October 2009
I know someone who has an Agila petrol model with Ecotec engine. Mentioned that it had done 67k from new. I asked if he had had timing belt done...No he said...sharp intake of breath,,,im guessing hes living dangerously? Anyone know vaux recommended interval? is it an easyish job?
ta Read more
Not posted for long, long while, but infuriating problem with what would appear to be the brakes on my very late 55 plate (i.e., 06 model year) Mondeo TDCi hatch leaves me hoping someone in the backroom might have an answer.
The car goes to my local spannerman for servicing and had new rear pads back in May. Brakes started squealing shortly afterwards and garage agreed to replace them FOC as they 'had a bad batch'. The noise didn't go away and the pads have been replaced a further three times (all FOC) in an attempt to cure. The noise still didn't go, so the rear discs were replaced (at cost). Fair dinkum - when I saw the ones taken off, they had lost their shine on the outer edge of the disc, so pads could have been scraping against an uneven, abrasive surface. But the noise STILL didn't go with the new brakes...
As I write the car is back there, they've taken the rear brake assembly apart and cleaned it. Doesn't appear to be anything wrong anywhere - no evidence that pads aren't retracting, they say.
Before I go back to collect has anyone got any additional advice on what it might be? It's a high frequency squeal, usually happens when you brake, but can sometimes also be heard when you are simply driving along. I didn't think it would be a bearing as all the bearing noise I've heard in the past has been low frequency rumble, and this happens most often when you brake.
I'm lost for what to do next... Read more
Thanks for the replies so far. What bothers me is that all the obvious components have been replaced more than once and the problem keeps coming back.
I can't find any references to a technical service bulletin on this problem, but something tells me that it must be a known problem. The two garages I've been to have looked at the various assemblies, cleaned all the various assemblies, told me there's nothing obviously wrong, and then replaced pads and discs, even lubricated the handbrake.
And still the squealing comes back!!!!
I'm going to ring Ford tomorrow, but I get a depressing feeling that in an age where the first rule of business is 'admit nothing', they will simply tell me to take it to a dealer...who'll look at it and then replace the pads.
Someone somewhere must know what causes this kind of problem - just who do I turn to??
Can anyone identify for me Bertie's gorgeous car, featured in the morning ITV3
broadcasts of the "Jeeves and Wooster" series? Read more
It was "The Code of the Woosters", from 1938. JH
What a strange coincidence. I was watching the excellent Jeeves and Wooster TV series tonight, the episode in which Jeeves 'hides' the cherised cow creamer as a hood ornament on Wooster's car. I've watched enough of the series to wonder what the car is exactly. Now I have my answer. Until the recent royal wedding, I had probably never said the words 'Aston-Martin' out loud, but after William's brief drive in Charles' wine-powered Aston-Martin, I'm hearing the name more often. As we would say here (Western New York State, US, "nice ride."
Just had a pair of these fitted to the front of the Altea.
What really nice tyres. Immediately notice improved smooth ride, cut in road noise. The grip in wet / dry seems good. Cant comment about wear but I am impressed.
{couple of typos corrected in header} Read more
>>I've been told by several tyre fitters that michelins are the best - I notice that they have not featured in this discussion. Any views on that
They generally are about the most expensive so your tyre fitter will make more margin and they'll rightly tell you that they last longer so they're better value. He won't tell you they're pretty hard (why they last longer) and they don't win many tyre tests. If you want Michelins find a Cosco near you they sell them much cheaper than any retail outlet.
I had Bridgestone RE050s on my Legacy and replaced with Goodyear F1 asymetrics - quieter by some margin and better than brilliant in the wet. I don't drive fast enough in the dry to find out where one set of tyres will let go and one will hold on as for me noise and comfort are more important.
I'm looking for a s/h small 4x4 or standard car with very good ground clearance - the speedbumps have cracked my exhaust once too often.
I like the look of either the Daihatsu Terios or the Suzuki Jimny as they are both cutish, high, but small enough not to incur too much ire from those against 4x4s.
I only need a car big enough for 2 with the occassional extra passenger so don't want and can't afford a bigger car. It won't be going off-road much and needs to be under £3k.
Has anyone any experience of either of these two or any other recommendations? Read more
Both Jimny & Terios are good cars but
* Jimny's on road performance is not good [especially at 60+ mph]
* Terios has 4+1 doors
* Terios comes with 5-yr warranty
* As a general purpose car, Terios is more suitable than Jimny
* Both are probably equally capable off road
PS: Just noticed you wanted it under £3k. Old Terioses are terrible!! So Jimny is better choice.
Been using Open Office for five years now instead of buying M$ stuff. I have recently been getting more involved in it and have currently used a MySQL database as a datasource in order to try and automate my admin. I am finding the power of it simply amazing its worth at least as much as Office, how can they give it away for free?
Moved from previous CRQ - Rattle can you post in synch otherwise they'll get lost in the clutter Read more
It would appear that it's a Toshiba utility. See:
toshiba-180-degrees-rotation-utility.software.info.../
There's a 1.2 version as well but not on this site.
