Hi, Does anyone know why my A4 has started to show the AIrbag warning light on the dash board? Really rather annoying! Read more

Hi,

Looking for some assistance after my usually reliable Audi 1.9TDi failed today.

Around a mile from home it started what felt like a misfire. I changed down and it cleared off and then approaching then next corner and dipping the clutch, the engine died.

No amount of cranking would start it so rang the wife to pick me up and I took the keys to the local mechanic in the village. He went to recover it and it started eventually but spluttered on and off for 1/2 mile back to his garage. He has apparently left it running for more than half an hour ticking over and has been fine, although driving it under load it splutters and cuts out.

I have had it serviced 3 weeks ago - maybe 800 miles or so and it was MOTd on Saturday and done around 15 miles before this - coincidental??

Mechanic thinks its a fuel delivery problem and although the filter has been changed at the service, he is going to start there. As you would probably guess, he doesnt have vag.com software, however there are no lights on the dash.

I dont fancy getting it recovered to the garage that did the mot/service as its 20 odd miles away but wondered if anyone knows what might be the problem or if its sounds like a common occurance on this engine/model.

Thanks in advance. Read more

Hi There,
New to the forum here, but hoping that someone can help me out. I'm running low on oil and screen-wash, but can't get my bonnet open. The release catch inside the car works fine, but the lever that pulls through the grill isn't releasing the catch. I've given up on brute force, as I nearly pulled the grill off, and WD40 hasn't done anything either. I can just about reach inside but I can't see the catch, so don't know what I'm feeling for.

Has anyone had the same problem, or can anyone post a shot of the mechanism so I can have a go at pushing it free by hand.

Also once the oil light goes on, how far is it safe to drive before you run the risk of ruining the engine? I need to drive about 50 miles tomorrow, and have already had to do about 100 since the light first came on.

Any help, much appreciated.

Cheers
Pete Read more

Hi, have just seen this forum and thought I'd run my problem past the knowledgeable readership...

Wrote this on another forum last week:
Was driving my 54 2.0 TDCi 115 on the M50, mucking about a little with the cruise control being a bit lazy. Went through some roadworks at 40 then when I tried to pick up speed again the glow plug light started flashing on the dash and engine was very slow to respond.....eventually called the AA out and the very nice man plugged his lappie in and came up with error code P1330 "injector control pressure lower than desired". He tried changing a sensor (don't ask which I'm not very mechanical!) which didn't work, but said it should be OK to drive home which it was, was just a little slower and much more economical than usual. As this was on a Saturday evening wasn't able to take it to a garage on the Sunday and now I wont be able to get a day off work 'til next Sat. It's a 40 mile commute to work and I'm pretty sure the car will make it fine (as I drove back 90 miles in limp mode earlier today), but was wondering if I'll be doing any lasting damage to the car by leaving it for a week? I plan to take it to Ford dealers on Saturday and see what they say then. Any ideas on what it could be? AA guy said engines are usually pretty good so shouldn't be a major job.

Since then:
I've had to use it to get to work and back and apart from reduced pick up it drives OK and can hit 80 on a good flat stretch. I tried booking in to Fords for Saturday but no luck so I've had a good read on the net and have realised that the flashing glow plug lights can be anything from £15 worth of work up to £2000! When I turn the ignition the engine management light comes on and the coolant/aircon light (? I think- the snowflake light) goes from amber to red. When I start the engine the glow plugs light starts flashing above 2000 revs.

From what I've read the possible causes could be (starting with cheapest option)
Camshaft sensor
Crankshaft sensor
Pressure sensor on fuel pump
Fuel filter and fuel gauge sender unit
ECU recalibration and recoding injector
EGR valve
Reconditioning injectors
New Injectors

So starting with the cheapest option first I've replaced the cam shaft sensor (which is what the AA man did) and reset the ECU and no change. I've got a crankshaft sensor from Ford and will change this next - if anyone can be kind enough to tell me where it is! I'm not too familiar with cars but will give anything a try. If this doesn't work i'll take it to an independent diesel specialist and go from there.

