April 2009
My son has a P100 pick up with a 1.8 diesel engine (I've listed it as an escort as there's no P100 listing) but its the same engine, in fact it came from an escort (not an easy conversion) It starts and drives well, but on tickover when hot starts running unevenly and smoking unburnt fuel although its perfectly OK given a few revs. My impression is that the compression is low on one cylinder, as it only happens when its hot I would suspect valve clearances but have read that these engines rarely need adjustment. Has anyone else had this problem?
Thanks
Peter.N. Read more
'Put a Chrysler Sunbeam In Your Life' by Pet Clarke was brought up in another thread. Thanks, can't get it out of my head now! Anyway, it was quite a good tune for a frankly awful car, based ISTR on a cut-down Avenger.
Have there been many other good tunes used for bad cars? For starters I nominate 'Driven by You' by Bryan May of Queen fame. It even made the charts, but was originally written to accompany a generic Ford advert that centred on the Mk IV Escort.
Over to you. Read more
Hi all,
Just bought (literally - paid for it on Sunday) a Golf Mk IV, 2.3l 170bhp and, on picking it up this evening from a (Ford) dealer came across some problems. I was driving it off the forecourt and a pinging (eventually) alerted me to a warning light on the dash. I pulled over to check the manual as I know next to nothing about cars and it translated to something along the lines of a backfire damaging the catalytic converter and advised I take it to the nearest dealer. I took it back to the dealership who said they will look at it this evening/tomorrow.
The thing is I took it for a test drive on Sunday and it drove fine - no warning light and no juddering at low revs (which I also noticed happening today). Since the test drive, the dealer has done an MOT and put in half a tank of fuel but I don't think they have done much else to it..
I guess my questions are: Can anyone give me an idea of what might be wrong and might it be something that would mean I should try and walk away (if I can!!)
Any help would be welcome.
Cheers,
James Read more
take it back pronto and get them to look at it. Might be as simple as a bad-spark related misfire - might also be much more!
James
Hi,
during the 90s i built up a enormous driving record, ranging from no insurance to driving whilst disqualified (no drink driving though), i just drove cars with no regard for the law. In 1998 i ended up with a driving ban of 15 years disqualification. I am now near 40 years old, settled down with wife and kids.
Last December 10 years of my ban was up and i have had no driving offences within that period, so i went to a solicitor and asked him could he ask the courts to have my ban reduced, as i am law obiding and i think i have learned my lesson, as 15 years was a very long time. My solicitor says theres a good possibility i should get my disqualification reduced.
Anyway, a week or two in february i couldnt get a hold of my solicitor, so i went ahead and phoned the DVLA and asked has my driving disqualification been reduced. They said that i could apply for my provissional license now as my driving ban has ended.
I thought brilliant, i applied for it, and got it, i bought a car, insured it, and i have put in for my theory test and due to sit it on 7th May.
Today i was pulled over by the police and they told me that their records show that i am a disqualified driver, i said that they were mistaking and that i got my license reduced, and that i am right for the road, as i has all the right documents and experienced driver beside me, they took the driving license number of my license and told me they will get back to me.
I phoned my solicitor and told him what happened, he said that there are barristers dealing with my case and that i havent got dates yet for my courts appearances and that i am still disqualified.
I have to go in to see the solicitor tomorrow, and see what mess i am in, he said that legelly i was driving whilst disqualified, and i could get convicted of it. And to stop driving straight away (which i did).
Now i'm worried if i do get convicted i could ruin any chances of getting my license back and also getting a further ban.
I'm planing on giving my solicitor my driving license and insurance tomorrow to prove to the court (if needs be) that i wont drive until everything is sorted.
Has anyone got themselves into a mess like this before, and if so what was the outcome? Read more
Watchdog this week reported serious issues with DVLA.
Off topic - but it may help.
People are sending licences in to get details changed & receiving them back with groups and entitlements changed and in some cases totally removed.
Ive just got hold of a nice tidy 520 with a single vanos 2.0 engine. The engine has ring failure on 2 pots after the previous ran it dry of oil. I have access to a few different engines, none of which are a direct replacement. Just wondering what units will drop straight in place?
