June 2009
***** This thread is now closed, please CLICK HERE to go to Volume 297 *****
In this thread you may ask any question for which you need help, advice, suggestions or whatever.
It does not need to be motoring related. In fact, in this thread it should not be.
No Questions About PCs. Please use the current "computer Related Questions" thread instead.
No politics
No Speeding, speed cameras, traffic calming
No arguments or slanging matches
Nothing which we think is not following the spirit of the thread
Nothing that risks the future of this site (please see the small print for details -
www.honestjohn.co.uk/credits/index.htm )
Any of the above will be deleted. If the thread becomes difficult to maintain it will simply be removed.
However, as has been said a couple of times, there is a wealth of knowledge in here, much of which is not motoring related, but most of which is useful.
This is Volume 296. Previous Volumes will not be deleted,
A list of previous volumes can be found:- HERE
PLEASE NOTE:
When posting a NEW question, please "Reply to" the first message in this thread, i.e. this one. This keeps each question in it's own separate segment and stops each new question from getting mixed up in amongst existing questions. Also please remember to change the subject header.
Read more
Just purchased a 2003 FORD MONDEO 2.0TDCi 130 LX 5dr [6] Diesel Hatchback, which is a great car and the aircon and heating sysytem are working, however, there is no air coming out of the front vents you aim at the body. The others appear to be working fine. Also when you turn the car on before starting the engine there is an electric noise which appears to be trying to regulate something, it also happens when you turn the car off, is this normal?
Many thanks in advance Read more
I have same fault on my 53 2.0TDCi Mondeo Estate
Its a major headache!
I have stripped out the entire dash,steering column and a major horizontal strut after establishing that the servo's were OK.
I now know the reason for the failure. The servo that drives the flap contolling the front air vents should only drive so far and then stop. You can get at the flap by unfastening all the necessary clips including dropping the bottom section away from the top.
The plastic housing will then split vertically with care far enough to pull the flap out.
When I finally got the flap out, I found that the servo motor had at some time travelled further than it should breaking the drive shaft off the flap so that it was the stuck in that position. The sound you can hear is (i think) a calibration process where the control electronics drives each flap to its end stop in each direction and counts the number of stepper motor steps it took to get there. It then knows how far it has to travel to open and close (and set mid position) each flap. However, I only know this because after I managed to re-build the broken shaft, I put the flap back in and saw the electronics perform this manouvre. When I then selected the various positions for the air flow I saw the the cause of the original fault. The flap reached its end stop and the motor carried on driving again breaking my carefully crafted repair. I also bought a second hand air con box with all flaps and servo's for £45 (£600 new not including fitting) only to find that the rubber seals on the flap I needed were perished making it unuseable, BUT, I also noticed that at the point where my flap had broken, there were signs of a stress fracture starting to appear.
Conclusion - Ford have problem with this system that is probably quite common. It appears that the electronics can fail causing damage to the mechanical assembly.
I emailed ford to complain - answer as follows
********************************************************************
Dear Mr Blower
Thank you for your email.
If you have an issue which you would like to make us aware of then please
contact our Customer Relationship Centre by telephone on 0845 841 1111, where a
member of our team will be happy to discuss your issue further.
Yours sincerely
Ford Customer Relationship Centre
********************************************************************
I haven't phoned them yet as I only re-fitted the repaired flap yesterday.
Not sure what response I will get but the more people that contact them the better. I would even consider taking them to a small claims court if necessary. I think this is a design fault. The system should fail safe i.e. should not cause secondary damage.
I hope your problem turns out to be far simpler but it sounds exactly like mine. Its easy to check the servo's by disconnecting the cables from the two without the white plastic gear and swapping them over. If the fault is still the same its not the servo's. Be very careful with the suspect one (top right of the three) it ame out ok but when I tried to re-fit it it pushed the broken shaft inside the box. I would like to hear how you get on.
i have a 1.9 golf tdi and i find when i have been on the motorway for about 10 minutes the turbo no long works for the rest of the journey. it is fine around town. does anyone have any ideas? Read more
You don't need to be a mechanic to know how to use VAG-COM and if you've got a laptop with a USB port, it's easy and cheap enough to pick up off eBay etc and use yourself to interrogate one of these.
Also, some fault codes are generated and stored in the ECU without the car showing any signs there's a problem in terms of the engine management light etc, so it's always worth plugging one of these that isn't running quite right into VAG-COM to see if anything is amiss.
Another favourite for poor running on one of these is the MAF.
OP: Which version of the 1.9 has your Golf got; 100, 115, 130 or 150bhp?
