January 2009
i have a ford mondeo 2.0 tdci 130 and the remote is getting rather lazy and would like to know can i programme a new one or does it need to go to ford
SLT Read more
I have a 1.8 petrol Ford Focus which has 78k miles.
Since the car had a service last November I have noticed that when the engine is such that it is running at about 1500rpm e.g. at 30mph in fourth gear or 20-25 mph in third gear there is a noise that I can't remember being there before the service - perhaps a coincidence ?
Anyway, I describe the noise as being like a dull sound (low frequency) similar to the noise I had when a previous non genuine Ford exhaust was fitted (which I had replaced with a genuine one and the low frequency deep sound was gone).
How can I tell if the noise I have now is caused by the engine, gearbox or exhaust ?
Thanks Read more
"bump"
It's that time of year again!. It would be very useful if I could check the level of battery charge on my 2003 1.8 Mondeo without having to visit a battery specialist with clever and expensive equipment. Does anyone have positive experience of the small LED battery/alternator testers that cost less than £10.00, eg Rolson, Sealey, Draper. Do they work? Even if they only give a rough guide, bearing in mind the low cost, they seem to be worth the investment.
{Made non car specific as the question *might* be handy for anyone else, but have included details of car in main post instead} Read more
You can pick up a drop tester off e bay they put a load over the battery should hold in the green for 9 secs.
Does anyone know a good garage for Renault servicing, MoT and repairs in Preston, Lancashire? Read more
At the time the recommendations had to be sent not to HJ but someone if I remember correctly called Ian.
Its mentioned in one of the sticky posts at the top of the page:-
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=56741
Am off to NZ in Feb/March for a month long tour of north and south Island. Looking to hire a car in Auckland, dropping it off in Christchurch.
Anyone got experiences (good/bad)? Anyone recommend any company?
Cheers Read more
>>...we like comfort and are not speed demons by any stretch of imagination.
>>
As has been commented earlier, distance / travel times need to be carefully checked.
We found mobile phone coverage had big holes in it especially on the west coast of south island so beware if you have mechanical problems.
Take the warnings about the Kea alpine parrots at the Homer Tunnel else loose your wiper blades and any other bits of rubber :-((.
Kea parrots into Google will show their antics.
A very good example
tinyurl.com/7jgukk
www.tourism.net.nz/images/new-zealand/animals/kea....g
members.cox.net/chuxwords/kea2.gif
so do not feed em rubber.
A local road sign
www.betterdesigner.com/images/newzealand/kea_dontf...G
Time for the annual fix
www.dakar.com/indexus.html
Video reminders - lots of them
www.dakar.com/indexus.html
Read more
Great racing,great machines,beautiful scenery, i look forward to it every year.Seems like it wil be back in South America for 2010.
Popped to the local shop today to get a newspaper - in years gone by I would have impulse bought a magazine (no doubt cars or bikes) to graze in during my afternoon brew - I go to thinking I can't remember when I last bought a magazine on impulse. I get CAR and Motorcycle Sport on subscription but this month's lies unread on the coffee table.
I find I get most of my motoring information from the net these days, specifically here, the Telegraph and AutoExpress (who e-mail me on a weekly basis) - Will magazines survive the next five years ? Have your habits changed ? Read more
That is why I liked the old CAR and more recently Top Gear in Kevin Blick's day(boy has it gone down since, Kevin now edits a Narrow Boat mag I think). If something was a nail they were scathing i.e Quentin Wilson on the Daihatsu Move: "What makes them think we will give this sort of c**p house room?". Now they have to suck up to the manufacturers to maintain advertising revenue.
Copy reduction has been reduced greatly as has been stated before. In my old CAR magazines the long term test summaries ran to about 4 pages.
