June 2007
Car: 2001 Golf MkIV, 72,000miles, petrol, 1.6
I first had this problem in Feb 2006. As I was pulling into a car park the engine cut out on me at low revs. Couldn't get it started normally. Got the AA out and the guy reckoned it was a throttle potentiometer problem. He started the car by manually opening the fuel valve. Took it into VW and all they did was reset the ECU.
Everything ran fine until last Friday when the engine cut out again. This was as I was changing down from 3rd to 2nd. Couldn't get it started and it was towed back to my house. I got to recovered to a VW garage but before I did that I did manage to get it started. It was very "lumpy" though and it soon cut out with the Emissions Workshop message coming up. Yesterday, VW cleaned the throttle housing and roadtested it, claiming it was all OK...
No more than half a mile down the road from the VW garage and it breaks down again - with the same problem!
What could be the root cause of this? Is it in need of a new potentiometer?
I have noticed a slight rattle when I've been slowing down recently. Could that be part of the problem?
Also, can someone recommend an independent VW garage in the Stratford/Warwick/Leamington area?
Thanks for any help. Read more
Usually after a hot run, my Seicento tends to hold onto its revs when you change gear - it takes 3-5 seconds before they die down if I just dip the clutch and dont go for the next gear.
It doesnt happen that much in local driving but its very consistant when the car is warmed through properly.
Im assuming its just a sticky throttle ( the pedal feels a little stiff in its initial travel anyway ) and intend to WD40 all the joints I can see and try and squirt a bit onto the cable where i can - is this the best thing to do and most likely cause of the problem?
Just wondering if there is a common fault with this on the cars?
Many thanks for any suggestions
{Car make & model added to subject header to make it less vague - DD} Read more
How do you bypass the immobiliser on an Astra 1996 LS 1.4?
It is a stolen + recovered vehicle and will a new ignition barrel etc. sort this out because it won't run for more than 3 seconds without cutting out. any advice please?
thanks Read more
My sister has just come back from uni after graduating and the household needs another car. It will be a first car for her in all intents and purperses, since she is a very new driver with few miles under her belt.
The main priorities are is that it has to have 'low insurance and be reliable' as my mum has said.
My mum wants the lowest insurance she can find, (I have not explained the acutal quote will depend on insurance company and the insurance group rating of the car).
My mum also wants the car to be reliable. I feel a car without all the gadgets like electric windows and power steering etc would be good in this respect, so the question regards machanical reliablilty - a car that won't let you down, always starts and will never leave you stranded. The only thing to note is that ABS would not be considered a liablity and somthing just to go wrong in this instance.
We are looking for a small car- I have thought about the clio, ka, micra, and fiesta. Any suggestions would be greatfully received. I have heard that the japanise do the most reliable cars, but is this true when you consider machanical reliablity?
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Torque means nothing without RPM Read more
Don't forget the 1.4 Almera - loads in Granny/Grandpa's garage that have been well treated. Gp 4, but that may not make much difference. No image, so cheaper than Saxo, 106 etc.
This tickled me.
Just nipped out in my lunch break to get a PX figure on the Veccy and a figure for 150 bhp diesel Signum. It's a large national franchise, selling only VX at this particular outlet.
Sat down with salesman to get some details. Gave home address.
Salesman: Now, West Midlands? Is that in Birminghamshire
Me. Erm, I don't think so. West Midlands IS the County....
He went to enter my reg number wrong and thus thought I drove a bio-fuel SRi. Forgot my first name - it only has 3 letters. Entered my surname wrong. Had to consult a colleague when the computer didn't recognise my address (who did actually have a working brain and remembered me from when I purchased there last time - fair play). Told me that my car has an alarm, because I have a remote 'blipper'. I told him that was to just open the doors. He insists it has an alarm.
Can't give me a PX price. Will call me back in 30 mins, despite the car being a 30 sec walk from his desk.
It's surely not rocket science to a) give an approximate PX figure, b) give an approximate figure on desired car, and c) remember the punter's name?
