November 2008
Hi,
I have a 1999 1.6 16v Astra Club. My garage told me to use a 10w-40 semi synthetic oil for the engine. The manual says it should be of ACEA A3-96 type.
I have some Shell helix plus oil which is 10w-40. It is synthetic but doesnt specify full or semi. It also says it is ACEA A3/B3-98.
Would it be risky to use if i'm not sure if it is semi synthetic and the fact that on the can the ACEA ends in "98" whereas in the manual it suggests "96"?
Thanks again
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Hi
I have just bought a Renault Kangoo RXE 1.4 petrol (year 2000)
It starts and runs fine but I the hand book shows two warning lights that don't appear to work on my car.
The one I am most concerned about is the 'tell-tale light 2' (a rectangular box with a zig zag line in it). It is also descibed as an ' electronic incident warning light. It should come on when the ignition is swithed on and then go out after a few seconds or when the engine is started.
On my car it does not come on at all. The other light, just a red dot, behaves as it should.
It also should come on when driving if there is an electronic / electrical fault with the engine management system.
The other warning light is for the air bags, (stearing wheel and front passenger) It does not do its test at switch on.
I had a look at the dashboard speedo console and it is very obvious that it has been taken apart in the past as the plastic clips have screwdiver marks on all of them and there is a dirty great finger print on the inside of the glass!! The odometer is electronic and the car came with full history, why would anyone need to go inside it?
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Below the rectangle is a glow plug symbol they are both illuminated by the same LED. A friend has the same car but 2003 and both light for a few seconds at switch on. I tried unplugging the lambda sensor (and a few more) in the hope of bringing a fault light on, but nothing happend the engine ran fine!!
Having been stupid enough to brag on this forum in Aug '07 that the timing chains on Nissan Primera III's don't break, the inevitable seems to have happened! (well stretched until the engine sounds like a bag of spanners anyway!)
Apparently this is quite a common problem on the petrol P11-144's.
Trouble is that if on Monday the garage do confirm that this is the problem then the likely bill is going to be around £500 plus vat (obviously not from a main dealer we'd be into 4 figures then!)
The car's a 2000 X plater, 1.8, a bit tatty, alloys corroded, rust munching happpily into the tailgate and consequently is worth about £750 at most.
What would you chaps recommend? Throw more money at the thing (it actually drives really well!) and get a new timing chain or get what I can for spares and repair and buy something else? (probably only have a budget of about £2000) My worry is that for that price bracket I could soon end up with another big repair bill if I'm unlucky and the Primera is basically sound apart from the cosmetic issues.
....there's an outside chance that since the problem came on suddenly (noise/em light on/loss of power/doesn't want to rev) it's just the cam/crankshaft sensor which was subject to a recall in 2002 but I can't find out if it's been done 'till Monday morning. If it is, then it should be a free fix and I'll be a very happy bunny! Read more
I've owned 20-odd cars in 20 years of driving and, quite frankly, if I've paid over £500 for a car (until very recently, all my cars were sub £2k with the majority being less than £500) then I expect it to do it's job of being legal, safe and usable. And they all have done this job. The bad ones I just cast aside if something went wrong big-style, an example being an ex-police Montego whose gearbox expired at 150k, 2 months after I'd bought it. Bought another Montego for £100 for it's gearbox, the replacement Monty was better condition than the original so just threw the old broken Montego away and used the replacement one.
Again, had a dodgy old Metro, more owners than I'd had hot dinners so of course was a dog, again, threw it away once I realised I'd never be able to keep it on the road, moved on, next car a lot better (well, it was legal, driveable and didn't break down!).
I think all the others just worked.
I do recall moaning big style at a mate who I bought his Cavalier from for £600 when it needed £300's worth of work 8 months later for it's MoT. I moaned and I moaned and I moaned about that to him. Never again. I expected it to be as new, it had after all been serviced from new with FSH!!!
anyway, I appear to have got slightly sidetracked and the discussion is irrelevant anyway.
Stu
130 TDCi engine, had car since new, now done 44,450 miles, serviced every six months, camshaft sensor changed two months ago.
Three weeks ago after 140 miles at 70 mph and scarcely a drop in speed left M25 on sliproad for A12, slowed for dedicated slip road on roundabout and dropped into fourth gear, lost power, lost engine, cruised in neutral, with dead engine, to standstill, Glow Plug Indicator Light (GPIL) flashing. Switched off, restarted, no problems, no loss of power, no flashing lights, continued on my way.
