HI! my sister drives a 53 plate corsa 1.3 cdti and has had many problems, it only has 23,000 miles and a FSH. recently the Battery warning light came on so she took it to the garage (a vauxhall main dealer) told her that the alternator was faulty and needed replacing for a whopping £485.00 she has had the work done but is somewhat concerned for the future reliability of the orrible little tin can (thats what i call it)
does anyone know if this price quoted was another garage rip off?
are these cars really bad for reliability?
is it true that the 1.3 CDTI is a Fiat engine?
and finally can anyone reccomend a reliable replacement car of similar size? (i would say VW but of late i am becomming less impressed of V.W)!


Thanks for your help!!

Kirklander
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My partner drives a W-registered Rover 25 1.4 iS 16v with around 70k
on the clock.

It starts normally each morning, but within 300 yards to three miles,
the engine loses power drastically, misfires and will not respond to
the throttle. Occasionally, she can coax the car through this in 10
seconds or so, but usually it involves pulling over and listening to a
very noisy shuddery engine note that rights itself after a minute or
two.

This problem has defeated the motor trade up to now, including a Rover
Main dealer (as was). Running diagnostics either shows nothing amiss
or refers to faults that are not pertinent to this model. Spark plugs
and fuel filter have been replaced, and the fuel lines flushed, to no
avail. The only significant work undertaken on the engine prior to
this problem occurring, was to replace a blown head gasket at 55k.

It has been suggested that the problem may be with the ECU and that a
replacement would cost about £400.

Do you agree, and if so, do you have a view on the viability of such
an investment, given that the rest of the car is sound and has just
sailed through its MoT
Or do you have another theory?
Thanks in advance.

Slightly re-formatted, the OP was directed by HJ here Read more

Hi everyone , i have a problem with my micra its a k12 model 1.0 16v on an 03 plate , it has covered 26k , the car has developed a problem my eml came on and my autodiagnos brought up the problem of a crank shaft position sensor being at fault , i changed the sensor in the gearbox and the cam sensor in the head at the same time and reset the light , all is well with running when the car is warm , but when starting from cold the idle speed raises and drops till the car is driven , the light comes straight back on and the car feels underpowered , the same fault indicating the crank sensor at fault , but if i run the engine till its warm reset the eml and drive its fine can drive as far as i like until , its left over night and started in the morning from cold and the eratic idle starts and the light comes on as i pull off the drive , any help is welcomed , many thanks . Read more

Hi!
I have this 70k miles car for just 2 months and have done over 2k miles. During travel to Germany appears "Engine antipollution system defective". For few days that was no problem and appears again. Engine begins rattling and is weak or accelerator working in binary system(0 or 1), whats making driving very difficult. Do petrol engines have this same expensive antipollution system, like diesels??


Year ? Read more

Has anyone tried fitting genuine Ford roof bars to a C Max?

The bolts that fix the brackets to the threaded holes in the roof are too short. They're 60mm for the front and 65mm for the back, but they are about 10mm too short. Ford dealer told me there is only one kit for the C Max and hadn't come across the problem before.

Looks like I'll have to obtain some longer bolts. Does anyone know if they are likely to be anything other than mild steel? There are only four of them, one per bracket and they are only M6 - it doesn't seem to be much to be holding 75kg to the roof of a car. Read more