May 2009

ollie1989

hi people, im new to this site, and have a slight problem.

Two months ago i bought a ford fiesta 03 plate, with 30,000 on the clock, after a few weeks i noticed a sound coming from the engine that sounded like there was a horse around my car, at first it was really quiet and not really noticable, but then it got progressivly louder.

Recently i was returning home from a day out when i went down a hill and put my foot down to pull up the other side and all my power just dissapeared, then my engine light came on. so i pulled up gave it 5 or 10 minutes then started up again and as i did this the engine was misfiring. so i rang a recovery firm and i was taken to my ford garage. I then explained my problem to garage left it with them for an hour, they then rang me back and explained my coil pack had gone, my oxygen sensor had gone and also my spark plugs and leads also needed replacing. i had the work done and the sound had gone when i picked it up, but the next day it was back?!? it seems to be louder when the engine is warm,

does any one have any ideas as im begining to think its something serious? Read more

piston power

O dear it's curtains for that engine.

No oil worn big end bearings and can lead to a seized engine.

Did you tell the recovery guy there was no oil & the garage?

There is no excuse for not checking the oil regular.

pda

I believe it is now possible to enter the country at Folkestone ( via Eurotunnel) and drive all the way to Berwick upon Tweed without going round a roundabout.

The route is M20, M25, M11, A14 and of course the A1.

The last roundabout has finally been removed at Colsterworth just south of Grantham.

Please correct me if I'm wrong!

Pat
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Lud

Heh heh ifithelps... That's why I try not to take any notice of them at all, apart from giving priority to stuff coming from the right.

A lot of them are so badly placed that the logical route when turning right may be to go the wrong side of them. And when it is, I do.

I look forward to being pulled for this by an incautious jobsworth young plod. Boy will he get an earful.

portugal

My mondeo 2 litre TDCi 130bh i have been very happy with. I have had it for 3 years now no trouble at all i have driven out to Portugal twice in it . But the abs light has come on and will not go out checked fuses alright please help

{post amended to remove SHOUTING!} Read more

Javalin

Go to garage. Get codes read. Welcome.

MurdoK

Hey dudes an fellow turbo lovers..

Recently my TDi estate has been blowing blue-ish smoke on start up which clears after 5mins or so and runs pretty sweet.....

Every gear pulls as expected. No noices, no lag, my oil levels are all good etc etc with no other signs/clues to my..............

**problem**

last night i was cruising along the M9 at 65-70mph and went to overtake a lorry. I pull up behind it and drop to 4th, pressed the accelerator to pass, didn't boot it, but as soon as it goes from 4th to fifth i get major power lose and a HUGE cloud of white-ish smoke comes out the back which obviously made me pink fluffy dice it thinking my turbo blew or sumfin sumfin but i throw it back up to 5th and it starts pulling again as normal!!

I was gonna pull over but when i fifth geared it and realised it was running fine and my turbo/engine wasn't pink fluffy dice i cruised off the motorway a mile or two up the road keeping the revs low.... I stopped, let the car cool down etc etc and headed for home.

**STRANGE THING** every gear still pulls as expected/normal without obviously taking it beyond 3500 / 4000 revs...

.*********

Any fellow good fellas got some advice / had similar experiences!??

Dok

{Looks like someone DIDN'T bother reading the no swearing policy before posting}
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BenG

As far as I know, blue smoke indicates oil burning, so if this is emitted when cold it suggests either that your oil is overdue for a change, there is bore wear in the engine, or possibly valve guide wear allowing oil to drain past the valves while the engine is off.

Finally, it could indicate leaking turbo oil seals, although then you might expect to get more blue smoke when the engine is warm and on boost.

White smoke indicates unburned diesel, but this would usually be seen if your glow plugs weren't working properly on cold start, not when the engine is warm.

If the smoke is actually black (try getting someone to follow you when you rev the car), then this indicates excess fuel and could mean that you have a boost leak (check intercooler pipes for leaks and other joints/jubliee clips in pipework between turbo and intercooler and from i/c to inlet manifold) or the turbo is failing to generate enough boost, leading to an overly-rich mixture.

Funny that it's only occurring at higher revs. That's all I know I'm afraid.

