July 2009
For several weeks there has been a caravan parked on a main road near me. It is a wide road with a slight curve to the right and the entrance to a petrol station / Ford dealer on the right almost opposite the parked caravan. Soon after the caravan appeared I thought it was parked in a risky spot. You have guessed it, this morning caravan is on the wide pavement with its right side ripped out. Do some people have no concept of risk? Everyone parks on the pavement along this road. Read more
I decided to change air filter and plugs on daughter's 1.4 Ibiza this week. Bit of a palaver getting the filter housing off, but eventually managed. I removed 1 plug to take to Halfords to match and at £39 a set (they are platinum) I decided they still had some life in them!
Anyway, I got it all back together again, and have since dissassembled it and put it back again to check I have not missed anything. Also checked tightness of plugs and HT leads.
The car is accelerating fine, and ticks over OK, but if you drive at a constant speed (say 30) it is very lumpy, almost like it's missing, bit not quite the same effect. Allegedly it was OK before I had it apart )but I can't always trust "user reports").
What should I be checking? Read more
The problem is with an L200 pick-up, the engine is revving about 500rpm higher than needs whilst driving. Also whilst sitting say at traffic lights it sum times drops or sticks but not for long. Any help.
Thanks ron. Read more
hi all,
i wondered if any one could shed light on this ; my 97 rover 216 sli is boiling over in the expansion tank. i have replaced the head gasket, thermostat, coolant temp fan switch, and have bled the cooling system to get rid of air locks, i have removed the ball bearing in the inlet manifold as advised, they is no oil mixed with the coolant, they is no steam coming from the exhast, no leaks anywhere. fan kicks in as it should. the heater is blowing warm air but when i turn it to cold the expantion tank fills up and boils over, the temp gauge dose not seem to move above half way. ????
could anyone have an idea.
thanks.
{typo in header corrected} Read more
Did the cap solve your problem?
I have a 1970 MGB Roadster and have a running problem
Things I have done to the MG in order to try and get it to run right. First of all, problem is this:
Car starts and idles perfectly. Car will not rev higher than 3000rpm. If you try to hold revs at 3000rpm the revs die off after about 3 seconds and car starts to cough and splut (does not go as far as backfiring) but car will rev down and almost cut out until you release throttle and car recovers and idles perfectly again.
Things I have done:
Ignition
1. Fitted electronic ignition (replaces points and condenser). Before this, I fitted new points and condenser - no change.
2. New coil.
3. New dist cap.
4. New rotor.
5. Tried different set of leads (borrowed from TR6 - no difference - so assume leads ok).
6. Checked vacuum advance is working by sucking on tube at carb.
7. Checked advance springs are intact in dist (removed base plate and looked inside - all there correct and clean).
8. Set timing using strobe light (16 deg BTDC in this case) but also tried lots of other positions and test drives.
9. Checked TDC marks on pulley and case are correct by moving piston 1 to TDC, checking rotor pointing to No.1 lead and checking timing marks aligned - all ok.
Fuel
1. Removed fuel pump. Cleaned (was not really dirty), checked points - cleaned points (slightly pitted), pump run on bench. Looks and sounds ok. No filters in pump.
2. Attached clear tube after filter before carbs and run pump into container - plenty of fuel coming through although quite alot of air bubbles mixed in.
3. Removed pots and pistons from carbs and cleaned all inside.
4. Removed fuel pots, floats and needles - cleaned - all ok.
5. Set mixture using colortune kit - set it slightly rich to be sure.
6. Checked throttle flaps opening together and not sticking.
7. Checked choke not stuck on.
8. Set correct idle.
9. Shut off fuel pump and replaced with elevated gravity feed from bottle (held out of window by Elaine along main road!). No difference.
Engine
1. Checked gap on tappets - set all slightly wider than spec to make sure nothing too tight - bit rattly now but ok.
2. Oil all ok.
3. Water all ok.
4. No smoke or vapour from exhaust.
I would be grateful for any other ideas you might have. It's killing me.
One last thing, when it first went wrong, pulling the choke out at 3000rpm did allow it to climb above 3000rpm and improved the performance, so does this suggest a fuel problem? You would think so (as I did) but having checked all fuel things, not sure what to think now. Please help.
Cheers for now. Elaine Read more
Hey guys
thanks so much for all the suggestions we used some of them and managed to get a new fuel pump today and it is running fine now...............thanks again to all of you its great to know there is so much knowledge out there.
