July 2008
Necessary or not? And when Kwik Fit take your wheels off without telling you - in order to check for extra work they can do - whose responsibility is it to check them?
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I'm hoping anyone can advise on what to do next. Speedo reading on my Pistachio seems to have disappeared (apart from v. briefly when you switch the ignition on) and then just appears as two dashes. The handbrake warning message also comes on when you start it up (which it didn't do before )
cheers matt Read more
The advice to which you refer is clearly general and not specific to the picasso, even though it appears on the picasso owners website. It states 'if the battery is under the bonnet' --- picassos have the battery under the front passenger seat.
During my 6 years of picasso ownership I disconnected the battery 3 times with no ill effects. I assume an owner looking to do diy repairs on a car has the common sense to keep a note of his radio code.
I think disconnecting the battery will probably cure the problem. It cured a similar one for me. The owners handbook contains all the advice you need about disconnecting.
With a child on the way the little Matiz just cannot cope any longer and we have short listed a CMAX to take its place. We ideally want a nearly new TDI and a 1.6 because of the good fuel economy - but they are not cheap.
We have found a good deal on a 12 month old car, but its done 27k miles. I would welcome peoples views on whether I should worry about the high mileage and what things to look out for - any common faults?
Thanks in advance
CC
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Crikey. Seems expensive. One of the consoling factors about the 307 I got rid of
was its lack of a DPF. Now I'm worried.
We've an '06 C-Max TDCi, 90bhp model. Is there a way to tell whether or not
it has the DPF?
tt
I called into the dealer in Darton, Barnsley, S Yorks yesterday to be told 12 Colt CZCs had been shipped into Bristol and silver amongst them. He didnt know where they were bound for though so I doubt if mine will be there as I don't expect my CZC3 to be delivered to the Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk dealer until end of July. He also said it takes 2 weeks to clear them from the docks so how long is a piece of string.
He didnt even have one in the showroom this time for me to sit in. They can't get any and have been told not to take any more orders for now until they've cleared the back log of orders. Thank goodness I ordered mine when I did. Can't say all the dealers have decided to do that though so may be Bury havnt.
I will just have to dream like the rest. Read more
ordered the car 6th march and its an orange czc2
My nissan almera tino 2005 plate went up in flames last week ........total burn out sitting at my door....... firemen said faulty wiring 100% ............ i had this car from new ......... whats got me is i could have had my grandchildren in the car ......... i cant sleep some nights thinking about it..... nissan warranty ran out 2 days before this ............ has anyone heard of this happening to anyone even with a different make of car ........firemen said it was common i have never heard of this .......... it had been 7hrs since i was in the car .......
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That has been a pet fear of mine actually, especially with the blowback eyeful of petrol that the GS has a habit of providing me with. (they all do that Sir)
I'm getting to the end of my tether with this one! Some of you may remember me posting various times about a misfire over the last couple of months, which was first cured by replacing two HT leads, but shortly followed by coil pack failure. That was cured by installing an original second hand one, but that gave up the ghost after less than a month so I quickly bought a cheap new replacement, which again worked fine at first, but within 24 hours I got two misfires going around a roundabout. It went quiet for a bit, I checked that the leads and plugs were all secure. But now it's back with a vengeance and I fear a meetup with the man from the AA before I get the problem sorted this week. So what I need to know is a) if there is likely to be an underlying cause for the failures? b) have I just been unlucky with firstly a second hand coil pack that was on it's last legs, and secondly a cheap new one that's not up to the job or c) should I have replaced the plugs and leads when installing the new coil pack (ie. did the previous failed packs harm them, and now in turn they're harming the replacements?) Haha as you may be able to tell I'm only acquainted with the basics on how these things work, so any help appreciated! Read more
It seems as if there is not enough of a safety margin designed into these coils to cope with normal usage. This makes the correct setting of the plug gaps far more critical than it used to be with the traditional pre-electronic design of coil - remember those big fat things that never went wrong?! The wider the plug gaps, the higher the voltage needed to make them spark, putting extra strain on the coil's insulation which is evidently pretty marginal anyway.
