February 2007
Hi all, am new owner of a 1.9 VW Golf GT TDI; 1998.
However, it has a fault and I'm wanting your advice on what it might be / how to get it fixed; and how much etc!
When you turn the key 2 clicks; the glowplug light flashes up for a split second and then disappears. Instead of staying on for a few seconds as it should. The manual says this is an issue with the E.M.S.
Secondly; I was driving the new car home the other night; going about 70-75mph and suddenly all the power went out of the engine. My foot was flat to the floor and the speed trickled down to 60mph.
When I came off the motorway; I pulled over; switched the car off and on again and it was 'fixed' again.
Thirdly; the glow plug light occasionally flashes on and off.
I'd be looking to get it fixed in the Leeds/Wakefield/Castleford area, but am willing to travel to find the right place!
Any help advice greatly appreciated. Read more
Here's a website devoted to (amongst other things) motorcycles and screw threads. I hope it's of interest to at least some Backroomers. tinyurl.com/29568a
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L\'escargot. Read more
Hi All,
Thinking (again!) of changing my car.
I like big cars with all the toys and literally you're spoilt for choice around the 6k mark and about 5 years old. I'm thinking here of mass market cars such as Mondeo 2.5's / Vectra 3.2's / Omegas / Volvo S60's , each would typically have about 50/60 k miles on the clock.
Its these types of car that I've always seemed to end up with and they've ALWAYs cost an arm and a leg to keep fuelled and on the road.
I find that at 5 years old I'm picking up the first or second owners (sometimes) big maintenance bills that they've avoided having to spend such as exhausts, clutches, brake discs, batteries, shockers, bushes, and a gearbox rebuild on one occasion etc etc.
I then find that after 2.5 years when they get to be about 7.5 years old they start to look and feel baggy and I'm tempted to change to yep, you've guessed it another 5 year old car! and so start the cycle of exhausts, clutches, brake discs, batteries, shockers, bushes etc etc.
As far as depreciation goes, my lovely 6 grand car after 2.5 years and then with 80k on the clock is suddenly worth 1500 as a trade in after I've spent a load of dosh getting it pukka.
Every change of car brings with it new problems and less initial trust (i.e. I need a period of say six months to find out a new cars foibles). I also end up paying a dealers profit more often by changing more often.
My current logic is to perhaps spend say 10k and get a year old modern diesel car such as a cdti Vectra / Peugeot 407 HDI which are well equipped, possibly just as quick as the above cars in normal driving, have 2 years warranty left and keep it for longer - perhaps four years so that its actually me that gets the best life out of the car.
I've worked out that I could save a 1000 pounds a year on fuel alone never mind lack of MOT's for two years and all new componentry that would be fitted. This fuel saving would pay for me to get that 4 years newer diesel car.
I know that even a newish car needs maintenence and costs to run, and it seems like I made up my mind to get the newer car, but what I'd like to hear hear from you chaps is wether my logic works or I should just hang on with a car till its dead?
Seems to me that high spec 6K/5year old cars are very expensive in the 2-3 year term - anyone agree? Read more
I think I've found the tipping point with my BMW, I bought at 7 years old with 100K on the clock, I had no trouble for the first 6 months but now it's starting to throw up some more bills, I'm going to see how it fares when it gets serviced this week and if there's a list of things that need doing then it's probably going to go the journey!
On the other hand, if there's not much wants doing then I will definitely keep it, at the moment I'm getting nice powerful motoring on a relatively cheap budget!
Blue
There have been a good few posts about fuel consumption being much lower than the official figures suggest. As someone pointed out in a previous thread, the tests are done on a rolling road at 20- 30C. The urban test begins with a "cold" start, but there are few mornings in the UK when the temperature is 20C, so they hardly represent UK conditions in terms of warming up.
I have also read of a marked variation in mpg on cars of the same type in a fleet. They may have been run in differently and will clearly get driven differently, but I wonder how much may be due to the differences between cars in the sensors that the ECU monitors (air temp, mass flow, coolant temp, elec system voltage among others). These are obviously made to fairly strict tolerances, but if they are slightly out of calibration, how does the ECU know? If the ccolant sensor reads 5C low, then the fuelling may be affected because the ECU thinks that the engine is not fully warm - as an example.
Can any ECU experts out there enlighten us?
Read more
I don't know much about modern diesels - I'm blissfully ignorant of all things common rail!
On a petrol engine, the lambda sensor does nothing when cold - it sits there, registering a weak mixture, whatever is coming down the pipe. During this phase of operation, the engine relies on look up tables, based mainly on engine temperature, speed, and load. The ecu monitors the lambda sensor signal, and when the lambda sensor suddenly switches state, the ecu then begins to switch into closed loop mode, where the lambda sensor is used to keep the average mixture close to stoichiometric.
