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• 306 DTurbo starting 16 Dec 2002 (Forum)
  The last few days has seen it getting harder and harder to start. On cold starts it would fire on 3 cylinders, belching out white smoke from the tailpipe. I changed the glow plugs today but this seems to have made the problem worse. Now it will fire and stall, several times until it will eventually run. Once started, it runs fine, plenty of power and it is not using any coolant or oil (Headgasket was done 6K ago).
• Fiat Brava 1.2 SX Choke Problems 15 Oct 2002 (Forum)
  Once the choke was off the engine would tick over nicely, all be it what sounds like some tappet noise. Should this concern me on a 1.2? The car has done 23K miles and has a full service history with oil changes about evry 6K.
• Fiat Brava 1.2SX Choke Control 15 Oct 2002 (Forum)
  Once the choke was off the engine would tick over nicely, all be it what sounds like some tappet noise. Should this concern me on a 1.2? The car has done 23K miles and has a full service history with oil changes about evry 6K.
• Astra running slow 21 Mar 2002 (Forum)
  I am not a boy racer and I do not thrash the car anywhere. Over the coarse of the year its had new plugs (bosch 4 cathode jobbie), leads, 2 oil and filter changes, air filter, and a new rocker cover gasket as far as the engine goes. I only use quality petrol. I have tried cleaning out the throttle body housing with carb cleaner also. When it is warm and under full load, it also tends to pink sometimes.
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  Why is my Peugeot 106 overheating? 14 Jan 2015 (Ask HJ)
  I have a Peugeot 106 and over the past week I have noticed the temperature light on my dashboard flashing up from time to time. I recently had some work...
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  I want a stress-free alternative to all the Japanese/Korean cars I've owned. What do you suggest? 22 May 2020 (Ask HJ)
  I'm starting to get bored of all the fantastically reliable Japanese/Koreans cars which have shuffled me from A-B for decades. I'm finally willing to...
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  When should you change the coolant in an almost 30 year old car? 28 Mar 2017 (Ask HJ)
  I have a 1990 Volkswagen Polo Estate that had one little old lady owner from new and has done 51000 miles. It has been serviced annually by the same local...
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  Vauxhall Corsa misfire 30 May 2015 (Ask HJ)
  Hi We have a Vauxhall corsa 1.2 16v 2005 48,000 miles. Had a misfire and traced it to a valve rocker that had come off the hydraulic tappit and partially...
• Life's a ..... 2 May 2002 (Forum)
  t sure if I had imagined it. Saw another. Still uncertain what it was. Then it really started to blink, red oil can symbol appeared. Recalled instructions of umpteen years ago that if I ever saw an oil light appear I was to stop immediately or the car would BLOW UP. Was on the A2 approaching M2 which presents me with a dilemma.
• Mercedes W203 C220 Diesel - No throttle black smoke 7 Jan 2014 (Forum)
  C220 CDI W203 No throttle Revs stutter I have a 2006 CDI OM64Engine. I recently had the Turbo changed, but the car was running rough and no throttle past 2000 stuttering and choking, All oil was and the Turbo was not operating. Ive had the Cats cleaned Turbo Intercooler pipes EGR and all vaccum pipes checked cleaned and checked for leaks.
• Bye CR-V, hello… 9 Nov 2010 (Forum)
  Three years ago we bought a new CR-V and I have to say it was a good car. The only problems were the rear diff making a “groaning” noise, this was sorted by changing the diff oil for a different spec. All four alloys started to bubble so were replaced. The worst problem was the battery going flat. This was last winter and the ECU didn’t shut down the electrics so there was a constant drain, after three days it wouldn’t even turn over.
• How long could you keep a car ? 8 Sep 2009 (Forum)
  It may well outlast me ! In that time I've had a lot of cars. I've always done a highish mileage and habitually changed the cars every couple of years or even less. Recently though I've been hanging on to them longer. They seem to last better these days. Galvanised bodies, modern oils etc I suppose. We change our cars for all manner of reasons, maybe we just fancy a change, perhaps we need a different type of vehicle for some new purpose, it could be that we have grown tired of the old one or in reality most often because we just want to and have decided we can afford it.
• Renault Scenic (1999 - 2003) - 02 1.9 dci power loss and black smoke 3 Aug 2008 (Forum)
  i crused home at 70 all the way. to be honest i have driven her like it for now a month but i live in cornwall and the gouing up hill thing is driving me crazy. Last week renault told me power loss could be the EGR valve, So i bought one and changed it,whilst in the process of changing i saw that the hose from the mass air flow sensor had a hole so i bought a new one as well,just to be sure OK to the point, after changing the EGR and air pipe there is no difference and my car will still not go up hills ??
