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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hi, the waterpump is leaking on my brother's mg zr 1.4. has anyone had the experience of changing this before. also gonna do cambelt kit change at same time as think need to remove cambelt to change water pump. is this correct??
What do we need to remove etc to get/change these parts. how hard is it to do? does anyone know where/ how to time up cambelt ie where the timing marks are.

hope someone can help.
Thanks.
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Have a 2001 Ford Mondeo Diesel 2.0 litre DI DuraTorq that has a near stall problem.

Took it to the official Ford garage yesterday, hooked it up to the computer with no clear response.... just a "possibility" from the technician that the issue may be with the fuel lift pump attached to the fuel tank.

Before shelling out several hundred Euros in purchasing a new pump with labor, another opinion would be appreciated.

Here are the symptoms:

1. The car starts fine and initially drives fine.. After 15 to 20 minutes of driving when the temperature gets to normal range (almost 50%) while driving, the engine loses power, with a bit of jerk reaction.

2. Once the program begins, the car can kind of chug along in 1st or 2nd speed, but any acceleration and the chugging begins.

3. Leave the car sit for approximately 45 minutes while the temperature goes down to about 25% on the guage, then can drive another 5 to 10 minutes. Then the issue begins again.

4. When the engine loses power, there is a particular odor. The odor is not at all a burning smell, but kind of a peculiar fuel odor. There is NO evidence of smoke.

5. No warning indicators come on. All the indicators have been tested and functional.

6. The car does not show any sign of overheating, however at the 50% heat level, consistently the problem beings.

7. It appears with less and less diesel in the tank, the problem happens at a quicker rate.

8. The engine idles fine without an irregularity.

Thanks for the responses.
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OK, I realise no car is going to be "good" at £500 or less and my question is a bit "how long is a piece of string", but......

If you absolutely had to, what make/model would you suggest would be the best to go for if you had to buy a car for £500 or less.

The car will be used for occasional trips of around 2-3hrs (hopefully)

Thanks in advance Read more

Hi all,

I treated myself to a copy of Auto Express 16 July issue as I wanted to read about the new Fiat 500 Abarth.

I also read about an 'eco' roadtest between 2 x diesel family cars: VW Passat and Ford Mondeo.

Once again, manufacturers' mpg quotes have been shown as untrue. The mag quoted that the Passat/Mondeo returned 39.4mpg/41.5mpg respectively. I'm not sure of what type of driving they did to achieve these figures. The manufacturers' combined mpg quotes were 55.4mpg/53.3mpg respectively.

Is the motorist being hoodwinked by the 'eco' and the mpg claims?

I have owned an R Reg Toyota Carina E 1.8 for the last 6 years and have put 70,000 miles on it since I bought it. It now totals 115,000 miles. It has been totally reliable and bears no rust. It is a large family car like those on test.

I check the mpg regularly; it has never dropped below 36mpg even with winter starts and my daily commute (a 12 mile country lane round trip). The last tankful consisted of 120 commuting then 275 motorway miles. It returned 42mpg.

How can these cars call themselves 'eco' when they are returning nigh on the same mpg as my old bus?! Don't get me wrong, I'd love a new car, but when you analyse the figures it's not worth spending 18,000 pounds on something that's no more economical than my sub-1000 pound car.

My Carina is also approx 300kg heavier than the Passat, so if my Carina was 300kg lighter than it is, the economy would be even better! And it runs on the cheaper petrol rather than diesel.

Has engine economy improved? It doesn't look like it!

I think I'll save my pennies and wait until the old bus reches 200,000 miles before I change it. Read more