Sigh. Back to work.
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Top Turkey - the fastest hands in Brum Read more
>When you really want to buy a car ring around the dealers
Tried that a few years back when I was in the market for a new car. Got told that they don't do quotes over the phone. I was paying cash and had no part exchange either so no reason that they couldn't give me a price but they wouldn't. I ended up having to waste a morning driving round and getting messed about and even then I couldn't get a straight answer out of most of them. I ended up getting the car from the local dealer who didn't give me any discount at all. Mind you it was a newly introduced vehicle and was in demand.
Next time I bought a two year old ex fleet at the auction and it was a much better experience. No hassle, no salesmen and you knew exactly what you were up for.
Have a friend with a 2002(?) Laguna dCi which has an obscure clutch fault. Basically, about once a day during normal driving the clutch pedal will stick down after pressure is removed. You would, of course, expect the car to be declutched while the pedal is down but it isn't, and so it's quite frightening when it happens as he has to get hard on the brake. The clutch can be pulled up again with the toe of his shoe, and appears to work fine after that.
The garage cannot replicate the fault but have bled the clutch which has made no difference. Has anyone encountered this problem before and is replacing the master cylinder the only option? Car has ~80k on the clock. Renault are stumped. Read more
Faulty master cylinder. Very common problem on Lagunas and Espaces.
The dealer not knowing about this common problem is unbelieveable and reinforces my view that it more the dealers that let Renault down rather than the cars.
I have a recently acquired 03 reg 230K. With the roof up all is as it should be but with the roof down I get a trace of vibration at the steering wheel especially when accelerating from low speed. Has anyone else either noticed this or got a good idea? All suggestions gratefully received (apart from not putting the roof down.) Read more
You may well get good information here, but there will be plenty of people with direct experience at one of the MB forums:
forums.mbworld.org/forums/
(USA, but so big & busy that there are separate SLK sections for R170 and R171)
www.mbclub.co.uk/
I need to be travel to Hereford tomorrow morning for a meeting at 10am - does the team think straight M6-M6, or M6-M6 toll M42 M5 ?
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Go on, get out of the car...
www.mikes-walks.co.uk Read more
f.y.i, I took the M6-M56-A49 - 3 1/2 hours there, a more leisurely 4 hours + stops on the way back.
50% of the time you've got 'open' road, 50% of the time you've got a queue of lorries stuck behind a tractor and no hope of overtaking.
Glorious day, beautiful scenery, buzzards everywhere, got through 6 cd's of a Henning Mankell novel - on the whole, it probably took just as long as going round the motorway, but, once I knew I could get there close to my ETA, and once you've come to terms with the fact that if you can't overtake you can't overtake, it becomes a very relaxing experience. Doesn't mean I'd want to do it every day though !
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Go on, get out of the car...
www.mikes-walks.co.uk
Can anyone tell me where the airbag module unit is on my 99 T Corsa GLS (3 cyl.)
{Subject header amended to make less vague - DD} Read more
I expect there are at least a million "shining examples" they could buy back (plus 1 litre Agilas & Suzuki Wagon R's) so there would be no point.
hi, i aquired a daewoo lanos 1.4 se at the weekend and was wondering if a cambelt renewal would be advisable, ist just hit 60k is it a job for an amatuer? also i cant seem to find any repair /service manuals ie haynes for this model does anyone do one ..thanks Read more
cheers DD
Browse
as as has bin sed
the car will have been broken into ,the nice children will have ripped all the wires down including the little ones for the key reading bit ,but they would have been unable to start the car,this will be proved by the large dent in either the wing or the door as they ran off back to mummies house.
your answer is in my post above ,as i said for the new ecu to work you must get the appropiate key reader from around the ignition barrel as ifr you dont i can assure you the car will not start make sure you get the keys as well
when did i last sort one of these? well it was 2 weeks ago
salvage yards/insurance assesers aint daft they have done the figures before they dun you,£100 job done,open your wallet :-)