GeordieGuy

Hi There!
I run an old diesel 405 - in fact, I'm now on my fourth. I like the uncomplicated layout and ease of maintenance of these old oil-burners. However, my only niggle is that the steering is very heavy - even with PS. I was wondering whether there might be some after-market device, replacement unit etc which might alleviate the problem. Or, indeed, whether the PS is a bit of a duffer on these anyway - I can't recall others having such a problem.
I'm happy to throw money at the problem above and beyond the value of the vehicle itself. I really don't want to replace it with something newer, however practical this might be.
Anyway, if you've got this far and you think you have an observation on this then I'd appreciate your reply!!

{header amended to reflect the question being asked} Read more

vmturbo

There is bound to be a relief valve somewhere on the pump which determines the maximum hydraulic pressure hence the amount of power assistance.

Knowing how many strikes the car factories in France used to have; French cars will often be a pick-and-mix of components from different suppliers. Speedometers for example might be Jaeger or Veglia....

Cambridge

Hello,
My 1930 Ford has a 6v battery.
But there are no markings showing which terminal is + or -
I know this is hard to believe. But there are no markings.
Is there a way of finding out which is which using a multimeter or such like?
THanks Read more

Peter.N.

Sorry - the small terminal is correct.

Old Navy

Many years ago I had a flat tyre, and could see a small wood splinter in the tyre, at the repairer the splinter could not be pulled from the tyre. On removing the tyre it became apparent that the splinter was in fact the point of an intact cricket stump which was completly inside the tyre. I had not felt an impact, and have no idea how it got there.
Yes the tyre was a write off!

Any other unusual ones? Read more

Lud

The only time I ever had a high-speed blowout - o/s rear on my VW 411, doing about 80 - there was a short period of vibration followed by the bang. The car tracked impeccably and I put it on the grass verge to change the wheel.

The tyre, a well-worn Michelin X, looked as if a large object had forced its way out through the tread, leaving a big hole with all the steel belt wires hanging out. It doesn't seem likely that had actually happened though. My guess is the belt gave way causing a bulge in the tread which quickly led to the blowout.

geoff1248

Several months ago my sons g/f crashed her 2 months old Mini and wrote it off. Her fault no third party involved. Insured fully comp. so not a problem. A week after the crash she got offered a new job with a company car. The insurance company have said that they will replace the crashed Mini with a brand new Mini, no cash settlement instead. So she will shortly have an unregistered Mini which she has no use for. (She cannot use it as her company car)
So what is the best way to dispose of this new Mini given that she still owes finance on the crashed one? Read more

mikeyb

Yes and no...........Technicaly its illegal to sell a car on which you owe finance, but I am sure that most finance cos would have no issue with you selling to a dealer and the dealer settling with the finance co direct, if fact I imagine that this happens all the time.

I see no reason why the insurance co would not make a cash settlement as I cant see that they get a massive discount on a MINI which is far greater than you or I could get through a broker. Have they actualy refused this, or is it just a case of they think they are doing the right thing by replacing the car and removing GF's hassle in buying a new one?

hylo

Citroen C3 has started cutting out, whilst driving, will normally restart but occasionally
I have had to pull over and wait a couple of minutes, power steering has also gone a
couple of times on it. Frightened to put it in the garage because each time I put it in they
tell me it needs other things doing to it as well. Have read article from ph001 who had the same problem and said it was the EGR valvle. I just want to know if I can go to a
garage and just ask them to replace the EGR valve???? Read more

dagenham car center

it needs a code read really,guessing can be a very expensive hobby.
pipes rubbed through under air filter housing is quite common on these.

Bill Blackman

In connection with a discussion about the sorry state of many of our roads, I was silly enough to mention the use of steel mesh or netting reinforcement ?like they used to use?. But nobody had heard of reinforcing asphalt (or bitumen or whatever) with steel mesh. I am certain I can remember seeing steel mesh poking out of partially laid asphalt up through the years. I?ve googled for hours, but can?t find anything about it. Have I been dreaming or what, can anybody help here?
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RobertyBob

Steel mesh reinforcement is only ever used within the rigid (concrete) layers of pavement construction, not the flexible (bitumen) layers.

Sometimes the flexible layers can be reinforced with a geotextile (fibreglass mesh) if the new surface is being laid over an old cracked surface.

P.S. Just to confuse you: to a highway engineer the pavement includes the surface that cars drive on, not just the surface that pedestrians walk on.