May 2008
Hi all,
I've got a 92 Corrado with the 16v lump. It broke down last night after a bit of kangerooing. Turns over fine and produces an excellent spark. The RAC towed me home and the patrolman said it sounded like the in tank pump had just about had it. Is this an easy job to do and does anyone know of a repair/maintenance manual for it.
Cheers Read more
It was reported on BBC Look North West today that Roger Jones, the champion of the congestion charge for Greater Manchester, who lost his seat in the recent local elections, is to ask the Police to investigate Peel Holdings. He alleges that they spent thousands of pounds on a survey about congestion charging and villified him.
Here's a link to the election results. tinyurl.com/6782hw
He must think that voters were in favour of such a charge until Peel Holdings exercised their minds.
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Hi all,
Need a bit of advice from anyone in the know please.
Have a strange problem with a VW Passat I just brought. Its got 83k on the clock, 1.9 tdi 130 on a 2002 plate.
I started up one morning and drove off. All seemed fine until I tried to overtake a car and found I had no acceleration left - the car had no pull, it felt like a 1000cc mini or something.
I did all the usual things, turning the engine off, waiting, restarting, etc. Nothing made any difference. It stayed that way until I spoke with a friend who said to take the petrol cap off and start the engine, so I did that and funnily enough it worked and all power came back to the engine.
About 400 miles later the same thing happened - I 'fixed' it in the same way.
I think the idea was that no air was getting into the tank and a vacuum was building. By opening the tank it was released.
I took the car into a VW garage and they ran the tests. Apparently one of the cylinders is misfiring and thats their reasoning for the loss of power. But I don't see why it would be resolved by opening hte fuel cap, and wouldn't it show power loss all the time with a mis fire??
I only question this as they told me the car may need a new turbo system, or injectors. They want to run a compression test at 2 hours labour and then depending on the results rebuild the head gasket (??) or replace the turbo system (ata cost of 1500!)
any thoughts anyone - I've seen a lot of talk about the mass air flow on these cars but have no idea if that might be relevant in this case...
thanks in advance
Richard
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Hi,
thanks for the reply. The garage stated they had done a diagnositic and it reported back a missfire. Next they need to do a compression test to confirm which one etc.
However I don't see how that would effect the power loss.
Still, in answer to your questions:
I was driving the car for around 30 mins. Stopped went into a shop for 10 mins or so and came back out. When I started it the car sounded different, but it was only when I tried to overtake did I notice the power loss. It struggled to reach 65mph, no grunt at all.
There was no warning lights were present. I pulled over and stopped, re started the car. (Various styles, ie turned off but left key in, turned off key out.turned off and sat there for a few minutes) the power was still gone. This happened unitl I spoke to my friend. maybe 80 miles or so... including a break of driving for a good few hours.
My friend advised to remove the fuel cap and it all worked from there. One point to note which I may have forgotten - I had to start the engine with the fuel cap off. It didn't work when taking the cap off and back on unless I started the engine with it off.
This has happened twice now and both times I've resolved it using this method.
Possibly unrelated - when I start the car for the first time each day I see a large amount of white smoke from the exhust - it has a diesel smell, I guess its just running a little rich, maybe the ECU needs tweaking - unless this means something else to you? It doesn't happen after the inital start each day.
thanks for all your help, I'll look up that fault in the meantime.
Richard
how difficult is it to change cam belt and water pump on s reg 2.0 mondeo. and what are the problems. Read more
I did my cam belt recently.
I would not say it was difficult but just more ackward than it should be. There is not that much space and no real thought has been given to making a belt change easier. My polybelt tensioner had nothing to turn it with, only the bolt through the pulley I am not sure
whether thats normal or someone had broken a piece off previously.
I bought the correct timing set with a pin for the cranshaft and a metal strip for the camshafts which made it easy to find and keep TDC on number one. This could be improvised if you have suitable bits lying around. The crankshaft bolt was very tight so even though one pin claimed to be for holding it I did it the old fashioned way in first gear with the wheels on the ground.
I jacked up the offside front and turned the engine using the road wheel. The block needs supporting as the middle cover is also the engine mount (if its a black top).
The tensioner is mechanical and a bit fiddly to set up. A new one is recommended and comes with the Ford OEM belt as a kit.
Took about five hours altogether but would expect to reduve it to three if I did it a second time.
Water pump should be around 30 minutes
Hello,
I've been reading a lot of information on turbo failures on cars like BMW 320D models.
Just wondering is there any maintenance that needs to be carried out on turbos besides the normal oil, oil filter & fuel & air filter change.
My passat has 170,000 miles on the clock and I'd like it to stay climbing gracefully without problems ;-)
Thank you,
Carlover
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My ancient (1995) 405 td still pulls very strongly after 121k. Most of my mileage is mway and I always idle before switch off. I dont claim to understand the technical side of this but it may well have helped the turbo last. I always change the oil every 5k without fail.
Like what it says really. I haven't seen the car, and haven't seen the symptoms, but apparently, occasionally, when sitting idling at traffic lights - so presumably the engine is warm - the car revs itself a couple of times.
Apparently the garage fixed it by replacing something, but six months later it's back again. As it's an occasional problem, there is of course no guarantee that the garage ever did fix it.
That's all I've got to go on... Any ideas? Petrol engine - and it's presumably basic model. It's owner is talking about swapping it for a new car, but can ill afford it.
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Yes failed on my idle revs yesterday, look for an ''idle control valve'' it controls the idling may be dirty or need replacing, around 20 on ebay depending car
hi all my sons corsa petrol gauge has stopped working all other gauges ok so assume it may be from the sender can you tell me where it is and how to check or any other ideas Read more
Yes. see if the gauge sweeps over.
I'm looking for any recommendations for cars that give easy access to the driver, with a preferably higher driving position, and a more upright sitting position, not a 4x4, due to a back injury that makes getting in & out painful if the position is low
Ie i'm looking at the citroen berlingo the mercedes a class & the fiat multiplas- but open to suggestion
{edited to remove SHOUTING!} Read more
look up elap swivel seats
Hi all i have a bmw 330 ci with 10000mls on the clock it seems to develop a really annoying squeak at the back when the weather is hot-the more hot the day the worse the squeak! it seems to happen when the car is doing about 20mls per hour but not at faster speeds i had the car serviced at a main bmw dealer and they had the wheels off and they could not see a problem (so i take it its not the brakes)
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Screwloose,
No, my car is not lowered (standard sports susp) - only squeaks when handbrake is engaged and when i subsequently enter/exit the car.
Just didnt get around to gettin it sorted yet.
I'm going to see The Boss at Old Trafford on 28th May. Any Man U regulars or others with ideas on parking in the area? Gates open at 16.00 show starts 17.30 on a wednesday. Memory says there is an industrial estate near by. Happy to walk a couple of miles. Returning on M6 South. Thanks.
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I'm going as well ! Useful advice - thanks all.
There'll be no racing in the streets that night....
Steve
about fuel duty & excise duty! It CAN be done: as in the case of Roger Jones!
Only by getting rid of the whole lot (of all colours) and replacing them with our own- I reckon we're stuck with it, the best we can do is try to influence the rate of increase (which I reckon is possible)... Our MPs are so protected from real life with the massive salary and added perks that they just don't appreciate how expensive things are - otherwise why on earh would they think that inflation is really below 3%!!!!!!!!!!