July 2006
I was taking my family to Southend today when my car suddenly started running very lumpy and there was a load of black smoke coming out the back. The call-out-man found that the main hose had blown off of the EGR valve that goes to the Turbo, and also that there was a heavy dripping from the Heater valve bypass at the back of the engine.
After the tow home i put a huge jubilee clip back on the turbo hose and it seems to be staying on at the moment, but i'm worried that if there is another fault somewhere then the pressure may build up to a bigger bang.
I can't drive it at the moment anyway as i am going to buy a new heater valve (not sure if it was faulty but as it was dripping i thought it to be quite likely).
Does anyone know if these to faults are linked in anyway and do you think that there may be a further fault that blew the turbo hose off. It was quite oily by the EGR but always has been, and it has been running fine up to that point.
thanks, Carl Read more
Hi.
I have a December 2001 1.2 8 valve punto, had from new, 69k miles, serviced every 12k miles.
During the past 2 weeks, the radiator cooling fan has stayed on for about 10 seconds after most journeys, even after a 1 mile trip to the shops (1 hour after a 12 mile run) I've checked the water level, it's between the min & max marks, no signs of water loss. This is the first time I've noticed the fan staying on in 4 years.
Is this normal or is it a sign of impending problems? Read more
The latest in the punto saga was.
In August 2006, my son took the punto on holiday to france, I checked all fluid levels before he set off on the 250 mile trip to Dover. 20 miles into France, there was a loud bang, steam from the engine & the car stopped, good job we took out European recovery. The car was recovered back to England, examined by a Fia dealer who inormed me that the inlet had melted, the engine was wrecked & it would cost £2600 to fit a recon engine.
I looked at doing it cheaper but with the cost of recovering the car 250 miles back home, sourcing an engine, getting the old one removed & the new one fitted, then the unknown of what damage had been done to the cooling system or the ecu, I decided to put it through an auction as a non runner and get rid.
It made £975. Some might say I lost a lot of money on it but in 4.1/2 years, I had taught 2 lads to drive in it, both lads had driven it hard and I felt I would be throwing good money at a heap of junk so I decided to let someone else have the problem.
I would never go near another fiat again.
I replaced the punto with a corsa, this car has a temperature gauge.
My friend ran out of car tax back in October. Since then his insurance has also expired. He wants to get back on the road but is afraid that they will want to crush his car if he goes to get insurance and tax. Does anyone actually know what would happen? Would he simply pay a fine to the tune of money owed since October? Or would they indeed crush his car?? Please help. Read more
What is involved here is the payment of a 'supplement' under RV (Reg & Lic)(Amendmentt) No 3 Regs 2003 payable on late renewal of vehicle licence where -
(a) a vehicle licence taken out for a vehicle expires,
(b) no vehicle licence was issued for the vehicle before the end of a period of one month beginning with the date of that expiry, and
(c) the registered keeper has failed to comply with requirements contained in Schedule 4.(SORN)
then DVLA can make you pay an £80 (£40 if paid earlier).
They are supposed to do a computor check once a month to weed out those who could be involved and post off to the address on their records.
Now in the poster's case I presume the vehicle is off the road so no seizure can take place. If is is ,then it should have been uplifted and maybe crushed because he hasn't notified an address where he can be contacted.
So to get back being legal. Go to PO get Form 10 and complete :
(Warning: IIRC then there will be a question as to when last Licence expired and date when new Licence required. If there is a gap it will ask whether or not the vehicle has been used on a road between these times. I have known people who tell porkies on this one which is a serious offence and can lead to a substantial fine)
take VC5, MOT and Insurance and take out an Excise Licence.
Then send a letter to DVLA notifying change of address.
If they have sent a 'supplement' charge to the old address then get it paid.
As far as I am aware DVLA do not have the power to institute proceedings themselves for failing to notify change of address. If they did then the Courts would be awash. From my days in the office of Plod it was very rare to get a prosecution for the offence unlerss accompanied by a string of offences.
dvd
New E class launched today. Popped into Woking Motors, my local dealer for a crawl over.
Usual warm, friendly, business-like Mercedes-Benz reception that I have become accustomed to.
'Yes, they had a new E Class in the showroom,
'No it was sold,
'Could I have a look at it'
'Well, it's locked, but you can look at it'
So I had a look at a locked car, twin front wipers - well, that's different.
'Oh and do you have a price list '(I already have the brochure),' no we don't even have a price list ourselves - we can't even price the new car which has been sold and is sitting in the showroom.
This exchange took place while the salesman (I suppose that is the word for him) was walking backwards, out of the showroom while talking to me. Then the penny dropped, it was a minute to 4pm and they shut at 4pm. Sure enough my new friend (not) was driving away in his nice Merc ML
Phrases like running chip shops and organising drinks parties in distilleries come to mind
I think I have read that Daimler Chrysler is in financial trouble - How could that be................... Read more
My understanding was that Mercedes sales in the UK were falling...and that the volume sellers eg A, C and E class were being comprehensively outsold by Audi and BMW models.
Hence you would think there is a greater need to "sell" to maintain the appropriate throughput in the factory. The salesmen in our case let on that there was absolutely no waiting list for A classes and there was easy availability from stock in the UK.