Regards
Elaine
Hi,
I have bought an ex royal mail vauxhall combo van on an 05 plate, I bought it with 48,000 miles and put another 3000 miles on it. It has been running fine and was very pleased with it although the fuel consumption seemed to fluctuate a lot with the same driving conditions/style.
On Tuesday I stalled the engine and it would not restart, the breakdown recovery van got it started by using 'easystart' and followed me the rest of the journey home [50miles] and it ran perfect. I tried switching the engine off then on again but it would not start.
The next day the AA came out again and tried starting it using easystart but no joy.
He recommended taking it to the main dealers cathryns in ashford after checking the priming pump pressure at 2 bar and the manifold pressure at 90bar.
Once arriving at the vauxhall dealers in ashford [after the breakdown van towing my hits the brakes to hard causes the torsion bar to pivot and crashing into the back of him!]
They have it on the diagnostics and say that some sensors are out but suspect timing chain fault. I authorise them to inspect further and they say that the timing chain is out and that they now suspect the piston and valves have hit but want 3 hour labour @83 pounds an hour just to confirm the failure. Which would bring the bill up to 550 just to diagnose the fault!
Now the van has full service history which was provided when i bought the van on a spreadsheet indicating location, mileage and date etc. The oil levels were fine and the coolant etc and I told the manager this but he said it was 3 years or 60,000 miles warranty which ever comes sooner. Considering the van is only 51000 miles surely this should not fail like this and vauxhall should fix this?
Can any one offer any advice, I've just set up as self employed and can really not afford this right now.
Kind regards,
Iain
Read more
60 k or 3 years end of argument, however had quiet a few of these timming chain issues but not known them to bend valves, ask them to check and reset the valve timing and see if it starts and runs okay, if it runs okay then it will need a new chain ,tensioners guides etc,regards TB
tinyurl.com/m4h6ea (links to bbc news)
Finally some sense taking place!! Read more
>> Happy to be corrected but if clamping is illegal in Scotland surely so is running
a clamping company there no matter where it operates?
The Royal Bank and HBOS both had their head offices in Scotland - didn't stop them ripping off everyone in England who had shares with them.
The argument, though, could suggest that the clamping contract of someone who is clamped in England, is with a Scottish company so the contract could be construed as coming under Scots Law, in which case the person in England could legally challenge it in a Scottish Court, where, of course, the clamper would be considered as tring to commit an illegal act.
A minefield which maybe some Scottish Law expert could perhaps clarify?????
At 80.000 miles I will need to replace the back box and immediate pipe. At the last service the main agent quoted at £150. Has anyone bought a stainless system and how much did it cost.
{additional info added to the header picked up from a previous post of yours} Read more
My engine management system warning light is coming on and down powering the car. Codes are [P] 0203, 1122, 1120, 1550. I,ve replaced the APP sensor to no avail. Shaking the ECU lower harness multiplug sometimes appears to trigger the lamp, but I've stripped and cleaned the multiplug and there doesn't appear to be any sign of corrosion. Anyone experienced the same problem? Is it possible I could have connection problems inside the ECU? Read more
normal fault on these is that the throttle pedal potteniometer lose's its 5 volt feed from the ecu, you can piggyback the feed from the other wire but its ony a temporary measure (just proves the point) it realy needs diagnosing properly but i suspect it's the fault, Regards TB
There seems to be a trend with some of our local councils to inflict a quite illogical lane layout at some light controlled crossroads.
There are two lanes coming up to the lights, the nearside lane has an arrow indicating traffic to turn left. The offside lane is for traffic turning right and going straight across. Invariably these are busy junctions and the traffic turning right is held up by cars coming across towards them. This means, of course, that cars behind the right turners cannot go across into what is a clear road.
Why not have the 'left turners' and the 'straight acrossers' in the nearside lane ?
Traffic then flows...simple !
Ted Read more
A far far better idea is to have a right turn filter light.
this seems to be going out of fashion, and I cannot understand why.
ok... it does hold up traffic going straight on, but clears the backlog quicker, thus preventing queuing further back.
it also helps to prevent RTC's which really cause gridlock, as well as costing loads in money, and pain.
IMO nearside to nearside is only safe at light control junctions.
Browse
Thank you, that's a very good point and I've already raised it with the Police. Understandably, they don't regard this sort of thing as a priority and say that parking enforcement is the responsibility of the local authority.
It's an oldish van.
The Highway Code cites Construction & Use Regulations r.103 in connection with leaving trailers on the road - but I've been unable, so far, to find exactly what this says. Can anyone post this in detail, please?