our car broke down whilst the gf was using it , aa towed her home and said fault code p1336 was showing , hes pretty certain its a faulty coil pack , but after ive googled that code it seems to be crank cam sensor , i do have the chance of taking the coil pack off a peugeot and trying mine on it to see if the misfire etc carries on with that car , aa man said citroen / peugeout ciols packs are the same , any ideas if this sounds a good idea or do you think its more likely to be the crank cam sensor , thanks for reading Read more

My first post - please excuse me if lenghty but wanted to paint my clutch problem in full - thank you in advance.



A tale of woe - a clutch of problems.


Honda Accord 2.2 i-ctdi sport tourer. 55 plate.


During May of 2007 we purchased a Honda Accord 2.2 CTDi Sports Tourer from the local Honda dealer in Bedford.
We actually live in the West Country ? Weston-Super-Mare ? and spotted this car in the showroom whilst visiting our son in Bedfordshire.
The purpose of the purchase was to upgrade our car for a more suitable towing vehicle for our newly aquired caravan.
This particular model had recently been reviewed by the Caravan Club as Tower for its year.
Although it had a ?55? plate it only had 6,000 genuine miles on the clock having been used as a Demo car.

Within a few days of taking delivery, and prior to any towing, my wife and I took a short trip to Cornwall. It was on this journey that I experienced difficulty with building up revs, - for example after slowing down for roundabouts and then pulling away.
On our return I took the car to our local Honda dealer and mentioned this problem to them. Their response was that I was probably not used to this car. I then asked them if they could road test this car for me and was told that they could but it would cost me £80 or so. I was reluctant to do this and resolved to mention this to the selling dealer on my next trip to Bedford. Needless to say none of this was recorded and in fact the problem seemed not to reappear.
We then had a towing hitch fitted and happily went caravanning.

I had researched the Kerbweight of the Accord as 1575 Kilos with a maximum towing weight of 1500Ks. Our caravan was a 2005 Lunar Lexon EB with MTPLM of 1400 Kilos.

In January of 2008 with 12000 miles on the clock I was returning the car to the Bedford dealer for its first service.
On this trip, minus the caravan, without warning, the clutch played up and I barely made Bedford.
Of our 6,000 miles of ownership we had towed for a maximum of 1,000 miles ? this is being generous ? and had not had any indications of any problems.
I battled my Warranty corner with both Honda and the dealer but without success. However Honda did provide the clutch and the dealer and I shared the labour costs.

All seemed well.

Now in February 2010 and 24,000 miles later (total of 36,000 miles on the clock) I take up the story of the present day problem.
The clutch has failed again !!!
Of the subsequent 24,000 miles - at the extreme - we have towed 4,000 miles ? and again this is very generous. 80% plus of our towing has been either motorways or ?A? roads with minimal town work or traffic jams etc.
We have had no warning of any problem and in fact have not towed since October 2009 ? for over four months - and in fact have not done any journey more than 40 miles since then.

I have been driving for almost fifty years and towing caravans for more than seven.
I have only ever experienced one clutch failure and this in a diesel car with over 120,000 miles on the clock.

I am seeking advice and comments on my latest problem.
Obviously I shall have to have the clutch replaced ? again.
Two clutch replacements in 30,000 miles of ownership.

I am not very familiar with mechanical problems.
However I am told that diesel cars generally have a poor clutch record.
Also that there may be a problem with the Dual Mass Drive Wheel ? all foreign to me.

Could the problem be with me and my driving or with towing weights etc. or is anyone aware of any history attached to Honda or Honda Diesels giving similar problems.
I would appreciate hearing from anyone on this matter.
Thank you in advance.

Naturally I have lost confidence with this car.
I intend to replace it with a ?tank? of sorts. We are keen to continue caravanning.
Could anyone comment on automatic gearboxes for towing.
Again, Thank You in Advance.

Best Wishes and Happy Everythings,

Len Bullock, Weston-Super-Mare, Summmmerset.


{post amended to remove SHOUTING!} Read more

From the "ran out of petrol" thread.

What's the relevant law on this? I can't find definitive answers. Anyone?

I do seem to remember that there's a maximum distance between vehicles, and that one may not tow a motorcycle behind a car, but that towing a motorcycle with another motorcycle, or towing a car with a motorcycle, is OK. Something about lights must be displayed on the towed vehicle in adverse conditions. Read more

I hope this helps someone cause it has driven me batty.
My daughter has a W reg Saxo and recently the steering went stiff, I had a new power steering relay fitted which solved the problem short term. The other night her battery had gone flat and so she got a bump start and came home, the following morning the battery was dead flat and so I took it off and charged it, thinking she had left her lights or the stereo on for longer than she should (you know what young girls are like)
Any way the battery drained again within a few hours and so I bought a new battery, that too drained overnight and was so flat no lights came on even on the panel. I consulted several forums and came to an educated guess at the alternator and so I fitted a brand new one, I had recharged the battery and took it for a test drive, I then noticed the power steering was not working again and the next morning the battery was dead flat again. I now suspected the power steering pump and found a second hand one at the scrappies. I left the pump disconnected overnight but the battery still drained. I was now getting a bit upset and so scratching my bonnet decided I would remove all the fuses to see if that would give me a clue, I removed every fuse on the car, both accessories and engine fuses but the drain was still happening. I put a meter inline and the drain was around 20 amps. I removed the power cable on the starter motor but still the same. I then got a clamp meter and put it on each wire from the battery and the wire going to the engine fusebox was showing the drain. Even with all the fuses removed it was still showing a drain of around 20 amps. Directly under the fuses are some small connectors and one by one I unplugged them until hey presto the drain stopped. The car would turn over but not start until the plug was back in but then the drain continued. I unpugged each engine connector in turn to try and locate the other end of the wires on this connector but no difference. I was just about to go for the dreaded ignition switch when I noticed a relay under the ECU. I struggled but eventually managed to unplug it and buzzed the wires to confirm they were the ones I was looking for and they were. I then buzzed the relay and found the normally open contacts were actually welded together and were buzzing when they should not have been. This was allowing current through and causing the drain. I replaced the relay and the problem is solved. It has taken me two days of standing in the rain and the cold to suss this, so if this post helps anyone from suffering like I have then I am a happy man.

Derek Read more

I have a 1.8 petrol C-max that has developed an unstable idle problem when the car is moving.

When I?m slowing to a stop the rev's will bounce from around 500 to 1000 rpm until the car comes to a complete stop then the engine will return to normal idle revs.

The problem has gotten worse over time and now the car is nearly stalling with the battery light coming on. I have scanned the ECU for but there are none registered.

The car is also often a pain to start normally when been standing overnight the car will start then the rev's just drop off to 0 causing a stall.

I was wondering if anyone on here has had this problem before I start spending £££'s on parts that do not need changing.

Was thinking of changing the Intake Manifold Runner Control valve first

Any help or advice would be much appreciated
Read more