March 2008
Hi,
On my 306 when the weather is very wet I get loads of water running out of the sunroof / remote locking console on the "ceiling". It all runs out of the switches when I pull away. The aerial has had some type of silicone added when it was put on ages ago so it shouldnt be getting in there. I'm wondering if it might be the windscreen seal - or are there some drain holes for the sunroof that might be blocked?
Thanks. Read more
There was a radio advert the other day requesting drivers to become instructors.
The only proviso was that you had held a full UK licence for a year.
This is the reason why there are so many poor drivers around. They are taught to pass a test. Not to drive. We need experienced drivers to teach new drivers. Not new drivers teaching new drivers.
I have witnessed some incredibly poor driving by learners. Which is the fault of the instructors, full stop. Until we tighten up on standards being taught, the poor driving which causes most cases of road rage and accidents will continue to get worse.
We need to train people to drive and obey the rules of the road, not just to pass a test. Read more
It could be thought that someone who passes the test after 10 lessons is a better driver than someone who took 30 lessons to pass. Would they give a discount to someone who had 100 lessons and failed the test 4 times before passing? Probably not!
I've got a vectra 2.2 direct petrol running lumpy/rough on idle but ok
when normal driving. Have done the basics plugs,coil pack etc ,suspect fuel pressure
pump,any ideas?? Read more
if it has a fuel pressure issue it should put the eml light on, i have changed a few of these (pumps) plus pressure reg/sensor but always has the light on, possible air leak making it run lean, it would still run lean at higher revs but less noticable !
Morning you knowledgeable lot. This car any good and what mpg.
Thanks...............MD Read more
Being an SVE it's the mark 4. Well specced car. Dad has a 1.8 petrol on an 02 and it's a nice drive - roomy and compfy too. I had a 2.2 dCi and it was an utter pig in a poke. Petrol engines are I gather bomb-proof however watch those emissions 'cos you are in for a fright next April with the CVT. Pop on to www.npoc.co.uk for any things to look for - worn bushes and an earth fault at the rear cluster are the only 2 things I can think of, make sure oil changes have been done at least on shcedule
Hello all. I wonder if you can tell me if there is a general rule for the best gear/RPM to choose for the best fuel efficiency, or if it all depends on so many variables that there is no general rule.
I've often heard that you should drive in the highest gear possible that does not result in the engine labouring. But what does this actually mean? My car (a 1.6 petrol Focus mkI) pulls fairly smoothly from about 1200rpm, and doesn't 'shudder' under throttle unless you go well below that. Does that mean it's not labouring at those engine speeds? But I've also read (possibly here) that the most efficient engine speed is at peak torque, at least for diesels. I presume that wouldn't apply to a petrol engine where peak torque is at, say, 4000rpm?
Is there a general rule for petrol cars and diesel cars? Does the same rule apply at (a constant) 30mph as at (a constant) 50mph? Or are there too many contingencies for generalization? Read more
To answer your [thankfully!] more limited question properly, you need to obtain the performance map for your engine. Good luck!
As an example, see;
www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=144109&page=9
There's a lot going on on this graph, so, bit by bit;
The x axis, reading from left to right is engine speed in rpm
The y axis is in mean effective pressure - which is proportional to torque
The thick blue line represents the engines maximum mean effective pressure at that speed, i.e. wide open throttle, and as such, is just a scaled torque curve for the engine.
The thin blue lines are contours of equal brake specific fuel consumption, in g/kWh - the engine is most efficient near the "centre of the onion"
The thin black curves, with one highlighted in red are curves of constant power. The dots on the red line indicate where there are gears available. In this example, at the road speed where the drag is 30 kW, you could be in one gear running at 2000rpm, and 260g/kWh, or running at 4000 rpm and 320 g/kWh - as these lie on a line of constant power, they are directly proportional to the mass of fuel burnt in a given time.
Now, at any given constant road speed, your car needs a given amount of power to overcome the various forms of drag, so you would need to select the gear that places you closest to the "centre of the onion".
Note that the centre of the onion is just below the engine speed for maximum torque, and that it isn't at low engine loads.
From next week councils will be able to issue parking tickets based solely on CCTV evidence.
www.itv.com/News/tonight/episodes/Parkingwars/defa...l
This is the police state at its best, fines issued using a CCTV operators perception of someone breaking the law! No face to face and no explanation until the fine is received in the post which could take upto 2 weeks! (note the clip of the mini being fined by Lambeth Council for not giving way at a narrow bridge)
'I've got nothing to hide so I don't mind' I hear you sheep say? Why does the majority have to suffer because of the minority. Studies have proved that CCTV actually encourages the rebel inside us as an act of protest against feeling 'accused' and being watched. What happended to reasonableness? Are we all really that bad! What next?
