April 2007

ronnie_rev

Hi i am thinking of increasing the boost on my 306 d turbo. I have heard if you run more than 18psi of boost you have to uprate the intercooler. Would it make a difference mounting the origional intercooler at the front behind the bumper rather than on top of the hot engine. If anyone has tuned there d turbo can you tell me what you did and what, if any difference it made. Cheers. Read more

ronnie_rev

Cheers mate. I will check it out

MikeTorque

I took my Ford Focus along to one of our Ford dealers for it's 25k mile service. They were friendly and even gave the car a good washing and leathering. However, when I got home I checked out a few things to make sure they had been done the service properly. I found the tyres had not been pumped up to the correct pressures, I know as there were a few things I had tested before I took the car in so I could ascertain how thorough the service they had done. Now the question is, what else did they miss ? I pumped up the tyres to their correct pressures.

Anyone else had any similar experiences and if so what if any action did you take ?
Also do you check after a service that servicing has been done according to the required spec ? Read more

Westpig

before i took my main dealer serviced car to a specialist independent (sourced from the pages of my marque's monthly magazine) i had the mechanic who works on my old car, go through it first and just give me a report

he thought i was mad, paying him £50 for not doing anything but check.........

i consider it money well spent for my peace of mind. Everything he highlighted they reciprocated, even asking me how much mileage i do as the pads had 4,000 miles left approx & the discs would need doing about then as well.

i now use them exclusively and will continue to do so & when SWMBOs car comes out of warranty that will go there as well.

mickjo

I found my diesel leaking from the fuel tank. I looked and found that someone had drilled a 10mm hole into the bottom of the metal tank and pinched all of my diesel, (scum!!!). Do I replace or fill with grommet/epoxy. Is there anything outhere that will do the job cheap?
mickjo Read more

mickjo

Thanks for all the advice,
After further investigation found that the tank is a indeed a plastic one. If I can get a plastic plug with washer, I'll use a fibre glass patch to go over the top. I've heard that a Kevlar patch might be even better.
If I'm not happy then I will just bite the bullet and buy a replacement tank.
mickjo

crofty191171

I have a 99 1.8 focus that will not start. when i turn the key to the last position there is a constant clicking noise and nothing else. Is this the immobiliser? Please someone help.
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jc2

Was more than likely then to have been a bad connection then.

ziggy

When a driver loses control, swaps ends and ends up going backwards, what happens to the transmission..? E.g. if you do not declutch..? Does this
wreck the engine/gearbox..? It seems to happen a lot on the telly during road tests.

Just curious.


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ziggy

.. well I wasn't so worried about stallling, just couldn't understand why
the engine/transmission wouldn't be totally shot. Of course I would instinctively
de-clutch if it happened.

I did once select reverse at 50mph, but fortunately did not release the clutch (so the experiment was incomplete..)

Forum Plea to HJ
Alan-FC

I'm not sure how to say this as it clearly states above 'no naming and shaming'......................I guess I'll leave out the make and model of my car unless the moderators tell me they are happy for me to mention it as I sincerly believe it is in the motoring publics best interest. Basically it's to do with a car owned from new, recently out of warranty which the manufacturer can't repair. So it's your call.

My car is 3 yrs 10 months old, has done 55,000 miles, serviced as per the book, using only synthetic oil and using only shell fuel. Basically it has been well looked after.

I month ago the car developed a starting problem, the main dealer has spent 25 hours fault finding and cannot find what is causing the problem. It has effectively been off the road for a month and is still with the garage. The service manager has admitted he has reached a brick wall and doesn't know what to do next.

What am I expected to do, scrap a 4 yr old car which cost me £10,000 new?

HJ is well respected in the motoring world and I am asking you if you would be able to put some pressure on the manufacturer to get this ridiculous situation resolved please. I really don't know what else to do and find the whole charade quite unbeleivable.

If you feel you cannot help, I'd be grateful if you can point me to someone who can. I don't really want to go down the legal route as I am sure it will just drag things on even longer, |'m just looking for someone to apply common sense and get the manufacturer to make a concerted effort to fix my car.

Thanks
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MichaelR

Good review, shaping up to be a nice car.

But.. Mondeo III? Even Ford acknowledge that Mondeo III was the 00-07 Mondeo - despite similarites the 93-96 and 96-00 were different models. Read more

Brian Tryzers

> WilldeB - perhaps you would also post your impressions of the Verso that you intend to try.
Verso impressions now posted here, Avant:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=53605&...f

As Cheddar suggests, I can't imagine the 1.6 petrol is much fun to drive - the Verso may be short but it's heavy. The 140 diesel engine seems just about right for it.
If Mrs Cheddar wants a Verso as a seven-seater, I'd advise checking that the seven people she wants to carry will actually fit inside. As with the Honda FRV (although I like the Verso a lot better than that horrible thing) I think it's an idea that works well on paper but less well in practice for a long-legged North European family.

