December 2008
HI
Can anyone help. I have a 2001 Fiat Punto. The battery went flat. I bought a new battery. After a couple of weeks the battery was flat again. I got the alternator checked. The output charge is 14.2 volts. It's had a discharge test on the alternator which comes up as ok.
I was unsure about the alternator having a discharge, and I noticed that after I took the alternator off, and put the battery lead back on again, without the alternator fitted, there was no spark from the battery terminal. But when the alternator is back on there is a good spark from the battery terminal. Could the alternator still be at fault, or could it be something else. I have check the obvious - boot light, interior lights.
I took the battery back and had it replaced under warranty for another new one. Put it on last week. Car has run fine for a week, and tonight the battery is flat again.
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Anyone know of a cheap fault code reader that will cover my 2003 TDCi mondeo.
Although it has a 16pin OBDC II socket it will not read to a OBDC II reader. Suspect this is because it is pre 2004 when Euro cars were included. Car was first registered in June 2003. Mine I think uses EEC-V, or something like this.
Have found one that might work but this is Over £300, whereas the OBDC II reader that I have was only about £25.
Fault code reader or PC interface and software would be usefull.
ITman Read more
www.obd2express.co.uk/search/?q=Ford I am willing to pay more to get a VCM kit
Hi all,
Changed the rear pads on my Scenic today and it was a nightmare.
The first thing that went wrong is that I could not release the handbrake using the method described in the manual (card in slot, pull handle and press centre button) so I had to work on the car with the engine running.
The nearside pads were changed pronto, and I was working on the offside when I had to go into the house. Without thinking I turned off the engine and the handbrake engaged! The handbrake cable was now pulled all the way in (it wasn't attached to the caliper at the time) and so when I came back to the car I couldn't pull the cable out. I re-started the car, disengaged the handbrake (by reaching the bite point and giving it a little rev) and then tried to extract the cable. I could only get around an inch out... no where near enough.
Desperate and cold I went to the boot and removed the red cover and gently pulled (maybe an inch or so) the yellow emergency handle... and sure enough I could get some slack and put the handbrake cable back where it should be. I put the wheel on and tested everything and the brakes/handbrake works ok apart from a "Check Parking Brake" error message, accompanied by a orange service light (the word "SERVICE") and an orange triangle with an orange "P" in its centre.
Have I wrecked something? Is it possible to remove the warning? The brakes work fine, and the parking brake works as it should... I don't really want to take it to a Renault dealer.
Any help much appreciated!
Regards,
Rick.
Subject line tweak to make everything fit [removed engine size - I know, I know :-( ] altered year to read 2004 - don't think they made electronic parking brakes in 1954 - sensible chaps !
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Rick,
I suspect that the code retreived will read something like "Catastrophic failure".
Just get the code cleared, (But take a note of the number/s just incase.) and I'm sure all will be fine.
When doing a search on a car and it comes up with a date of liability of 22 January 2008 - that presumably means that the last licence disc was surrendered on 22 January this year?
Been sitting around a long time then...
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Many thanks DD.
My ford KA Alternator has just failed me (only having done 14000 miles and 4 years old), how long does it take to fix? And what is the general cost? I have been quoted from £46 to £170 just for the part!
Cheers Read more
Did you need to replace the alternator?
The charging light came on with our '05 Ka. Two of the leads to the three pin connector plug on the alternator had broken off. Ford use a short lead (specific to some model or another) which is cut and spliced into the old lead to provide a new plug connector for almost any model.
Sonds like clutch drag. If this is a hydaulic clutch then get them to bleed it and try again. If cable then the auto adjusteder may be stuck. Where if the bite point with the clutch. Did they change the gear box oil when they did the clutch. Regards Peter Read more
Mr TurboD
I take great exeption to your comments sir, 'fast-fit' type garages in general employ 'fitters' rather than fully qualified mechyanics / technicians, however a respectable main dealer (esp, a toyota one) will have tech's with an unbeleivably high (and expensive!) training, it's part of their dealer standards, if they don't adhere to these standards they lose the franchise. Also all work carried out is guaranteed for a minimum of one year, and often as in clutches guaranteed for 3 years.
For those who read it, has it succumbed to the credit crunch? The last few weeks have been half as many pages, and this week it was down to 3, sandwiched inside another section. HJ's column, always a good read, amounted to 2 posts.