I have been having problem on a 1996 fiesta it initially blows a little hot air and then only cold even when the engine is warm. I today swapped the HEATER CONTROL valve under the bonnet which did not resolve the issue. I then went onto do a complete flush of the radiator and went as far as leaving the garden hose in there a total of twenty minutes to flush it right out and refilled. It wasnt very dirty I was just hoping it would do the trick. The thermostat seems to work as when I leave the car running stationery for twenty minutes it does heat up and the radiator fan does work as the fan does cut in. I wonder if any one has any ideas any help would be grealty appreciated.
Silencer applied to the shouting !! Read more
Blocked heater matrix? Did you try removing the heater pipes and flushing this too? There is stuff you can put in your coolant to aid with flushing it, maybe this is worth a try.
Some cars have a kind of thermostatic valve on the heater matrix, I'm not sure if you car has one but maybe you should look for this if flushing it doesn't help.
I am beginning to realise my old Fiesta which has caused some problems actually has some good points, just used it for the first time since NYE today, started instantly, ran really smoothly, no miss fire it was just lovely and smooth, this is helped by my improved clutch control and mecanical sympathy. It seems some of the problems with the clutch was down to my bad driving.
I paid £350 for it, spent £200 on it including drive shaft gaitor, two new decent tyres, new brake fluid float switch, oil change and tow bar removal. Underneath is a little rusty but solid, I cannot see anything bad enough to even warrant an advisory on the MOT and the new sills are still completly solid and showing no signs of rust.
The engine does not burn any oil whats so ever, there is no rattles or any smoke. The tappets need doing but I have been adviced against that by people on here and my mechanic.
The problem I do little milleage so don't want to get into debt on a car I rarely use, so a banger is better but although the car has only done 600 miles since the last MOT are couple of issues, firstly the brakes make a bit of noise but are sharp, I think this is rust on the discs, secondly there is a clonk from the rear suspensoon when I go over a sudden pot hole it passes the shock test. The MOT advisory says reduced damping effect at rear so I assume this is what is causing it.
My own mechanic has a leave it to MOT attitude but I will happily spend £250 on getting the faults fixed as the car seems to be reliable engine wise despite its 9 previous owners (the last person owned the car for 3 years and the last 5 MOTs have been at the same garage).
The brake pipes I am confused about, as there are some brand new pipes running under the sills, but then there appears to be a pipe inside the coils which are rusty, but looking at the rear of the brakes there is a brand new pipe going into the drums so what are two pipes for?
I am worried if I buy a different car I will find faults with that, and I will be back to square one, so now I know the faults with my Fiesta and the engine and gearbox seem good it might be best to stick with it.
If I took my car to a different garage (finding one will be hard, most of them have been sacked by us) would they charge me a fortune to diagnose the brake and suspension issues?
Sorry for my long post, I am just confused as since my driving is improving my car is a lot smoother .
It just seems if I git rid of it, it may just be because of wear items, suspension and brakes and I would have to get this work done on many cars no doubt. Read more
I've already tried all that, I have even gone as far as removing the wheel tray as I suspected that. The bolt which connects to can be pulled loose as it has nothing to bolt onto to, so I put a nut under it to stop it from moving, however the nois did it before so I can;t see it is that.
What is odd is that my MOT cert says no advisories, yet on the first MOT fail it says there was, one of the things was the obvious brake pipes the other was reduced damping effect at the rear and I suspect this is the cause of the noisy. The shocks seem ok and the springs look ok but I shall need to jack up the car and have a proper look. I am suspecting either roll bar bushes as it seems to happen when slightly moving to the right or at random pot holes, but the pot hole bit sounds almost as it is the top mounts.
I need to give the car a damn good tidy up anyway so I will take everything out including the apare just in case the noise then shuts up. The remains of the tow bar are still bolted to the chasis but there should be no movement in that.
hi, 1.4 petrol 8 yr old ,put petrol in as car was run out, just turns over not even trying to fire. any help? regards davey.j Read more
Lets cover the basics first, are you sure that the reason it is not running is because it is out of fuel or could it be something else?
Browse
had the battery changed at ford and they have said that it might need a new remote.