December 2017
I very recently bought an ex British gas VW caddy 2.0sdi. I live in North East Scotland, but travelled to Lancashire to view and buy the van. When i picked it up it was raining, and when i left Lancashire the following day to head home, it was still raining, heavily.
It was only when i got quite a bit up the road that it became apparent that the windscreen washers were only working on one side, and even then, only wetting a small area at the bottom right of the windscreen. I managed to get home fine, but the next day decided to investigate further. I opened the bonnet and immediately saw that the hose from the washer bottle had become detatched at the right hand side on the underside of the bonnet. I reattatched the hose, switched on the ignition and pulled the stalk, but nothing happened, no water, no wipers, no noise from the pump. Thinking it was because then engine was off, i started it up, but still nothing, and to make matters worse, when i tried the wipers seperately, they were not working either!. I decided to head down to the VW dealer in town, but on the way, while turning a corner, my sleeve caught on the wiper stalk and the wipers came on. So i then tried the washers, and they worked too!. This is baffling to me, the only explanation of what happened i can come up with is that for whatever reason, they dont work if the bonnet is up. But this makes little sense as surely any problems with the wipers or washers will have to be investigated and fixed with the bonnet open?.... Read more
Hi,
I hope someone can advise me before I visit a garage. I'm having a few odd issues with my Megane, let me explain...
I have a strange rattle coming from under the car, towards the rear. It sounded like the exhaust was loose but I only got it when first starting the car and when backing off the drive way or pulling off. When the car warms up the noise goes away. I can describe the noise as a nail in a jar jangling around.
I took it to my local tyre and exhaust centre, they have checked any there is nothing loose underneath. They did observe a couple of other issues that are perhaps connected -
When the ignition is turned on all of the dash indicators light and then go off, with the exception of the engine management light. This doesn't go off until the engine has been started. Is this usual?
Also, when the accelerator pedal is depressed and held steady the rev metre needle bounces up and down and you can hear the engine revs pulsing. When idling it is steady.
I have also observed when setting off when cold the car either kangaroos, almost as if it needs some more 'choke' or that when I lift off to change up to second the revs soar up to 3000 for a few seconds until I touch the break and it then settles down. It only does this once when cold and never gives me any further issues.
The tyre centre have suggested the catalytic converter may be breaking down but have suggested, as the engine management light stays on while the ignition is on that I should get the car hooked up to see if there are any error codes.
i'm also worried about the accelerator unit.
Can anyone give me any suggestions as to what may be wrong? I'd like to be educated before I take the car in so I'm fully prepared.
Many thanks. Read more
There were a lot of problems with the camshaft dephaser pulleys on this engine, i would get that checked out.
The mark 2 megane was riddled with problems (including this one), i thought the mark 3 was supposed to be better?
Strange, never had this before....
... Read more
At least there is no charge to register unlike the new "Mersey Gateway" here in the frozen north!
New tollled bridge replaces previously free crossing (now closed for refurb, but will also be tolled when re-opened)....
Hi All, My genious brother left the car on my folks drive about 5 months ago and I need to move it. The battery seems completly flat, so I had to use the mechanical key to open the drivers door. None of the other doors will open from the inside or out.
So I have worked out that the battery is under the drivers seat, I cannot access it as I can't move the electrical chair forward or open the rear passenegr door, so obvious next course of action is to jump start it.... Read more
Thanks for the replies gents.
Good shout on just using the good spare battery to gain access - obvious but had not thought of that :-)...
Hi Alan,
After a few months of living with a kaput glow plug stuck in the cylinder head and experiencing bad white smoke on start up and lumpy tick over. Have solved the problem.
Consulted Citroencare in Rake Hampshire. Peter the boss didn't rate the drill out in situ services.
Where will the swarf end up ??? Plus they made the point that the Gplug circuit isn't just for glow plugs and injectors will be affected as well even though the car was still running.
So let them remove the head and tap the broken Gplug end out with a pin punch and reassemble plus New Timing belt ,water pump serviced etc.
Car is transformed, starts fine, runs better than ever. Timing I'm sure is different because it pulls higher gears at lower revs.
Well pleased, really don't want a new car full of electronic gismos.
Peter Boxal and his team are right to be on your Trusted Garage list.
Regards,
Inventor
Read more
Good call!
Doesn't happen often that an owner goes for perhaps the more expensive route....
" TPMS lights on causing MOT failures "
Sadly many MOT stations do not interperate the information correctly.... Read more
Merry Christmas Read more
Merry christmas to all
from me and my mobile disco car :)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjF_hfk7qhY
y'all better sit down now
shock and awe......
Hahaha, it has wifi so you get bombarded with radiation! What a nugget. Read more
"Also, I think a lot of automatic gearboxes, especially on really powerful cars, are dangerous as if you press the wrong pedal, things would happen so fast. Look at how quickly a Tesla can accelerate"
Aside from the fact that Teslas do not have an gearbox, automatic or manual, pressing the wrong pedal is use error, not the fault of the car.
I too was in IT (or Data Processing as we called it then) during the seventies and the letter suggests that our ex-operator friend was typical of the breed. Knowing a lot, but understanding little.
Got a Golf Plus and have a full set of the original Cross Climates 205/55 16's at 44k up and have rotated them F-R and R-F as 4mm tread on the rear and 3.75 on the fronts. Very good tyres with amazing levels of lateral grip. Very reassuring in the snow & ice! Would highly recommend them to anybody. Read more
..
The new astra is a load of poo .had and 09 plate Sri 1.8 petrol for 8 years . Lovely and nice to drive .went and test drives the new one on the motorway. Put my foot down and nothing happened .it was about as slow as kia picanto. This was the 1.6 cdti Sri Read more
My father use to swear by (not at) Vauxhalls and had them all his life. So I was totally against them, anyway after reading about the latest Astra model I decided to have a test drive. What a difference years make I found the car brilliant and was looking for a 6 month old model Elite 1.6 CDTI. 134 bhp.
I use it to visit the continent, I can't ask for more, comfortable, fast and economical over 1000 miles at a time averaged 67 mpg.
And a 6 month old is priced affordably.
Browse
.jpg)
Thanks very much for that, puts my mind at ease!