Am I doing the right sort of thing? It drives OK and to be honest I can't manage without it for the time being cos of work commitments. Has anyone had the same error code P1330 - injector control pressure lower than desired? Any help/opinions appreciated!
Also, am in Gwent so if anyone knows of a reputable diesel injection specialist would be grateful. Read more

***** This thread is now closed, please CLICK HERE to go to Volume 3 *****


Hello Gents,

Have just discovered your board here and I think you should see a copy of my latest on the entered on MEN discussion board:

To get the context, I'm replying to this post from someone called 'HighwayMan':
"Mr Farndon, aside from the fact that your insurance company is obviously in error, were you not asked who your insurance company was in order for the police officers to ring and verify you possessed insurance? Were you not also given the opportunity to be removed from your location by way of the recovery vehicle that took your car, instead of taking the opportunity to walk up a slip road to a waiting vehicle which must have come from some distance to collect you and thus had you waiting for an extended period of time?
HighwayMan , "

My reply:

"Highwayman: OK, valid point. Glad you brought that up. To begin with, I don't consider it reasonable to expect the accused to remember, or even know, who he/she is insured with, for the simple reason that if the police have the power to execute summary justice by the side of the road then the onus is on them to make sure that they are absolutely sure of their facts. They have put themselves in the position of judge, jury and executioner remember. I was a named driver on my wife's policy - in general most named drivers have nothing to do with buying the policy so simply won't know the insurance company. The same goes for anyone driving a fleet vehicle on a fleet insurance policy. But more on that in a minute.

Some gorey details for you to chew on:-

Yes, the officer did ask me who I was insured with. In fact that was the second thing that he asked me after asking if I was the owner of the vehicle. It seems, from an entry on another forum by a policeman, that this is what the experienced ones have learned to do to try and cross-check the info from the ANPR. Truth is that I couldn't remember on the spot, but, hey, it's Easter Saturday morning after a hard week's work and I'm relaxing with the family on a nice day out laughing and joking with the wife and children - I'm not mentally geared up for a mini-trial on a cold windy motorway slip road. But think about it, the officer told me that the database told him that my insurance had lapsed on Feb.11th so when I told him that we (my wife and myself) were 99% sure that it had renewed itself automatically on direct debit why didn't he just go back to the database read-out and get the name of my previous insurer and phone them up? Easy, eh? Answer: because the database read-out doesn't include that detail. Amazing, isn't it, that after 3 years of seizing cars off innocent motorists the police haven't insisted on having additional pertinent details available to them. And the reason for that is the police simply don't take responsibility for the accuracy of this crime-busting tool/weapon - they pass the buck on to the Insurance companies instead. The police *DO* have moral responsibility to act justly, including ensuring the veracity of the evidence *BEFORE* they pull the trigger not afterwards. Otherwise the police stop being police and turn into machine-operators who are 'just doing their job'. If the law fails to place responsibility with the police, as it does now with the MID, then we are in a very dark place. In that situation the police have no incentive to improve our experience of justice in this country, they deflect responsibility on to third parties, some of whom are making eye-watering amounts of profit from selling enforcement systems. We are left trying to sue these third parties and if we are very, very lucky get some compensation. The way that it should work is that the police compensate innocent motorists and then recover costs from insurance companies. That's the way it works under the Sale of Goods Act where it is, ultimately, the Retailer who is responsible to the Consumer - if I sell a faulty computer to you then I have to put it right, not the Manufacturer, then I in turn take up the case with the Manufacturer. It's common sense because otherwise I could sell you a shed-load of dodgy computers, pocket the proceeds and all you get from me is 'Go and see Hewlett Packard mate. Not my problem'.

More gore:

