December 2007
The rotary control knob that controls the fan speed, on my Wife's Micra (1.3GS), no longer functions correctly.
It now only works with the two extreme settings, off, and maximum fan speed.
I have tried to get access to the switch, or whatever is attaches to, but accessibility is a problem.
What is the cause most likely to be, the switch, connecting cable, etc. and what would the procedure be.
Any help is appreciated, thanks. Read more
My Wife has a 1.3GS Micra.
A few months after having the car, taking a turn, or driving around a roundabout, when the steering was nearing full-lock (either left or right), there would be a sound like "marbles dropping on wood", a creaking type sound - Maybe not the best description.
I might be able to email an audio clip of it.
Over time, the effect has increased, so now it happens even at half-lock.
Apart from the sound, the car seems to be fine, but I do not want to risk anyones live - Not nowing what the cause is!
The garage have checked the car and cannot find a fault.
The fastest the car goes the louder the noise gets.
Any ideas would be appreciated, thanks.
{No mention of age of car, so used info that was selected when you used the pull down menus} Read more
Inner or outer CV joint shot. Regards Peter
Does anyone know if the heater on the 418sld is covered by any other other manuals? There seems to be a valve at the end of the heater inlet pipe which is held in place by a spring clip. Is this what is operated by the heater control switch?
Cheers, John
{This was originally tagged onto a 4 yr old thread which can be found HERE. Now moved to one of it's own.}
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A local bombsite trader (think of a bad-tempered Turkish Bellboy without the wit) has a RHD Audi A4 Avant that he´s taken as a PX, and is going to find difficult to shift. No market for RHD here in Germany, and it´s still on UK plates.
It´s a late ´96 2.6 V6 automatic, fairly high spec. Bad bits: undocumented 115k miles, no service history at all (book is missing). Needs new tyres, plus I think the thermostat has gone as it didn´t move off 60 deg during my test drive, the panel under the engine is cracked. It´s a bit fiddly to sort out a Fahrzeugschein (V5 equiv) for a RHD here, but I´ve done it before. I´d need a new set of lights (eBay) for its TüV (MoT equiv). And I would probably change the cambelt/WP, and have heard this is a bit fiddly on the 2.6 V6 (for fiddly read expensive). Bit of wind noise where the windscreen has been incompetently replaced.
Of course, any money I put in I would be unlikely to get out again as noone wants RHD here, apart from me.
Good bits: No evidence of oil leaks on the bombsite gravel, or of accident damage. Engine bay and oil both clean. Paintwork is OK. It passed an MoT in June 2007, I got the previous owner´s name off the V5 and contacted him - he said the car had been perfectly reliable in the year he´d had it. It drives absolutely superbly, feels rock-solid, the auto kicks down smoothly, the interior is v. clean.
The guy has it up for ?2250, when I offered him ?1500 he said his best price was ?2100. Worth pursuing? I fancy a bit of luxury, and the way this drove - having not driven a V6 before I was amazed at how smooth if was, and plenty quick enough for me.
TIA for any advice.
Car is here:
tinyurl.com/yu2ftw
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who knows? its 21:30, half a bottle of single malt could be down the hatch by now.
Get the Bellboy translator ready....
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< Ulla>
Many years ago ( early 1980's ) a company which supplied ours had an "incentive" scheme for their sales reps.
The deal was that all reps were issued with identical Cortinas as their standard car. The company also owned one Aston Martin and one Skoda. They evidently had a quarterly sales conference at which the rep with the best figures for the quarter was awarded the Aston for the next three months and the poorest results earned the use of the Skoda for the same period.
Allegedly, it was not possible to be given the Skoda twice if you get the drift.
Now, it all seems very tacky now and I'm quite sure any modern HR Dept would throw a dicky fit at being asked to sanction such a cruel scheme but I suppose we have to remember when we are talking about and the attitudes / zeitgeist of that time.
However, for a bit of fun, put yourself in the shoes of a modern fleet manager charged with sourcing the " Last Chance Saloon"
I think this is quite difficult because there are actually very few truly awful cars nowadays but I'm sure the BR can come up with some suggestions !
