June 2011
Which malfunction does the illuminated amber light (not flashing) cover?
Car is booked into garage but I am still driving it.... Read more
Can anyone suggest what my problem may be? I have just bought a 53 reg. Mondeo 2L TDCi (Zetec S) 6-spd manual. When left overnight - or until properly cold - the gearbox is very stiff, with the gears being very difficult to engage until I have travelled about 1/2 mile or so, when it becomes much easier to change gear. For the rest of the journey the gears are lovely! Just stiff when cold. Any idea's for a newbie anyone? Thanks! Read more
Steve - when you say 'it's probably on the way out' do you mean the box itself? Dave
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In 1977 I was taught that first gear in manual cars should only ever be engaged when the vehicle is stationary. I have driven many cars and agree, in any event I cannot really conceive a situation where one would want, or need to.
Wife and daughter both try and do this (often when coming to a T junction where you have to stop anyway). It appears to take a lot of force and eventually only seems to 'click-in' when the vehicle has come to a halt.... Read more
Well, I've done some fairly thorough analyses on crankshaft torque delivery-and lugging the engine at very low speed is pretty hard on clutch faces/DMFs, not to mention the lubrication failure at mains and rods. It is mechanically more sympathetic to be in the right gear for the job at at ~5mph, that generally means 1st.
Double clutching without a throttle blip doesn't achieve anything when changing down......
Hello all, my car alarm started going off on the weekend. No lights flashing, The dashboard computer had a display saying alarm needs servicing. The only way to stop it going off was to leave the car open. That worked for one night. then the next day it kept going off every few minutes without the car even being locked. i brought it to ford and they put the laptop on it and it gave a reading of 4 internals sensor alarms and 1 alarm module under the bonnet. They ordered the part for new internal sensor and they told me it is 290 euro plus labour, 400 euro. They just phoned and have said its still going off. They disconnected the sensor when i brought it in the first day and it still went off. I said well its not the sensor then , its the alarm module.They insisted the laptop says it is the internal sensor. So now they want to order the new module and fit it in the morning. So that part plus labour is about 200 euro. I also told them about 2 days before the alarm went off i drove through a few flash floods due to heavy rain and mainly on the left hand side of the car. Plus a head light bulb went that day aswell. I asked them to change the module and put back the old sensor and see what happens. He said i should leave the new part in. I said it will save me 400 euro as the part most likely didnt need to be changed and he is now saying he will have to charge me labour for replacing and testing and that its cheaper to leave in the new part. Has anyone got any advice on this matter and rights. This is dealing with ford in Ireland. Thanks Read more
Pure guess based on Vauxhalls - a proper alarm has a backup battery - if that backup battery goes faulty it needs replacing - that's a long shot but maybe .......
A colleague (I have to call him that) at work was bragging this morning about how he managed to save several minutes getting to work this morning by tailgating an ambulance with its blue lights on and getting past all the traffice in its wake.... Read more
Many years ago I lived in Crouch End and worked in Harrow. Tuesday mornings were the best commute as some sort of convoy used to run the North Circ. Two completely unmarked blue trucks and an escort. I used to follow that every week as you could set your watch by the time they went through Henley's Corner, so I'd time my arrival at the lights accordingly. No blue lights, no fuss, stopped at junctions. So many drivers see a set of Police motorcycle outriders behind them and move over anyway, regardless of the lack of lights 'n sirens, that there was a significant advantage to be had in tailing them.
To this day I have no idea what they were doing, although the logic in using unmarked vehicles and then running the thing like clockwork to attract attention escapes me.
I've got a new shape VW polo and the front factory windscreen wipers have started smearing. So I measured the sizes (24" & 16") and looked online for Bosch aerotwin ones. I've have now bought and returned both the Multi clip (AM24U) and retro fit (AR24U) ones as none of them fit! Are the wipers on the car specific to a VW's own wiper? The connector is a push connector. The multiclip was the closest to fit but there's a bit of plastic on the end of the clip which doesn't allow the wipers to slot and click into position. Any help from people who have had similar issues would be great. Thanks. Read more
Turns out the connector has been specifically made for VW's own brand of wipers only! Unbelievable, went a picked up some from the dealer for £28 which was about the same I paid for the Bosch ones. They last around a year so I suppose they'll have to do now. Thanks for the reply.
Hi,
I've been thinking of buying an approx two year old 1.9PD Octavia and have read about injector issues on recent VAG diesel engines. There's been some debate on HJ and other forums about whether Siemens or Bosch injectors are fitted to recent 1.9PD units. So, I contacted Skoda customer service, gave them the registration plate of an 09 example from a local dealer and asked who made its fuel injectors. The answer was Siemens. So, the HJ car-by-car has it correct. (I also asked if it had a diesel particulate filter (DPF) and they said it didn't.)... Read more
Some of the early 2.0s were PD, not common rail. Later 1.9s use piezo operated injectors which have a chequered reputation.
I'm not that familiar with skodas, but in Audiland only the 2.0 170 BHP PD engines had the Siemens injectors I think. ...
Hey guys,
My situation.... Read more
I have an earlier B5 model (2000 year). Like your manual I have a lot of miles on (313,000). We've had it in the family for a few years. As long as you service these cars I think they go on forever, so you need to check that these two you're looking at have been treated well.
My car is still on the original box so I don't think this is a specific weak point....
Yet again I find myself with another VAG car (this time a Skoda Fabia) which although I was initially enthralled with and highly complimentary to, after 100,000 miles (7 short years) the same old story.... Suspension components, bushes, track rods, bearings, rear shocks etc etc more or less shot and costing me a fortune to fix. How come the rest of the car can look pristine, the engine/gearbox is great, but they cant even put a decent coat of paint on those under body components and afford them no protection whatsoever.
Brake components also dont seem to be very durable either.... Read more
Thank you Steve, I did attempt to explain this and the defeciencies in the video presentation, without avail. The consensus appeared to be that I regarded myself as a driving "God" even though I stated that I never rated myself as a fast driver, but had good reason to rate my abilities in poor traction conditions.
Based on 30 years driving experience in all conditions. I could only figger that some "driving dorks" demand the right to drive the same in snow as on a dry road, i.e. with a disconnected brain....
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My local garage serviced the car and got the MOT. The light has not come back on so hopefully everything is OK . It's running fine. At 62,000 I am wondering what will go next - clutch?