up at approx £600, or replacement throttle body at much the same price. Is this acceptible in a low mileage, well cared for car. Mitsubishi state that the UK petrol is not high enough quality, but they sold the car in the UK and must have known about the petrol available. What next? Read more
It might be worth checking out a decoke system called TerraClean. I've not used it myself, but there is quite a bit of discussion about it on the web. Have a Google.
right i have got a citroen saxo 1.1 p reg and the problem is the brake pedal travel is too excessive i have replaced the master cylinder and bled the brakes until no more air comes out from any of the system i did this by starting at the furthest point away from the master cylinder but still excess travel i got in the car and tried pumping up the brakes with the engine switched both on and off and they will not pump up anymore at all please can someone give me some ideas otherwise a rag in the tank seems the only action lol Read more
No. The levers I'm referring to are inside the drums, pivoted to the webs of the brake shoes (the metal part of the shoe at right angles to the linings). There is one lever on each side which is pulled by the handbrake cable, and another on each side which is part of the self-adjusting mechanism. These levers move on "nail head" pins (about 6mm dia) and are retained by star clips - new ones are provided with new brake shoes.
Make sure also that these brakes are correctly assembled - it's possible to get some of the return springs into the wrong holes on the shoes.
659.
Hello Again,
Picked up the Primera 2.2DCi on Friday. £50 valet simply amazing and car looks fantastic (for a diesel estate!).
Car is an ex company car 03 SE spec estate with the 2.2 136BHP DCi engine. Has done 75k with Full nissan service history. Last service done at 72k. Great. Can't go wrong at £4400.
Day 1 - great. Wife happy.
Day 2 - great. We both love it and will be perfect for baby.
Day 3 - plumes of white smoke out the exhaust and no turbo boost.
Call the AA man. He says white smoke = oil. Checks something in the turbo area of the engine (I am non technical). Finds oil where he shouldn't and tows me to the Nissan garage where I will check in tomorrow for analysis and repair!
So big question I am scared of asking is how bad in terms of £'s could this be? New turbo fitted =£????.
Also, the car is less than three years old and has been serviced by a main dealer according to the schedule. Although now out of warranty due to mileage (60k max) its still not three yrs old. Is there any chance Nissan might contribute to the cost because of such an expensive bit going wrong just out of warranty? If so how might I find out?
Thanks again.
ps. Love the car. Will love it more when its fixed and proved itself!
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I don´t believe this mail a seven year old subject and a weird answer suddenly appears.
Dear all,
having found "Honest John" very useful in showing that my problem is not unknown I'd like to ask a few questions..
Background: Fabia 1.4 8V, 2000, 6K miles from new!
Skoda deny that cars were shipped with incorrectly tensioned "stretch bolts" as detaiiled on this site. I have signs of a head gasket on the way out - the car has never overheated. I bought it at 5yrs old with 1300 miles on the clock..!!
This looks like a Felicia motor to me but no manual is available.
Does anyone know the torque settings for the head bolts and stretch bolts? Can I use Felicia ones?
Am I likely to get away with simply toquing down?
As a side issue the rad appears to be leaking at the bottom by the lower hose (have been quoted an outrageous amount to replace and the head gasket estimate beggars belief!). Does snyone have a parts list with diagram as I need to know what fits to what at the bottom of the rad?
Sorry it's long..
Thanks,
Adrian
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Found this while I was looking for something else. Our 2000 W Fabia 8v has shown most of the same symptoms for more than four of the five years we've had it and the combined efforts of two Skoda dealers, supplemented by input from Skoda UK, have failed to fix it. It's had a new head gasket, a new expansion tank, the cooling system has routinely passed pressure tests, they've even tried putting dye in the tank to see where the stuff is escaping, all to no avail. Even when the coolant level shows normal, the Low Coolant alarm goes off a few seconds after a cold or warm (but not generally a hot) start. (I'm pretty sure the sensor unit has been replaced too.)
That's the bad news; the good is that provided you don't mind sloshing in a little G12 coolant every couple of months, and can learn to ignore the beep (which I can hear from inside the house as my wife sets off) and the flashing red light, it seems to run fine. The temperature gauge has never risen above halfway and we've never found any coolant on the garage floor.
Curiously, one of those Skoda dealers wrote to us this week to remind us of the importance of replacing the cambelt. Now, I make my living in computers, not cars, but I'm fairly sure the 8v engine has pushrods and a timing chain. I wonder whether this explains their lack of success with the coolant problem!
Please can you give me your opinion on the Ford Mondeo 2.2tdci 155 bhp (2004 onwards).
I am looking at buying a diesel and would some ideas as to which diesel is the best on the road.
I am looking at spending £13000.
Cheers
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We didn't plump for the 320d for other reasons but on refinement and pace it clearly had the drop on the Mondeo. The Accord fell at a couple of hurdles but was, by quite some margin, the most refined 4 cylinder diesel I'd driven.
I think that you're right in saying that it's perception in that you are familiar with your Mondeo, know how to get the best turn of speed from it and have become inured to it's refinement relative to other vehicles. I didn't own any of the cars mentioned when I test drove them and was able to compare them on an objective basis.
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You can leave it till the summer, just bear in mind everyone else either leaves theirs till summer, or only realises it isn't working when summer (eventually) arrives.
If you get it fixed now, it will give you the chance to find anymore leaks before summer.
There's nothing wrong with your system (apart from the leak), so buying another car won't help. All systems have weak points, and the Astra is no different. If anything, newer cars have poorer, in terms of quality, systems, as everything is getting made cheaper and cheaper.