October 2008
My wife has a 54 plate vectra 2.0 litre turbo diesel and today it suffered what I think is the dreaded injection pump ecu failure PGS 16 pump? Whilst driving the spanner light came on followed by an immediate and total loss of power. It would just lumpily tick over on full throttle with tons of black smoke ot of the back. After a couple of minutes it recovered but did the same after a few hundred yards. The recovery man couldn't read the faults and recovered it to the nearest main dealer who tell me it wants a throttle body at £357.00, a set of glow plugs at £460.25 and an EGR at 411.25. My immediate thought is un printable since my mates in the trade are all telling me it actually will need a new pump and integral ECU which has to be coded to the car at an approximate cost of £1800 + Vat. In truth I don't want to spend anything like that at all so who can test these ECUs and repair them? I will dismantle and clean the EGR, apparently you can on these and as for the glow plugs, it starts first turn even in the cold so sorry main dealer I think you are pulling my chain. Read more
Hi
I am soon to be collecting my new car but it doesn't have a six disc changer, just the single disc.
I want to upgrade to the 6 disc but the dealership i'm buying the car from said it's around £1500 to add the changer! They said the computer all needs updating and it needs loads of wiring added.
Does anyone know if this is the case? With all the e46's I have owned i've just plugged one in and off it goes!
Just to confirm, the car is a BMW 5 Series 520d SE on an 06 plate.
Thanks,
Adam Read more
After I decided i'd go for the iPod connection I decided to go for the iPod classic which has the largest capacity available at the moment, 120GB. E-mailed BMW to check it was compatible and they said they'd get back to me - waited a few days and they didn't. Couldn't get any sense from the dealerships so went to the one closest to me at work to see if I could get someone in the parts department to confirm the iPod classic would work. They tapped a few keys on the keyboard, put in my reg number and said yes it would definitely work as it is the latest generation.
So I toddled off home and bought an iPod for £179.99, considering it a piece of equipment for my car.
Booked the car in for the £500 job and yesterday they came and collected it. They had it from 9am.
4pm came and I got a call saying they were having 'technical issues' and couldn't complete the job. They returned the car back to me with a wire in the glove box and an updated iDrive SW Version which seemed to believe I had a multi-changer fitted.
The dealership finally bothered to call me back this morning at 11:10am to organise getting my car back in for them to complete the job, although they have no idea what to do to get my car working with this BMW iPod upgrade. Pretty awful really, they couldn't get it back in until the 10th November, even though it's their fault and incompetence that resulted in it not being finished yesterday.
If all that wasn't enough, BMW then finally responded to my e-mail sent almost 10 days ago and they said "the iPod classic will NOT work with the iPod upgrade, it only works with the previous generation"
So my local dealership not only told me a specific iPod was compatible which it wasn't but they then failed to do a pretty simple task.
So now i've got an iPod which won't work with my car and a half installed iPod interface which BMW do not know how to get working.
Why do I keep buying BMW's?
I have just this morning received a Penalty Notice for an alleged bus lane incursion, in a bus lane just outside Reading Rail Station. The date of the alleged incursion is 22nd June 2008. The alleged offence was spotted by a CCTV camera operative and a penalty notice has finally been issued (dated 7th October 2008). I've looked up the rules around these notices on the tinternet, and it seems local authorities can issue notices up to 6 months after an alleged offence, so fair enough, even if it feels a little late.
I was definately in the area at the time of the alleged offence, as I was picking a gentleman up from the train station at the time and date stated, this was someone who had travelled from London to buy a car from me, hence I have records to show what I was doing that day and I rememeber the time I agreed to meet him at the station. The alleged offence occurred in my car, registered to me, and I know for a fact I was driving it in the area on the date and time recorded. So far, so banged to rights.
I have absolutely no recollection, however, of entering a bus lane, and would be surprised if I had done so as I'm not the sort to do this usually.
So, I have sent off a request to view the CCTV footage at Reading Civic Centre, as the notice states that I have a right to do so. I await a timed and dated appointment, as proimised on the notice.
My question is this. Should I pay the fine now during the 14 days-reduced-to-30-pounds rule, and then claim the money back if it turns out that I feel I didn't commit an offence? Or should I hold out paying until I've seen the footage? If I take the latter course, do I risk missing out on the 14 day payment, 30 pounds allowance and end up paying 60, or even 90 pounds if it goes beyond 28 days? Needless to say, the Penalty Notice does not clarify this situation.
Would appreciate any thoughts from BR contributors.
NOTE: I am not trying to get off the fine if I have commitied the alleged offence - if I see the video and I have done something I shouldn't have, I will proceed immediately to the accounts window in the Civic Centre and settle up. What I'm trying to do is pay as little as possible in the event that I have been a naughty little boy. Read more
Thanks for that information, Alanovich. I never knew that and I'm glad that my £30 went there (at least I hope it did - I had to send it to somewhere in Sussex).
Would that all fines went to a worthy, or at least identifiable, cause.
I have a 5 month old X Type Jag 3500 miles (I bought the car new) and i am told by my local dealer that diesel is finding it's way into my engine oil and making it poor quality. They have changed the oil free of charge but have done nothing to solve the problem. I have contacted Jaguar direct and could only speak to a none technical person. Is anyone else having a similar problem?
e-mail removed to prevent "harvesting" Read more
I have just had the same happen to my 6month old x type at 5500 miles and have had to replace the oil and filters which i was told i had to pay for(£149.00).