Anyway, this is straying rather from the Mondeo. Haven't driven that one yet but will report when I have.

qxman {p}

Not the bodyshop that sells soap and perfume but the sort that paint your car.

A couple of weeks ago my son opened the passenger door of my Nissan into a brick wall and chipped some of the paint. Prior to this it was pristine with barely a mark on it.
After I had calmed down (and son come out of hiding!!) I took it to a local bodyshop for a quote for touching up. This particular bodyshop has been run for 30 years by the same owner and he does all kinds of body repairs but specialises in the most wonderful 'custom' paint jobs for exhibition cars. He regularly has Porsches in his yard and has been in the local paper because of prizes won at custom car shows. He looked at the car and verbally quoted me £100 cash to touch in, which he said was his minimum charge and explained that he would have to buy matched paint and so on.
He called me two days later to go and collect the car and said it would now be £160. I went to look at the car and he's done an absolutely super job, the touching-in is completely invisible so no problem there, but I was not happy about the much higher than quoted cost. Since he had my car I felt I had no option but to reluctantly pay up the higher amount. What would others and done and what could I have done in this situation? Read more

Lud

Nothing more irritating than a chipped shell
------------------------------



Perhaps so, but some of us have become used to chips and worse on our shells over the years... I agree though that when you have a pretty, more or less pristine motor it really hurts when it gets damaged.
briers

Hey all, sorry to grace you with another whatcar thread - but i'm at loggerheads and could do with some outside advice. I'll try and summarise so i dont bore you.

- Currently drive 2003 T3 1.6 petrol toyota corolla
- Thinking of changing for something more sporty and thrilling
- But i do 15k annual mileage and thats just for work (if had something more thrilling would probably do more)
- Thinking fast diesel, something sporty looking, under £500 to insure cheapish road tax (if there is such a thing :) )

Cars i would love given my 17k budget and maybe taking out a little finance
- 2ndH Audi RS4 (dream car) very impractical on fuel, tax and insurance :(
- 2ndH Audi S3 : same deal as above :(
- Ariel Atom : hah shall we move on
- Honda s2000, love this but probably similar to run as S3

Cars on my shortlist - with my mini review
- Toyota Auris T180 : Can get it new, goes like absolute stink, prob fastest hatchback diesel, hothatch type performance and cheap to buy and run in comparison to other; however not really as sporty as the rest
- Audi A3 170ps (not sure what trim) : Would pay extra for Audi (not keen on VW's) but i couldn't get this new and 2ndH 170ps' are as rare as rocking horse poo. Looks nice all round, rather sporty, just very decent car but would cost more than toyota and not as fast.
- Seat Leon FR : Sporty inside and out, same engine so as quick as Audi but not toyota. Some skimping on interior and quality but better value then the VW's.
- Honda Civic Type-R : The petrol oddball on my list but would save a bucket of cash, have a car i've always liked but have to settle for a 04 model, higher running costs not to mention fuel.

Cars i sort of discounted based on manufacturers i'm not keen on
- Ford / Citroen / vauxhall / VW / renault
- Honda (New) Civic : Guy opposite has one, design when new was wow thats pretty nice but now its just the same old new honda civic, very odd and spacey.


So i'm left thinking, do i go for diesel, shall i buy new (depreciation i hate that word) or just forget and enjoy, shall i consider another car or shall i just stick with my trusty run of the mill car that has never let me down and is stupidly cheap to run.

:D

cheers Read more

briers

Ah yes - sorry for swearing, i notice it is the policy of this forum not too swear :(


In terms of cars i think its still going to be my top 3

T180 in black
A3 SLine 170ps in black or blue
Leon FR in black but i like Yellow too


dieselpower

ive just had the injector pump worked at on the car as the car was down in power since rebuilding it im getting an intermitting hard knock ive had the injectors checked and they are spraying fine ive double checked the timing any one any ideas im exhausted stripping it down and rebuilding it to still have the same problem the diesel specalist said its not the pump! i asked him what he actually done with the pump and he said he replaced the metering valve if this helps Read more

dieselpower

can anyone tell me if the pump can alter the timing when the car is running the knock only really comes when the engine has warmed up and i wanted to know what exactly the plug on injector 3 is for i suspect its monitoring the timming but if i unplug it it seems to have no affect on the running of the engine