January 2010
My wife and I are going to Cardiff for the Wales v Scotland rugby international in February.
We are booked into a central hotel that does not supply a parking space.
As an alternative to dumping the car in a NCP for 2 days are their any nice suburban streets nearby to abandon it in with easy access to get back into town ?
We get down on the Friday afternoon and will leave Sunday AM (or PM depending on the result.... AM it is then) Read more
Hello Everyone,
My faithful servant had a little problem last night. Here goes:
While driving on the motorway it lost power on an incline, I dropped a gear to no effect, then it seemed to pick up when i dropped to third gear.
It starts and idles well, revs okay in neutral, feels slightly sluggish in second gear, noisy in third but in fourth and fith gear the engine looses all power as soon as I press the accelerator peddle.
I've had something similar in an old car and the fault was the coil pack. This was easy to test with a multimeter. Does anyone know how to test the coils on these fuel injection cars? The coil sits directly above the spark plug.
So basically:
Has anyone else had similar problem? I saw JaggyG had something similar but didn't post a fix.
Does anyone have any other ideas on what it could be?
Can these new style ignition coils be tested with multimeter?
Thanks in advance.
Aki Read more
Hi.I am having the same problem with my 05 almera.lack of power very embarrassing on motorway especially.hopefully it is same solution but what I'm wondering is if your car sounded like a tractor when in the high gears and despite accelerator being to the floor the top speed I can reach is 80km an hour?
Followed a 08 plate i think it was a vectra v6 turbo i overtook it then just a few seconds later the blue lights came on & yes you guessed it i almost wet my pants but he was not after me but bye eck he took off at a alarming rate up the hill.!
This got me thinking what specs are police cars was this vectra a 3.0 v6 turbo or higher spec of engine?
Are they standard engines like from the vxr range or chipped modified?
The box standard astra 5 door is this just a diesel or higher spec?
Im in west yorkshire they might have different cars up & down the country up here there is volvo's & vauxhalls did see an impreza once.
(Moderators im not after any naughty information) just standard facts. Read more
The BMW 5 series estate that was pulling into my local Tesco in Co Durham last was standard fit - off-side head light not working. mentioned it to driver who was unaware, but nice chap who told me he would have to pop back for a new one.
My 1.9 Non-Turbo Diesel van has refused to start this morning. It has been turning over slowly recently but hasnt failed to start once even in thick snow. This morning it turned over but didnt sound like it was even 'firing' (wrong terminology I know!).
A year ago I replaced the glow plugs so cant imagine they would need changing again.
I tried 'double preheating' it, given the battery a jump start and a charge but it still wont start. It was fine on Saturday, didnt use it yesterday, cant use it today.
Any ideas at all please?
Read more
I have bought a replacement stop solenoid in the hope that I can at least identify where it is in the engine bay but I just cant see it at all??
Anyone know where the thing is please???
This might be better-placed in Tech Matters, but Motorprop has inspired me to ask a question I've often wondered about.
As I understand it, a petrol engine develops a vacuum on the intake manifold when its running. This vacuum can be tapped and used for other purposes; for example, the braking system. (Have I got this correct? Feel free to correct me if not.)
If thats right, why cant diesel engines do the same?
I'm sure this will seem shockingly ignorant to many.... Read more
BMW valvetronic engines do indeed have a vacuum pump, mine has been changed!
£2,600 is estimate from Jag garage in Kent for repair to my pride & joy.
How it all started : -
Car just cut out on me without warning. Re-started ok so thought no more of it. Next day did same thing. Re-stared ok but this time very sluggish [safe mode ?] in getting me home. Called AA next day who couldn't get it going but after continuously turning over the starter [the poor thing she didn' like it, white smoke everywhere] it did fire-up so on the 'very nice mans' suggestion I limped to the local garage 2 mins down the road, with him following. They plugged it into something after a couple of days but couldn't find the problem so suggested I go to main Jag garage.
Next day collected car from them, which started first time would you believe & she drove the 25 min journey like a dream.
After a few days Jag technician rang to say my fuel pump has broken-up & deposited bits everywhere, so will need replacing along with injectors, some rail thing or other, filters, fuel tank drained & goodness only knows what else. I don't like to mention the cost again so I'll skip to
my dilema ... how come it drove ok to the main dealer garage ? with this sort of money involved are there questions I should be asking so I am absolutely sure they have got the diagnosis right ? has anybody out there had similar problems ?
