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• Ford Escort (1993 - 2000) - 1998 1.8 Misfire 26 Jan 2009 (Forum)
  The car has been burning oil for months so I would assume it is burning it through Cyl 3, all other cylinders are clean and plugs were ok, apart from Cyl 2 where the plug was black, but not oily or wet. I have changed the HT leads and changed the plugs, so not sure what my next step should be. I can confirm that all plugs are sparking though. Thanks Jon ps : Hi by the way :)
• Volkswagen Golf II (1983 - 1992) - 1988 1.6 Ignition Coil testing ? EZ engine 20 Oct 2008 (Forum)
  Carb has been replaced with reconditioned unit about 30K miles, and all works as it should, so discounting carb icing ? All ignition components, cap, leads, plugs recently replaced, and all appear Ok. Coil has been on for as long as I can remember, (+ 10 years, +170K miles!) Coil is a Lucas VW/VAG OE 211 905 115 D, doing a basic test, Primary Winding Resistance = 1.4 > 1.2 (on 0-200 ohm scale setting) Secondary Winding Resistance = 2.96 (on 0-200K ohm) Both of these are outside range specified by Haynes, 0.6-0.8, & 6.9-8.5 respectively (if I've got my readings right) Is this likely to be a/the problem ?
• Attacked in my car! 10 Oct 2008 (Forum)
  ...by a herd of cattle. I had backed into a bridlepath at the request of a guy leading the cows along a narrow lane in order to let them pass. As they walked by one of them stopped, gave me a long look and wandered towards me followed by about half a dozen of his mates. Squeezing by the car on the nearside they got a little excited when they felt trapped and the car started bouncing on it's suspension as the door mirror folded back on itself.
• Renault Clio II (1998 - 2001) - 01 1.2 D7F stutters after top end rebuild 25 Sep 2008 (Forum)
  I replaced 4 valves & ground them in. problem occurred so I did a compression test one cylinder (4) was slightly low so off came the head again (deep joy!) redid the no.4 and replaced the inlet and reground both. .....Same problem. Replaced leads (86k on originals) no change. The cat makes a noticible ringing rattle. New air filter fitted. New plugs NGK BKR 5 EK. Don't think it's the valves. Could it be the core pack or even the cat?. Anyone know of a way of testing it?
• Mercedes Benz E-Class W124 (1985 - 2000) - 92 2.3 W124 odd bulb failure 18 Jul 2008 (Forum)
  Bulb-failure warning is lit up the whole time. The earths there are sound, I tested it with a new earth lead to a test bulb; the cabling is sound too. Problem is not the bulb, I have swapped in known-good bulbs I need to trace things back to the ?lights control unit? - must be under the dash ? Fuses are good too ?
• Vauxhall Corsa B (1993 - 2000) - 1995 1.2 8v - Hot Starting Problem 19 Apr 2008 (Forum)
  This has been getting slowly worse over the last few weeks, in the last couple of days it sometimes cuts out from tickover and again will only restart with loads of throttle and then runs rough for awhile. The injection light doesn't come on. So far I've replaced the plugs, leads, cap, rotor arm and air filter. I've recently replaced the temp sensor in the inlet manifold. I've found a few post with very similar symptoms but no definite results and ideas on what to swap next?
• Peugeot 106 (1991 - 2002) - 2001 - 1100cc - very rough running in wet weather 10 Apr 2008 (Forum)
  It runs well most of the time but when the weather is very wet it runs very rough - kangaroos, sounds like it's missing etc. My initial thought was Distributor cap / HT leads but it's a distributor-less ignition system with a rail. The spark plugs have not been changed in at least the last 25000 miles, so I did wonder if they might need replacing - maybe one of them breaking down.
• Volkswagen Polo III (1994 - 1999) - 1998 1.4 - only running on 2 cylinders 7 Feb 2008 (Forum)
  Its also overfuelling and very high Hydrocarbons reading coming from it. So far the garage and I have: Changed plugs, leads and coil. (it always has a good spark). swapped injectors with 2 and 4. Cleaned out the throttle body twice. Sent the ECU away and had it lab tested, no problems at all they say. Its now out of MOT and won't pass because of the high emissions, its practically undrivable anyway.
• Road Works- duty to minimise delays ? 25 Sep 2007 (Forum)
  It is a twenty mile round trip and there was an hour before the shop closed. A road on route was closed and a diversion signposted. The problem was that the diversion lead to a right turn onto a busy road. This resulted in a horrendous tailback. I eventually gave up as there was no way I was going to make it. This type of thing seems to be getting worse as if the delay is irrelevant as we are only motorists!