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  Ford Fusion problems 25 Jul 2016 (Ask HJ)
  On two occasions, over the space of two weeks, the steering on my Ford Fusion has suddenly become heavy. Three warning lights come on (oil, ignition warning...
• Audi A4 - A starter from me! 28 Dec 2012 (Forum)
  For anoraks, its the AEB engine, the strongest of them all, with the big valves, external waterpump and cable throttle. Miles achieved through 6k or 6month oil changes with fully synth oil, warming up and warming down with the occasional thrashing and top speed autobahning. It will still do 140mph when needed. However in the real world, the UK, it averages 37mpg.
• vw golf mk4 1.9 gttdi 130 - golf gt tdi 130 flat spot 16 Oct 2011 (Forum)
  Could it be a blocked breather and if so which ones? Would the MAF cause these sort of problems or even the air filter as I did an oil and filter change recently but not the air filter as on inspection it seemed not too bad? I'd also like to ad that my drive is very steep and I usually park nose up as I don't want to kill the DMF constantly reversing up it.
• Reconditioned engine disaster 19 Apr 2007 (Forum)
  There was a 12 month warranty subject to several provisions including that a new water pump and thermostat must be fitted and the radiator to be checked by the fitting garage. An oil change after 1000 miles and too many more to mention. It looked pristine on collection wrapped in a kind of Clingfilm. The local independent who has a good reputation fitted the engine adhering to all conditions.
• Subaru Impreza 2.0 - performance flatspot 21 Sep 2016 (Forum)
  i have tried to reset the ecu, but it will work better just for about 2 days and then go back again to working horribly. i have been to 5 mechanics . they said the changing of the rims will not cause that, just coincidence. i have changed new fuel filter with regulator. also the fuel pump. we put a gauge to check the psi of the pump and it held up fine- no problems.serviced the air filter. i changed the knock sensor. i replaced the air flow sensor. i serviced the injectors and throttle body four times at different mechanics. i changed the timing belt and tension-er and pulleys - . i changed the engine and transmission oils. i changed the spark plugs. sometimes on the highway the 4th gear will take long to go in and when i try to kick down, it will not and the same gear will run. the 1st and second gear will sometimes go in with a hard buck.
• subaru impreza 2006 2.0 R - subaru impreza 2006 2.0R engine PROBLEMS !! 19 Sep 2016 (Forum)
  hi, i have a 2006 impreza 2.0 r engine . i bought the car from the previous owner in may 2015. for 1 month the car worked well. as soon as you touch the gas pedal it will shoot off, acceleration great and top speed about 190 km. as soon as i changed the rim and tyres it died. it had 16's and i put 17's, but the manual said i can make that change. it started to flat spot bad and go dead. it will crawl up small hills gas pedal to board. on flat roads as well, flat spot, dead, no acceleration. then suddenly it will take off again with a spurt but will soon die down again. on the highway 3rd and 4th gears no problems. it will fly. but it never worked again as it did the first month.i have tried to reset the ecu, but it will work better just for about 2 days and then go back again to working horribly. i have been to 5 mechanics . they said the changing of the rims will not cause that, just coincidence. i have changed new fuel filter with regulator. also the fuel pump. we put a gauge to check the psi of the pump and it held up fine- no problems.serviced the air filter. i changed the knock sensor. i replaced the air flow sensor. i serviced the injectors and throttle body four times at different mechanics. i changed the timing belt and tension-er and pulleys - . i changed the engine and transmission oils. i changed the spark plugs. sometimes on the highway the 4th gear will take long to go in and when i try to kick down, it will not and the same gear will run. the 1st and second gear will sometimes go in with a hard buck.when i apply brakes to stop, while slowing down i can feel the hard buck from the engine or there abouts as the car comes to a stop.i scanned the car at 6 mechanics!
• Fords - Warning dont buy off xxxx 3 Oct 2013 (Forum)
  Goes home on foot finding turbos for this kkda engine around £450 I'm not happy. First thing I check is my service history. Apparently the car was supposed to have had a full oil and oil filter change. I phone my pal and ask him to check the oil which he says is bone dry now I'm thinking how as a car ptyed it's oil in 3 months 2000 miles impossible. I do abit of nose poking and find out my uncle noes a guy who works for this jay lawley garage and he described xxxx as dodgey.