February 2019
I bought a battery charger form Lidl model ULGD 5.0 A1.
Whilst it is smart enough to detect 12 V and 6 Volt batteries it can not wake up a flat battery below 3.8 volts. Useless. Regards Peter Read more
Good Morning, I am hoping someone can steer me in the right direction, my wife has a very clean year 2000 Ford Fiesta, recently after a no sytart scenario a mechanic diagnosed a faulty fuel pump. A new pump was fitted via a hole that was cut under the n/side rear side pan. The car now starts and runs fine but now the fuel gauge indicated zero ( it has half a tank ) I know the new pump had a combined fuel float device. When I take the reaar seat out and give the 5 pin ford connecter a wriggle the fuel gauge comes to life again, but not for long. I am guessing one of the thinner wires that sends a signal to the fuel gauge has a fracture or break due to vibration/age.
The car is not worth a lot but my wife wants to keep it as long as possible, can anyone suggest a possible remedy to overcome the fault I have described ?... Read more
To add further ingredients to the symptoms, this morning the car started as normal but no fuel gauge reading ( empty tank light on) after checking with my owners handbook I checked inside the central fusebox and noticed there were 5 small identical relays, one of which was for the fuel pump. I removed the fuel pump relay ( number four on the diagram ), as an after thought I turned on the ignition without the fuel relay in place to check there was no fuel pump sound ( there was none ) then noticed that without the relay in place the fuel gauge came to life and indicated a half tank of fuel.
I have marked each relay with a paint spot and swapped the cooling fan relay with the fuel pump relay, the car started and the fuel gauge worked ( half a tank)...
Probably of absolutely no interest to the majority but I saw my first butterfly of the year yesterday ( male Brimstone) along with a lot of Bees !!! made my day... Read more
I wouldn't be surprised if the local ice cream seller makes a trip round the estate in the next week - a barmy 15degC later this week, up from 14 on Sunday.
Thinking of purchasing one of these as thinking of moving back to petrol, the ones I'm looking at are Mk4 1.6T Ecoboost
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Thank you SLO76. I presume you mean by greedy you mean mpg ? Looking at HJ real mpg the mondeo ecoboost averages 42mpg my current diesel aveages 48mpg.
Btw other cars I'm considering are Hyundai ix35 with 1.6 petrol , Vauxhall zafira Tourer with 1.4 turbo petrol and Honda Civic with 1.6 detac or 1.8 petrol.
Hi all
Tonight my engine went bang!!! Lots of smoke and oil on the floor. Until tomorrow I can't see the actual damage caused. It is the 140tdi Quattro and was just wondering if I do need a new engine (which is more than likely) do I have to get a Quattro engine or will a fwd be ok?
Sorry if it's a stupid question but not to clued up.
Many thanks
Liam
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Some other sources report that the auto is petrol only, a switch from the previous model which was diesel only auto, coupled with the troublesome Powershift 'box.
Car makers are slowly waking up to the fact that many drivers are shut out from performance models, when there is no auto option, for reasons including, medical, auto only driving licence and not forgetting just being able to choose auto because you like it. Read more
Wouldn't it be a better idea buying this,
www.gumtree.com/p/toyota/1994-toyota-supra-2jz-the...7... Read more
Not losing my grip, thanks badbusdriver. Yours wasn’t the only (apparent) suggestion of an alternative car and I was just wondering why people do that when it was pretty clear the Q5 deal was in the bag. I’ve noticed with online forums that people don’t read what’s already been said - not in your case, however; I missed the connection with fast and furious films as they are not really my cup of tea.
As you were, squire.
does anyone take care of this guide, ie if a garage closes and another takes over is anyone meant to update it.
as a company called PTA used to run a small tyre place in Orpington which I noticed closed down late last year, reason unknown apart from a rumour, Bens Tyres has since opened in its place, but have noticed the guide still says PTA so obviously its not been updated... Read more
The guide is only as good as the people who provide the information. So if you have news of a garage closing or changing hands, notification to the guide wiuld be much appreciated.
Just read a post on a Facebook motoring page showing a quote handed to a Mercedes E class hybrid owner in Malaysia for a replacement battery pack which equates to just under £23,000!
This is why fully electric cars plummet in value and hybrids, even the very robust Prius and Auris tend to fall off a cliff past 6-7yrs. Few make any financial sense in the longterm thanks to the initial higher cost and higher depreciation.
Manufacturers need to tackle this by offering replacement battery packs at cost or even under subsidy otherwise the trade will murder them used. Joe Public presented with a £6k plus bill to replace it will be put off the road more often than not. They shouldn’t seek to profit from the failure of such an essential component with a known short lifespan.
Battery tech has improved in recent years but costs need to plummet before electric power becomes economical for the masses in the longterm and the government jumping in to effectively ban combustion engines in the near future will force many on limited means off the road unless something improves quickly.
As things stand this will be a national scandal in the first few years of any ban on combustion cars.
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I think your last point is the reason why the Government stopped the grant for PHEVs. I don't agree with it, as it sends out the wrong message - but I can see why they did it.
Plug-uglies who are too plug-idle to plug in their plug-ins are saving plug-all in energy.
Hi,
So I have just bought a used VW Polo 1.4 TDI (2014). It has 150.000 kms on the clock. I used it for a couple of days and got hit with an overheating alert ("Motor too hot. Stop"). I had the circulation engine replaced and it was just okay. I tested it a lot and the overheating problem was fixed.... Read more
Usualy you get a dpf specific dash light if the dpf was at fault. My guess is that you need to clean the egr and check air dosage plates usualy located between the turbo and intake/egr.
As pointed out above, the seller should fix this, if the OP starts fiddling with it this compromises his case.
Browse
I have two chargers - one from the pre-smart-charger era which just puts out a steady current at 12 volts and a more modern so-called smart charger.
On the occasions I've had to deal with a totally flat battery the first is the only way to get things going. After a couple of hours you can switch to the other charger and finish the job off....