January 2008
Friend has recently acquired ex RAF vehicle (a van with 15,000 mls) at auction, which on way home lost speedometer, fuel and water temp gauges, as well as the indicators. Got home OK with these symptoms, and parked up.
Next day, fine all working, no problems.
Got oil changed the next day by third party, vehicle behaved itself.
Next used 2 days later, when this time it lost power. But gauges etc all OK. Driven further that day when it cleared itself (power restored). Then a warning light came on. (I assume its the MIL, the handbook apparently describes this light as "indicating an electrical fault").
Next day, attempt to start: cranks but no start. Only 2 lights on the left came on in the Cluster - no ignition warning lights, or any of the other lights which normally come on.
Next day started 1st attempt , all lights working. Not now being driven as cant be trusted.
With such low mileage, I am thinking stuck or sticking EGR valve to give the temporary power loss, but really needs a code read to be sure. However, has anyone any previous experience/knowledge of these symptoms? We don't know if it has had the 2006 recall for wiring loom carried out. Is there a way of telling by observation / part number? Any advice appreciated! Read more
Hello all,
New to this forum, so please forgive any transgression of rules etc!
Like a muppet, I "forgot" to unscrew the aerial on my '03 Focus whilst going into a car-warsh. Surprise surprise, the aerial has been snapped off where it joins the base, leaving the threaded "male" part of the base niceley screwed into the aerial itself.
I've had a good trawl through various websites to see how on earth I can remove the old base and replace it with a new one, but so far have drawn a total blank - any useful suggestions greatly appreciated!!
Thanks in advance,
Bush :) Read more
"Just a thought but I too have been abit of muppet and snapped my aerial backing out of the garage...I drive a 1998 S reg, Ford Feista. Is it the same method as the Bushraider's Focus?"
If the interior light fitting is directly below the aerial base, then I would imagine that's likely.
It's only going to take you 2 minutes to pop the light fitting out to check.
A friend has a Nissan Micra '03' 1.2 {SIGH put in the subject header as per the IGNORED requests to do so} and will be having it serviced by a mechanic (ex F1) rather than a local indie. The car has a service indicator on it and I've seen people say how easy it is to zero them. Can anyone advise how this is done on this car save having to take it to a dealer to do it?
Your advice and guidance is, as always appreciated.
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Thanks for the info - will pass it on.
In both my Land Rover and my Mercedes factory workshop manuals there are references to washing paper air filter elements.
This seems to me to be a good way to extend the service life of the element and reduce costs (and landfill).
Has anybody ever done this?
The LR Defender Tdi maintenance section says (only for elements not contaminated with oil or carbon deposits): soak the element for 15 to 60 mins in a solution of automatic washing machine detergent and water. Rinse in running water. Allow to dry naturally and dry fully before fitting. Do not attempt to clean a V8 air filter element. It must be renewed.
The Mercedes manual states: blow out with compressed air first, soak for 10 minutes at 40 degC in washing solution specified in Service Products Specification Sheet 370 (which I can't find). Rinse in washing solution for 5 minutes, rinse in clean water till no further dirt emerges, shake out water and dry at max 60 degC. This can be done a maximum of three times thus extending the change interval to 40,000 miles or 2 years (which ever comes first).
"Air filter elements without perforated metal covering are not to be cleaned, these must always be replaced."
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Sadly, this has reared its head in a domestic sense. Mrs P wanted to wash the paper filter from her vacuum cleaner. I have made several dire predictions.
I'm glad to say that this has never happened to me but having watched the highly entertaining Cops Cars Bailiff type programmes recently it made me think.
If I buy a secondhand car from a dealer or from a man on the street how do I know that there are no unpaid parking fines on the vehicle? I assume that any fines stay with the previous owner but what happens in the interim while you are waiting for the new V5 to come through especially if the previous owner is a little relaxed about sending the V5 into DVLA?
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What about the 'Bailiffs' who now seem to hang about with ANPR cameras and will remove your car if you dont pay what is owed?
What if you have not got proof of ID to show that you are 'Mr Innocent' who has just bought the car in good faith rather than 'Mr Couldn't Care Less' who sold the car to you knowing that tickets were unpaid?
My hubby has a 1.5D Corsa, on which he changed the fuel filter yesterday. According to the manual, there is a bleed screw on the top of the filter housing, which you bleed until it flows with diesel, to ensure no air in the system. He tried this, even taking the screw right out instead of the 2 turns the manual recommends, and no fuel appears. The car struggled to run initially, but he bled air at the injector hoses, and this seems to have improved things.
