January 2010
My daughter's 2004 Ka has blown another headlight bulb. I absolutely hate changing headlight bulbs on this car - just getting the cover off the back of the headlight unit is a challenge as the access is so tight. How do others do it? I didn't have any tools with me today, but I began to think it must be quicker and easier to remove the whole thing (starting with the radiator grill, which is unfortunately part of the front bumper) - right? Read more
when did the DVLA start issuing them , ie: what year
many thanks Read more
once a Q always a Q
>>
Not so.
My tractor had at one time been re-registered as a Q, but they dropped that and allocated a proper age-related number after certification by a club official as to the actual age.
As above who builds the best engines for cars that can be most reliable,best performance,better for high mileage?
Petrol, diesel, lpg,?
Which engines do you think are the best and why? Read more
Thanks Corax i've had a browse and some interesting stuff there can't find the section
you mention though.
Got it now, thanks.
Wife likes the idea of a TT coupe, it will almost certainly be a 1.8T 225, we have both driven one, an intersting comparison with the FocuST.
Anything to look out for?
The VAG coil pack issue should be long gone I guess?
Any mods from a certain year?
Not fussed about age, the condition, history and mileage are more important IMO.
Any comments?
Thanks. Read more
A girl I know has just bought an '04 TT. I asked her if she had considered a 350Z as an alternative and she had not heard of it. When I pointed one out to her she thought it far better looking than the TT, very surprising as I would not have thought it appealed to feminine taste.
Howdo.
My first post after a long time gleaning all the excellent info on these pages and other forums too.
Well here?s my story. I have a vectra 1.8 petrol estate on an x plate (2000 I believe) with an ecotec engine.
About 3 months ago it started with the EM light coming on permanently followed by all the loss of power/cutting out and using far too much fuel. I took it to my mechanic friend, had it read and replaced the mass air and the lambda(?) Sensors. Immediately after this it ran without power fade or cutting out, but he couldn?t clear the codes P0100 and P0110 if I remember them correctly. He told me to get the ECU tested before we go any further as he suspected a fault.
I also had to replace the EGR valve (seized), I got that from a local vx breakers. First one had the wrong plug socket so took it back and got another with the correct socket but underneath the ports are not identical to the original but locate in the same place, so I fitted it.
This was a couple of months ago. Since then having rooted about on here and other forums I have re- earthed the yellow wire from the maf and the brown cable from the temp sensor using the battery negative as earth instead as found here www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=59721&...f
As it stands now, I still have the EM light and still using fuel like crazy. I don?t know the best way to explain this without the correct terms, but I have noticed that when you take your foot off, that moment a few seconds later when the revs sort of cut into idle mode has become really jerky, as it is when you put your foot back down again. Also when coming to a stop, clutch in or out of gear, say to traffic lights, Idle speed is at about 1500rpm until you come to a standstill, then it suddenly drops to normal (most of the time).
That?s about it. Hope There are enough clues.
First thing, after checking the manual, I?ve been treating it as the x18xe1, it has since occurred to me I might have been wrong. Is this the ecotec?, If not I may have the wrong EGR valve and the wrong fix for the mass air etc.
I know I should be getting the codes re-read, and the ecu checked as instructed, but with the temporary lack of funds and not being able to lose the car for a few days I?m trying to exhaust all avenues in the hope I could put it right without having to go through all that and spend a load of cash I haven?t got. Have MOT coming up too.
So my request to all the good folks on here is, HELP! Any ideas fellas.
Cheers, Neil
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Bad connections can be an infernal nuisance. Take the Ford Granada Cologne 2.8 that I used to run. Its number one fault was poor charging even after a new Bosch alternator was fitted. It turned out to be a rusted angle bracket, the one that fastens the alternator to the engine block. When it was taken off there were burn marks present!
Now between the negative ends of the alternator diodes and battery negative the electrical path had more than a dozen dubious joints. I took a leaf out the militaries book and regarded these dubious joints as merely fortuitous connections. An earth braid was run from the alternator non-drive end end cap to battery negative and the car was completely transformed! After that modification it started first time every time!...
Hello - I have problems with a Rover 25 1.6 GS Auto,Y reg, a regularly serviced and very low mileage car(33K). Broke down before Christmas - drive warning light came on, referred to handbook which said it was ok to drive at low speeds - bad knocking noise seemingly from front of the car, and it was obviously labouring badly. About 2 miles from home it conked out(I had covered about 5miles by then), and there was a slight burning smell - managed to restart, with difficulty, and made it home. Wouldn't start 2 days later, so had vehicle collected by a local reputable garage, who got back to me after a day or so and said it was the head gasket. A few days later they said the head had been machined, pressure tested and all re-assembled, but there was a slight running fault which they were investigating. The next contact I had with them was on New Year's Eve - they left a phone message with a friend asking me to get in touch, as they had found a hairline crack in the cylinder head. About 20 minutes before this phone call, I had seen the car out on the road, being driven with seemingly no problems at all, and being parked up outside a fast food joint, the driver then eating his food in the car. I called in at the garage later that afternoon, and was told that a secondhand head would be approx £200 above the work already done - I gave the go-ahead for this. On Tuesday 5th January the garage contacted me - I went in to see them, and I was sat down and told that there was a fundamental running problem with the car which they were unable to trace, and that they were not able to spend any more time or expense on the fault. They said that they couldn't charge me for the work done as the vehicle was not running correctly. With all the snow I did not attempt to collect the vehicle til Tuesday of this week. It was a devil to start, and when it did start was running extremely roughly, with lots of very harsh vibration, and sounded awful - sounding more like a very rough diesel than a petrol engine. It has to be revved to keep it going, and when it stalls is very hard to start. When you put it in drive it stalls. It is not driveable.
