October 2009
Hello.
Newbie on here. :-)
I've got a '55 Focus C-Max, 1.6TDCi with 55,000 miles on the clock.
It's presently sitting on my local Ford dealership's forecourt in need of a new engine (cut a long story short: missed a service at 24,000 miles, turbo blew up, turbo replaced, engine now irreparable due to top-end damage apparently caused by carbon build up. Arguing this one out)
Anyway, Parkers price guide put the value around £5k if it was all hunky dory. Obviously without a working engine its pretty much worthless. How much value would a brand new engine and turbo, fitted by a Ford garage add to the car?
I'll not say how much it could cost me just yet...
Cheers. Read more
Hi,
On the M4 today I accelerated fairly hard and my BMW 320d autobox kicked down. I glanced in the rear view mirror and the unfortunate BMW 7 series following me was buried in smoke from my exhaust. I did not notice any loss of power and as I eased up the smoke went away.
Any ideas of underlying causes?
Thanks in advance.
CMP Read more
Thanks Altea Ego. You are right the Car is used mainly around town and always just dawdles along.
I'll remember to give it a very good thrashing every now and then!
Thanks again.
About six weeks ago when locking with the remote the doors immediately unlocked, every attempt produced the same result. Experiment determined that if the driver's door was locked with the key then the locks could be deadlocked with the remote and they stayed locked. After not using the car for ten days the locks decided to work correctly?? A week later the original fault returned. Then I discovered that if the front passenger door is held ajar the remote works correctly, then the passenger door can be slammed and the indicators blink to indicate deadlocking. Also the locks are reset and will work correctly until they decide to play-up yet again.
Seems to be a compute fault. There is a slight risk of leaving the car unlocked. What is the solution please?
HAL Read more
sounds like you need a new GEM control unit.
Not cheap.
The lock button seems worn on the key fob i have to press it with my nail to get a bit of reach my big fingers don't always catch it the open button is ok, is there a simple fix or is it a new key?
I do have the spare & will use if it becomes faulty. Read more
Thanks looks like surgery is required! it's about time we go back to basics cars are getting far too stupid to fix.!!
It's OK when cold but develops a low/mid rev hesitation when warmed-up. Blipping the throttle causes a hesitation and momentary sucking sound from the intake area. There's also an ocasional smell of rotten eggs from the tailpipe, so the Catalitic converter is not happy I guess. Problem seems to be variable day to day. Can be driven through using higher revs - acceleration seems OK at high revs. It had a new coil-pack and plugs 5000 miles ago and the air filter is fairly fresh.
Any clues much appreciated. Read more
Did you find out the problem?
A friend of mine has a car where the sunroof will not open. We have checked the fuse, which is fine. There is also power coming from the fuse connection. We checked the wires feeding to the motor, and they are pulling circa 12 volts through there. Of course, we tried to manually open it, which it does successfully and smoothly. We tried also pressing the switch as it was opening to see if perhaps there were any tight spots.
When we click on the switch, we can here a clicking noise which presumably is the relay.
What should we check next? We are not sure where the relay is, or even how to test/ access this. What would be the next stage in diagnosis?
Many thanks
Greg Read more
I have seen a few problems with the sunroof motors on these, and if i recall ,inside the motor there is an electronic circuit board .Mounted on this is a thermal overload protection device.This shuts power to the motor armature if it overheats.It is possible that this device has corroded through ingress of damp and would stop the motor operating.I think the motor unit is attached to the roof drive mech by 2 screws.hth
I would like to buy a 216 convertible and it has :
1.) a leak dripping cooling water seen under the cars engine , (container empty)
2.) oil "sweat" coming from the head ?? or the cover (head with orange sealent putty ...) ran down to the bottom of the engine
3.) split in front screen
4.) the new roof tarpolin departed from the front/left frame (rusted), the slow motion seems to be related to a low hydrolic fluid stand ?
Else it fires up and runs ; well - the can is shot ...
What are my chances (budget) to get it safe on the road in a every day usable car ?
Any advice on the issues ?
Read more
It`s a 1997
I am buying one of these next week and haven't seen one outside a showroom -yet! I know there is a shortage due to the production facility also producing the very popular Fiat 500. However, the Ka has been out for some time and has good write-ups so where are they?
Read more
Well Yes, but actually trying to get AE to explain his view that I might not take advice from him! Plus posting twice on a V slow computer at work - sorry!!!! Mods please delete one of the duplicate posts
The other day we saw a driving instructors car on the motorway with sign on roof and only driver in car i thought they had to take sign off when on a motorway?
All the lads in car had there own opinion so can you nice people please end this argument? Read more
In Highway Code speak, "Should" is advisory. The heavy stuff is preceeded by "Must".
My car is overdue for "EU check", which i guess is the norwegian version of the brithish MOT test. I had my Clio at the workshop last week due to the ABS light being on constantly. They said the right front wheel sensor had to be replaced. So i did. And the light is still on. Then i noticed that the toothed ring present on the other wheels on the drive shaft, is missing on this side, now is this something that can be replaced, or do i have to replace the whole driveshaft? It doesnt look replaceable, but i thought i'd ask hoping to save some money. Read more
Good feedback!
Browse
Re the earlier comments about such things as engine swaps being offputting to potential buyers, I'm not convinced that is automatically the case.
A properly documented engine swap wouldn't put me off as long as the work was done properly, the car drove OK, the numbers all matched the paperwork, and the seller wasn't evasive in any way. The skipped service might, as it tells a bigger story, but based on the last few cars I've sold on, most people couldn't care less. We sold our Scenic with a full documented history, with receipts for everything from parts, to services to tyres, and the buyer didn't even bother to read through it. The invoices could have been pictures of Noddy for all the attention he paid.
My brother in law has £17k worth of BMW 320d M-Sport which has just had total transmission failure requiring a new gearbox, clutch and DMF at 27,000 miles. All done under BMW Approved Used warranty scheme. This is of course documented in the service history file now. I cannot see how anyone would be put off by something like this, as long as the job's done right and everything's properly documented. A second hand engine or gearbox from an unknown source fitted by Bermondsey Dave for a monkey in cash - that would be different.