What happended to our liberal society? Surely this is an infringement of human rights?
The poor old motorist gets it in the neck yet again! Read more
And will performance driven operators be too busy looking for easily traceable errant motorists rather than 'real' criminals, which is what CCTV was installed to do??
But why would you let an 18 year old test drive a car like that? It doesn't say the owner was threatened or anything so I assume he just let the guy drive off in it!
I need to remove the exhaust heat shield which is held in place by "special nuts or... bolts" according to the Haynes manual I have.
How do I undo these special nuts/bolts? They look like rivets to me.
Also
I recently took my Focus for its M.O.T here in the UK. It failed on one of the checks only:
When the handbrake is applied, it applies only 11% percent pull on the rear right hand wheel. 11% is below the legal minimum requirement.
In other words the parking brake for the right handside rear wheel has a "low effort".
The parking brake effort for the rear left hand wheel is fine.
THANKS
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
How about adding the year/engine info,
Like we have asked you to do! PU
Read more
The heat shield on my 1999 1.8i is held on by these strange hexagonal grips/bolts. The bolts are not screwed on but pushed on and the inner surface grips onto the ribbed pin or screw that sticks out from the bodywork.
Despite the fact that they're not technically screwed on, I found that unscrewing them (either by hand or with a wrench) seemed to be the best way to loosen them. Wear thick gloves though, as the metalwork is pretty sharp in places !
My heat shield was coming away and rattling, so I removed the bolts, placed larger washers over the pins and pushed the bolts back on to hold everything in place.
Good luck getting the heat shield off without removing the exhaust - you're probably going to have to cut/destroy certain parts of it to get it off I would have thought and you'll struggle to replace certain parts too, unless you're able to at least lower the exhaust to make room.
Just in the process of purchasing an August 2004 reg 1.2 Litre (second hand) Fiat Panda Exclusive.
Unfortunately it only has 1 key and , as the car is to be driven by both my wife and my daughter, we're going to need a 2nd key.
Not wanting to pay outrageous Fiat dealer prices, does anyone know how I can get a spare without paying through the nose - and preferably without having to lose the existing key for more than a few hours ?
We also need an owners handbook and wonder if there's a better or cheaper source than purchasing one from a Fiat dealer.
In case it helps, we're in the South Manchester area.
Chris Muriel, Manchester Read more
get the seller to reduce the selling price to allow for the key and book cost.
FIAT will do replacement books, for a price, but the book giving the servicing schedule will say "duplicate" or similar words that I can't remember at the moment.
It's possible that the transponder from the key is loose in the footwell (!).
Unless it's an exceptional deal I'd walk - there are plenty out there without "issues".
Hi we have a 99 passat 1.8 20v that has an abs brake warning light a brake warning light like the fluid level is low and also a beeping sound.Have carried out a plug in and no codes showing up,has anyone come across this problem?
{year & engine details added to subject line, as per the 3 separate ignored requests} Read more
I'm looking forward to the continuation of this thread - I think we may have the same problem on a 2000 1.8T. I'm only an amateur (and the professionals have come up with nothing yet) but my suspicions as to its origins lie in an electronics problem with the ignition. Firstly the radio went dead & didn't respond to any laptop checks. Fortunately the ignition problem was discovered before the new radio was delivered & the radio came back to life - but then the abs problem. Firstly quite intermittent & random (eg i could do 100 miles with no problem, then it'd be on for 200 miles etc) but recently I haven't gone more than a few yards before the beeping starts.
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Recently I had exactly the same problem with my 1999 'T' 5 door LX model, with the sunroof.
At first, I thought it was a direct problem related to the sunroof, possibly one of the seals. I have since investigated further, discovering that the aerial is poorly welded and I am yet to find a root of the problem.
Even the rip-off merchants at my local Peugeot garage were mystified so investigations have become more home-made - today discovering that one of the drains in the sunroof was blocked, clearing it out with some curtain cable to find grime/decomposed leaves/general muck blocking it, fixing this by pouring some boiling water through. The drain is now efficient.
My findings have led to suggest that this waterfall problem are due to a build up of rainwater - the drain had obviously blocked up some time ago with the car's previous owner because there is a lot of green mould around the left side of the sunroof seal.
In theory, if the water is no longer collecting in the sunroof reservoir, it shouldn't seep through the remote central locking receiver.
I opened up the sunroof switch part on the roof to find no daylight, the bit with the 10mm screws.
I'm hoping this should do the job for now, the idea of replacing the aerial seems at the moment expensive but I shall do so if the problem persists.
Hope this helps anyone with the same problem in the future.