Plug gaps inevitably increase with mileage as the electrodes gradually burn away, so even if set correctly (1 mm) when new, you will eventually reach a stage where increased voltages significantly above the coil's design value are called for. So if the plugs have done over 20k miles without being looked at, I would advise that you should at least check the gaps and re-set to, say, 0.9 mm, and this may preserve the coil for you.
I had the original coil fail with a bad misfire on one cylinder on my Ka (52 reg, Duratec) at about 35k miles. You could hear the splats as the coil sparked internally. The plug gaps were about 1.1 mm, which means an extra 10% sparking voltage was needed - evidently enough to find the weak point inside the coil! With new NGK plugs carefully gapped at 1 mm & new leads (ebay) a pattern coil from a local parts shop (£35) began to fail about a year later - symptom was a slight misfire on wide throttle at lowish revs (maximum cylinder pressures and hence highest plug sparking voltage needed). This time I got stung for a branded Ford coil pack from a main dealer (over £90!) - working OK for just over a year so far with the same leads and plugs (but with gaps now set to 0.9 mm to be on the safe side).
Hi guys, I've got a 407 SW 1.6 110 HDi ad it's got what I can best descibe as a missfire.
It idles ok but when you blip the throttle it misses a bit and it seems to be a little rough and missing a bit when you accelerate from rest. The worst though is when you accelerate in either 4th or 5th, then the missing seems to vibrate through the whole car.
Any one got any ideas what this could be? Ta, nmidd. Read more
Have you checked the EGR valve, may be stuck open with all the crud that passes through it.
I'm due to change both front tyres on my Golf TDi GT. Currently using Michelin Pilot Primacy which I have been very happy with, but is there anything better on the market? Good handling in wet and dry is a priority. Size 195 65 15 91 V. I am somewhat bewildered by the choice available - but all come down to a compromise. Your thoughts please. Read more
Are Goodyeae Excellence newish? I've not heard of them before. Have heard of Hydrogrips. What is the difference in perfomance between Hydogrips and Excellence?
Good morning.
i have a 1.5td corsa that really struggles to start. on a cold day its all fingers crossed.
It turns over really slowly and takes a few attempts to start. i give it several blasts with the glow plugs which are new & getting hot (AA tested them)
Even with a jump start still turns over really slowly. once running its fine with good mpg & power. starts no probs when warm.
Any ideas? Read more
caine,
Was there a bad electrical connection between the starter motor flange and the bellhousing?
Hi all
The heater blower fan on our c4 has stopped working in positions 1-3 and only blows in position 4, the fastest setting - which blows like billy-o as you would expect.
The car is still under warranty and so we took it to a dealer yesterday (our local one shut last year) and they tell us it needs a new motor. I can't help but think this isn't the case as it actually works on speed 4, so it looks to me to be a broken switch. It doesn't really make a whole lot of difference to me, should the dealer be taking more money from Citroen than is needed then to a large extent I don't care I'll get the car fixed for free from my end.
My question is this though - is it possible the motor is broken and not the switch? This matters since the car is coming up to its MOT and if the garage, as I suspect, is "upping" the work required I'll take the car elsewhere for the MOT work which we'll have to pay for.
Thanks
Lee
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I have just got rid of my C4. whilst I had no problems with the heaters i did have the same faults with the cruise control. The dealer used to reset it and it would be fine for a couple of weeks and then come back again. This coupled with a number of other electrical gremlins meant it was time to move on, to another brand.
Shame as i liked the C4. I'd had Citroens all my driving life and always liked them, but the last two were so unreliable the time had come to change.
If only the French could make a car that was reliable aswell as interesting!.
Browse
When doing up a nut and bolt on something like a Ford wishbone is it just my imagination that the nut is easier to tighten /loosen than the bolt head (ignoring access)? I guess there must be no difference when using a stubby screwdriver as opposed to a 2foot long one if a socket extension makes no difference. I really have no idea its just something I mistakenly imagined.