About the fourth thing that the officer said was that he was seizing my car and he 'asked' me to hand over the keys. Next we go and sit in his Range Rover and he writes out the Seizure Notice. Next he reads me my rights. I am arrested and booked. I'm in a state of shock (I did not say 'you're joking'). I'm racking my brains to think of anything that I can do to check my insurance. I see our car in front with Jane and the children inside and I realise that they have no ventilation because they can't operate the electric windows without the ignition key. The windows are steaming up and it's getting a bit muggy in there. I hope that the baby's OK. I ask the officer for permission to have the car key back to go and let some air in. He agrees and I go up to see Jane, who, being a wonderful person, is cool, calm and collected and, mercifuly, the kids are fine too. Jane tells me she is sure that we had the renewal notice through weeks ago and she remembers seeing the direct debit go out on the bank statement - so that's two of us. Back in the police wagon the officer is adamant that the only thing that will allow me to repossess my car is if he has sight of my insurance certificate. I phone my father-in-law for a lift and he's on his way from Newby Bridge (about 25 mins away). Again I have to get permission to leave the police vehicle and go and inform Jane what's happening. Eventually, my father-in-law arrives, is directed by the police to park on the bridge over the motorway on the interchange itself where, by this time, there is another police vehicle parked. Coincidently the recovery vehicle arrives at the same time and lines up in front of my car on the hard shoulder. Just as the driver is readying all the straps and gear to attach to my car the four of us retrieve armfuls of baby gear, bags of food, sports kit and Jacob, the baby, and abandon the car. The officer directs us to wait for him to stop the two lanes of traffic on the (exit) slip road so that we can cross over to the right-hand side. It's now about 11:15am, about 6 degrees with a sharp wind under blackening skies and we are bracing ourselves against the elements as we set off in a crocodile up the outside of the slip road the 70 yards up hill to the bridge. As if on cue it starts to sleet. I suspend disbelief at the whole situation and concentrate on the childrens' safety. I try to protect them by walking behind them and the officer is in his high-vis jacket behind me - so a car has to take out us two first before it hits Josh in front of me. We are on the white line, then there is the edge of the road and then the crash barrier. It is really unnerving when you know that you are walking on the wrong side of the road, even on a one-way street, because you know that it's the wrong way round for drivers who want to pass you. Doubly so when you can't see them coming. It is busy but thankfully drivers seem to slow down a bit as they go by. We load ourselves up into Graham's car and thaw out.

Within the hour I confirm with Budget Insurance Services, my broker, that my policy is up to date and I am covered. They are most happy to take a call from the police to confirm this directly. I phone Cumbria Police who tell me that I have to speak with the officer in question who is on patrol and doesn't finish until 5pm - he will call me back then. At about 5:20pm the officer calls (I am on the train back from Grange-over-Sands at this point). I explain that I have confirmation that I am covered. He insists that he is not going to believe Budget Insurance at the other end of a phone line and that the only thing that will change the situation (i.e. get my car released) is sight of my insurance certificate.

By that time it is all too late anyway because the car is in a car pound in Carnforth and by the time we got there it would be shut until Tuesday (it being the Bank Holiday weekend).

How do I feel at this point? (read this next bit slowly to let it sink in...) Violated. Dispossessed. Cheated. Abused. Insulted. Incredulous. Determined to find the person responsible and get justice.

...all for doing absolutely nothing wrong.

And nobody cares...

The police have not apologised. The MIB have not apologised. HSBC Insurance have 'apologised' but haven't backed that up with a meaningful offer. The Government haven't apologised for breaking their promise to provide statutory compensation for innocent motorists who have their car seized (still waiting after 15 months).

Just hope that this doesn't happen to you because the law is rigged so that there is a 1 in 20 chance that it will and many horses have won races at longer odds than that."
(end of MEN post)

I hope that this will stand as some kind of definitive record of the case. I've tried not to exaggerate for effect.

Note to any policeman out there:
Your colleague was courteous but firm throughout. Neither he nor I raised our voices at each other. The initial feeling, on arrest, was shock. Only later on the train, when I knew without doubt that I was innocent, did I feel so disgusted. Then later still after I'd dragged up all the facts I could muster (Debates in the House of Commons, questions to the MIB, similar cases mentioned on the Internet, etc.) and discovered that the trail led back to the EU did I discover what kind of injustice this is. I believe that the police have been terribly let down by a compromised/compromising Government (in other areas, not just bad enforcement tools). There have been so many violent crimes on other businesses around where I'm based (Northern Moor) - about 6 armed robberies, and car-jackings in the last 6 months - that I am only too aware that we need good, motivated policeman with good morale, and a lot more of them. I imagine that bad laws and enforcement tools undermine morale and that bothers me.

I hope that this case will help you see that there are decent, law-abiding, hard-working, sensible people who really want to be on your side but you are being alienated from us by the EU laws and systems and culture that you are called to defend. The European Arrest Warrant, for example, where someone can be extradited to an EU country without a British Court even seeing the evidence, as in the case of Andrew Symeou (see www.ukip.org/content/nigel-farages-blog/696-the-lo...e) .

And on a more everyday topic, the EU plans to put up the cost of getting our car repaired (not a law-enforcement subject I know but still related to Motoring): www.ukip.org/content/leading-articles/784-eu-cost-...s

OK, these, are entries on a political parties website but verify the details and let me know if they are wrong. Those are two examples among many. And, yes, I am a member of UKIP. I'm not a political animal but I chose to be a member out of self defence.

Over to you.


Moved into a 2nd Volume as no doubt this posting will illicit a response ! Read more