March 2006
Hi
After its latest 90K service, my Toyota garage has warned me that both outer CV joints on my 02 Corolla Estate 1.6 will need replacing: there's a clicking noise on full lock.
1/ Is this normal after 90K, or does it reflect poor design, maintenance, driving habits??
2/ The garage say I don't need to do the replacement until the rattling starts to occur on less than full lock. Does this sound right?
3/ The big question! The garage estimate is 600 GBP for parts alone (plus about 100 for labour). This sounds extraordinary to me, but I've never had to replace CV joints before. What do others think?
Any comments or ideas before I polish up the credit card would be most welcome.
thanks
tony Read more
I have a 2001 leon tdi (90). Recently i have been experiencing a loss of power when accelerating and the revs are around 3,500. Anyone got any ideas what this could be and how much it will cost to repair? Read more
Most likely the MAF sensor - a well known weak point on VAG engines at anything from 60k miles upwards. Try unplugging it and seeing if the car goes better. ISTR that it's the same item used by Mercedes and is much cheaper from them!
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RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
My 98R Vectra 2.0 16V estate has started to stutter and cut. Beyond topping up oil and changing the odd bulb and wiper blade I leave my maintenance to a small one man garage, but he has not got any diagnostic stuff, so tommorrow I am going to bite the bullet and take it to the local dealer for a tech test (at £50!).
In case I get a whole load of flannel followed by a very expensive quote, if any one can shed any light on what may be wrong, or rule something out I would be very grateful. Here are the symptoms:
Day 1. After 15 minutes urban driving from cold, stalled at low revs. ECU light comes on. Try to start, engine turns but does not catch, try again with loads of gas, catchs but sounds rough, and then cuts out 4 more times on way home. 3 hours later, same again, but this time call out RAC. Arrive after an hour, car starts fine, and drives home fine.
Day 2. Drive to work 15 miles and 20 minutes rural A road. All fine no ECU light. Drive home, after 10 minutes car judders once, ECU light comes on stays on, but car seems to be driving fine. Leave it idling on drive when get home, cuts out after about a minute.
Day 3. Same drive to work. Starts normally, no ECU light. After 10 minutes judders once, ECU light comes on and stays on and again car seems to drive fine. Then after another 10 minutes engine dies completely in the space of a few seconds. Try to restart, fail and then leave it for 2 or 3 minutes. This time engine starts smoothly, ECU light is off again and drive home.
All suggestions welcome. We did get a new key the day before the first failure. Could that have been coded wroing and upset the ECU or is it a red herring? If anyone can suggest a good independant vauxhall specialist or diagnostic specialist near Salisbury that would also be great.
Cheers
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Some sensors will "fail" when they get hot but work OK
when cold.
Ineed, my most recent Omega 'issue' meant the car would start & run absolutely fine from a cold, damp start but ran like a sack of PFD once warmed up. Turned out to be a HT lead problem.
The new MB c class seen in Germany plus a report on the B class disasterous sales figures.www.autobild.de/erlkoenige/neuheiten/artikel.php?a...e
l_id=11010
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Ahh - looked again and found it this time.
I guess 'Eine Katastrophe' doesn't take too many language skills to figure out!
when local authority budgets turn to 31st March.
All over Manchester they have just started a programme of upgrading the footpaths. Very nice too, but they ignore the kerbstones, which are generally left in position and the road surfaces are in dreadful condition, but ignored as well.
I wouldn't mind but the footpaths in my area were too bad at all. Certainly suitable for my 18 month old daughter and 81 year old mother to walk on with problems.
Doh!
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive? Read more
So complain to the council - there is a HAUC specification the work is supposed to be done to and the council get paid inspection fees by the utility for inspecting the work - make sure the council do their job.
We run two Mondeo TDCI 130ps Ghia estates doing long run airport transfers.One is a Ghia the other a Ghia X.The guy running the Ghia X is suffering with back pains since having this car and has been advised by his doctor that it is caused by the new car change hard ride.
The Ghia X has caused us many problems with private hire license as a spare space saver wheel is hard to replace in a steel 17" type , and fit the well ???
Does the Ghia X have stiffer suspension than the Ghia as well as 17" alloys with very low profile tyres.Why do ford fit such a varied combination of wheel and tyre size thru the mondeo range.We thought the ST would just have the harder ride , can any body advise or help on this situation !!!! Varying the seat and lumber position has no effect either.