Well there's where I'm at ... a broken car & redundant. If I could get it home again I could just sit in it. It's got leather seats don't you know ! Do reply ... anybody.
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I am no fan of modern fuel injection systems, common rail diesel and direct injection petrol systems are built to NASA like tolerances to sustain the incredibly high fuel pressures these things run at - it doesn't take much to kill them. My advice for any car with a modern FI system would be to never let the car run low on fuel - and never ever risk running it dry. Sadly garages themselves often misfuel tanks and fuel distribution depots sometimes cross contaminate batches of fuel - so you can contaminate your car without making a mistake. There are also increasingly large numbers of bacterial infections in diesel with high biofuel content which can block or damage fuel filters.
Another problem is as a distributor you can add up to 5% biofuel to your diesel without disclosing it, the next link in the distribution chain could do the same thing - then Mr BP or Tesco can decide to sell this batch of fuel as biofuel and will add another 10% of rapeseed or whatever, the diesel is now seriously compromised as a lubricant as it could be 20-30% biofuel without anyone realising, this will reduce the life of your fuel pump or finish one of that has already sustained some damage, it also increases the risk of the bacterial contamination mentioned above.
For all the people knocking supermarket fuel - the fuel itself is the same as any other fuel, Tesco and Sainbury buy their fuel off the major oil companies and it comes from the same depots as the branded stuff. All the oil companies use whatever base fuel is the cheapest at the time, if petrol company A can buy base petrol or diesel cheaper from petrol company B than it's costing to produce their own then that's what they'll use at the point in time. the only difference is the additives pack that are added to the fuel in the final stages of distribution. the only exceptions are some of the premium fuels which are made in small quantities by the oil company themselves.
hi all,
I am thinking of buying a 2001 peugeot 307 2.0 hdi rapier and after researching into the common faults the same fault seems to keep appearing, "unblock diesel filter" and "Anti pollution system fault".......FAP regeneration???? how can you predict this problem occurring when buying a used car, is this problem really that common and how serious is it?
What should I be looking for if I decide to buy? I don't fancy the idea of spending over 2k on a car for a warning light to appear the next day. how can I avoid this?
plese help
Mr Pink Read more
90 HP models never had an additive system from what I can recall.
Legal protection can add around £25.00 to the cost of a motor insurance policy.
Does this offer value for money, or is it a way of the insurance companies making more money?
How many backroomers bother taking this option out?
Does the insured generally benefit from adding legal cover and if I didnt have it what are the consequences in regard to trying to obtain from a 3rd party.
My insurance website states that Legal cover, 'covers any legal cost for any motor prosecution excluding drink/driving related offences. It also provides assistance to recover some excess such as any uninsured loss'.
If a driver is uninsured and crashes into my car, what is the reality that losses will be recovered? Read more
i didnt have it and the inevitable happened, i had to go through the MIB to get a result....i do have legal cover now and always will in future
www.autotrader.co.uk/EDITORIAL/CARS/news/new_insur...l
My 1.3 Ka has gone from insurance group 3 under the old scheme, to 11 on this new scheme. I really hope this doesn't hike up my premium - this year finally looked like the first year the insurance would actually be a reasonable amount for me! Read more
Just did another quote, £913 fully comprehensive with £150 excess from Admiral with legal cover, courtesy car, etc. No different than when I did a quote before the new year out of interest. I guess this confirms that in most cases the insurance groups really are irrelevant.
Hi,
anyone come across a recall announced just before Christmas over Honda Civics having flat batteries after 3 or 4 days standing?
My dealer told me after our Civic was dead on the drive!
Anyone know where you can get details of the recall?
Durelli
Read more
Check the Honda website link above and type in your VIN - that will tell you whether your car was subject of a recall or warranty recall.
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And if you were from the Isle of Man you would say Nalbin?
BTW how do you pronounce Alba? Is it something like 'Alapa'? In the Gaelic, of course.
Wales and Scotland? Don't care. I can sit back and enjoy the game and not be bothered about the result.
I support the nation that plays in the town where I was born.