What would it be ?
PS - Just goes to show how brands can re-position themselves doesn't it in that no one would be too disappointed to be given a modern Skoda. Read more
A misfuelled TDCi ?
Sorry! Ignore MX6 entry!! Can anyone tell me why my Mazda 6 04 TS2 136 cuts out when coming to stop and/or changing down at slow speeds or cornering. It's intermiitent -- nothing for a few days then three or four times in ten minutes! Dealership plugged it in to electronic diagnostic kit --showed all clean. They said I needed new suction control valve and showed me transparent cylinder on side of the engine. If valve has gone wouldn't the engine cut out happen all the time? The cost £305 + VAT! Can anyone tell me what the problem is?
Duplicate post deleted and slt'd
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Hector
That valve is only recently available separately from the whole [£1000+] pump. It's a common fault that the dealers know well.
Eventually, it won't run at all.
Hi all,
The bootlock in my C5 saloon failed to open. According to the dealer it is a common problem. Here's how to replace:
1, Fold down rear seats, there is a hole in the boot lock on the left side, wiggle a screwdriver here to release.
2, Remove boot lid trim (14 or so little plastic pegs)
3, Unscrew boot lock from outside, unclip, remove wiring.
4, As Haynes would say... refitting is......
The boot lock looks identical to the Xsara Picasso but I didn't ask the dealer if they are the same part. Cost under £20.
Ben
slt Read more
I've just come back from my christmas party in some adequate but dreary newish Mercedes something class or other I've no idea what.
It's the trip out that surprised me. My street has no lighting so I was met by strong headlamps that obscured my vision of the car but I climbed in the back of an enormous saloon. It was luxuriously appointed in cream leather with brown piping and the legroom in the back was enormous despite the driver adopting an arm-stretched laid back position. What impressed was every surface inch was adorned in great-smelling leather and the rear seat-belt buckles recessed neatly in their own little alcove rather than flapping around aimlessly like they do in my 406 V6. The dash was all leather as were the doors, trimmed with wood. I could tell it wasn't a recent model with its 90s angular styling but couldn't for the life of me see a logo anywhere that revealed its heritage. Despite seeming to be older than my car, it was screwed together like a Merc, not a rattle or roll after a decade of Polish roads, it was auto and had a wonderful gearshift, a cracking pace and was just a pleasure to be a passenger in. Frustratingly, I could see a steering wheel logo but it was so subtly embossed I couldn't make it out. I was starting to think Alfa Romeo 164 or at least something I'd never had the pleasure of riding in before. Whatever, I thought I wouldn't mind a piece of this to replace the old Peugeot.
After some 25 minutes I arrived at the club, paid the chap and headed rear to satisfy my curiosity. Can you tell what it is yet?
It was a Rover 825. Make of that what you will.
Best part of the evening by far. I resisted the urge to urinate on the new art director from the first floor mezzanine level but couldn't get this wonderful motor out of my mind.
Those of you who recognize my tastes will know that motoring for me is all about wafting in luxury and this car satisfied it by the bucketload. Would I have one? Probably not. A Rover? Are you joking? Read more
Oh wow, fabulous find LUd. Tony Pond was one of my Motoring heroes. I saw him driving the nasty, vicious, dangerous and spitefull but very very quick Metro 6R4.
I was deeply saddened by his early demise some 5 years ago.
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< Ulla>
Sorry I am new here, I was reading this thread yesterday and found it very interesting, but now I can't find it and it did date back to 2002 so I thought I'd put my pennies worth here.
In my opinion a lot of people get ripped off with tank drains cleaning filters and injectors etc. resulting in a four figure garage bill. On a very new car I can understand that the tolerance is extremely low the amount of HP they can extract per litre out of new diesel cars is amazing but on older vehicles, I have to ask.. does it matter that much?