400 miles later on 28/10 dropped from 5th to 4th on approach to roundabout, accelerated, loss of power, feathered off then accelerated again, no further problem, no flashing lights.
100 miles later on 30/10 the above happened twice in similar circumstances, first time no flashing lights, second time GPIL began flashing but because of road conditions not apparent that whether engine was in limp mode. Drove 3 miles to destination. Later restarted, no problems, and have driven 50 miles since without a further recurence.
Car going in for code reading next week and hopefully resolving of problem.
What should be looked for please? Any ideas what the problem might be please? Help!
halilley
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The engine was difficult to start after standing for two days. The GPIL was flashing all the time so no indication as to when the glow-plugs were hot. Had to guess, got it started at the fourth attempt. Most unhappy until warm then drove OK but in limp mode. Had the codes read by my Ford dealer, one injector needed recalibrating. Did all four while I waited. £30-00 including VAT, now pulling like a train.
halilley
Why can't UK Top Gear be more like this? tinyurl.com/5lat33
Some gentle messing about rather than bombing, bazooking, hanging drawing and quartering and torching perfectly useable cars that could provide 40 or 50 years' service to needy people in a developing country.
Just a thought... Read more
I'd fallen asleep by the time they even got to the bowling. Could they have found a more boring presenter?
Hi folks, request from all you mechanical gurus, Some friends have a 2.5 petrol Cherokee which suddenly won't start. Have traced the problem to the distributor, changed cap and arm but it appears that the problem is on the lt side. Lots of welly from the coil, big sparks, but no welly through the cap to the ht leads. changed all leads, but no difference. Traced 3 wires to the dizzy, black w/ purple +11 volts with ignition on and 2 orange w/black which seem to do nothing any suggestions would be most gratefully received.
Cheers Read more
Thanks for the advice, any idea where I could get a crank sensor apart from Chrysler?
After having shelled out loads of dosh for a new timing belt and tensioner and a new clutch yesterday you can imagine my dismay when the brakes started applying themselves out of the blue. i.e. I was driving along as normal and all of a sudden it was as though someone else was braking at random.
Taking my foot off the accelertor and slowing down momentarily got things back to normal, although as I drove back home after it started happening, it felt as though there was continually some light breaking being applied as well as the intermittent heavier braking. If I tried to freewheel, the car slowed quicker than normal.
The brakes were very hot and smelled when I looked at them at home.
Not being mechanical myself, I am wondering if it's possible that the garage could have damaged something when replacing the timing belt and tensioner and fitting the new clutch which would have this effect. Or is it coincedence that it's just been in the garage and I'm in for another hefty bill?
I hope someone can help. Thanks in advance.
Dave
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I didn't notice the ESP light come on. I'll go for as short test drive in the morning to check.
Anyway, from what you're saying, it seems likely that the problem is related to the work done by the garage, and not a new, unconnected problem?
Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it.
Dave
Does anyone know how to change the front foglight bulb without taking off bumper. also is it possible to change thermostat without draining whole system. Read more
Access to the fog light is from underneath the front of the bumper behind plastic panel.No need to remove bumper,just a bit awkward.hth
Hi
Just purchased a small runabout for my Wife and the car is a Ford Fiesta 1.25 l zetec automatic R reg, the car runs fine except, when at a standstill you put it into Drive it sometimes cuts out and the idle appears to be fast also at a standstill if you rev the engine in Park or Neutral the revs appear to be limited and do not go past 4000rpm, any ideas, electrical or a gearbox problem, due to this if you press the accelerator to the flooor in drive there is no kick down, although its the newer gearbox version of the CVT.
Any ideas would be appreciated Read more
As I have said elsewhere,it's a good box but needs to be properly set-up and not many people know how to do that,certainly not the average dealer.
I keep getting a "value cannot be null" error on HJ. Is it me or are others having this happen?
We know there is a problem that is affecting users of the site. Administrators have been notified so no need to discuss further. Rob Read more
It probably is another site that has the real problem that is affecting forum members. As I say the administrators of this site have been made aware. There is nothing to discuss because we have to wait for someone to look into this and fix it. Therefore no more discussion - we know about the problem :-)
Rob (Moderator)
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Most likely a semi-synthetic, and it's fine for your car. The recommended oil for that era of Vauxhall is a semi-synthetic 10W/40 A3/B3. A3/B3 98 is simply a later (and better) spec than the earlier (19)96 oil.
JS