There are options of 2.5 single vanos engines from e36 cars or a 2.0 single vanos engine from an e34. The 2.0 would be preferable as I think the fueling would be better suited to my ecu etc. Just not sure if it fits in directly with exhaust manifolds etc? The engine codes are very similar suggesting they are the same engine with minor modifications for the later car. Read more
i understand has closed, and not just for the night. Read more
Just read it on the MEN and it dosn't sound like they are going bust
just closing down due to poor sales and cash flow issues.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>ha ha ha beauty" its only closing down because it has poor sales and no cash to purchase new stock"
i might use that line one day ,its like when i was into hi fi and a customer said a pioneer amp at comet was cheaper than in my shop and i said why dont you buy it there then
the customer replied ah but they havent got any
i replied i give mine away when i havent got any
Reading diddy1234's thread about engine development testing got me thinking.
Will a manufacturer ever build the perfect car?
When looking at the car by car break downs I relealised how many manufacturers including the seemingly perfect Japanese, suffer faults and recalls with seemingly simple components.
Example: Fords Focus had a recall because of a pin falling out that holds the pedals in place. To me this seems a very simple piece of metal work and yet a failure could have catastophic results.
It seems amazing in this day and age of high tech computer design and modern build methods that cars can still have recalls with tiny switches or engine sensors, brake components and other seemingly simple parts. If car makers had only invented the car a week ago I could understand teething problems but after more than 100 years of car making you'd think engineers would have found the way to build the ultimate car.
Maybe I'm too cynical and simplistic in my viewpoint here.
No doubt an engineer will put me right.
;-) Read more
1989 Vauxhall Cavalier 2.0 SRi
Factoring in reliability, comfort, economy, performance, practicality, cost, build quality, driver enjoyment and running costs for me at least I don't expect this car will ever be beaten.
I have recently brought this vehicle, but need to replace the electric window mechanism within the drivrs door.
Could anybody assist me with directions on how?
Also can I use second hand parts from a VW Polo(same age) as thy are similar?
It is a 3dr version.
Please Help
7209vk Read more
Hi,
I am looking at buying a nearly new (08/58) car probably either a Mazda5 or Toyota Verso. In both cases the best spec/mileage/options that I can find are at independent garages rather than franchise.
If I buy used from a non-approved retailer do I get the balance of the manufacturer's warranty (assuming for arguments sake that there is a full service history)? Neither Toyota nor Mazda list their mechancal warranties as being transferrable.
Is there some EU law or such that mandates what has to be provided to subsequent owners or is the warranty package part of the intial conrtact of sale on the car when new, which falls away when sold on?
Thanks
Graham Read more
Try going onto the manufacturers website and emailing them for a definite answer... the Skoda one was transfreable as well, though I got an email confirming this before I bought the car just to be on the safe side... the 3 years breakdown cover transfered with the car as well!
Our 2003 Charade has cut out three times in the last week while driving. Unfortunately I have not experienced this first hand - all three times it's happened when my OH was driving. The first two times it happened were at low speed - once going round a roundabout and once in a housing estate. The most recent time was at around 70mph on the motorway - no other cars around fortunately.
OH is not terribly technical, but she says the power just goes and the car rolls smoothly to a stop - no shuddering. The way she describes it it sounds like the ignition is just switched off. After stopping the car restarts easily and is fine until the next time.
I drove the car quite a bit over the weekend (between the 2nd and 3rd occurrences) and didn't notice anything abnormal.
We're going to take it to our local indie, but with it being a rare car and the problem being so intermittent, I'm not hopeful he'll be able to diagnose. Anyone suffered a similar problem, or have any ideas what the problem might be?
Thanks
Read more
Not had that with my Daihatsu (which is essentially a Charade, but from a time when carburetors roamed the earth, and computers were kept in air-conditioned rooms) but I have had something similar with a Mk1 Lada,
Not the same, though, since, although initially apparently random, it gradually emerged that it tended to happen on deceleration, and eventually became predictable enough that I regarded it as a primitive precursor of stop stop-start functionality....
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I'm sticking with you - velvet undergound. For something Korean I think. Daewoo?