Or, preferably, try the Toshiba Support pages:
eu.computers.toshiba-europe.com/innovation/downloa...p
You may also find the feature from Display Properties>Settings tab>Advanced button>Graphics tab (if listed).
Posting this on behalf of my sister, who has an LGV license and regularly drives 7.5 tonne and larger horse boxes.
Driving a 7.5 tonne box last night she suffered a punctured rear tyre. Pulled into services and called recovery firm who brought and fitted new tyre. Received a stern ticking off from them after they checked the tyre pressures on the other rear wheels, all of which were down to about 30 psi.
However, she doesn't know* where to look to find out what the correct pressures should be. The tyre fitter didn't know exactly (put 80 psi in which seemed about right to me), but it seems to be a bit of a grey area.
Anyone know the correct place to look?
* Sister gained license on one-week government funded training course. I was (and remain) exceptionally sceptical of the quality of the drivers going through this course if they don't know:
(a) to check tyre pressures on an LGV regularly and
(b) roughly what those pressures should be.
** Why isn't there a "misc" category for make/model?
{Re:- your 'misc' question, the sticky post When Posting A New Question To Technical Matters that tells you how to post to Technical Matters when the make/model drop down menu doesn't have what you're looking for} Read more
>>Difficult to do that now, as all the 7.5t trucks are limited to 60mph, aren't they?
No, only the ones registered after a certian date (1st October 2001 I think) require speed limiters.
As for the tyre pressure, with a lack of the proper tyre size and vehicle information I would say that stick about 90psi in them and you won't be far out.
As a result of a problem with the power output of my car { not going into the turbo } I replaced the air filter and fuel filter, the car wont run now , but was starting fine prior to this. I have primed the fuel filter and the filter has definately got diesel in it. After attempting to start it by towing it as the battery is now flat, there is pressure in the system if I release one of the pipes off the filter. I have released the injectors and there is a small amount of diesel present, but when turning the engine over no fuel is squirting out of the injectors. Is there perhaps some way to bleed the system as I believe it is air locked. Any suggestions would be most appreciated Read more
Running without turbo-on a 1.6 that could mean the turbo's knackered,PEF filter is blocked,PEF blocked due to none regeneration etc etc
the washer pump is not working but the wipers are, im told they run off the same fuse so i need to change the pump. It is a cannister approx 10' tall, located under the o/s/f wheel mudflap i think? Is this easy to change, and why does it look different and much bigger than all the pics of washer pumps on ebay? Read more
Don't waste your time taking the wheel off.Jack up the o/s/f of the car and work from the front.Use a large flat blade screwdriver to ease the pump from the bottle.Put a container under the washer reservoir to catch the water.You will definitely get wet.The pipes are just a push fit.hth
Hi folks. First of all this is my first post as I am new to the forum. From reading other posts regarding the pd engine there seems to be many people with a great deal of know how. Hoping some of you can help me.
I recently purchased a pd130 passat. Lovely car, very smooth. When inspecting the engine area I noticed a great deal of oil 'sweat' under a boost pipe connection. It's the pipe under the PAS Bottle and above some sort of chassis member. That's exactly where the join in the pipe is. There is a top layer of fresh oil on top of the 'sweat' and by the looks of it, it has been there for some time. I took a rag to it and the layer of gunk was quite thick. It is physically possible to pull the two sections of pipe apart just slightly but they do seem to be connected and not just pushed together. Also beside the boost pipe is a very thin pipe although I have no idea what that pipe is for. Is this the pipe that is prone to splitting I have noticed people mention?
My question is, should there be that great amount of leaking oil from a boost pipe that is after the turbo yet before the EGR? I'm worried that the turbo may be leaking too much oil into the engine. When I purchased the car the oil level was barely touching the dip stick!
The car was in for a Timing belt change and since getting it back it just doesn't feel as fast. Before, the Traction control light would flash when pulling away in 1st from a rolling start but not any longer. It is lacking the surge it once had. I have also noticed that the turbo is more audible since coming back from the garage. Not a whistle but a whoosh noise. Doesn't really sound like a leak as it's not a hissing sound but deffo more whooshing coming from it and it's deffo from the turbo end and not the pipe inder the PAS bottle.
You guys think the mechanic disturbed a pipe whilst ripping the front end to bits in order to get to the timing? Or perhaps the turbo is slowly dying?
Sorry for the long winded post but I'm a little worried and don't want to be faced with an engine running away and me having to try and stall it to stop it exploding.
Any thoughts or opinions greatly recieved.
Steven Read more
on the Passat the boost pipe runs across the front of the crossmember that has to be moved to change the belt. At either end are flexible hoses with the naff aluminium barbs and clip. One of these may be adrift.
When new, the barbs and clip pull up tightly but as the time passes the steel clip gnaws away at the softer aluminium and eventually they blow apart, usually at a most inconvenient time. If there is significant in-out movement at the joint renew it.
The oil is a normal phenomenon from the breather being blown about in the inlet tract by the shock waves or pulses from the induction exacerbated by exhaust gas from the egr system
These engines normally consume oil as it is a full synthetic with about as much body as spring water.....
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The 1.2 engine has a camchain, not belt.
edit In fact all the Agila engines have chains.