Owing to the non-linear response of the lambda sensor, and the delay between injecting fuel and the resulting exhaust gas appearing in the pipe, smooth, continuous control can't be achieved - instead, the system ping-pongs between rich and weak, with the average been about right. As the engine speed is increased, the time lag between injection and the gases being detected reduces, and the frequency of the rick/weak switching of the lambda sensor increases - typically they switch at about 1 cycle per second at tick over. When lambda sensors fail, they can sometimes become blocked, and this increases the time lag, and makes the switching really sssssssslllllllllloooooowlwwwww - so slow, that you can sometimes feel the car speeding and slowing if you hold the throttle pedal really still.
Number_Cruncher
I need to replace the air filter in our Rover 45 2002 TD, where is this part located? and how do you remove the old one?. It was a very easy job on the Almera but this engine (the L series) is cover in plastic and the manual don't show the location. Read more
If it is the same layout as the 420SLDi then the air filter is in the flat rectangular black plastic box between the engine and the battery. The top is secured by 4 clips. A 5 minute job at the most.
HTH
[mk2 1989 golf gti 16v
tried my brakes out during some hard driving tonight, i find that i can repeatedly lock the o/s/f wheel over and over ..same thing hot or cold brakes
everything seems to be in good order , new braided hoses that were well bled , recent discs and pads , matching tyres etc
it recently passed a mot , so it cant be that uneven, and it pulls up in a straight line , so should i be concerned? i found i could lock the o/s/f at 40mph wit hot brakes is that normal Read more
You may not actually solve this problem, although I wouldn't really class it as a problem from what you have described anyway. If it is a Mk2 Golf then it is getting on a little in its years and it could simply just be a case of one caliper being slightly lazier than the other. It may not even be a related to the calipers at all, it could be something as simple as different compound tyres, worn suspension, or even the brake master cylinder/pipework. I wouldn't go to extreme lengths to fix something that isn't actually broken.
So, I'm in the middle of Wigan about 300yds from my destination, but down several narrow streets and various turns. Sat Nav working very well until the screen goes blank and then the whole system re-boots from scratch as if the car was being used for the first time.
It reset the whole system and apart from working out eventually where I was, it thought I was searching in Belgium for my destination! Got it all working again eventually after spending more than a few minutes resetting all my preferences although there is one thing I need to sort out still.
I wonder why?
In case you don't know, its a built in Kenwood SatNav within a Subaru Outback. Read more
Had the misfortune to be in Wigan, 60 miles from home, on a spacesaver, fruitlessly looking for a tyre dealer which didn't exist, in the dark and snow recently.
Was a long and slow journey back home...........
I hate Wigan.
Steve
I am desperately searching for a wiring diagram for a Vauxhall Omega - does anyone have, or know where I can get one? The Haynes isn't quite as in depth as is needed!
It's a T Reg (not sure what year that makes it!!) Read more
Fair enough Deryck, not just me then.
I notice from the Haynes manual for my wife's Zafira that they have changed from the proper ISO/DIN standard wiring diagrams used in the Omega manual to a mickey mouse style that looks more like a powerpoint presenation. i hope I don't have to rely on thes efor any serious electrical troubleshooting :-/
hi people, my radiator has been leaking , iv used some radweld in it. i came out to it this morning to find the footwells soaked with water out of the radiator. whats going on there? and is the best thing to do to get new rad fitted? Read more
ok then, thanks for the advice, i'll try and get it pre mot'd this weekend, get everything priced up at a few garages. hopefully, all being well, i'll let you know how it goes and wot happens, cheers!
dan
There seems to be a huge increase in speed trap vans round here. Always on a busy dual carridge way rather than near a school, and always when your going down hill. Anyway.....I have TOMTOM5 on my pda with the camera database on it but I only tend to plug that in when doing on a long journey or a new place. Most of my journeys are in the local area. Therefore I am looking for some sort of GPS gadget that will alert when I break the limit.
I figure this would be better as the vans can spring up anyway and on A routers there are plods out with their hairdriers. Anyone got a suggestion?? The unit would need to know the limit of the road and if it has a camera datbase even better. I would fit it in the car so its on all the time so it would ideally need to be battery powered.
Cheers
James
P.S No smart alec comments about using your speedo, there seems to be little margin for error now with the new "zero tolerance" policy and I don't want to risk it. If anyone wants to debate about it, or speed traps themselves, please start another thread. Read more
A device which would meet OP's requirement would appear to be Roadpilot @ £150. Warns of fixed cameras and continuously displays the speed limit on the road being travelled. Website is something like www.roadpilot.co.uk or Google for it. Saw it advertised in one of the freebie evening papers in London this evening.
Browse
EML is engine management light AKA check engine light -- tells you the ECU has logged a "fault".
If you have the radio code, you could reset the ECU by disconnecting the battery negative terminal for 30 mins or so. This can also clear fault codes.
The power loss sounds like a mass air flow (MAF) meter fault -- quite common on this engine across VW, Audi, Seat etc. A new unit is about £70, but try unplugging and re-plugging the MAF connector plug a few times to "wipe" the terminals clean as the connector is often the problem. The MAF is just next to the air filter box.
If those don't work, then take it to someone with VAG-COM (the VW diagnostic software) for interrogation.