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It could be that the Mondeo simply does not suit his frame and prefered driving position. What about self leveling, have you looked into that? I would guess that both have it though it could be that it was only std on the X at that time.
If alloy wheels are just fitted with an air gun , will I get wheel wobble ? Or have the bolts got to be torqued to a specified degree ? Reason I ask , just had new alloys fitted tyre garage just put them on with an air gun giving the bang bang bang bang noise as the bolts where tightened. Now my steering wobbles . Yes wheels are balanced and have been re checked by 2 diff garages . Read more
If the alloys are new to your car, another thing to check is do they fit on the hubs flat and square?
Some years ago, Motor magazine fitted Wolfrace alloys to their Blydenstein Vauxhall Firenze Estate project and had the same problem. Cure was to machine the wheels locally to clear hub protrusion.
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I wasna fu but just had plenty.
Hello wise ones,
Can you help me out with a motoring mystery? What governs how a number plate is fitted to a car? I have noticed that some plates look smooth as if they are stuck on. Very nice. Others have studs or nuts or something, if you will pardon my French, holding the plate on. Sometimes this interferes with the aesthetics including to the point of making certain letters or numbers look different.
Is there a nice way to fix a number plate, to get it smooth, and if so, who does it? Or am I stuck with Halfords and their nuts?
Many thanks in advance.
Alijazz Read more
I replaced the plates on my car with nice GB ones. They came with self adhesive pads which I used.
No mess, no screws, and no screw-damage-based-water-ingress 2 years on. Look good as well.
My Saxo has 91,000 miles on the clock. I put it in to National for oil / filter change every 6000 miles. I put it into garage to get timing belt done previously and will do that also next time it is due.
I check fluids myself.
My question is, is there any point in me putting it in for a "service". Is there anything that would be done other then oil / filter? Is the car at the stage that I just do the oil changes and deal with any problems as and when they happen, as opposed to doing "preventative" servicing?
Hope this makes sense? Read more
Firstly, check that power is reaching the glowplugs using a multimeter at the plug busbar. The glowplug line should be live as soon as the key is turned to the "ignition on" position, and remain live. It is a common misconception that the plugs turn off when the yellow light goes out. The pre-heat time as indicated by the yellow light should be about 5s for these plugs in coldish weather. Leave the "ignition" on without attempting a start - the plug line should go to 0V after about 20s. This is a safety time-out to prevent overheating and flat batteries.
After starting (with luck, in your case) the plugs stay on in post-heat mode. This is a variable time depending on coolant temperature, and can be up to 5min for this engine.
If your plugs draw 20A initially (each) dropping to about 5A after 3s or so, they are OK. Check with a car-type ammeter, connecting each isolated plug in turn to B+.
If your plugs are not Beru or Bosch, change them anyway.
Then check valve clearances; re-shimming this engine is easy and can be done in-situ. Best of luck, report back.
659.
Hi
I urgently need some advise please. I have a 95 Ford Probe and it won't start. The garage has said it was the distributor - which has now been replaced - but unfortunately it seems there is now a problem with the factory fitted immobiliser. It isn't a Bosch it is a TEMIC.
Does anyone have any idea of where to locate the information on bypassing this so I can pass it to the auto electrician. Alternatively, does anyone know of any AE's in Edinburgh familiar with the Probe?
Thank you Read more
It depends where you have done the by-pass repair. If it’s been done in the Bosch box, then it needs to be re connected . If it’s been done on the wiring before the box, then no . Leave the box off.
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Toyota parts are known to be expensive, though to be on the safe side phone around a few dealers or try some good quality independent outlets.
As for the joints failing, the diagnosis seems correct as the clicking sound is usually a sign of failing joints, these fail due to the rubber gaiters splitting up releasing grease and thus I suppose they become dry and fail. At least thats what I think. I remember mark 2 Vauxhall Cavaliers CV joints/ rubber gaiters used to fail on a regular basis.
I think these joints are manufactured by a company called GKN. "GKN Driveline is the world's No. 1 supplier of constant velocity jointed sideshafts (CVJs) and the worlds No.1 supplier of Torque Management devices. This business has achieved substantial growth in recent years and will continue to take advantage of growth in emerging markets and higher CVJ content on four-wheel drive and all-wheel drive vehicles." ...from thier web site.