Withing the space of two months, two colleagues have had dual mass flywheel failures on their cars. I wonder if anyone can advise whether my Meriva 17.cdti has one, and also whether my wifes Fiat Panda 1.3 Multijet diesel has as well.

I couldn't find " list" of what cars have these contraptions fitted - perhaps we could have a standalone thread ?

And if these cars do have a DMF, can a solid flywheel be fitted at replacement time ? Read more

My girlfriend has a Pug 206 Quiksilver 1.4. It's an 03 plate but she's put 157,000 miles on it. Now that doesn?t bother me that much, I've previously put 120k and 173k on two Micras and have got to the stage where I see high mileage as a badge of honour rather than a stigma! The first Micra I sold, the second I couldn't bear to be parted so she's SORNED in my garage and is still roadworthy. I figure the Pug owes us nothing, so it too is going to be run until it dies, and I'm hoping for a good innings out of it yet. The miles are mostly motorways and it's been serviced on the dot.

However there are a couple of things that annoy me, so I thought best to come to the experts.

Firstly there is a mysterious clunk from the back. To me it sounds like the spare wheel moving in it's cradle, but when I've checked it, it seems fairly solid. It's an odd sound in that it will disappear for weeks on end before returning. It's been examined several times by the garage, and they assure me it's not the suspension, however I just wondered if anyone has any suggestions

Secondly there is a hiss coming from the passenger footwell, it occurs when the brakes are applied in particular when the car is being driven and the brakes haven't been touched in a while. Again this has been checked by the garage, but the sound annoys me and I don't like anything untoward about the brakes. Again does anyone have any thoughts? Is it part of the conversion to RHD?


Finally, any hints and tips regarding the high mileage? Anyone else out there with similar mileages in a Pug? I've always fancied trying to get a car to 238,855 miles, the average earth-moon distance. However I'm not convinced that the 206 will make it with as much ease as the Micra. (hmm I'm just looking for an excuse to put it back on the road...)

cheers

Douglas Read more

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My son's Citroen AX threw its alternator belt while he was taking his g/f home last night. As far as I can gather from a morose 19 y.o. teenager, the events were as follows;
a small sharp noise comes from the engine, simultaneously the lights dim and the battery light comes on;
son stops car and phones g/f's stepdad to shepherd him to g/f's house (by this time some 10 miles away);
son and g/f listen to radio until stepdad arrives;
car starts reluctantly and covers nearly 8 miles until lights go to candle mode and engine stops;
g/f's stepdad arrives, kicks tyre and they abandon the AX and travel to g/f's house, stepdad slagging off Citroens in general during the journey;
son phones me to ask if he still has recovery service, I explain that he is part of the family's pay and reclaim GEM recovery service, something he has known about for 18 months;
son goes silent for a long time and then says he has £6 in his bank account and the GEM membership card is in the car;
before I go all sarcastic and congratulate him, Mrs H chimes in and says I should go and recover him, I ask what the point of paying for GEM mebership is if I have to turn to on a freezing night with a tin of Guiness consumed and rescue his nibs;
having just put a new cat and lambda probe on the car, I insist that no attempt is made to start the car, even with the spare belt (under the boot carpet) fitted;
I leave Mrs H and son to sort out the finances and irritably pour a Scotch;
Mrs H says if I don't want the car started, I should go and supervise the recovery; I refuse politely;
I warm to my subject and criticise son's lack of organisation and expectation that everything will be done for him, quoting the time I bodged a fuel pump diaphragm with a piece of plastic bag by the side of the road on my VW Beetle, and other exaggerated feats of mechanical ingenuity;
Mrs H's eyes glaze over, she may have heard this one before;
an hour later the car arrives on the back of a low-loader, with the key turned to free the steering, there is barely enough juice to light the battery light;
the extremely helpful recovery driver and I push the car to where I can connect the battery charger while son makes phone call to person unknown;
the battery charger reports that it's giving 8+ amps and I leave it to cook overnight.

When cross-examined as to the wisdom of driving the car until the engine stopped, son says he was told to keep driving if the alternator light came on and only stop if the oil light came on. Not by me, he wasn't.

We are now at a Mexican stand off where son expects me to put the belt on so he can continue in his role as g/f's taxi driver, and I think it would be good for his life skills if he put the belt on; it's simple.

I also have to consider the effects of running the battery completely flat; it's a tiny budget thing about the size of a tin of Spam.

Don't feel a need to comment on this ramble, writing it is good therapy for me.


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I'm idly looking in to automatics at the moment, having been so impressed with my wife's new DSG VW Touran.

I don't have a lot of knowledge on the subject as I'd never considered autos before, but I suppose the beigeing process eventually gets us all and now I quite fancy one myself.

A car I like the look of is the Peugeot 407 SW, and I've seen some advertised as "Tip Autos". What is a Tip Auto and how does it work, specifically in this model? I've done a google but can't come up with anything other than adverts.

Any info gratefully received. Cheers. Read more