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I hope that these Indian journalists have a sufficient grasp of English. My experience of Indian outsourced call centres are plenty of courtesy and nice people but they never seem to understand or deal with an issue. I know that is a bit of a sweeping statement but certainly feels like that most of the time.
Someone I know has just been offered a job (salary in basic rate tax band) and the offer includes a car - type not yet known but it isn't going to be better than a Focus/Golf ish. size. Said person prefers to use her own car and company mileage will be no more than 2000 per year I guess.
The plan is to ask for an allowance instead.
What kind of allowance in lieu of a car would it be reasonable to ask for? I've looked at a few websites and around £5000 on top of the salary seems the order of things.
Any negotiation tips? Ideas please. Read more
>>Given your reputation on this site - I doubt it!
But that was to run a brand new car like you do. I don't think £3,000 over 5 years is a price worth paying.
I don't do a huge number of miles; I don't want a brand new car. But a puncture a year could be nearly £500; it doesn't take much to spend an extra £50 a month on a car. I'm sure my finances would not notice that difference one way or the other.
(And of course there's the unpredictable depreciation that will have stung everybody who bought rather than leased recently.)
I think, though, your point was possibly that you saved £50 a month AND got a much 'nicer' car?
3 Garages later and still no fix/answer.
I have a 52 reg Expert HDi, 80,000 fully serviced miles, never a heavy load lifted.
Over the last 8 months it's been slowly loosing all power.
Symptoms:
Struggles to get to 60 on a flat piece of road
No pick up when foot pressed flat.
Feels like boost from the turbo.
No acceleration.
Can barley get up hills.
Eccesive fuel consumption.
It doesn't get hot ever.
Oil levels fine.
No smoke
No tapping
No Knocks
No warning lights apart from the usual Peugeot Airbag Light.
The only bad thing I've done is running out of fuel which of coarse made the Engine management light come on, 10 months ago.
The first garage I had it in was a fuel systems specialists and he came back with no answers. No error codes.
The second garage was a Turbo specialist, fearing I might need a new Turbo I braced myself but reports from him, Turbo fine, Boost fine, Mass Air fine! No error codes.
Third garage, thought It might be in limp mode, ran diagnostics, no error codes, took it out for a test, looked at the service history, thought it might be as simple as a crappy fuel filter, took it out and low and behold it was full of sand! (1/2" of it, I live on the beach).
He replaced it, run some fluid through to clean the injectors.
I hope this is the simple answer but was hoping that maybe someone would have any other ideas on what could cause the total loss or power Read more
My mechanic solved my problem.
Turns out my throttle cable just needed adjusting. It wasn't sending enough fuel. Now I look back it was really stiff to press and didn't spring back
You would have thought that the first three might have found this!!
hello, my heater is always cold i had a new thermostat put on thinkin that was the problem but it still isnt workin any ideas its freezin inside my car write back Read more
Hi - late in the day and not many of these cars around! - but - on these ZR's there's an overheat/over pressurised blow-off cromet located within a plastic gismo located across the supply/return pipes to the heater matrix just before they go through the bulkhead. If you study the pipe layout they don't make much sense until you relaise that the gismo provides a short cut from block to radiator and if the gromet within blows out then the path of least resistance, flow wise, starves the heater matrix - hence no heat.
The probable cause is failure of the thermostat (hopefullt the head gasket hasn't been breached). Take of the themostat and poke about, the small black gromet (about 10mm diametre) should be at the mouth of the thermostat housing. Removing it doesn't solve the problem !!. a new gisom is required or alternatively remove it and insert a 20mm copper Yorkshire elbow and a 20mm copper striaght to gaurantee flow to the heater matrix!! - cheap and nasty but it got me going - no more steamed up windscreen....
Browse
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Hi Guys, im new to the forum and not that much of a mechanical whizz so i might require some "lamens terms" but oh well
Ive had the exact same problem, i recently passed my test and have a 2001 mk2 1.2 16v punto sporting, the battery would consistantly flatten, even after charging all night with the battery charger, after a full charge it would fire up, but the second you turn the ignition off and try again it was flat
ive now replaced the battery and all seems to be good, but i still have to give it a tiny bit of revs in order for the engine to fire up, my power steering has failed a few times, but worked the next time i turn the engine off and on,
now the injection warning light has come on, and after reading about possible ECU problems from this i am starting to think all these things are linked
Bob, how did you fix your problem again? something about an ECU? how much did it cost as i might have to do the same.
Thanks, Matt