I had some very dangerous occurences of the engine (130 TDCi) cutting out at high speed. I went to a ford garage in Farnborough and they charged me nearly £50 to carry out a diagnostic check, but they found no fault. They were unable to offer me any advice or ideas of what I should do next to sort out the problem. I was genuinely in fear of causing a serious accident.

Honest John pointed me to previous Backroom chat and I discovered from a contributor that Diesel specialists at Englefield Green, A.P. Diesels Ltd, had resolved a similar problem. I met Steve and Vaughan there and explained the problem. They did an on-the-spot diagnostic check and in 5 minutes showed me the computer screen displaying two malfunctioning injectors. Vaughan then took me on a test drive and forced the engine to fail several times thanks to his racing driver skills. Quite a ride!

I booked the car in and they fixed the problem in a couple of hours with two replacement injectors at a very modest cost.

I would just like to put on record the excellent service, skilled work and value for money by A.P. Diesels, the totally poor service by the other garage at Farnborough and full marks to Honest John Backroom for pointing me in the right direction. Thanks everyone - a great result.

{slight edit as this site operates a no naming/shaming policy} Read more

I am having a problem with the electrics on my van. I guess if this is a common fault it could affect other Fiesta diesel models and perhaps other Fords with the same instrument systems.

A month or so ago I started noticing that some of the warning lights on the instument panel glow faintly when I'm driving. The full beam, fuel heater coil, brake warning and ABS lights have all been affected but at random and sometimes two at a time. They are not glowing fully e.g. if I pull on the handbrake when the brake warning lamp is lit then it doubles in brightness.

I wasn't too worried about this but then one day last week the speedometer and odometer also stopped working. First the speedometer went to zero and then it started working but intermittently dipped to zero whilst travelling at constant speed. The odometer didn't register mileage whilst the speedometer wasn't working. However, next time I started the vehicle everything was working again, except the faintly glowing warning lights were back.

As if that wasn't enough, today I had another new problem. I went to start the van and it wouldn't start. The starter motor never turned over but the lights were bright and the battery seemed good. I tried several times then called the breakdown people. Anyway, whilst waiting for them to arrive I decided to try again and after 15 minutes the van started as normal. This has happened twice after switching off the ignition.

Another thing I've noticed is that there's normally a flashing light next to the clock to warn that some kind of theft protection is active presumably, but this has been flickering abnormally whilst driving and now its stopped working when the ignition is off. I'm not aware of there being an alarm or immobiliser fitted but don't know what's standard.

I've had few problems with the vehicle. I did have an alternator fail two weeks ago and the garage fitted a new one because they said the old one wasn't charging. I assume this really was the fault, though the only symptom was the battery charging light, which was very brightly lit one day. This occurred after the dim warning lights were first noticed.

I'm sorry for the long description but the faults must be linked so I just wondered if any one had any ideas where to look to find the fault. There are so many things affected - the speedometer, the instrument panel, the clock theft indicator etc. that I can imaging having to get numerous replacement parts before finding the real cause. Its an old van now and I don't want to spend too much. Read more

When driving normally (i don't drive fast, or abuse my car!) it seems to 'over-rev' when accelerating. For example, i'm doing 20mph in 2nd to accelerate into 3rd, then the revs will jump from 2000 to 3500 and back again when i take my foot off the throttle. Is the clutch knackered??!!
Is it worth taking it to a ford garage or just a local one?
Thankyou! Read more

All this snow reminds me of a long trip I made in late November - 1978 or 9 IIRC.
Surrey to Switzerland on a Honda 350K4. Off the ferry at Dieppe at 4am (ish), lovely ride across France, nice lunch somewhere. Then it got cold. Somewhere near Dijon I stopped to put plastic bags over my gloves and boots. Then it started snowing.
I was riding with my feet down, following some car tracks in the snow.
I remember stopping at a bar and asking how far it was to the border - they all laughed at me and said the pass was closed - I would never make it on a motorcycle.
I carried on regardless (Seems foolish now of course - no breakdown cover or credit card in those days!)
By the time I got to the border at Vallorbe I was riding on fresh, virgin snow, which was easier.
Amazingly, as I left the Jura behind and descended towards Lake Geneva, the sun came out
(I thought it was late evening by now but it was only about 3pm) and I finished the trip warm and dry and enjoying the dry, sweeping mountain road and whooping with delight as I found grip on the hairpins. Seemed like summer had returned!
First stop was my local for a well-deserved pint. 15 minutes later a friend walked in and demanded to know why I had not picked him up when he was hitch-hiking just south of Paris.
I had to say "Sorry mate, I didn't see you." Read more

Hi folks, I am a very pleased owner of a Mazda 6 Sport which I got new back in 2005. Over the next 6 months I'm hoping to trade it in for a new hatchback of similar size. The reason is purly for something new and for something with an autobox. (6speed is becoming a bore!) I like the Mazda brand and image and their "local" dealer is quite helpful and welcoming.

But! The new M6 is much bigger, is more generic inside and feels more rep like, like the new Mondeo which its based on. Also they don't offer a Tiptronic style auto and their top of the range model does'nt even come in a hatchback! Plus the handbrake is on the wrong side! So, its a bit of a let down for me. The CX-7 is miles to big and is a gas guzzler.

So, I've looked at the MB B class and now I'm thinking of the Skoda Octavia vRS! Any feedback on these? Also their dealers, what's the general feeling about them and the brand? I'm 30 so the idea of owning a Skoda is still a little odd but I know its based on the Golf and they do look good.

I've struggled to find a similar size hatchback and the Skoda seems to be the only one. I'm not too keen on the Vx Insigina as apart from being a Vx, its a new model no doubt full of bugs.

James Read more