February 2008
Really weird!! If I touch the accelerator before turning the ignition the starter will turn the engine over but the engine will not fire. However, the slightest "bump start" will get it going. My local garage and the AA have not solved the problem. Any ideas out there?
Engine/Year detail added - obviously three visual prompts asking to provide the info is too hard to see..... Read more
Hi All,
I'm wondering what experience people have of Chinese engines, both in motorbikes and as static engines in industrial, plant or agricultural machinery.
There seems to be quite a few Chinese engines out there, such as Lifan, Kinlon, Shineray, Zongshen, but there seems to be hundreds of other names too.
Then there are the copies / clones of Honda by companies like Loncin amongst others. They all seem very cheap to buy in comparison to 'the real thing', whether on a bike or bolted to a wacker plate.
Are they up to the same or similar standards of reliability or refinement of engines from the known European or Japanese manufacturers?
Would you replace a Honda engine on your cement mixer or rotivator with a Chinese clone when the 'real thing' costs more than twice the price of the clone?
Would you consider a motorbike with a Chinese engine?
I suppose this will be more of a decision when the Chinese actively export their own cars over here.
Simon Read more
Have run a chinese Furzou engine in my boat for the past three years with no problems It is a 1600 twin diesel imported in the early 90s together with many more It has now done 2500 hrs Have come across 3 others with this engine installed at about the same time as mine but done alot more hours [ one was 7000] Itis very basic in design but is big and solidand puts out 26hp
Been used for 15yrs now so cant be too bad
I'm after a bit of advice or recommendations.
I need an estate/ 4x4 with a large boot. The boot needs to be relatively square.
I'm replacing my unreliable Focus estate, which is fab in terms of boot space - not so big as many others, but a really practical shape - no wheel arches bending in and quite a square opening.
I have a dog crate to fit in the boot and while I know it will have to be altered to fit in the back of a different model, I don't want to lose too much space for the dogs.
I've tried a Mondeo, Accord and Mazda 6 - all have bigger bootsby total volume, but the crate will not fit in any because either the roof is too low or there are wheel arches in the way limiting the minimum width or, in the Mondeo's case, the boot curves to the tailgate, meaning the opening is narrower than the Focus - so the crate's maximum width will have to be reduced to get it past the curvature.
Any suggestions - I'm getting desperate now - I'm loathe to get a bigger car and have less room for the dogs.
Many thanks in advance... Read more
Local dog walker uses a citroen berlingo multispace - fits a variety of dog cages.
As other posters have reported well, even the brilliance of the 6 cylinder diesel engine is not enough to compensate for the twitchiness of the 3 series on the run flats. I drove a 325d Sport last weekend. Loved the engine, should be labelled entertainment, but felt as if we were in a cross wind the whole time with minor steering adjustment being constantly required.
I previously tried the new C Class. The 220 diesel sounded like a tractor in the cabin at idle. The 200K was quieter but both were too soft and soggy for my taste, and the steering was light and wooly. The ancient 5 speed auto available is a real disappointment for someone coming out of the Tiptronic era.
I?m trying the new A4 this weekend. I wonder if the 2.7 Multitronic (I?m strictly a two pedal guy) might be the compromise for me ? between the skate-like BMW and the four poster Merc.
However, I?ve read nasty reports about the longevity of the Multitronic auto box. I know Audi claim to have beefed it up recently (not before time) and it?s too early to tell if that has improved the reliability.
It would be useful to hear the full story of this upgrade if anyone knows it.
Read more
My 04 Audi with Multitronic has had a failure and Audi wants £4500 to replace it. Failed in the first 40k miles but outside of warranty.
Lots of others have had similar experiences with such early failures.
Perhaps the new ones are better?
My common advice is:
(1) Make sure you get a 7 plate clutch - the 5 plate ones are the cause of the juttering (had mine changed under warranty)
(2) Have your gearbox oil changed every 40k miles -- it's in the service book, but often gets forgotten. Someone else recommended changing it every 20k which i may start doing as these gearboxes seem notorious for failures
(3) If your PRNDS light is flashing, it may just be the switch on the transmission which costs £1000 instead of £4500 for a whole new gearbox. Specialist multitronic garages will be cheaper than main audi dealers but make sure you go to a specialist as multitronics are very complex...
Hi, had my Nissan Tino about 6 months now very reliable car the only thing is it uses a lot of oil, i had the oil changed about Xmas and im constantly topping it up every 3 - 4 weeks ,when i collected it from the service the fellow told me from empty to full it only holds 2.7 litres of oil so a gallon would nearly do you two changes ,its not leaking any where and it just went through its MoT before Xmas and no blue smoke from exhaust and 57000 miles on the clock its a 1.8 twin cam s model 2002 .....and does any one know the proper oil that goes in them its just different car part shops are telling me different types the person who done the service said he put 20/40 semi synthetic in it
thx
Year and engine type put in - we should start asking people to do that themselves ! Read more
I still have my 02 serviced by a franchised dealer.
They fit 10/40 semi-synth.
My car at 61,000 miles uses some oil - about 500ml every 5,000 miles...
Can anyone advice where the concealed radio head unit is located in the espace and the process of accessing it? Read more
While dealing with something else I found a unit made by Pioneer underr the drivers seat in my Grand Espace and I presume this is the radio unit.