I contacted Jaguar customer services who reimbursed the money but told me it was caused by the diesel particulate filter not regenerating because i do a lot of town driving (short journeys)
the tec guy told me to check the AA web site about the D.P.Filterswhich i have found quite interesting hope this info helps you.
No need to quote the entire OP's post just refer to it !
how do you turn the fog lights on the ford focus? i havn't got a manual or handbook....please help. Read more
Switch on headlights and pull out same switch one or two clicks, depending on whether you also have front fogs.
Hi,
Next Thursday I need to travel from Edinburgh to Stansted (driving, not flying!).
I haven't done that journey for years and I'm not sure if the A68 or A1 will be quicker/better for the first part of the journey.
Any local knowledge most welcome. I'll be leaving Edinburgh approx 4.30pm on a Thursday evening.
Thanks Read more
Having consulted my satnav (set for fastest route) it always gives the M74 route for anywhere in the east of UK south of the A66/A1 junction at Scotch corner.
Hi,
My car failed its MOT because its emissions tests were too high, I hope some one can help me figure out what I need to do to get this fixed. Also I'm getting excessive exhaust smoke, I think this must be related.
The smoke isn't black and I wouldn't say its blue, so from I've read on the internet I don't think oil or coolant is burning.
Will replacing the Lambda Sensor fix this?
Any help greatly appreciated, thanks guys!
Here are the results from the MOT:
Fast Idle Test:
Engine Speed (2500-3000 RPM) * Not Checked
CO: (<= 0.30 % vol) 0.63 Fail
HC: (<= 200 ppm vol) 108 ppm vol Pass
Lamba (sign) (0.970-1.030) 1.055 Fail
Second Fast Idle Test:
Engine Speed (2500-3000 RPM) * Not Checked
CO: (<= 0.30 % vol) 0.54 Fail
HC: (<= 200 ppm vol) 110 ppm vol Pass
Lamba (sign) (0.970-1.030) 1.042 Fail
Netural Idle Test:
Engine Speed (2500-3000 RPM) * Not Checked
CO: (<= 0.50 % vol) 0.44 Pass
Read more
I may have missed something here but dosn;t this engine suffer from sticking valves? It might be worth trying more expensive fuel and then doing an italilian tune up but to be honest there is a simple equation here.
X3 = Smokey engine.
Where x is the number of years without a service.
How many miles have you done without a service? When was the cambelt last changed? If the cambelt is also due it may bot be worth fixing.
Hi,
The electric door mirror has gone on a friend's mark 4 silver VW golf and I was wondering what sort of price would it cost to get it replaced and how difficult is it actually physically removing the damaged one and putting in the new one?
I have seen the mirrors, in black, on ebay for £38 incl delivery and was wondering whether they need to be painted or not? If it was me I would settle for it being black if it was fairly easy to fit.
Already had a quote of £280 for replacement and painted of the mirror silver which seems steep.
T. Read more
Tawse, would you be able to provide details of the garage that you used if it's not to far from London and the job was completed to your satisfaction?
Thanks
Fitting a tow bar to my 56 reg astra hatchback.
The tow bar is a simple enough job to fit very similar to my 2000 astra, but the electrics are a bit different.
There is a panel in the boot on the n/s/ when opened there is a small fuse box and plugs with one empty space, is this for the tow bar wiring?
Or do i just fit like solder the wires in, id rather not use scotch locks.
The tow bar is second hand the wiring as been cut off so no plug if needed?. Read more
Checked it several times waggled the plug and wires nothing but side lights?
Mine is the 56 plate but yours been newer they maybe switched on, anybody know?
Checked the indicators and the test lamp flashed 3 times but thats it? maybe will work when i plug in the light board. ( when i get it)
I have the airbag warning light on my 53 reg Mondeo but am abit scint and wondered how expensive it COULD be. I hope not too much!
The other problem I have is that when I put the blower on this morning i could smell a faint wiff of petrol. I have not had the blower on recently as not required and have not smelt the petrol.
Please help Read more
>>Anybody any comments about the petrol smell?<<
Are you sure that it's petrol and not "stale" heater smell? (You said that you hadn't used the blower for a while)
I think you will have to have a look under the bonnet for signs of weeping from the fuel pipes. If you do it with the engine running the fuel system will be at its working pressure.
(Don't use naked lights when looking :))
Browse
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Hi this is a common problem with these and and saab engine wich share a similar setup it can be a s simple as an clogged egr but i doubt it it will most likley be the butterfly valves sticking if you have engine code y20dth then you will find this at the front of the engine as your looking at it front the bonnet .there will be 6 torx bolts holding the top cover on undo those take inter cooler hose of and small vacume pipe off on some model there is all so some electronic thing unplug that to.If when you take the cover off you find it very clogged with coke to the righthand side ther will be some kind of lever ran off some kind of servo manualy move lever and see if flaps move and seat properly if not scrap out all coke you can and blow all muck out then get some good carb/carbon cleaner and keep spraying and cleaning till all is clean and moving freely then give it another blow out to remove all traces of cleaner and coke do the same to the cover too and egr vavle.then replace the cover seal with non or semi setting sealant tighten bolts to 15nm.
first check the vacume pump pipes that run off the servo there is a small pipe at bottom of pump that goes to the wastegate of the turbo this often breaks its plastic with 90 degree angle rubber pipe if that ok...