Hi
Looking for any help/info on why the pulley tensioner wheel, on the auxiliary drivebelt, of my 2004 1.9d polo keeps shearing off. Does anyone know if it is possible to bypass this tension wheel until I can get it to the garage?
absolutely desperate and at my wits end with it!!
{typo in header corrected} Read more
I suggest you have the crank damper pulley checked for movement/play. Regards Peter
This morning I've received two fake paypal emails. Nothing so unusual there you might think. However I use one-off email addresses and the two that have been targetted this morning have only been used to register with the HJ site.
That makes me suspect that the site has suffered a data loss. When the site was hacked a little while ago did the attackers get a list of subscribers email addresses?
Subject line changed slightly following an e-mailed suggestion Read more
I think that's enough speculation for now. Let's wait for an answer.
DD.
We have a rainwater butt and given the amount of rain these last few weeks it is full to overflowing. The tap is located a couple of inches off the bottom and the top of the water has a few floating bits on it. Drawing water off the tap should produce water free from obvious solid contaminents however small.
I have used the water to water the garden (why - it has rained a lot recently!) and to use for the fish tank. If there any reason not to use it for the washer bottle or even expansion tank and battery cells? Read more
The handbook of a Russian motorcycle I owned for many years stated the battery should be topped up with melted snow or rainwater, but not that collected from an iron roof. If it helps, it also said when washing the vehicle do not drive it into the river as irrepairable damage will be done to the cylinder heads.
Can anyone shed light on the best way to prime the diesel on a C-Max? I can't see any hand primer in the fuel lines.
Originally it had a leaking injector so replaced the injector seal.
So far I have tried cracking the injectors but only getting a dribble at best. I have filled the filter to the brim and then cracked injectors again, but nothing. Tried a squirt of starting spray, it runs while the spray lasts then stops. Am I right in thinking that these are not self priming? Will I have to fit a bulb primer in the return line and suck it through? Useful suggestion gratefully recieved. Read more
Situations like this,
and for me it's usually Transits,...
Picked up my new Alfa Mito (in Alfa Red) from a West Yorkshire dealer yesterday. As I'm downsizing have just gone for 1.4 non turbo version in lusso trim.
First impressions are very good - as I remember on the test drive. Car seems well put together and looks good outside. Interior looks great and of good quality. I'm downsizing from a bigger car and for a small car I'm impressed with the Alfa.
There wasn't much discounting to be done, getting "safeguard" and some petrol thrown in was the extent of it. Dealer easy to deal with and gave a comprehensive handover when I picked it up. Read more
I have an Alfa 156 and I am surprised how well put together it is. Owned it for 2 years now and its never broken down. Nice car
Might PX it for a Spider next year
The only thing wrong with it is I need a spare key which Alfa charge £210 for!
Edit, I have seen a Mercedes on fire. Had a VW Golf that was forever breaking down
I have recently purchased a 2003 Peugeot Partner 2.0 HDI (90), and having now filled the tank up twice, I'm beginning to think maybe the car isn't performing as well as it should be.
Economy on a long steady 70 to 80mph run came out at 38mpg.
The second tank has been steady local runs, which have come out at 35mpg.
Overall, this seems poor to me, not least because someone else I know with a Berlingo 2.0 HDI of the same era reckons they achieve over 50mpg on a long run.
Also, I'm surprised that the car seems to bog down in fifth gear and drop a few mile an hour up one of the local larger hills.
Another possible indicator to the problem is that the engine seems to shudder occasionally at around 1500rpm under light acceleration in the upper gears - I appreciate this might be down to a worn DMF.
I can hear the turbo quietly spool up under acceleration with the window open, the engine is nice and quiet be it hot or cold and I'm not aware of it pumping out clouds of black smoke under load etc, so any pointers would be good given I've been led to believe I should be achieving much better MPG than the above.
TIA for any advice. :-) Read more
Ok, will try filling it up again, but I guess I didn't make it clear enough in my last post that I filled the car up just after the car was hooked up to the diagnostics machine, which is when the problem first became apparent and was then compounded when the gauge, as I said, then moved as it should do, just with it being just over an eighth of a tank lower than it should have been.
Dontcha just love modern cars... ;-)
recently bought new i20 classic, on test drive doors locked automatically as i drove off which i was told was standard , but my car hasn't done this. Phoned dealer they don't seem to think that classic has this option and are getting back to me.
Can anyone help me out ????? Read more
I just bought an i30 and the handbook states that if you want the autolocking , ask the dealer to enable it, so I assume this feature can be enabled or disabled by a dealer.
Browse
.jpg)
As BB says, the etiketty is for you to put the marker down after your shopping, but he should check - would he walk into a door because somebody didn't hold it open for him? Of course he knew that - he probably does it all the time. Just an awkward B., best not to rise.