February 2009
Engine is AJM (PD TDI 115PS) .
At a mere 178,000 miles my A/C clutch appears to be breaking up. Horrible noises plus flakes of chrome plating appearing in FEAD area, and rust dust present on A/C pulley face. Compressor is Sanden SD7V16, model 1215. Vehicle now off road awaiting repair.
If you release FEAD belt tension, the noise is eliminated. Disconnecting the A/C clutch makes no difference. So I am reasonable confident of correct diagnosis.
My first question is, does anyone know if the pulley/clutch is removeable from the compressor without separating the compressor from the A/C system, and having to refill?
I would prefer to take this course of action if possible.
2nd question Can anyone recommend a good independent in the Cambridge area?
Thanks
547HEW Read more
Hi
I am fitting new front fogs to my Passat. Are there wires with connectors lurking somewhere nearby from the loom, that just need plugging in, or do I have to lay in some new ones?
Thanks Read more
I wonder how different a 2002MY Passat is to my previous 2000MY Passat. My W Reg one had front fogs integrated in the main headlight. Is the 2002 model year one the face lifted one?
Hi everyone,
can anyone help, i have a 206 van 1.9 diesel non turbo 2000 x plate i bought the van 6mts ago and nae having mutch luck. first the imobiliser packed in so the garage bypassed it and put a standerd 12v stop solonoid in wirred to the egnition that sorted that problem. now the van sounds like it,s about to blow it chaps like made more so when it is cold and a nightmare to start. i put it into a diesel pump expert and they got back to me saying the timing advance solenoid was u/s so they put on a new one which made it go better but it still chapped so the got it back on the computer then tested wires and fuses and all the sensors and told me everything was in spec but the problem was the timing advance solenoid was getting power and sending a signal to the ecu BUT the ecu was,nt sending signal back to advance or retard timing they said the timing ADVANCE SOLENOID was sitting fully advanced, they said a ecu fault(LUCAS). now i found a other ecu with same numbers and was going to buy that but did,nt know if that would work the garage said it would work as the stop solonoid had been changed to work of the egnition instead of the imobiliser???? so am asking for help and what do you guys think?
many thanks... mark Read more
I'm sorry, I just can't adequately decode the above within a reasonable time.
659.
Weather reporters are reporting that night temperatures this weekend could get very cold - quote "some parts of the Midlands could get as low as -12°C"
That's cold enough to freeze the coolant in your block and radiator if your antifreeze is a bit weak.
You have been warned.
Read more
Oh and it hit Minus 17c at avimore this weekend.
Man across the road has had his personal car seized following roadside check which revealed he had no MOT. He is kicking himself for overlooking it as his company has 4 taxed, insured and MOT'ed vans. He has been told to produce Ins cert and driving licence in order to get van released from storage compound. Now despite a long and exhaustive search, he can't find that licence. The police have confirmed that a check with DVLA reveals him to have a clean , current licence and they are happy with his ID . Yet still, they can not authorise the release of the vehicle with out seeing the licence in question. Why ? Read more
You may well be right, I'll have to go back and read it again.
I changed insurers at the last renewal and remember seeing it as I trawled through about forty pages of it.
My better half lives in Milton Green near Chester, and commutes into Whitchurch on the A41. We noticed the other night that 4 miles or so of this road is going to be shut from 15th February to "March" (vague enough or what eh?) AND to make it worse, all the lanes through Beeston, Burwardsley etc. seem to be closed off too. Anyone know what idiocy is planned by the local authorities to restrict people's movement like this all in one go? Do these people think about the effect their actions have? I will happily stand to be corrected, but I am already het-up about it!! : ) Read more
I have sent the attached to the Principal Engineer at Cheshire County council, after an article in last week's Chester Chronicle where he was portrayed as having arrogantly told a fireman on his way to work that he would have to go on a huge diversion...
"Dear Mr. Anderton,
I write to you after reading the Chester Chronicle articles about
roadworks a couple of weeks ago, and also having direct experience of
some of the restrictions in place at the moment.
Firstly, let me say that I take any press articles with more a
lorryload of salt than a pinch... however, with that in mind I would
like to ask the following:
With the aforementioned reservations, I was horrified to read about
the fireman who was unable to get to work and seemingly received little
assistance from yourself. Surely someone must have thought of a
contingency plan for such events? Are we to take it that, if someone
had been injured or worse in a fire or accident and that the delay to a
member of firefighting staff getting to the scene was a contributory
factor, you would accept some liability? Your imposition of these rules
so unbendingly would suggest so, and that scares me a little. I take it
that after the rather pompous declaration to the paper from a female
council representative that the situation would be reviewed and the
road may be closed again, our fireman friend now has a means of getting
through if the restriction is put back into force? How would you or
your colleagues feel if such a situation affected them? And how does an
ambulance get down a blocked road to attend an emergency, to raise a
rather different but relevant, scenario? If I live down one of these
blocked roads, do I just accept that I need to be hardier and not have
my coronary till after the works are finished?