We just been to test driven the Jazz. Drives well, but when we put on the Air Conditioning, there is a screaching noise (Spelling??) coming from the engine. We pointed out to the salesman and he said its the compressor or belt need fixing. What do you guys think? The noise is intermitttant.
The car has full service history, 1 owner, 36k miles on the clock, 03 plate, good condition. Selling at £7k.
The AC is an optional extra which was added to the base model (S). Had anyone else got this similar problem?
The Honda garage reassured us that the problem will be put right when the car is purchased. We told them that we weren't comfortable buying the car with the problem. We decided to walk away, the salesman said they will put in right this week and give us a call next week if we want to test drive again.
We're new to the Jazz, so we don't really know much about any known issues with the car (if any). As many have noticed that we;re looking into the Polo, Yaris and now the Jazz. SO we're opening our scope to increase buying a good car.
Assuming they have fixed the problem and get an invite to test drive the car, we will look at other Jazz SE model which will have the AC and sunroof, but cost a few hundred pounds more.
Any feedback is appreciated.
Read more
Definitely go for an SE - it has other bits that the S doesn't have. The Sport isn't worth the extra, as the differences are almost all cosmetic.
More recenty the S has come with a 1.2 engine, which sounds underpowered for a biggish supermini., SWMBO had one of the first Jazzes (a 1.4 SE as it was called though actually it's 1339 cc) - excellent car but not very fast.
Hi hope someone can help
I've got a 1.6 HDi SE 407 with the standard stereo in, This morning i turned the radio off by pressing the button, now it won't turn back on, I've still got the car phone through the speakers and it will take and eject CD's the display still works listing the air con and Date, but it just won't turn on.
I'm a real novice when it comes like this but wondered if anyone had had this , i reckon the dealer will just fit new stereo, loads of money in other words
Any help appreciated
Jon Read more
407 radio on / off buttons are a well known fault, There's been a modification to the switch.
They will either fit the new upgraded on / off switch or just swop the whole unit over.
I have been tasked with selling a Mondeo on behalf of a retired friend who is in his 70's. He and his wife also have a Polo and are going down to one car, hence the Mondeo has to go. Any advice on what I should ask privately appreciated, I was thinking £2500 but am I dreaming.?!
The car is:
1998 R reg 2.0 GLX Mondeo Estate Automatic
Air Conditioning
Metallic maroon
30,600 genuine miles
One private retired owner from new
Full Ford Service History (serviced annually, stamps in the book at 5119, 10696, 15405, 20280, 24801, 27860, 29626 and 30462 miles)
10 months MOT
4 months MOT
Very good condition, few minor scratches here and there as you would expect but sound, drives perfectly.
Thanks!
Ian D (Yeovil area)
Read more
how many one legged sales reps are there that want a "r" reg mondeo auto?
£1295 sounds its barrel and hope to get a bid off someone........................ i would have thought.................
Hi all,My girlfriend has a 95 punto 1.1,when you touch the brakes(the pedal feels very tight)the brakes jam up and stick to the road with a sudden clunk.Then you have to reverse to free it.The clutch pedal too feels a bit strange too,and there is a looseness feel through the car as if the front end is about to fall out.Any ideas?... Read more
Her indoors will no doubt be ringing me again from Tescos car park when her 1995 punto packs up again,I have been told head gaskets go every 30k,
It was suggested that I drill a 6mm hole in the stat to relieve the pressure on the cooling system /head gasket and this may keep the beast (the car,not the girlfriend) on the road a bit longer.
I was under the impression that the stat allowed the coolant to cool in the rad before cooling the engine,and so on and so on.
If the coolant keeps going around and around,will it get enough time in the rad to cool?..........
Memorable times from 1953 (motor related) taken from the 1953 Guiness book of records.
found this while rumaging in the book case.
Troops called in to break unofficial strike by London petrol tanker drivers.
A conservative estimate that only 25 years of oil at then current rate of consumption from known resources remained.
Bond mini car 197cc £275. 85 mpg @45 mph.
Austin A 30 £475 14s 2 d. 50 MPG @30 MPH.
Standard 8 £481 7s 6d. 55 mpg@ 30 mph.
Morris minor11 £529 10s 10d. 41mpg @50 mph.
The return of branded petrol to Britain, but attendants with skates were only an ephemeral gimmick (picture with ESSO extra shown & lady attendant with said skates)
--
rustbucket (the original) Read more
I just wish Growler was still around to hear your
Where is Growler these days, I can't remember seeing a post form him for ages?
Hello
I have just purchased a radio - grundig SC303 from my local scrap yard but when I connect the wires at the back, the display on my dash board shows ' safe ' I can only assume the code has already been tried 10 times before I bought it. I don't have the handbook for this radio so am not really sure what 'safe' means can any help or offer any guidance ?.
Thanks
Janet Read more
you press and hold AS and switch radio on.
First making sure you have the ignition key turned to position two (i.e, dash warning lights on) otherwise it won't work.
A picture tells a 1000 words.
img311.imageshack.us/img311/4616/code4pj.jpg
Browse
So i've changed the heater valve bypass that was leaking, and replaced the hose with a jubilee clip and all is working fine now.
Thanks again to everyone at Honest John, you've saved me a few more quid !!