Possible warning signs running up to the breakdown were the fan keeping running for a minute or more after the engine was switched off, and some issues with the engine management warning light coming on occasionally(garage was asked to look at this when it was serviced in June, but could find no apparent faults - light would flash occasionally, sometimes only for a second or two, sometimes for a few minutes. Do I have any comeback against the garage? I have very limited mechanical knowledge, but just smell something fishy. I mentioned to the garage that I had seen the car being driven/parked up, and they told me that it was being road tested - surely you only road test a vehicle when it is ready to go back to the customer. It seems to me that in the second phase of work something has gone drastically wrong.
Should I get a second opinion from another garage?
Should I ask the garage to come clean with me?
Should I just scrap the car and put it down to experience?
Any opinions or advice gratefully received.
Richard, Birmingham(tricky120 'at' talktalk.net)
Post reformatted and correct yr entered into header Read more
Reconditioned engine now fitted - seems ok - thanks for replies - advice appreciated
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That works a treat, many thanks Bellboy's wife.
hi there lads
got an xsara picasso with a heater problem
problem is switch 1-4 dont work or a-c
if i put live to heater motor then i get it to blow or if i put live to rear of switch on big red wire
any1 come over this before ?
does any1 have the wiring diagram for this ?, no fuses are blown
cheers Read more
thanks for the info
do u have any advice on how to fix this ?
thanks
I went in to a long established independent dealer (35 years) this afternoon, in order to pick up a second hand fusion 2 1.4 tdci (03 plate), I'd done the usual vehicle check using mycarcheck.com; all clear and the dealer seems genuine: an elderly one man band with about 18 other half decent cars on his mini forecourt not a smug salesman. I'd taken the car on a test drive earlier on in the week and all was fine.
Anyway the car was mot'd yesterday I got in it today after handing over the money drove about 50 yards to a filling station (the fuel gauge was on the bottom bar), put a tenner in got back in and nothing, so the car was pushed into a workshop, The immobilizer light remained on, so the dealer rang a ford contact who said becuase it was low on fuel there might be an air pocket in the fuel pipe so for about 20 mins 4 of us tried to get the car going pumping the black fuel valve
Any ideas please, I left the car with the dealer (minus the paperwork he'd given me of course) to sort out, is this a regular occurence on fusions.
Because of the price/condition, availability of something else and dealer's definite concern I decided to reject the offer of a full refund, in favour of the problem to be resolved.. only time will tell if my decision to keep the car is a good one.
Are Fusions generally reliable ?, is it plausible that the immobilizer (which is clearly working) is affected by low fuel, and what is the best course of action / time to remedy the problem ?. Basically it looks like the immobilizer is refusing to allow anyone to start the car. Read more
So how do Fusions fare then ?. Is my problem (apparent fuel pipe blockage) a regular occurence & how can i a) prevent it and b) rectify it (any trade secrets saving a trip to a workshop ;-)
Hi
Please help just had dreaded anti pollution fault message and engine management light on in my 1.6 110BHP HDi. Seemed to go into limp home mode so i kept it in 2nd for a while and it ran ok, felt like it was pulling back. Cooling fan on when i got home so left it running for 10 minutes to see if it does regeneration thing. Light still on. Fuel light on too just in case it's related. I've replaced the turbo, EGR valve and fuel sensor cap and had celenium topped up last month. Turbo 6 months ago. Fed up with car, please help.
Thanks Read more
There is a LOT of stories about these problems with diesels.
You need to get the exhaust HOT for about 15 minutes - varies from car to car, regularly to allow the DPF to self clean or regenerate, at least once a week.
What need its a run along an open road using medium to high revs 3000 - 4000 dont use 6th gear-
called an ITALIAN Tuneup and yes it works. Most people dont get the chance to get the engine HOT these days especially in winter.
Browse
Your're right BB. I didn't much fancy removing the middle bumper section due to the snap-fit connections between this and the outer sections of the bumper. Break these and you've shot it. Hadn't considered removing the wheel arch liner, but will investigate that next time.
I've replaced several bulbs on this car using the handbook method - remove the rear cover from the headlamp unit, detach power lead, change bulb and reverse the process - but in practice this is a long, frustrating and knuckle-scraping procedure, putting most Chinese puzzles to shame. Pity, because most Fords are easy-peasy.