April 2008
I have a Citroen Xsara Picasso Diesel and I have a strange problem.
When driving on the motorway at a constant speed (or any road over about 50mph) intermittently it feels like the brakes come on - the brake *lights* certainly do and the car slows. Taking my foot off the accelerator and pressing it again clears it. If my wife drives the car and I follow I can see the brake lights flicker occasionally like a loose connection but surely that cant be the case as the brakes come on.
We've had Kwik Fit look at and thoroughly inspect and clean the brakes and they say nothing wrong. What could be going wrong?
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Years ago (more than 15?) i remember seeing a machine at several petrol stations. It had a thin tube which you insert into the dipstick tube of the engine in your car and remove the engine oil. Basically it allows you to change the engine oil without the need to get under it to remove the sump plug. Not recommended because you should change the oil filter as well unless it is accessible from top of the engine.
Are these machines still in use nowadays? I am looking for one in the Nottingham area.
Thanks to those who have replied Read more
But do they use the manufacturers OE filter?
I like to see the Mobil 1 going in from my own can ;)
Once again the subject of unreliable modern diesels has popped up on the forum. Also HJ alludes to it in his column this week. I switched to diesel 12 years ago and have covered almost 500k miles in various diesel powered cars since. With the notable exception of a Renault Espace they have all been faultless. The question I have for anyone who has access to the facts is this. What are the actual relative failure rates by brand /model on diesel versus petrol variants? It seems that we get a lot of vague tooth sucking and dire warnings but I have yet to see the actual numbers supporting this assertion. Not suggesting that there are not issues but my personal experience could not be more different. The cars I had prior to my diesels were all petrol and quite a few of them had mechanical failures. By comparison my diesel experience has been absolutely trouble free apart from that wretched Renault. The pay off is that in the roundest of terms I have saved circa £20K in fuel costs as a result.
The truth is out there but what is it?
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What is the verdict on a HDI 407? They seem to be relatively cheap and don't figure on the technical pages too much. Are they a money pit or a good car with relatively poor badge?
The cheapest unleaded near me is currently 105.9p per litre (about £ 4.81 per gallon)
Does anyone know what the price, in say 1978, would equate to in 2008?
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Everything else pales into insignificance.
Wonder how much we've spent on Afghanistan and Iraq over the last 13 years?...
I own a R32 Volkswagen bought from new. Just two years old and done 29,000 miles.
This weekend without any previous warning it wouldnt get in to any gear. The car was towed to VW for investigation and repair.
VW now say the problem is not a warranty (60k miles/3 years) covered item as it is due to hot spots on the fly wheel, with excessive movement in the dual mass suspension. I have driven for 30 years with no previous clutch problems on previously owned cars. VW say it is down to driving style. Are they right?
VW were defensive from the start and had already seemed to suggest not warranty before even looking at it. The cost to me to repair £1,350.00. I can't understand why such a new car should have such a large problem.
Has any one else experieced this problem? OR Is this a known problem with VW R32s?
I understand that dual mass flywheel problems are caused by excess heat from slipping the clutch melting the compound holding the two parts of the flywheel together and that Audi (some have same part as the VW) is fixing low mileage cars FOC.
Does any one else know about this? Thanks Read more
Possible HG slowly weeping water into a cylinder when cooling down and on start up the piston hydrualically locks for a split second and snaps a tooth off. You may be gassing off fumes via the header tank or the water is weeping via a crack in the head into an input port so no gassing but the same start up problem. Regards Peter
I was just reversing out of a car parking space when in my mirror I noticed that the car opposite me had also started reversing. I stopped, but the other car carried on going and hit the corner of my car. When I got out of the car and before I had had a chance to check my car, the woman came over and apologised telling me that no damage had been done to my car or hers and started to leave. When I actually looked at my car a considerable amount of damage had been done and so I went after the woman to get insurance details. As there are no witnesses I presume she will claim we both reversed into each other, thus being at equal fault.
Where do I stand in this situation? Is there any way I can prove that I was not at fault? Read more
Next time reverse into the space!
I say go into the space forwards. If someone collides with the back of your car it will probably be more likely to still be driveable (especially at night) than if you've reversed in and the headlights etc have been smashed.
I bought a 01 Citroen Saxo 1.1 Desire for my son and it has a stiff clutch. The pedal seems to have two movements before dully depressed.
Although the clutch and gears work perfectly well I wonder if this is the normal for this model as I assumed all clutches were hydraulic and easy to depress. Or is there any adjustment I can make.
If it is the clutch on the way out, any ideas at what price I am looking at.
Many thanks for any response Read more
Agree reagrding snapping cables- roughly half ie 10 of the Pug Partners/ Cit Berlingo's at the place I work for run have snapped their cables when they get over 60000 miles on them.
Regardless of speed, when throttle pressed lightly, for example maintaining slow speed in traffic, engine misfires, never fails when accelerator pressed further. Has anyone ideas what this could be. Many thanks.
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Hi Janette,
Having read all replies,agree whole heartedly with screwloose....diagnostics only extract fault codes stored in ecu,and not every component is monitored for faults by ecu.One thing spring to mind,and that is if your vehicle has an electronically operated throttle(to coin a phrase,fly by wire),then the accelerator pedal will have a 'throttle pot',which gives a variable resistance to the ecu,it then knowing what you want the car to do(speed up,or slow down,etc).This pot may be faulty.
Just a thought.
When I push the brake pedal, I get a hissing noise from the passenger footwell. I have looked and there is a rubber / plastic washer, which when I look in the engine bay seems to go to the servo(?). Is this hissing a problem (a part from being very annoying)? If I tap the brake pedal slightly, the hissing goes off (eventually). I also seems to get louder when I change gear.
subject header given a more meaningful title, and to remove the repeated make/model that was displayed as the drop down menus take care of that. Read more
had this on the wifes 306 and it was the servo
The servo was non serviceable and the replacement was only available from Peugeot. Cost was circa £70 for the part.
Some pug servos are available aftermarket though so worth a check with someone like gsf.
The Watchdog site says
"Our research suggests it only occurs on the 130,000 Mark I Focus cars made in 2003. Newer models have a modified circuit board."
From BBC Watchdog programme this evening ( and their website)
"Ford has now said that it's offering all Focus drivers with faulty instrument clusters the chance to have theirs replaced at a Ford dealer with the latest version in stock for a reduced price of £99. What's more, it'll refund the difference to anyone who has already paid more than £99 to have theirs fixed.
If customers want to find out more, Ford has set up a special customer hotline. The number is 0800 166 166.
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=62265&...f
This is the original thread, normally we would tack Henry's post onto the original thread -
but seeing as this dramatic news could get lost in the clutter, leaving it as a standalone Read more
The dash on my 03 Focus went dead then started up again except for fuel gauge Bristol Street Motors (BSM) Stoke diagnosed a fuel pump/sender unit replacement @ £396.40 - I contacted Ford Cust Serv who said recc schd costs to be £180.40 - BSM were charging for removing the tank twice - before I took the car in it refused to start - BSM then changed their mind about fuel pump and fitted a new dashboard instead which funny enough was around £180.
Dannie>>
Browse
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Bernie rubble's talking about a petrol Picasso, so I don't think the injector seals are an issue. Does this have the same crank pulley set-up as the HDI?