June 2011
Hi All,
I am really hopeful that someone can help with this strange issue I am having on my 2004 Corsa (Diesel, SRI).
It started a few weeks ago, I came out of the local shop, started the car and the battery light stayed on. Not being far from home I decided to drive the mile or so back made it and decided I would see how it was in the AM.
Next morning no issue on the way to or from work and so was the case for a few days until I next stopped for petrol. Upon leaving the petrol station I noticed the battery light remained on again. This time I attempted to make it back home but broke down and had to wait for a friend to come and get me going with jump leads.
I continued to monitor and soon found that this never happened when I started the car from cold (stood for approx 30 min or more) but whenever I attempt to start from warn having nipped to the shop, petrol, etc pretty much always happens. I then have to turn the engine off, wait 30 or so min and try again. Having allowed to car to stand and cool off I go again without issue.
I have not yet seen the light come on or go off while in transit so if you start the car and it's not on, you know the battery is being charged and your fine for the journey (just don't stop unless you are leaving it for an hour). If you start and the light comes on you know the battery isn't being charged and you had better either be close to home or fine somewhere to pull over.
Spoken to 4 garages and not one had seen this before. Some want me to change alternator, others pay for expensive diags with no promise of finding anything so I decided to try my luck asking online first.
Has anyone seen anything like this before? Any suggestions for further testing or what may fix it? I don't mind spending a few quid if I know I'll get a result I just don't want to throw money at this to find it makes no difference.
Any help and advise greatly appreciated.
Read more
In a letter to Honest John in last Saturday's Telegraph ( 4th June 'Cover Drive') DR tells of a broker quoting a mere £450 for third party insurance on an old fiesta for an 18year old. Does anyone know who this broker is - I'd love to get a quote from him for my son. Read more
Erm, yes, I figgered as much, the real "boker" was the over £4400.00 quote from the UFU, who get a fair bit of other business from myself.
I said "could you not do sommat more with that"...
I am going to a Subaru dealer at the weekend to look at a Legacy 2.5SE(auto) 2005 model... hey are asking £6495 (84,000 mles)
I have read in various places the 2.5l engine was prone to head gasket issues.... Read more
The auto's Torque converter effectively renders low range redundant. Torque converters don't need as many ratios as solid coupling transmissions. 7/8 speeds is superfluous.
7/8 may be superfluous but the Subaru needs more than 4.
Unwilling to see my car off the road for a third successive winter I have finally completed my purchase of winter tyres.
No doubt we will experience a series of mild winters now!!... Read more
Have had them on the wifes and my car now for the last couple of winters and the only slight drop we see is the usual which si down to winter diesel being in the pumps. We got that same drop annually before using winter tyres.
Its quite surprsed us when you see the extra cuts in the tyres.
This post is both for information to other owners but also to confirm my own interpreation of the problem.There are a number of posts all over the cobweb about water ingress in A4's and I have verified that none of them are causing my problem. Water gets in over the inner plastic trim. This trim is the one along the hinge side of the pasenger door sill and up the side of the footwell (not the longer piece of trim running back along the rest of the door sill). After some hefty investigative work it appears that the water comes out of the door seal at the hinge level and runs down uner the seal between the seal and door frame and eventualy leaps over the plastic trim on to the floor. The door seal trim has two holes in the bottom, which i ams sure we all know about, these were not blocked in my case but it seems that my door seal has a profile that is rather like one large and one small straw stuck together and the drain holes are only letting water out of the smaller straw. If you look at the seal around the door hinge area you will see a large hole in the seal. this hole is in the larger straw and if water gets into this then it backs up to overflow and can leak into the car as I have described. It might be a combination of my driveway slope and angle and the position of seals and trims etc but its a real problem. My conclusion is that the inner straw needs drain holes as well as there is no where for the water to go. I poked a sharp implement into the larger straw though the existing seal drain holes and squeezed all the water out and this seems to have solved the problem for now. I guess in a mjor downpour they could back up again until i can find a good way of making bigger holes without destroying the seal. I would like to know if anyone else has water in this part of the door seal after hosing their car down and whether your drain holes in the seal go right through both straws. Hopefully I have described this enough for sme sensible feedback. thanks Read more
hi, this car turns over but refuses to start. my mate plugged it in and it came up with the following codes.
P 1125(01) Throttle Actuator Feedback Signal Range/Performance, DTC Status: Present... Read more
hi, car is fixed now. as well as the above codes, today a P0500 code came up as well. I called an electrician, who updates the ecu software from v2 to v12. the only parts i replaced were the maf and the ambient air sensors. the faults cleared but the car would not start. so we replaced all four injectors and the car fired up first time.
unusual that the injectors were not showing any faults. but defnately sorted now. thanks
Hiya, I recently picked up this Astra, a 1.8 coupe, its got good service history showing a recent engine overhaul and cambelt but its doing this:
... Read more
I'm not too sure on economy, i took it in as p/ex, its un-mot'd so not driven it since!
Ive changed the MAF and its running far better, just need the arbox now, are they the same for the coupe versions as the regular astras?
Always fancied driving one of these if only for day or so. I googled a place in Dorset where you can hire one for £185 a day. Anyone know of a company closer to London?
Presume it's a non synchromesh 'crash' gearbox?... Read more
I've had my Willys Jeep now for 10 years - great fun, though I've always had a little bit of difficulty in seeing them as fun bearing in mind what they were built for - maybe I'm worrying too much !
They are very uncomfortable, noisy and not an easy drive over about 40mph - but I wouldn't be without it ! Everyone seems to like them, especially youngsters and Oldies,the latter of course because they can remember them from the war....
Hi all, I have a vectra cdti and recently the warning light on the dash which apparently indicates residual water in the fuel filter started coming on. I used the bleed valve on the bottom of the fuel filter to bleed it for a few seconds then tightened it up again. Now it only comes on when the engine is cold and goes off again after about 2 minutes of driving. Do I need to bleed it a bit more or is there something else I need to do. Thanks in advance. Read more
I may sound a bit thick but do I need to take the bleed screw right out and does the engine need to be running while I'm bleeding it as undoing the screw with the engine off it just drips out. I drained a little bit more into a jar but can't see any water in the diesel.
The wing mirror housing for my driver's side mirror is broken. I replaced the mirror itself which is fine, but the housing is basically missing so you've just got the internal structure plus a couple of wires visible. Will this pass an mot?
I am amused that our very strictly Government run MOT is so forgiving of mirrors.
The near side one on the Steyr Puch is more than a little flappy ( cos its not an official MB part I suppose) generally better for watching the kerb than other traffic....
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I'll have a shot, although I've never heard of this problem.
Car isn't that old, battery and alternator ought to be in good shape....