February 2006
Are XU7 engines known for head gasket failure?
My wife drives 1995 XU7 1.8 8v Sedan that has given no problems to date (great car) but I decided to drive it to the airport to give it a decent motorway run yesterday. Starting it up from overnight cold it ran on three cylinders for a second or so as it staggered up to idle, and then cleared on to all four. Normally it leaps up to 1300RPM and then drops to 1050 RPM before then dropping back to 850RPM over time.
Having reversed out of the garage, in the headlight beam I could then see a small puddle of water on the floor roughly level with where the gearbox/engine join would have been. (i.e between the front wheels, left of centre) Dipping my finger in and licking revealed the characteristic taste of antifreeze.
The car drove perfectly to the airport at the normal 88 deg C on the gauge and with plenty of poke, but the instant I slowed down the gauge went to 92 deg C and the fan cut in.
I left the car at 04:50am in pitch dark without being able to check the water level, and will return to it tonight at 11:00pm also in pitch dark. Of course I will have water with me as I expect to need it!
Back to my question though; likely HG failure? Read more
Watching a 4x4 squeeze into a space on my street yesterday, I thought the driver was cutting it a bit close to my car as they swung the front of the car around to reverse park.
Out today and discover a scrape about 2 inches by 3 inches in my paint at 4x4 bullbar height. Not impressed at all. Fortunately, it's not *that* noticable, but if you know it's there you can see it from a fair distance away.
Doubt there'll be any marks on the 4x4, but if they park near my house again they might not have their wing mirrors in the morning. Read more
I think the term '4x4' is generally taken to mean a large SUV-type vehicle. i.e. high ground clearance, compliant long-travel suspension with relatively large diameter wheels. Often with ladder-chassis construction.
Obviously something like a Subaru Imprezza is, strictly, a 4x4, but not an SUV.
The 'true' 4x4/4x2 SUV's escape passenger car type-approval and (in the US) CAFE regs - which is one major reason for their popularity. I think (but open to correction) that vehicles capable of carrying a load of more than one tonne are also classed as commercial vehicles.
Hi guys ,
I have had this primera for about twelve months now, with very little probs at all but I have recently noticed that my Blower only works on setting 4, it heats up lovely but it can be a little too much on 4 with none of the first three settings working I have checked all the fuses and they are all fine. Any Ideas ???
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I have done it a couple of times and could now do it in about 10mins. All you need is a cross-head screwdriver. The worst bit is replacing the glovebox lid hingepins - they are a plastic pin with a 'tab' coming off to get hold of. They are easy to pull out, but fiddly to get back.
I change the oil in my HDi every 6k - with such a frequent change, do you think it is safe to use normal petrol 5w/40 oil? The Total Quartz stuff is £29.99 for 5 litres! Even Halfords stuff is the same price.. Read more
Looks like a trip to Farnham will be in order soon then! Thanks again.
Went to the rescue of a retired neighbour with a 1996 N plate Volvo 440 auto 1.8 petrol. Battery voltage 3.6V nothing left on so put it on charge in situ and made sure all the interior lights and things where off as they were and looked at the date on the batter 02 96 Yep Feb 1996 11 years old. The owner told me afterwards that it had been useing distilled water quite a bit in a couple of cells. New battery time £37.73 later and a nice new heavy duty ( Auto ) 4 year warrantee battery. I bet that does not last 11 years. Always nice to help someone. Read more
I see Halfords' batteries are now made by YUASA.
My wife has a 2002 Audi A3 1.6 SE which has done 19,000 miles.
I have just booked it in for a service only to be told that Audi now insist that the cambelt has to be changed not after 60,000 miles as it says in the handbook but after 4 years.
This is going to cost £510 - sharp practice at Audi ?
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PART NO K015489XS, this is for the 8v engine. Double check your engine code though. Our shop retail is £43.12+vat. Don't forget to estimate for Water Pump & Fan/ac belts. Regards
From 4Car, quoting The Independent:
" MG Rover's owner, Nanjing Automotive, will sign only a short-term lease for the Longbridge production site, reports The Independent on Sunday.
The Chinese company has refused to commit to a long-term contract with the site's owners, property firm St Modwen and will only agree to extending its current contract, which runs out on February 22, for six months.
A spokesman for St Modwen told the IoS that Nanjing wants more time to draw up its business plan for sports car production with the GB Sports Car Co before it signs. It wants GB SSC to buy a majority stake in the joint venture and to put up the bulk of the £100m it needs to restart production of MG vehicles.
It is clear now that Nanjing's plans for MG production have been scaled down. It is to continue to lease only 105 of the 400 acres of the site, with the remainder being redeveloped into housing, workshops, offices and a technology park, subject to planning approval."
Votes open on likelyhood of Nanjing, or anybody else, starting production of anything ... Read more
Oh do stop being so damn depressing both of you.