The first time I was dumb enough to put petrol in a diesel car was in a Vauxhall Corsa 1.5TD it was almost empty, I put half a tank of unleaded in it and didn't realise it drove about 2 1/2 miles and then it stopped. I had the tank drained filled it up with diesel and it drove fine for another 30,000 miles until it was sold. I believe to this day that if I had realised what i had done and simply filled it to the brim with diesel i would have got away with it.
The second time (remember I am a little older and little wiser than before) I had a Vauxhall Midi 2.4TD. (Izuzu engine) I was coming home late at night and I didn't think I had enough fuel to make it home (there was about £10 worth in the tank). I stopped at the only filling station on the way home to find that they had RUN OUT of diesel! I really didn't fancy freezing to death for 4 hours waiting for somewhere else to open, besides do you really think my partner was gonna believe a story about me running out of diesel and sleeping in the van. It was a simple choice the van was worth about £800, half my house (divorce settlement) was gonna cost me £75,000 so I put £10 worth of unleaded in it and drove home. It made no difference whatsoever! If anything the van was slightly down on power running this 50/50 mix, but I am convinced that after this event the van was slightly smoother and slightly more economical.
On a tangent... I read an article about a man who used to charge restaurants and take aways to take away their used oil, and for 2 years all he did was pour the oil as fuel into the Vauxhall Midi van that he used for collections. So whatever he charged to take away the oil was all profit! If this man can run his van on used chip fat oil I am sure a little bit of petrol would seem like a gourmet meal to the engine.
I can remember reading a manual from a car I have owned, I can't remember which one though, saying something about mixing petrol in the diesel in freezing conditions but not to exceed 25%.
True, prevention is better than cure but I have actually never seen or heard of a blown up engine and unserviceable fuel system due to wrong fuel type, maybe it's a conspiricy, maybe it's like when you were a kid and you were told the bogey man would get you if you didn't go to sleep. Read more
"In my opinion a lot of people get ripped off with tank drains cleaning filters and injectors etc. resulting in a four figure garage bill. On a very new car I can understand that the tolerance is extremely low the amount of HP they can extract per litre out of new diesel cars is amazing but on older vehicles, I have to ask.. does it matter that much?"
OK flex so you can't see what the problem is, why don't you give it ago then in a late HDI then & we can sit back & chuckkle when it cost's between 1-3k to put right.
There is a thread going at the moment with a guy thats put 20% veg oil mix in his 1.6 tdci & that stopped it very quickly & has more than likley wiped his factory warranty as well!
I can only asume you don't work in a garage & see all the HDI failed after a wrong fill
Doc
Last Thursday, I refulled from below a quarter to a full tank but there was no change to the available miles shown on the computer readout despite the analogue fuel guage showing the tank to be full. Later in the week, the low fuel warning light came on when the computer considered the remaining range was 50 miles (the gauge was still showing the tank to be full!) and I wondered if the ECU would stop the engine when the computer thought the fuel was about to run out. When I started the car the next day, the low fuel light was still on and computer showing only about 25 miles - 10 miles later, I noticed that the light gone and the available range was 720 miles.
I assume the most likely cause of the faulty reading is a poor electrical connection or the level reader in the tank rather than the computer. The car is coming towards the end of the 3 year warranty period but obviously is not faulty just now. Is this likely to be a simple fix if I choose to ignore it and hope it was a one-off incident that may not recur?
Any comments would be appreciated. Read more
Mike,
How long does the trip reset have to be held for? - the gauges don't seem willing to sweep. I made the mistake of turning ignition on the first time without pressing the trip reset - is it necessary to wait until the figures in display disappear before retrying?
Browse
Very common fault on all Nissans.
From the passenger footwell, look up behind the glovebox.
Remove the 4 way connector.
Remove 2 crossheaded screws either side of the connector.
The resistor pack will pull out. Looks like a credit card.
Either buy a new one - £30-£40 from Nissan.
Or, if you have a soldering iron, scrape each side of the 'blob' to expose the copper track.
Add solder until the 2 sides are connected.
I have heard that it can also be fixed with a heated screen repair pen.