March 2008
Good news for all Jazz owners, a Haynes guide will be published this summer.
I also e mailed them about a New Panda guide cos we have 2 of these. Interestingly, once the, I presume first, examples of a car are out of warranty, Haynes need to see 50,000 sold in the UK before it is financially justifiable to produce a manual.
New Haynes guides are getting rarer and rarer, this must be due to the variety of models of car now available in the UK being so vast that an individual model rarely exceeds the required number of sales. Read more
Hi, I have a Peugeot 306 hdi 2000. Just wondering if anyone can give me any suggestions (apart from scrapping my car!) I'll start from the beginning and try to put as much info as possible. I started the car up one day and it was fine, then drove it 10 meters slowly in a car park and the engine tone changed. I put my foot down to accelerate and it had no power then the ecu warning light came on.
It starts and revs when stopped perfectly. It is only when the engine is under any load it just won't rev. It is like the throttle is only open a little or it's not getting any fuel. So I took it to a local garage and he checked the code and said it was the throttle position sensor. I changed that (£70 Peugeot) and it had no change. So i took it back to my local garage to check again but he didn't want to look at it (the nice man, NOT). I took it to another local garage who checked the code again and he said it was the throttle position sensor circuit two. I have already changed that though, so he wasn't sure but guessed that it might be the maf - which i thought it may have been to start with - so I also changed that but still no difference.
Three months ago I changed the fuel and air filters. I don't know if it is a coincidence but, the same week I did that I noticed that I had a very small lack of power at speed, as if it wouldn't accelerate any more but this was not a big problem because it didn't do it all the time. Since the ecu light has come on the car has become very erractic. Most of the time it won't accelerate with my foot to the floor and then all of a sudden it just shoots off and accelerates perfectly, then it stops accelerating and the revs drop down again and then back up again - you get my drift? I have changed the filters again just to make sure it wasn't them. I really don't want to take the car to Peugeot as for them just to look at it is going to cost me the earth!
Some suggestions and help would be very much appreciated, I'm thinking its electrical but at the same time it could be a fuel problem, low pressure pump? If I take that out can the filter be cleaned or is it a sealed unit? If it's an electrical fault where do i begin looking?
Thanks, alec.
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Any "Genuine Bosch" MAF off e-bay will be a useless fake - refit the original, they rarely fail. [One of these days, I'll test an e-bay MAF that is to spec - one of them must be, just on the law of averages....]
There is a widely-known wiring mod that Peugeot developed to [try and] stop false APP sensor codes. It involves identifying the two earth wires from the MAF, cutting them off from the common return and extending them to a sound earth. This is a false code mod though and shouldn't affect the running.
Hi all, after a bit of feedback on what How To's could be useful for you? Any feedback is greatly received.
Many thanks Read more
Thanks to all, your comments help us to improve our service to you so keep em coming!
Dear backroomers,
Will be viewing this car next friday. Main dealer p/x. I dont know alot about Fords.
Are there any potential expenses coming up like cambelts or other things which i should negotiate into the deal.
By the way its the petrol version and a one owner car with FSH
Anybody own one and could share their experiences?
Many thanks. Read more
purchased a Y reg in Jan 2006 with 115k 1.8 Ghia. Lovely car . great to drive fsh.consumption is reasonable I think at around an average of 35mpg -moreon a run.nothing spent except for usual consumables & servicing.Had the cambelt done at once-better safe than sorry!! My opoen your eyes re Ford cars.At 56k would recommend doing cambelt straight away despite Ford saying 100k. best of luck.
From http;//www.metcheck.com :
"Basically, on Monday we have, probably, the most intense storm of this Winter heading into the UK. At present, there is general agreement within all the model of the position and track of the low. The difference is in the intensity, however we'll give you the best fit at the moment.
The storm will wind up to the West of Ireland, bottoming out at around 935mb (incredibly impressive for this time of year). The storm will then push West into Ireland, the Irish Sea and then into the Midlands with gales, severe gales and even storm force winds wrapped around its core. Heavy rain pushing in from the West during Monday morning will also spread quickly across all regions with the damaging winds following on behind later in the day.
In short, Monday is looking pretty damn nasty and if you have any outside plans then please do follow forecasts over the weekend on the latest for this system. "
Stay safe, everyone, and stay clear of the lee side of high-sided vehicles. Read more
I had to drive to Durham and back today (from Berks) to give a lecture (on money laundering!). I thought about the train but it meant car/train/tube/train/taxi and was just as likely to suffer from the effects of the weather. In the event there was no problem either way except the M1 being closed this evening at J21 because a lorry had overturned and according to the local radio some bulls were wandering around the carriageway....
Fortunately I was in time to turn off on to the A42. Usual 5 hours each way including 2 short stops each way, and 51 mpg. Can't complain.
As I write now from the comfort of home I'd be just coming in to Reading station if I'd used the train.