Just for argument sake, he looked at my Astra 1.7TD, which has an indentical filter arrangement, tried to bleed that (bearing in mind he hadn't changed the filter here, so assume it would flow with diesel as soon as bleed screw opened), and again no fuel appeared. Astra then ran rough until he bled air at the injector hoses again.
Whats going on here? Any advice appreciated please.
Thanks, CL Read more
Our experiences clearly differ Railroad. Although I've only tried not revving a couple of times, I have had a lot of trouble. Typically, I rev the engine, it bogs down for a few seconds, kept running purely by it's own inertia, then it clears, and the job's done.
When I haven't revved the engine, I end up cranking the engine over (with appropriate breaks for the battery to recover and the starter to cool) for the best part of 10 minutes - I couldn't recomend that approach.
Number_Cruncher
1992, 2.3 automatic, 142,000 miles
Normally runs very well but lately the idle tickover is a bit eratic and rough. It normally runs at about 750-800 revs and is very smooth. Now, it sometimes runs at 550 revs and seems to be nearly going to stall. Starts fine, hot or cold, and the economy is normal at 25-6 mpg in town, and 31 on a run.
I have serviced it with petrol tank injector cleaning fluid, new airfilter, and plugs. There was a little improvement, but it is has now returned. It is only ever present for about 30% of the time.
Any ideas?
engine and year in subject line HOW HARD ? Read more
Yeah .. I still remember the same simphtoms
Tbhere is some electrically operated air bypass at the theottle body , to compensate for different engine loads , aircon on or off , etc..
mine was definitely fawlty , with very funny idling ,stailly etc.
I simply removed the part , adjust the iddle a little bit higher simply by thigtening out the throttle cable , and -2 years later- still perfect .
My brother is the proud owner of a new Prius. I was astonished at the amount of legroom for rear passengers.
Like me, he is over 6 ft tall and he has his pushed seat right back. I had plenty of space to get my size 12's in and sit very comfortably. In fact, the rear space for passengers is better than my C4 Picasso (5str) Dammit!
However, the batteries take up a lot of the floor space in the rear hatch area so the storage space is very shallow.
I was surprised at the amount of road noise coming into the cabin too.
He pays 15 quid a year road fund.
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A canard posted by a rival paper: they had to withdraw the story. The plant featured, is in Sudbury Ontario, and refines nickel, 95% of which goes into steel alloys and electroplate. Prius accounts for 0.2% of the annual usage, taking into account that the batteries should last the life of the car and are recyclable.
Hi there, (1st post here) I have a Zafira 1.8, 2002. I changed the rear pads 9months ago and had some trouble pushing back the pistons with the proper tool. All seemed ok till this week when the brake and wheel overheated due to the pads catching. The following days it was back to normal with no heat. I've stripped it 4 times today and pushed back the pistons which are nice and free with the proper tool.
The pads are free in their slots but when i apply pressure the pistons move and out but will not retract leaving the discs party clamped. I've cracked both ends of the flexi hose to release fluid but pistons remain clamped. handbrake cable is free. I'm assuming now I have to replace the caliper as the internal adjustment parts are not allowing the piston to retract slightly to release the disc. The wheel heats up after a couple of miles. Any help would be appreciated before i spend my hard earned cash !
Mikeymike Read more
Its sounds like you dont mean you stripped the calipers when you say you stripped the calipers. "Peeping under the dust cover" does not necessarily cut it. If you strip something you take everything apart and clean and lubricate it, including, in this case, removing the pistons and cleaning out the piston bores.
Sometimes its just the caliper pins sticking, but by no means always, so you might have to do the whole thing ...
Daughters 2001, 1.6, 84K Focus, just had timing belt done (better late than never) now there is a squeak/screach from the area around of the belt, not very loud but wasnt there before the belt change, noise goes (or at least cant hear it from inside motor) after car run for a few miles, but its there again if start engine up after 10 mins or so. Doesnt seem to get any worse if electrics on or not, clutch is in or not or steering or not.
Is this normal?, anything to worry about?, should we take the car back to fitters asap or can it wait?, will it go away once 'bedded in'?
{year and engine size added to the subject header, as per the requests to do so!} Read more
Why you would change the cam belt and not the ancillary belt at the same time baffles me,when people cut corners doing jobs it makes me wonder about the rest of the work.
Browse
I have exactly the same symptoms. First time it happened, I was driving past one of those military bases with the big white golf ball antenna things, conspiracy theories had me thinking that I was being zapped!
The problem is definitely in the fuse box, I just press them all down and wiggle a few and the problem goes away.