Hi folks,
I've just bought a 1990 Golf II which needs a couple of things doing to it, but overall a nice car.
First problem which is turning out harder than expected is the radio aerial. The previous owner replaced a broken aerial but didn't pull a piece of string through on the end of the cable, couldn't get the new cable back through, and gave up. So I now face the difficult job getting the cable of the new aerial from the plenum chamber through to the back of the radio.
The hole it's supposed to go through is pretty clear and it's really not far from the back of the radio (about a foot to the left, as you sit in the car) but I just can't find a way to get it through.
It appears that when you push the cable through the hole in the engine bay, it disappears into a conduit built into the top of the bulkhead, rather than appearing behind the dash - it pushes in very easily, suggesting it's not snagging on all the cloth damping stuff behind the dash which I'd expect it to.
I can't think of any way of doing this apart from pulling the entire dash out - and as you can imagine, that's not a job I relish.
I tried to remove the glove box to see if that gave access, but couldn't get it out (or even work out why it wouldn't come out) but I'm not at all confident it would help anyway.
There's a cable in a hole right next to it, which appears to be the washer jet heater. If I could find the other end of that, I could probably tie a string to it, pull it through (either inwards or outwards) then pull both cables back through. But I can't find the other end.
Any ideas would be much appreciated! Most stuff on this car seems pretty accessible so I'm disappointed that I can't manage this straightforward job!
Thanks!
-Mark Read more
Thought I'd post an update, just in case anyone searches for this in the future.
I did the job on the weekend. Total nightmare. Took eight hours - dashboard right out which is very fiddly.
I think with hindsight I could probably have done it by removing the radio, heater controls and the outer-most piece of trim around them, and the vent by the passenger door, then pulling out the duct that feeds that vent. I think that would have allowed enough access to the back of that conduit to reach in or poke the cable/stiff piece of wire through.
(To top it all off, having done all this I bottled out and decided a wing aerial was too risky - someone's going to snap it off and I'd be back where I started - so installed a roof aerial, which was much simpler.)
-Mark
After 5 months, I've finally swapped the dealer's plastic key ticket with a small rectangular metal plate wittily engraved "World's Best Golfer" (sigh).
Set me wondering what key fobs fellow BR members use.
_______
IanS
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A very old green Top Gear fob, and a bright yellow smiley, which detaches and you use instead of a pound coin in supermarkets.
Hi Guys,
Hope I'm onto the experts here. Have a 2001 Renault Megane. Having problem putting it into reverse and the gears crunching. Only in reverse and only when engine hot. doesn't do it first thing when engine cold.
could it be Gear box oil need topping up? If so can't see where the gear box oil would go?
Could it be a clutch problem - but then why would the other gears all be fine.
I've read that anything to do with the gear box the whole engine has to come out? Booked it in with the mechanic next week but want some advice as this women doesn't want to be fleeced.
Thanks guys
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If the clutch was at fault, the noise would occur in
all gears not just reverse. Remember, that when cold the gearbox
oil will be more viscous ie. thicker and more able to
absorb clashing gear components and mask the noise. When the gearbox
is hot the oil is obviously thinner and is less able
to do this. I agree that this points towards a syncromesh
problem, but if its happening only in reverse, and slow engagment
stops the problem why bother with the trouble and expense getting
it repaired? Certainly a Renault garage will love to have it
in to fix but brace yourself for the bill, it will
make your eyes water! To check of anything serious has gone
pop, drain the gearbox oil into a container through a cloth
and examine the cloth for any particles left behind. Any solid
objects will be bits if gearbox and will give you a
clue to the problem area. If there are no bits, you
can probably live with it.
Nowt wrong with the gearbox mate. Will be clutch drag - bet a months money on it.
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... Continued as promised.
This has turned out to be one of life's mysteries.
A thorough check at the weekend with the car up on axle stands showed no sign of any leak anywhere. Although the coolant in the expansion tank was slightly down - I know it was bang on maximum when cold checked a couple of weeks ago - I could find no evidence of where it had been lost from. Not even any tell tale powdery white stains on this clean engine. The reduced level was the same as when checked at Luton Airport and had not fallen further.
The coolant puddle on the garage floor came from a drip on the engine lefthand subframe just inboard of the lower suspension arm so the source could be widely located, but at least radiator and front hoses are ruled out. This made me think of interior heater pipes but I can find no problem without stripping the dash out and carpets are dry.
The coolant in the expansion tank was nice and clean with no oily streaks and the engine oil level was bang on maximum and golden clean.
Since this check the car has been driven several hundred further miles often at motorway speeds and hasn't lost a drop of liquid or missed a beat. Cold starting, even after leaving out in the frost instead of garaging has been of the usual instant and well controlled nature.
Murphy of course says the problem will reveal itself when the missus is on her own and I am next working in KL and Shanghai in a few weeks time!