• Mk 3 Golf Ignition Problems 27 Jul 2007 (Forum)
  I replaced the coil amplifier ( had similar fault on another Mk3 ) but it didn't fix it. When the breakdown company turned up, they disconnected the HT lead from the distributor and held it against the block, whilst I turned the key, there was no spark. The car was then taken to the garage. I had a call from the garage this morning and they said that they reckon it is the "Hall Effect sensor " in the distributor .
• Range Rover - surging and poor starting 22 Jul 2007 (Forum)
  What concerns me is that I can't see how replacing an injector pump will solve the issue, nor can I see what it has to do with the "surging" which leads me to suspect the MAF sensor. Any suggestions?
• VW Golf - tankslapper/steering shimmy 9 Jul 2007 (Forum)
  I have jacked each of the wheels up in turn and can detect no play in the suspension or steering, and am wondering what else could cause this behaviour? Two of the (alloy) wheel rims have been flattened by contact with something kerblike which leads me to consider a bent wheel as a possible candidate, but I'm basing this suspicion on supposition rather than any experience or knowledge in this area... Cheers, Jonathan. PS, I have suspected for some time that the car could do with the tracking done, as the steering has that lightness when turning into a bent that suggests excess toe-out, but surely I am right in thinking that a geometry problem could not cause a shimmy?
• Warranty Issue.. 15 Jun 2007 (Forum)
  Hi guys, I'll be hypothetical so not to fall foul of the rules. Lets suggest that a diesel powered german prestige car is covered by a warranty from a leading warranty provider. The car in question is not high mileage - infact, it's below average and thus within the mileage limits in force on the policy. The car develops a starting issue and is sent to the main dealer.
• Which lane for roundabout? 2 Jun 2007 (Forum)
  Near to where I live there is a dual carriageway leading to a roundabout. There are no road markings to tell you which lane to be in. The signpost in advance of the roundabout shows 3 exits, all of which are single carriageways. The first is a major A road with the road being shown as wider on the roundabout drawing.
• Dodgy salesman!! 28 Apr 2007 (Forum)
  It was coming up to two years old and he said "get it serviced now and again in a a couple of months and that will validate the warranty" So according to him, you can get it serviced 10 months late, then again bang on two years and all is well ." Not having a car serviced will only lead to the loss of the third year dealer warranty. The two year manufacturers warranty remains valid regardless!" Now, he is either very ignorant or just a blatant liar. I wonder how many people are suckered into buying a car.
• Cavalier Misfiring on tickover?? 26 Apr 2007 (Forum)
  Right to my problem,i have a M reg 18i cavalier single port injec,it goes like the wind,YET wont tick over properly,and stinks of petrol,out the exhaust?? its MISFIRING,sounds like a diesel,iv checked the plugs clean,i checked the leads,(got a shock of all of them) good spark,iv tryed every thing i can think of???the managedment light is NOT on???i had a problem with the alternator,and it BLEW the bulb on the dash board,just had a new one fitted ,would you think it could be a sensor??
• Renault Megane 1.4 Not Starting Right 19 Mar 2007 (Forum)
  It then got worse and wouldn't start at all, even though it sounded like it was turning over properly, it just wouldn't start up at all :-( I bump started it and took it down to the local garage, but they couldn't find a fault. They said they checked the Battery, Starter Motor, Leads and Spark Plugs and they all seemed ok, it was just as though a spark wasn't reaching the engine? So they reckon it'll need to go back to a renault dealer :-( Anyone have any ideas? If you do get it started, once you switch it off and back on again, it'll start straight away, but if you leave it more than an hour or so, it goes back to being extremely hard to start.
• Hosepipe ban poses danger to motorists 27 Feb 2006 (Forum)
  No doubt some members of the public will now think that it's ok not to wash their cars because that bloke on the radio said a hosepipe would lead to this and he was a motoring journalist, so he must be right. Even I, who puts his car through a car wash once every six months if it's lucky, am capable of getting a bucket and sponge and cleaning the vital bits.
• Alloy cylinder head material 9 Jan 2006 (Forum)
  Of all the cars, the V70 is the one with the best 'weather proofed' under bonnet area too, with good rubber seals along the leading edge. Would love to know why, as I would have thought alloy components where extreme heat or loading is not a factor would have pretty well the same 'lowest cost' alloy materials, regardless of manufacturer.
• rover 111i noisy,no go & drinks petrol 6 Dec 2005 (Forum)
  The problem is its misfiring terribly, it really sounds like the exhaust is blowing (its not, just replaced in April) it has no go at all. I bought new plugs and leads last week, its no better. My friend has exactly the same car which she's scrapped as the head gasket has gone and she said I can help myself to anything, so I've just been round there and changed the distributor cap (couldn't get the rotor arm off) still no better and changed the coil.