February 2008
Hello to all car nuts.
Recently I have been trying to decide if I should get a pre 2004 1.6 focus. All the sites I have been on have been a little vague on fuel economy and performance. I want a car which is fun to drive but not to thirsty. Could any owners give me a heads up on these issues or would a pre 2002 fiesta be better!
Is the zetec focus better than an LX, whats the difference in performance and costs.
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When testing if the head gasket has gone a garage sniffs the coolant what are those crystals?
Where do you get the kit from? all i have is a old pressure tester sykes pic which does not fit most modern car's.
Any idea of cost?
This is not for a ferrari i had to put some details in to get on!!! Read more
Any decent MOT place could just stick the exhaust analyser in the coolant bottle and get a result or not. Likely to be very acccurate as the machine costs several thousand pounds, and take 4 mins.
I'd like to know if there is any electrical test I can do to check the coil pack is functioning as it should.
And how does the diagnostic tool used at dealers tell if the engine is knocking? I mean what physical electrical test does it perform to know this?
My reason for testing is that mpg is not what I expected, it should be 54mpg urban, I got 44mpg. car is 2003 (53 reg) 1.2 16V
Also what is the best constant speed to do to get the best MPG? Someone said a Ford focus/fiesta whatever said in the manual the car is most economic at 70mph, I find that difficult to believe.
cheers Read more
possible mass air flow starting to fail but 44 to the gallon go you
Hi all
Have a Mazda6 Diesel that misfires off idle 1250 rev's it's been doing that for a few months sometimes. It's done 23K and had service at Dealers at 12K last May and I changed oil and filter at 18K with Mazda DPF Dexelia. Now last few weeks misfires all the time if you go slow enough in second gear and take it easy. I can even tell in these last few weeks it's not running right up to 2000 rev's. In traffic it's awful feels like it's off on a cylinder. Have to admit that I thought if I took it back to dealer at first they might not notice it but now having checked mpg this week and it's only doing 29mpg am going to phone local mazda dealer tomorrow Monday. Has anybody any ideas what it could be cause, sad to say I worry they will have me running back and forth. Thankfully it's still under warranty for sixteen months still. I was hoping to keep it for at least four years!
Last but not least I did try disconnecting battery all that happened was I got some practice at resetting eletric windows easy enough though!
Thanks in anticipation
vulcan7 Read more
Had the same issue since I bought the car 5 years ago.
Still not fixed, however, noticed the Management light only comes on if the outside temprature is over 10 Deg Centigrade....
I have just bought a 2006 1.4tdi 80PS Polo 5dr privately. Just done 20k miles. Looking through the service schedule it looks like the cam belt change is 80k miles - have I read this right?
Any other problem areas with this car that I should look out for in the future? Read more
Steve
I don't do the spanner work; but it's not a particularly nice job - the tensioner alone will give you brain-ache. 2.9 hrs book time.
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I bought a new Dell PC last month - Inspiron 530 - with a Pentium 4500 Dual Core processor and told them I wanted XP and not Vista.
You can pay £50 extra and get XP Professional. I 'phoned my order and said I would not pay extra for XP, so my Dell came with XP Home Edition.
Anyone heard of them? Got a cheap deal on them.... Read more
"I have Republic of China manufactured tyres on my car"
Stuartli,
What was their brand name?
my alternator belt keeps sweaking when it is cold and need tightening its well embarrising. but i had a look and like on my old corsa it was on a rale but on this engine i cant find it and at the top of the alternator its just bolts.
any ideas. thanks
{year picked up from a previous post} Read more
I use a hammer with a hollow metal shaft to give the extra leverage required to get those allen screws undone - but as mentioned, make sure the allen key is well seated (hammer it in!) before you try.
To tighten the belt you need to move the tensioner downwards ie you effectively need to unscrew the tension screw on the bottom.
One question though - does this car have air con? That changes things....
Hi all
I'm considering the purchase of an A4 TDI 1.9 03 model. A lot are advertised as having 130 bhp but with a 5 speed box. I had previously thought that in 03 to be a 130 it would have had a 6 speed box. (and that 5 speed were 115 or 100)
Can anybody give me an accurate breakdown on engine power at different stages and why some 130s may have a 5 speed box.
I will call Audi to make sure before buying but would like to know the background
Thanks Read more
I had on '03 A4 Avant TDI Sport a few years back; it was a 130 but only had a five speed 'box - IIRC the 6 speed wasn't introduced until'04.
That shape A4 (known as 'B6) was available with the 1.9TDI in 100 and 130 PS outputs. Only distinguishing feature outside AFAIK is the red 'I' on the TDI badge for the 130 PS versions.
The recently replaced 'B7' A4 had the same engine but with a 105 PS output; the 130 was effectively replaced with the 2.0TDI in 140PS form. For the B7 all 1.9s were 5 speed, and the 2.0s 6 speed
HTH
Peter
Hi Guys,
My car's MoT expires in a few days and I need to know if it will fail due to a missing locking flap - ripped off by SWMBO a week ago when filling up from the 'wrong' side of the pump.
The (non-lockable) fller cap itself is in perfect condition, and seals correctly.
A search seems to indicate that 'lockability' is not a requirement, just that the cap and seal operate correctly. However, one site did imply that the filler needs to be lockable. Read more
The old fuel caps with a pin hole actually have a valve mechanism built in
Really? The ones that I've taken apart have had no such thing. A cork washer, a dished baffle plate with a hole in it, and the cap (sometimes a spring) - and that's all.
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I second that about the Zetec seats. I had a pain to the side of my right thigh for a long time, before I twigged it was the car seat causing it. If you press down with a thumb on the bolster, the side rail can be felt pretty easily. Having said that, I still rate it as a great motor.