I have an Astra 03,eco4 1.7td,the last few days it took 3 attempts for it to start and was fine all day,today it wont turn over at all even after a few attempts,i've been told it may be the injector seals and this is a common fault with this car. Regards bev.

{Shouting amended, and changed subject header to give a brief clue as to question being asked} Read more

a week or so ago i saw a Proton, not sure of the model, had pulled a motorcycle on Raynesway Duel Carriageway in Derby. Whats the strangest police car you have seen? Read more

Bought some brake discs for a Golf from a well-known motor factor chain - "Zimmermann" branded. The box had 'Germany' written on it in several places and German text. The casting and machining looked rather poor when I took them out of the box, I was a bit suspicious, so I took them back. The parts guy thought the problem was that they are now made in Pakistan or China or somewhere else in Asia. He swapped them for ATE 'Original Equipment' discs (bit more expensive) that had "Engineered in Germany" written on the box. When I got home I noticed that the box had 'Made in PRC' printed on it in small letters (i.e. People's Republic of China').
I think with all this sort of thing going on the 'Germany brand' is being devalued, especially when they are still charging premium prices. Read more

Hi all,

When I switch on the ignition, the airbag light illuminates for 2-3 seconds then goes out as normal, but then it flashes 4 times in a repeating cycle which I gather is an error code signifying the seatbelt pretensioners have a fault.

There is a section of wiring loom sticking up through the carpet under the left hand runner of the passenger seat but it isn't connected to anything, and it appears to have had the multi plug ripped off the end so the wires now end in crimped connectors - two silver in colour, and two bronze.

The drivers seat wiring comes up through the carpet from near the outside seat runner and disappears into the seat base cushion, and a yellow-sheathed cable comes down from the seat cushion and ends in a yellow multi plug under the seatbelt buckle.

The passenger seat doesn't have the yellow-sheathed cable from the seat base to the pretensioner, however there are 2 or 3 snipped cable ties underneath the seat cushion which must have previously held this cable on. The wiring which pokes through the carpet is only long enough to reach halfway across the underside of the seat base so I assume the yellow connector lead has been removed.

The 4 wires which hang loose are as follows:

Inside a yellow sheath: Purple / orange tracer.
Black / red tracer.
Taped to the outside of the yellow sheath: Purple / black tracer.
Black.

My question is this: If I can't find a suitable lead, pretensioner or buckle in a scrapyard, or find the correct part from a Ford dealer or parts supplier, is there any combination of connecting the wires together to give a false no-problem reading and stop the airbag light flashing? I have tried all the possibilities (I think) but I'm not sure if the fault code "locks on" until a certain number of fault-free starts have been made or the fault has been erased by plugging in a computer.

I don't want to get into the ethical ins and outs of running without an operative passenger seatbelt pretensioner, I use the car solely for commuting by myself and would fix the problem before its next MoT if it were to last that long, and besides there are plenty of Escorts without pretensioners fitted which are in perfectly happy use by their owners.

Many thanks, Dave. Read more

Hi all,

I believe there is no power getting to the n/s/r door central locking motor as it fails to react (either lock, unlock or deadlock) when the other doors are locked or unlocked.

I have stripped the panel off the inside of the door and peeled back the foam sheet (this has never been done before so I took care to carefully preserve the mastic sealant as much as possible) but I can't see any obvious fault with the wiring or the locking solenoid. I have also investigated the wiring where it goes from the pillar to the door and also inside the pillar but again nothing out of the ordinary.

Fuses are all in order and the other 3 doors all lock, unlock and deadlock together. I have noticed that if I lock the doors from inside by pushing the driver's door handle in then the deadlocks activate and I have to open the window and unlock the door with the key! I'm not sure if this is related or just bad luck on my part.

All suggestions welcome.

Thanks, Dave. Read more