March 2008
I have noticed recently that the fuel consumption of the wife's Scenic has dropped by about 10-20%. The car has a fairly awful daily commute through very slow traffic but normally manages 36 mpg. This is now 31 mpg. Engine still starts well and no drop in power. The car was serviced at 2 years old and is now 3.5 years old. I've done the oil every 12 months.
Was thinking of taking off the air filter to see if it is clogged up and whether its removal improves matters. Can anyone tell me how to get at it? I can see the pipe behind the radiator but it disappears behind the battery.
I read a similar email a few weeks ago and someone wittily replied "if you can't find the filter maybe you shouldn't be looking in the bonnet!" But the Scenic engine access is very very cramped with its short bonnet. Any tips would be appreciated. I'm not completely thick - I have managed to change the headlight bulbs - no small achievement!
If the next step is a garage - not sure if it's best going to a Renault garage which doesn't care or a small private garage? (do they understand turbo diesels?)
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I wonder if anybody on this forum has experience of changing a dipped headlight bulb on this vehicle. My initial investigation seems to show that you need fingers 12" long and made of rubber to accomplish this task.
The Volvo owners club forum,where I might have got some advice, has recently closed down due to the threat of legal action by a garage who say defamatory comments were made about their business on the forum.
Alternatively perhaps someone could recommend another forum that could advise on this.
Thanks
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I don't think the S40 is configurable in that way. What you can change is the "follow me home" behaviour of the lights which I think you might be confusing it with.
If you think Volvo S60 lights are bad try a new shape Audi A6!
Just a mild rant.
I've now had 3 sets of ebay sourced reversing sensors on my Ford.
These are often advertised as "like oe" etc. but most if not all are from the far east, and look a bit cheaply made. Often snazzy little displays are included, with coloured leds and distance countdown. I tried one of these but the bleeper, which was in the display failed after a few hot summer days.
My main beef though, is that the detection range seems shorter than oe sensors, but the main problem seems to be that the system does not always "wake up" on first contact with something behind, and only bleeps when really close. Hence I find you cannot trust that you are safely reversing.
Anybody else with similar views ? Read more
Tow bars can be a mixed blessing as I found out with my last car when I had a senior
moment and forgot I had small trailer on and tried to back up on full lock. That soon woke me up! I do have a fool-proof system for tight spot's it's called, get out and have look especialy if it's a car I'm not used to and with high kerbs and low fronts its often a must do for me these days sad to say
vulcan
When the car is left standing for a few days, the battery loses charge. After about 2 weeks there is hardly enough power to start the engine.
It is a new battery and has been tested.
Can anyone suggest what could be draining the battery?
Could an immobiliser be a drain?
Any help would be much appreciated.
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On this exact same topic - can I thank Backroomers for their suggestions which proved extremely useful in sorting out the problem of a discharging new battery.
A few months ago, we replaced the battery on my son's 1.2 '96 Corsa B. We also replaced the radio with a non-standard Aiwa as we had lost the radio code - the radio was not too impressive, anyway. We learned that the 'unreliability' of the first radio was most probably caused by the poor switch connection in the ignition switch barrel so we bridged the 2 power supplies - i.e. the 'switched' supply to the radio with the 'constant' supply which maintains the presets. We thought that, provided the radio was switched off, then there would be no drain on the battery.
After about 4 days of non-use, the battery was flattened - it was then that I learned from this forum that the removable front on the radio consumes a significant amount of power. Now, if the car has to be parked for overnight or longer, we simply have to remember to remove the radio front. So far - so good - let's hope there isn't something else!
Any more problems - and it will be time for the multimeter test.
My neighbour parks his car just over my dropped kerb..not enough to block me in, just enough to pink fluffy dice me off.
The front/back end of his car is usually parked in the middle of the slope of the dropped kerb or at the bottom of the slope of the kerb.
Can he do this...?????
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We have a similar issue outside one of our shops. There is parking allowed up till the yellow line. One of the houseowners parks his car about 3/4 length away from the yellow line thus taking up too much space and not leaving enough for another car.
When my shop manager raised this with him, it turns out that outside his flat window, he has a camera focussed on his car as he had it broken into before. The camera has been adjusted to the full angle and that is why his car is parked back from the yellow line. If he parked it closer to the yellow line his camera wouldn't see it!
Unbelievable! BTW, car is a P Reg Polo.
I know that my car has a function where as you press a button and the headlights come on automatically when it starts to get dark. I know where the button is situated, but i have no idea how it works. Ive pressed it and it has got dusk and nothing has happened. Now it may just be that it needs fixing, maybe its broke, or maybe im just being abit thick ? .. Read more
Couldn't agree more. Why not have a switch marked 'headlights' that turns on the headlights?
