December 2006

jeremy99

I have just had the first major service on my Mondeo (late 2004 owned from new) TDCi 130.

Now the car is sluggish until 2,500 rpm whereas before it picked up well enough from 2,000 rpm. Rarely there is also a misfire on a light throttle. I have to drop from sixth to fifth to climb motorway hills at 70 mph! Fuel consumption is slightly better at 47 mpg rather than 43 mpg. Wide throttle openings and lower revs do not give quite the same surge of torque as they did before.

Looking at the forum ther has been an issue with fuel filters, this has been changed by the dealer for the first time.

Is it possible that the fuel filter change can cause this or is it more likely that something has been disturbed on the induction side with the air filter change?

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jeremy99

It was the 37,500 service and it has a new filter.

No loose hoses I can see. Seems to be improving now after around 700 miles in last three days, so perhaps the software is relearning something.

There is boost but perhaps not the overboost.

Glaikit Wee Scunner {P}

Amazed to note that my new tax disc has cost me £5 less than last year. Anyone else noticed this?
A couple of pints on the Chancellor tonight in my local . Cheers!
--
I wasna fu but just had plenty. Read more

LeePower

Both are 2003 cars on the 03 plate.

Question Bleed Nipples
Peter D

Does anyone now of a supplier or can you supply 1/4*28TPI UNF bleed nipples. They are for girling front callipers on a volvo 240 but Minis and P6 rovers and the like used then. Regards Peter Read more

Peter D

All the motor factors around here only stock metric if at all. I have bought the 10 off ebay £4.00 inc postage and they were posted this morning. Regards and Merry Christmas Peter

Pugugly {P}

www.carkeys.co.uk/gallery/vauxhall/concepts/8468.a...p

According to various press releases today GM are binning the Vectra name for 2008 Read more

Pugugly {P}

A powerful RWD Vauxhall again now that's a thought.

MikeTorque

Has anyone else notice how many people are driving around without their headlights on during daytime thick fog ?

I took a straw pole today and something like 50% of drivers had no lights switched on, a further 20% only had tiny side lights on, and this was in fog around midday where visibility was less than 100 meters. I stood at the side of the road and pointed towards peoples lights as they passed by but they looked at me gone out and not one of them turned on their lights. The hardest cars to spot were silver and dark coloured cars, they had to be around 30 meters closer to pick them out of the fog than for example a red car. In addition many of those same cars were driving well in excess of the 30 mph speed limit.

Have people gone totally mad or are they simply so lost of their own little world they don't stop to think they can't be seen and have a much increased risk or being involved in a serious incident ? Read more

henry k

Quite a few cars had driving lamps fitted as standard which came on with main beam, the Cortina 1600E was one.

Yep. They were operated via a Lucas relay and just a simple splice into the loom.
Yet another item ( said lamps) that I had stolen so some scroat could ugrade a 1.3.
I also swoped the headlamps for Cibies so I had some of the best illumination without resorting to non standard banks of add ons like the Mini.
Dwight Van Driver

One for you to ponder over the festive season.

Exactly 100 miles due south of Town A lies Town B. Being in the USA it is connected by a straight, undulating highway.

Exactly 50 miles due east of Town C lies Town D. The towns are connected by a straight railway.

Where the road intersects the railway line is a manned level crossing.

Jones, a resident of Town A sets out one day in his standard automobile, to drive to Town B.

At the same time, a train and carriages leave Town D to travel to Town C.

Three quarters of the way into their journey when both transports are an equidistance from the level crossing, Jones can see the train coming from his left across the plain.
Likewise the train driver sees Jones's car to his right.

Both decide at the same time to increase speed to their maximum of 74.34 mph and this is the speed they reach and maintain when both are an equal distance of 1 mile from the level crossing.

The Crossing Keeper is fast asleep in his Signal Box and remained so throughout leaving the barriers up..

Both Jones and the Train Driver believe they can reach the Level Crossing before the other. They race forward at their maximum speeds which they maintain believing they would reach the Level Crossing before the other.

The final mile and a half to the crossing is absolutely level There was no wind. It was calm.

Jones got across.

The question for you mathematicians is, how did Jones manage this. A reminder that speed equals distance over time.

dvd Read more

Clanger

Well done Hawkeye - must be the Hunton air?
dvd


Catterick Village air.

I claim my prize of a pootle up to Hawes on the V-Strom once all the Christmas hangers-on have vanished :-)
Hawkeye
-----------------------------
Stranger in a strange land
blanco

Hi,
Was driving a P reg 1.8 Mondeo along the motorway ( in the 3rd lane), when all of a sudden the car cut out. I managed to freewheel to the hard shoulder without hitting anything. The car started first time and then I drove off.
Could it have been the fact that because of the fog, I had fog lights and dipped beam on that caused the battery to stop working?
Any thoughts are gratefully appreciated. Read more

LeePower

Passenger side footwell, left hand side trim in front of the passenger door & under dash / glovebox area is a small hole ( its a bit hidden but it is there ) in the trim, fuel cut off switch is behind there, stick your finger in through the hole to reach / reset it.

Question Fiesta Heater
jc2

When did the Fiesta change from "air blend heater" to "water valve"?Was it at Ka Job 1? Read more

MW

I believe it was because in the KA they could not make it fit in the tight underbonet space, so it was in one sence a backward step.

DuncanSuperb

I've been meaning to ask for some ideas on this one for some time and now the festive run-down has set in at work, seems like a good opportunity...

OK, Ford Focus LX (saloon- if relevant), 2001 tdi. [BTW, new to me this Autumn and had reservations about the ugly boot and the general boringness of it but actually found it to be superb in all respects (apart from below), I'm averaging nearly 470 miles a to tank of juice and the boot is actually really useful - much more space than the hatch I had before]

Anyway, here's the issue; the radio seems to get bad interference whenever I use the wipers or the rear window demister. I don't remember this happening on my old Focus hatchback and it doesn't happen on our current Focus estate.

The radio is a standard rds 5000. and I only really listen to beeb 2 or 4 (depending on time of day) on FM.

Any suggestions on reducing the interference? Read more

DP

Radio interference when operating the washer pump is a known issue with the Focus and there is apparently no fix. My old one did it, as did all the others on the fleet.

Cheers
DP

Question BMW 525i 1990
nimrod_123

Dear All,

1990 BMW 525i auto gearbox not sports mode.
Where do I look to verify what gearbox is already "in situ"
and its reference numbers.
Whom can I contact for a cheap "broken for spares" gearbox?
Are there some main problems with them?

Regards, nimrod_123



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