May 2008
Hi I've decided to renew the coolant in my Fiesta 1.3 Flight since whats already in there contains what looks like dust, rust flakes and an oily surface sheen. Can I just check that all I need to do is open the radiator plug at the bottom of the radiator, collect everything that runs out and discard, then use a garden hose to flush it out. Then I fill with water + radflush after closing the radiator plug, turn the heating to full and run the car until the thermostat opens and the radflush penetrates the whole system. Then should I flush the radiator again and repeat a further time to clear out the whole system? If this is the case I guess I leave the expansion tank lid off to allow the system to burp.
Plan to use halfords deioised water and 2 step radflush, not sure what antifreeze yet but will hopefully be able to get one from halfords too. Read more
Any ideas for some petrol/diesel cars?
What if you want to sit in the car with the air coin on a hot day? Read more
I had a 1.4 Civic yesterday - when idling with the aircon on the MPG
meter was showing around 90.
My VW shows the last instant mpg when coming to a stop so could show as low as 18 mpg and high as 200mpg.
When stopped in traffic I switch to the average mpg and then see that reducing.
To any of you contemplating fitting LPG , bear in mind my recent experience ;
I sold a Nissan Patrol 4.2 6 - pot to a friend and business colleague years ago, and had it converted for him to LPG with a big tank that replaced the 3rd row of seats . He's busier than me and knows little about cars , so I get to arrange servicing / repairs . In return I borrow it whenever needed ( his wife has a new car and he rides a bike too )
This past weekend we were going away from London to the West Country and I needed a comfortable 4 seater , so took the Patrol as my cars are small .
I knew I would run on gas and planned to go around the M25 via Watford , where the fuel is always cheapest - by some margin - and there are 2 LPG stations , Shell and Sainsbury's on the main roundabout by Asda . Well, needn't have bothered . Although gas is marked a full 9p cheaper a litre than other places , both stations were not selling it , the Shell had a fault and Sainsbury's had run out .
My point ? this happens around 40% of times you need to fill with LPG - their planning / stock control is woeful. You cannot assume you will get the LPG when needed. Felt like smashing up the pump .
this conversion also deploys an adapter and have now noticed LPG pumps state ' Do not use an adapter ' - Great . Drove to Paris on the autoroutes last October and every station sells LPG at a bigger discount to our prices
So, before installing LPG , check ;
1) location of nearest 2 LPG vending stations
2) Do a random phone check, call up a few times on different days to see if LPG is actually available ?
Don't forget that filling up with LPG is a messy business - not for dainty types who hate getting dirty. I sometimes wrestle with the nozzle for 10 minutes . Had to get the manager out at Shell by Basingstoke to re-set the pump as it was not working. This doesn't happen with regular petrol .
Rant over . Read more
Not a misquote - she really did say that (about Viscount Astor). Someone said publicly that she hadn't actually said those words, so with admirable courage she wrote a letter to The Times saying that she did.
And if this LPG merchant posts again with his link, trying to get free advertising, I'll disable his account. He's tried it twice now.
The 2001 Ghia X petrol with climate control I bough a couple of months ago has problems with its aircon now. When purchased I had the system serviced and re-gassed as a routine job. It has worked fine until last week when going to it in the middle of a hot day the aircon failed to come on.
Today I've had the gas re-checked and that's fine. The whole climate system seem to be trying to do its job OK as otherwise it does all the right things to heat/cool the car.
The aircon only comes on about 50% of times when it should. If it does come on it will be on for that whole journey and then it is a lottery to see if it kicks in the next time you start it up.
When it's not working I can see the compressor inner pulley isn't spinning.
Any thoughts,
David Read more
thank you
If an N.I.P comes through but we can't remember who was driving out of the two of us, and we fill in the form, do they check it against the photo? What if i am then found to have got it wrong? Read more
tinyurl.com/5ny56w
Scroll halfway down this site and there's a white van with two cameras poking out of the back !
Appears that that is an ANPR set-up
I have a peugeot 307hdi20 style 90 It has 80k on it. You can drive it for a week and the next thing it goes into limp mode, shows up pollution fault and reduced rev to 1500. If i let the car sit for 15 seconds then start it again all warning lights go out, the car will then start and it will
continue to run ok with plenty of power.
I got the diagnoses test done it showed up fault code1355, do you know what could be causing this problem?
I have put additive into the tank 3 times when the car goes into limp mode,
I tried the primer pump and there is plenty of fuel getting to the high
pressure pump. I disconnected each plug of the injectors, she is off
number 2 and 3 injector completely, if you take 1 or 4 injectors off, the
engine stalls. The engine gets a good long run all the time and gets a
good blow out.
