hi.
i drove to the local shops in my car everything was fine, got back in the car started it, dipped the clutch and felt a vibration through the pedal which wasnt there before, then when i put it in gear there was a vibration coming through the gear lever aswell. just wondering if the flywheel could be ready to collaspe. the clutch still feels ok though. any ideas?
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Hi

My parters Fod KA failed its MOT today. One of the things was play in the off-side steering. At the last MOT it had a new tie rod fitted on the near side for the same reason. I have sourced the Tie Rod for £14.25 plus VAT.

I went to fit it this afternoon. I removed the gaitor to find that the existing rod was rusty around the ball joint which explains the play. But how on earth do I remove it from the end of the Steering Rack? On the new rod there is nut at the end but on the current one its just round!

There is nothing in the Haynes. I read on another Forum that someone poured boiling water over it and then attacked it with a plumbers wrench. Would a blow torch be better? I have heard other people being quoted 1 hours labour to do this so there must be an easy way without the need to remove the rack.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks Read more

After 18 months of ownership, I decided today to have a go at removing the annoying aftermarket immobiliser device that was fitted to my car when I bought it in used Feb 08.

I had imagined that the immobiliser was fitted by the original fleet operator of the car when the value was first used and that this would have been a valuable feature when it was worth 20K.

The has always forced me to use a touch-key to disable the immobiliser every time I want to start the car which is a real PITA considering that the OEM security system includes an immobiliser which is more than good enough for a five year old car.

I had presumed that the device was somehow plumbed into the ignition and starter lines between running from the steering column and it would simply need cutting out an restoring the connections to make the car able to be started with the key alone...... well I was wrong !

When I removed the facia trim this afternoon, I was surprised to see a big black box with multiple connections with the markings "EagleEye" and "Mini Vehicle Unit" and a large black relay. At least two of these connections appear to be co-ax and one has a loom with a tied-up PC RS232 type serial cable and there is an Ethernet network socket too !!. There is also a sticker with GPRS and a slot marked "SIM CARD".

I have posted some pics here for anyone who may recognise it.

i140.photobucket.com/albums/r40/clockerharvey/trac...g


I am wondering if this is an anti-theft tracker unit or a fleet management tracking product and is there some Big Brother who has been able to track me for the last 18 months !!

.... Spooky !

Any advice about this would be interesting.
I have decided to leave it in place for now, whilst I try and find out more info. Read more

Hi Guys,

First time i`ve stripped an EGR system these 45 years or so..

There has been an oil leak from (somewhere - couldn`t see directly) under the combined cambox/EGR/inlet tract on our 1.9 (not JTD, the IDI) it was spitting oil at the radiator at speeds over 60mph.

Stripped it off and the part of the cover that seals the cambox seemed fine - also the breather pipe to the back of the crankcase was clear.

When I took off the air trunking to the air cleaner, the air cleaner end was spotless - but there was a about 10ml of engine oil pooled at the other end - where it enters the air intake part of the combined cover.
Took the EGR pipe of the EGR valve itelf and this was clean. Inside the intake system where it enters the inlet tract part of the cover ( and directly above the oil pooled in the lower air intake pipe) was covered in oil and what seemed like wet oil shale.. (That end of the EGR pipe was restricted to around half its normal bore, by a drier `shale`.

(the external leak seemed to be from an O ring in the combined cover - after the EGR pipe intake)

The individual inlet tracts were exposed at the back of the engine - these had obviously been taking in a wet oil shale substance - although they were not restricted.

Question is -- where is the oil coming from in the intake system, when the actual EGR valve was dry and a grey exhaust colour?

It uses no oil noticable oil between services and there is no turbo...


What do none turbo diesel EGR systems typically look like as they enter the inlet tracts?

Thanks!
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This car runs lovely, no problems whatsoever, but failed MOT due to slightly high CO, HC and Lambda. It read Fast Idle 3.3% CO, 233ppm HC and 0.90 Lambda. Last year and year before it showed similar problems, and on second measuring it would suddenly pass with all green, like a switch was turned on. We then assumed cold engine.
Now engine was warm enough and the problem would not go away.

I have no warning lights on my dash. It is model with a computer under passengers feet, so I cannot scan for any error codes.

All accessible engine compartment connectors were treated previously with contact fluid (Stabilant 22) and show no corrosion. There are no other contact or other problems.

I measured sensors with a digital multimeter:

MAF measured OK from 1 to 2 V.
IAT measured 30 kOhm at room temperature falling to 5 kOhm when heated, OK.
ECT measured 38 kOhm at room temperature falling to 3 kOhm in boiling water. This is different from Haynes or Chilton manual (2.5kOhm falling to 300Ohm), but I have another brand new sensor bought for this car and it measures the same as the one in the car, so I assume error in manuals., or change in sensors for 1998+ and not covered in manuals. Also when I disconnect this connector, the rad ventilator starts almost immediately (it probably reads this as overheating) when I connect back the ventilation stops.
O2S (front oxygen sensor) measured partly OK, the voltage being close to 0V when engine cold, and between 0.15V to 0.85V when hot, behaving as described in manuals, meaning oscillating. It steadied at 0.85V with connector off. The resistance of the heater element (this is 4 wire unit) cannot be measured, I believe this is dead. The sensor wires look good, not damaged or burned, flexible with intact sleeving. I couldn't get to rear sensor, if there is any.

There is 170,000 miles on the clock. The exhaust and catalyst are probably original, as there is no record of the change. There is a full service history until 3 years ago when I gave up on Mazda service centres, in disgust.

I would like to know what is the likely problem before taken to cleaners at Mazda service centre, as I tried all London ones over the last 10 years and was not happy.

Thanks for reading and contributing.
ayoshak

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