The business aspect also bothers me, although less, obviously. But it
does seem that these draconian works do rather impose an unfair
restriction on enterprise at an already-difficult time. Could these
works not be staggered, thus affecting less routes at once? I DO, and I
genuinely do appreciate the "rat-run" argument.... but there are so
many roads affected it seems a bit daft, to be honest. It seems that in
recent times, a decision has been made that it is OK to completely shut
major arteries: the A51 last year, for example and now the A41 (and I
believe part of the A54). Would it be not less disruptive to have good
old-fashioned traffic lights? I appreciate you are a principal engineer
(or principle according to the Chronicle!) and I am not, but please
explain to me!
Speaking of the A54, again I ask, why do all the works have to be done together?
Some of my more cynical friends maintain that it is the end of the
financial year and blah blah you know the rest. I do not necessarily
agree: I hope I am not naive in that.
Lastly but not leastly, why is it that originally the signs outlining
the A41 works said "Feb 15th-Mar 22" originally and then AS SOON AS THE
WORKS STARTED it changed immediately to "April"? Now I AM cynical about
that.
I trust that you will consider my comments and help me understand
these works. I merely seek answers, and as a council worker and
therefore public servant, I hope you will assist me.
I look forward to your reply."
I was reading the auction news bulletin last week and saw that at an ex Lloyds TSB 2006/56 Lexus IS250 Sport with 25k made £6450 last week but today I saw it went for £10700!
Was the entry of £6450 last week correct or a misprint? I was planning to take the day off today to check out that Lexus but I'm glad I didn't now! There are a few in trade centres around the £11k mark. Read more
Hi,
I have been watching the TV news today and I have noticed numerous 4x4s such as CRVs, Lancruisers, RAV4s, etc, gingerly driving down snowy roads no different to non-4x4 cars.
I thought the whole point of having a 4x4 was that it meant it gave you traction in snow and ice conditions or am I wrong? Or is it a case that the likes of the CRV, RAV4, Freelander, etc, simply do not have good enough drive systems for this weather?
I remember as a kid back in the 1970s when we had weather like this the local radio station putting out requests from the emergency services for owners of 4x4s to contact them to help out.
T. Read more
- car-like drive not sporty but perfectly comfortable and with decent performance from the 2.2 diesel
Sorry, Manatee, nothing personal here but this is my favourite off all the descriptions of a 4x4 SUV's qualities! It has always struck me that if someone is looking for a car-like drive, then the best thing to buy is a...........
Last year renewal premium was £160 - Tescocompare said £130 for same cover- same insurer.
This year renewal £181 -TescoCompare said £126
Roughly 15 mins later they matched their own quote. an hourly rate of £200+ - time well spent
Moral - It pays to check the websites. Read more
I did a quick compare on this year's premium when the renewal came through. None were cheaper, like for like. So I called my ins co, said I thought it was a bit high, what could they do? Without too much persuading they knocked off £30 (10%) off. (And what good value it turned out to be...)
I bought a Polo GTI (2001 model) privately in May ?06 the gearbox and clutch failed in Feb ?07. I took my car to my local garage who fitted a refurbed box and new clutch supplied by another garage in Warrington.
This box was ok until August ?07 when it started whining, so I took the car directly to the garage who replaced the box under warranty. I was never happy with the noise that came from this new box, but the garage assured me that there was nothing wrong with it. By April ?08 the noise from the box worsened to a stage where the garage accepted that something wasn?t right. This time they told me that they were stopping supplying gearboxes for my partical model of car and so could only refurb the existing box.
The box still whinned a little in 5th sometimes so I took it back again only to be told that final drive ratio on this box was very close to being straight cut, similar to the boxes on rally cars so that was the cause of the noise and nothing to worry about. I thought this sounded like a load of bull but hey he was the expert.
The box failed again 2 days ago, so this time I took it to a local transmission specialist. I spoke to him today and he told me that?
There should be a 0.1 - 0.2 difference between the 4th and 5th gear ratios, but the difference between 4th and 5th in my box was only 0.01. Because of this the box was running excessively hot in 5th gear and the oil had been burnt off through the breather, the lack of oil had then caused the failure.
I explained the history of the box and he said most likely with it being warranty work the garage had just used the 5th gear from another model Polo (probably the diesel version, he thinks) and not ordered the correct part for my GTI.
I contacted the garage and told them what the new specialist told me and they said that the law concerning refurbs states the difference between gears can be no less than 10%. And that they would only fit parts that were lawful.
I cant help but think that the garage cut corners to save money on the warranty repair by using an incorrect part when rebuilding my box. But how can I prove this and get them to pay up at least something towards my £840 bill.
Any help appreciated, sorry for the essay.
{as you're making an allegation against the garage, their name as been removed from your post, as per this forum's no naming/shaming policy - DD} Read more
The cost of a solicitor will soon add up to more than a replacement box. I would try the Small Claims Court or treat it as an expensive lesson abut the lack of skilled "technicians" these days. A second hand alternative may be a feasible alternative if it happens again and you still have the fight left in you.
Browse
Thanks for your info Doc. May be useful in the future as its actually a case of Red Face department! The sprag clutch in the alternator pulley broke up! I'm told this is a common occurence and VW dealers stock the part. Thanks again for your help.