Be very careful to avoid detonating the airbag or seatbelt retractor in the drivers seat. I disconnected the main battery & made sure I wore only cotton clothes to avoid static electricity.
You need a Torx 40 socket set end to unbolt the seat. Slide the seat fully back to get at the front bolts and then slide it fully forward to get at the 3 back bolts. Then tip the seat back carefully and carefully disconnect the connectors of the wires to the detonators.
However. After peeling back the carpet I have not discovered how to peel it back far enough to remove the protective plastic cover over the radio unit. ON the face of it it seems that you have to remove/peel back most of the floor carpet to get at these under-seat locations. And that in turn requires removing the door sill trims, Arrgh!!! I did not persevere as my radio is working OK.
Matra seem to have built these cars in a particular sequence and you have to reverse the sequence to get at anything and practically all the trim was added last; so it almost seems at times that you have to remove all the trim to get at anything.
Hi there,
My MkIV 03 Golf Match (100BHP TDI PD) recently started juddering at random intervals, which got worse and worse. I went to a local V.W specialist who put it on the computer and reported a problem on injector 1. To cut a long story short the wiring loom in the cylinder head was replaced, injectors were cleaned and seals were replaced, which has sorted the problem out. The engineer did mention the cylinder was worn, which has gotten me worried...
I decided to check that the oil was replaced on my last service, which it was, but from looking on lots of forums It appears the wrong oil has been used. I won't mention the companies name, but they are BIG and used Castrol GTX Magnatec.
It looks like this does meet 505.01 spec, which from also doing quite a bit of reading is what MUST be used in PD engines to prevent premature engine wear!
I am really concerned now that this service may have caused the intial problem, but I need to check with the VW specialist and also could this have caused the wear on the cylinder??
If so do you think the large company should change my oil to the correct stuff for free?
Read more
Wiring looms inside engines are common on military and special purpose diesels and generally cause little trouble. The problem with the PD is that VAG did not use military spec. wiring and connectors.
It's not a difficult or expensive fault to fix though - assuming your "dealer" can find it.
As far as the wear goes, in my experience, PDs with the wrong oil in them usually suffer gross wear on the valve cams which are very narrow - and of course their followers. The unit injector cams have roller followers and are very wide. I suspect VAG played a bit too safe with the injector cams, leaving too little width for the valve actuation cams.
Moral: Use the right oil. No help from VAG's confusing data though.
659.
Just had a call from little brother, their shared family runabout is misfiring. 80k on the clock
He has changed plugs and leads also in desperation has replaced the coilpack.
Still doing it at idle and when driving, although at times it runs OK.
Pulling plug leads off, it "seems" worse with one pair than the other (hence the coilpack).
I've suggested that he goes round all connectors he can find and pulls them apart and shove them back together with a wiggle.
Any other thoughts would be most welcome. Read more
Many thanks again for your help Mr screwloose ;)
It looks like original problem was a sparkplug lead but his changing of plugs and leads made no difference. Going back a step and putting the old plugs back in fixed it. One new plug faulty. Grrrrr.
thanks again
Martin
There may be a simple answer to this, but why are E-Class Merc's still so common as Taxis in so many countries? I don't think I've ever seen a BMW 5 series Taxi, but they have more room in the back, similar sized boots and better fuel economy, am I missing something? Read more
If I had the ready cash, there is no question I would buy a 220 D E Class. A Dublin taxi driver a while ago told me the electrics are now fixed. They removed the offending ones. Some company badly let the company down with electrics. At least the present people in charge are absolutely determined to get it right.
Yesterday after taking the car for an MOT, i was reasonably happy to find that it had only failed on a tyre and a rusty clamp holding the silencer to the exhaust. I had the tyre changed immediately, with the clamp being replaced at the same time. The drive home from the garage was as normal and nothing out of the ordinary.
A couple of hours passed before the car was started again, and it started nicely. I started to drive, only to hear the car was sounding similar to a dragster and was giving off a faint burning smell. I turned the car around and headed back home, switched off and back on to check the car was starting ok, which it does fine.
I have a feeling (along with my nosey neighbour) that the car is only running on 3 valves, but am not 100% sure. As i stated it sounds similar to a dragster or what i can only describe as what american muscle cars sound like (a low grumbling sound), it smells slightly of burning, although i am unable to ascertain whether the smell is coming from the engine area of from the exhaust, and it seems to have lost a lot of power.
Any input/advice on what may be happening, further checks that i can carry out to identify the problem, and any solutions would be of great use. I am not a genius when it comes to cars, so simple terms would be much appreciated.
Thanks a lot Read more
EGR Valve is so problematical on this car that Vauxhall will disable it for you. Takes just a few minutes (small gasket/blanking plate and a quick down load). Can,t be very expensive as mine was disabled while I chatted to the mechanic about doing a down load on my car . He didn,t charge me although I fitted the gasket ( 5 mins). Mine has an 8v engine though.
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I have had my micra for over a year now with no problems till a month ago, when I came to start it up, the engine would not turn over so I called out the RAC they got me started after a while and told me to get new spark plugs which I did the same day. The next day it would not start again so I phoned a mobile mechanic he got me started and charged me £30 but the next day it would not start again so I went and bought a set of bosch spark plugs the car started straight away its been great the last 2 weeks but went to start up again this morning and again the engine wont turn over. Can anyone help?
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