Isn't it a shame that manufacturers put so much effort into gimmicks like automatic headlights and so little into build quality and ultimate reliability?
I dare say there's a few 206 owners out there who would have swapped automatic headlights for a working gearbox...
Having trouble with my 1997 1.3 Endura Fiesta stalling everytime I come to a stop. Engine runs ok when going and drives well apart from the stalling. Think its the idling speed but don't know how to adjust. Can anyone help? Read more
I have the same engine in my Ford Ikon (year 2000 model with fuel injection and 60ps), Ford Fiesta with a boot sold in India with same 1.3 Endura Engine. I am experiencing same problem with idling speed. I took out idle control valve, cleaned it, sprayed WD 40 and put it back on. Also I diconnected the battery for 30 min and connected back again to reset ECU. when I started the engine, idle was fine and the engine did not stall on slowing down. But after couple of days the engine started at high RPM when starting coldand after few seconds suddenly the RPM went down and the engine stalled while idling also the engine stalls again while slowing down on the move. I think cleaning the idle control valve did help but not for too long. Also I checked for any leakages in the air inlet duct and there were none. Surely something to do with Idle Control Valve. Now in India Ford does not make 1.3 endura engines for the last 8 years. Can I get some help on this?
Just to help settle a pub argument from the weekend.
Two identical cars driving at the same speed on the same road in the same conditions.
One is using cruise control to maintain speed.
One is being driven conventionally with the driver maintaining the speed.
Will there be any difference in fuel consumption between the two cars? If so, why?
A mate seems to think that cruise increases fuel consumption. I can't see how or why this should be the case.
Answers gratefully received.
Cheers
DP
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Up to about 60-ish the CC on my C5 was prone to immediately downshifting and then upshifting straight afterwards when turned on. When overtaking, because the auto kickdown was almost dangerously slow, I used to set the CC for about 80, turn it off and then turn it on again when I wanted a nifty pass, it worked a treat every time. Changing down manually was even slower! The CC wasn't particularly clever at maintaining a constant speed either, the speedo needle usually waved around + or - 2 or 3 mph.
Needless to say the CR-V is rock solid constant and the kickdown works as it should.
C5/CC = ~5mpg more and the CR-V/CC = ~5mpg less. Mainly A road conditions.
Bill
Hi,
I bought a Golf GTi brand new from my local VW main dealer, had 6 miles when i collected it. I had a good look over the car before accepting it, looked for dings, scratches etc both inside the workshop and outside in the daylight and never noticed anything untoward. I am very pernickety about my cars and therfore take very good care of them.
The car is now 9 weeks old and has done 3500 miles. While washing it today i noticed rust starting to break through on the tailgate, just under the rear window.
I've not spoken to the dealer yet as they were closed by the time i discovered it.
To say that i'm unhappy is an understatement. Am i within my rights to ask them to take the car back? or are they entitled to try and fix it?
Cheers
Kenny Read more
One of the worst bits was that I went to this dealership because partly because it was 5 mins walk from my house, and also, my dad is good friends with someone who's son is a salesman in there, which is who I dealt with when I was buying the car. When I went back in initially about the problem it was him I saw first, simply because he was a familiar face. His first reaction was that there wouldn't be a problem getting it sorted, once all the arguing kicked off he was clearly quite un easy about the whole situation and on numerous occasions had a quiet word and said he was really sorry about it all but there was nothing he could do, the decision was now out of his hands.
I have noticed several of the older golfs developing major rust in this same area, would have you believe there was something common in the design, manufacture or assembly process that was causing it.
Lot of 3 year old Peugeot 307 CC's starting to come through the auctions at around £7k.
Very pretty car. Seems a steal at this money but what about the electric motors for the roof? Read more
Hi Niallster
I just traded in a 307cc for a Mitsubishi Colt CZC. The Pug was 2.5 years old and we had owned it for 18 months.
Ours was a HDi, but only ever achieved 37 mpg. The petrol versions seem to return the low 20s. You need the 180 bhp if your going for petrol as the car is very heavy.
In 18 months the CD player and the parking sensors failed but all under warranty. The roof is a Merc design so should be OK.
It's a good cruiser, but I wouldn't recommend it for town use. Rear visibility is very restricted. The reversing light is a joke reminded me of cars I drove 30 years ago.
The drivng position is very low, I'm 6ft 3 and really didn't like it.
We got £11,000 for it and £2,000 off the Colt. The Pug was fully loaded 27,000 miles, but most Pug dealers weren't interested at all. As you say the trade is awash with petrol models. Ours was an early facelift so that and being diesel were the only reasons we managed to px it.
Richardo
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If it's not the brakes; then there's something seriously amiss there - maybe a sensor reading or similar.
Although there are no codes, a good diesel specialist should be able to see what's wrong using the live-data.