Hello, am hoping someone can help, i have a Ford Focus C-Max Zetec 1.8 on an 04 plate. It's constantly needing to be topped up with oil and sometimes doesn't start very well. I took it to my mechanic who said he found oil in the 'inlet manifold'? and he cleaned out a valve - something to do with the breathing system i think? Either way i still have the problem. It doesnt appear to be leaking so the oil is going somewhere? Doesn't really seem to be too smokey either? But it uses lots of oil especially at long distance motorway cruising speeds or when i'm towing my caravan.....My mechanic spoke to two ford dealers and they too didnt know what the problem was.....has anyone encountered the problem before or any suggestions i could pass onto my mechanic would be REALLY appreciated! thank you, Emma x
{Shouting in subject line amended} Read more
It sounds like the mechanic cleaned the EGR valve, which can jam up and cause oil to enter the inlet. Poor starting could be linked with oily plugs, which might have been caused by oil leaking past a worn valve guide. If you stand behind the car when it is started from cold and you see a puff of blue smoke, that would tell you about a guide problem. Synthetic oil gets past very small gaps. It is probably not smokey when hot, although if too much oil is getting past the valves, then your emissions will be high. In a recent model like that, you should be able to breathe the exhaust it should be so clean. I think the small ford engines do have valve problems. The oil can only go out the exhaust, fall onto the road or go into the antifreeze. The mechanic can check all this and do a compression test to see if there is a valve problem.
You probably need a really good Ford agent who knows the engines to sort this, but not necessarily a dealer, as they are not always careful with your wallet.
good luck with it
Hi
I have just bought a 2003 1.8 Auto Rover 45 and have driven Autos for 20 years so understand them. However, on my previous non-Rover autos I did not have the problem of severe creep forward especially when first starting and on auto choke presumeably. After it warms up it improves, but I notice that the engine is idling at about 1000 rpm whereas my other cars idled at about 850 rpm. Is this too high and is it a problem with this engine does anyone know?
It is certainly the worst auto box I have had. I realise there is a happy medium on setting the rpm on Autos - too low and it will cut out and too high and it will creep too much.
Any suggestion please? (I've got one: how about putting the year & engine details in the subject header as per the 3 separate requests that ask you to?) Read more
as mentioned, the ECU tries to maintain a set idle speed in a variety of conditions, such as warm up, load from aircon and when drive is engaged. It does it through data from a variety of areas, such as temp sensors, coil output, etc and it adjusts the idle through the throttle bypass solenoid. This can get dirty and stick, but it is cleaned easily with carb cleaner. Assuming the car is reaching correct operating temp (temp sensors OK), then if the settings at the throttle body have not be adjusted by someone as mentioned (if that is possible, as some systems have little provision for it), then sometimes ECU faults cause this. If you switch the engine off and the re-start and it idles at the correct speed, it could be an ECU fault. good luck with it, anyway.
As to it being a poor transmission, in my experience, many auto trannys suffer from poor maintenance and Renaults/BMW's etc have no provision for fluid renewal! They just assume it will fail at 80-140K and you will spend 3K on a new one.
I know some people have asked about this recently.
I've just been given a flyer from 'Wheels 2 Work'. This is a charity which provides mopeds on cheap lease deals (£5/week) to people aged 16+ who have trouble getting to work because of a lack of suitable transport. The implication of the info I have is that they provide insurance, tax and protective gear and the lease lasts 6 months (presumably the idea is that that gives people time to save up to buy their own or decide that 2 wheels is not for them)
This flyer is from the Craven and Harrogate scheme, but apparently there are 54 schemes across the UK. The HArrogate scheme will initially have 10 mopeds.
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A 49cc moped isn't really any different to a bicycle (except you can't use cycle
lanes) so it's worth trying if you're just across town. You'll still need to do
a CBT for a day I think?
My experience of both, and a small 125cc motorbike is that there is considerable difference between the three and the moped is the most vulnerable of the three - I would use a pushbike which can go places that a motorised bike can't to be safer, and a 125cc motorbike or scooter which has the power not to get intimindated in towns, but would not touch a 50cc moped restriced to 30mph, its just too dangerous.
In fact is was that reason alone why I got rid of my FZ50 and got the CG which then developed into taking the full motorbike test!
Hearing on here about Morrison's fuel prices and filling a Forester in future at £8 a gallon,
An article in the latest edition of Car magazine caught my eye, about using bacteria to create Ethanol from household waste and/or scrapped tyres.
Coskata, a company that GM has just bought a stake in, claims it can make the stuff much more efficiently (4 units of energy out for 1 unit in, as against 1 for 1) and friendly-ly than the processes used to make petrol, and to sell at $1 a gallon.
Since the process starts with rubbish, the processing plants can be numerous, small and local - a handful in each county (or perhaps one at each Morrison's...)
Sounds like a wondrous thing to me, but what do I know...
...I await to hear why it's a non-starter from those more knowledgable...
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Be interesting if these bugs ever escaped from the processing plant!
From The Times. Don't think anybody has posted this here yet...
timesbusiness.typepad.com/money_weblog/2008/03/the-ten-crazies.html
links to The Times aren't normally allowed. I'll let this through this time, but as a non clickable link. Read more
A while ago here, there was a nomination for "swine-of-the-week" for the parking warden who ticketted a car whilst the driver was just nearby helping a hit & run victim until the ambulance arrived. { Unfortunately, we haven't moved on here form the old English law of resposibility meaning that you help people at your own peril.}
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Thankyou, a useful link.
I still like to have a book with me by the car when doing jobs.