I have asked manufactures mechanics and they have not come
across this problem before. Do you know what this fault code1355 is and
have you come across this before?
I would be very greatful for any advise to solving the problem.
>
> william.
Moved over from Discussion and re-formatted slightly to make it more readable Read more
Hi
I am writing from South Africa. I have a 2004 206 cc with 36 000kms on the odo. It has also suddenly shown ESP/ASp not working. Can you please advise me as to what the problem may be?
Hi I have a ford fiesta 1998 s reg 1.3 encore. The temp keeps going to the L of normal but the fan never kicks in. On motorway doing 60/70 mph the Temp stays in the middle. I know the fan works when powered off the battery.
Could it be the relay for the fan that is not working or is there another switch that should kick the fan in. I have traced the wires from the fan and they go to the fuse box in the engine bay this is why I thought it could be the relay.
Any help will be much appreciated. Read more
You are worrying over nothing. The gauge will read somewhere in the 'normal' zone whilst driving as the air flow through the radiator is sufficient to keep the car cool enough. This will vary depending on the weather conditons and what speed you are driving at, there is no one single place that it will always read at.
As for the fan, it is working exactly as it should. It kicks in when the temperature reaches the 'hot' point and runs until it cools the radiator sufficiently (often around 10 to 20 seconds). As long as the car doesn't boil over whilst this is all going on then it is all working just fine.
Don't look for problems or go chasing proper Ford parts when you have really no need.
A friend of mine has a Vauxhall Zafira 2.0 DTi which started to have a spanner warning light appear on the dash. Then the car would go into limp home mode. The vehicle has been to a local garage who have connected it to a computer and the fault has come back: Barometric pressure sensor as faulty. Question is, what is it and where is it located? The car is covered by an RAC warranty but the likelyhood is its not covered (then agin, what is?) If the sensor is fairly easy to change to sort out the problem I think he's capapble of changing it himself.
As always your divine guidance and assistance is much appreciated.
Read more
Vauxhall Zafira 04 2.0 DTI ......Engine Y20DTH....Barometric Pressure Sensor Located n/s next to battery under some wires .... When facing front of vehicle/top end of engine battery is on the right, Barometric Pressure Sensor is to the right of battery not easy to spot cos of wires sat on top.... Hope this helps ;-)
Hello,
I recently changed the timing belt on my 2000(W) Astra G 1.6 8v following the instruction of a Hayne's manual for this vehicle. After I had finished putting it all back together the car wouldn't start.
I have found that I have no spark when turning the engine over and I don't understand why. I checked all the electrical connections and all seemed okay. The only thing I disturbed (electrical) was the fuel pump relay which was removed and the engine run to depressurise the fuel system as instructed by the manual.
I understand that there are many components in the ignition system that could fail (sensors, wiring, ECU, etc..). and cause this fault.
I discovered on the internet a way of reading the ECU fault codes by counting the blinking ECU light on the dash and I got three fault codes : 0230 (fuel pump), 0105 (inlet manifold pressure) & 0443 (unknown).
At this stage I gave up trying to fix myself and took it to my local Vauxhall garage and explained what I had done. They have had it for two days now and still can?t trace the fault. I find this hard to believe as surely they have advanced diagnostic tools and a lot of experience of these vehicles.
They have phoned twice with updates and the latest update informed me I need a new ECU (£230 fitted) which I reluctantly accepted but they wouldn?t say for sure if this would cure the problem.
I am now worried that I could end up with a huge repair bill for some simply cured fault.
Am I expecting to much competence from the Vauxhall trained technicians?
Or is it really a difficult problem to solve?
Cheers Read more
I finally got my car back today from the garage and the faulty component turned out to be the coil/transformer.
They took the new ECU off and the price was reasonable, £110 for parts and four hours labour for all the time they had spent on it. I don't think I can complain too much about that.
Thanks again for all your help.
Does anyone know if these new tyres make any noticeable difference to fuel consumption or are they just a gimmick?
I check my tyre regularly and they are usually pretty close to the recommended pressures. Read more
The Michelin carcases were the same, its the added ingredient to the rubber in the tread that makes the difference.
Michelin found that using the ingredient in some of the 4X4 tyres improved grip and changed over to it without rebadging them energy.
Pull off the plug off the rad fan switch and short it out with a split pin, with ignition on does the fan spin?
If yes replace the rad fan switch/clean terminals etc.
If no, check fuse, check for a feed to switch?