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• Common Rail Diesel Woes 12 Mar 2002 (Forum)
  A couple of anecdotes relayed to me via a supplier of Automotive chemicals concerning CRD engines. As you know these new systems run at incredibly high pressures and inject the fuel directly into the combustion chamber, A peugeot was suffering from a misfire on one cylinder, a compression test revealed almost non-existent compression so the head was removed. A neat hole had been drilled through the piston by a malfunctioning injector squirting a needle sized jet at the piston instead of a fine mist.
• Cowboy servicing 28 Feb 2002 (Forum)
  Upon requesting (verbally) for an MOT prep with brakes for his ageing 2.0 GSi primera, (N.Ireland MOT's are conducted by official government run centres not local garages as on the mainland) and specifically declining any washing, oil, filters etc (due to DIY servicing) He gets an additional £86 parts + VAT & £30 + VAT labour bill for a full service, they even replaced a 6 month old fuel filter! He paid by cheque, as they would not release the car until paid. The owner accepted there had been a mistake but would not reduce the bill. Other than reporting to trading standards, what (if anything) can he do?
• CO2 adjustment 10 Dec 2001 (Forum)
  I have an 11 year old non cat but fuel injected Toyota. There have been occasional cold running problems so I took it into my local main dealer for a diagnostic. They said my "CO2 was very weak" although everything else was fine. They have adjusted it -- but what precisely did they mean?
• Metro ECU problems 29 Nov 2001 (Forum)
  A mobile mechanic was called and reckoned the sparks were weak, and took the ECU off for testing (to CAFCO). After a delay, the reply came back that there was no output to the coil or the fuel pump. So a p/x ECU was fitted, and a second, and a third! Sometimes the engine would run for 40 mins or so, and once my friend actually had the car back 'repaired', it ran for a few miles, but the engine died when the car was halted at a roundabout.
• Price of diesel v petrol [Ireland] 23 Nov 2001 (Forum)
  diesel storage tanks] As a result diesel is sold in a really cut price environment thus benefiting the diesel motorist with much cheaper fuel. Could this ever happen in the UK? *UK price equivalent
• Small Cars needing high revs ! 10 Feb 2001 (Forum)
  With the new small cat cars needing high revs I stay in 3rd gear up to and including 40MPH just about all the way on my journeys to work. Is this good practise to adopt as I only use the car on short journeys? I know fuel consumption will be up but will the gear box be damaged because of this? Would I be better useing all 5 gears and instead go for a 20 mile extra round trip once a week? Thankyou for your advice C Brooke
• FIAT 500 (2007 - ) - Misfuel Hire Car 25 Jun 2009 (Forum)
  I checked the car over for damage and left Marseille to drive to Barcelona for a few days holiday. 20 miles from my hotel in Barcelona the fuel light came on so I left the main road and found a petrol station in a rather seedy looking industrial area. I filled the Fiat up with 'Sin Plomo 95', paid for the fuel then drove off the forecourt and got 200 yards up the road before the engine started making loud knocking noises and lost power.
• A popular car in Iraq... 24 Sep 2003 (Forum)
  Many other soft-skined vehicles originally supplied from Kuwait immediately following the end of the war have broken down or had major problems due to the type and poor quality of the fuel. Kuwait is a Gulf Cooperation Country (GCC) where unleaded use is now compulsory and all new cars are fitted with catalysts and unleaded spec engines. Another European embassy has blown up the engine of their new (unarmoured) EEC-spec Isuzu Trooper V6 after driving it at full throttle for hours on end, on mid-70s octane fuel, evading an old BMW 735i full of Iraqis waving guns out of the window on the main road back to Jordan (they escaped).
• Citroen C4 Picasso 2l Blue HDi manual diesel 2015 - "Engine fault,arrange repair" warning light 4 Feb 2023 (Forum)
  The driving in mainly in 70 or 100 mile runs mainly dual carriageway or motorway with no stop start journeys, and averages 54 to 58 mpg. The dealer has replaced the fuel filter , then the fuel pump with neither curing the problem. I must add that the dealer has had the vehicle over night when it has been cold so that they cold put it on the diagnostic check when the fault was occuring.
• Which device to prevent misfuelling? 13 Jan 2017 (Forum)
  BTW, I'm sure somebody will be along in a minute to say "just pay attention while refuelling and save your £40". Answer: I do pay attention, and I have a fuel pump routine that involves a final check of colours, labels and prices before I start pumping. But it would only take one incident when I'm tired or distracted to make an expensive mistake (as I did once before, on the first day I owned a diesel car in 1995).
• Survey - Which would you choose? 20 May 2015 (Forum)
    Seems like a no-brainer doesnt it. Choose Type 1, and hang the fuel and insurance costs, because all the other costs will be paid for. However, here's the twist... If you choose Type 2, you get a convenient, and free, parking space wherever you go. Town centre, shops, cinema, train station, place of work, seaside, airport, central London/Birmingham/Manchester - all of these will have a well-located, free parking space waiting for you at the end of your journey.
• 05 model - Volvo 50 diesel estate 14 Mar 2015 (Forum)
  One day lost power about three times in the day and then at night car wouldn't start, called RAC out again who said they thought there was an air lock in fuel system, they managed to get me started and I drove home approx 20 miles, but had to keep revs high. Next morning car would not start at all. Towed to local garage who spent three weeks looking at it, they thought it was an ecu issue.
• BMW X3 - Family Car 2 Oct 2013 (Forum)
  I assume we can get past that with snow socks or winter tyres? Better fuel efficiency would be nice as the C Class is a bit of a gas guzzler. We would definitely consider converting to LPG also so a larger boot to accomodate this would be good I assume. We like the look of Yeti, X3, A4 estate, 3 series touring to give you an idea.
• Looking for a "hot-hatch" type car (second ever) 23 Mar 2013 (Forum)
  This gives you an idea of the driving conditions... and explains why I'm only interested in urban fuel consumption and acceleration instead of top speed. My daily commute is 5 miles each way, so I think it probably makes anything Diesel out of the question because the DPF would be blocked in short order!
• Volkswagen Golf III (1992 - 1997) - 96 1.8 (petrol/carb) erratic idle & cutting out 3 Oct 2009 (Forum)
  Setting the thing on fire is starting to sound better by the minute ? OK ? 7 out of the 12 times the car died there was no fuel in the fuel filter ? and I noticed that the oily end of my dipstick was covered in tinny bubbles, now this is something I haven?t noticed before as I rarely look at the oily end of my dipstick ? That sounded way to sexual for my liking !!!!!!
• Peugeot 306 (1993 - 2001) - 99 1.6 Engine Warning Light & Car Judders 28 Sep 2009 (Forum)
  It does not appear to be cold weather related. It happens in any gear or when car is idle. It happens regardless of fuel amount in tank. Thanks in advance.
• Bank Holiday travel - the train vs the motor car 20 Apr 2009 (Forum)
  We shall therefore, be sticking to the car, and adding to the weight of Bank Holiday traffic when a far more pleasant option should be available, but is not. I'd even be happy to pay the minimum 120 pounds even though we have a company fuel card and do not have to pay for fuel ourselves. What a sorry state of affairs - are we still so far off having a proper, attractive, reasonably priced, useful train system still? How long is it going to take?
• Motoring in 2050 - what will it look like? 15 Dec 2008 (Forum)
  m genuinely interested in this, at least in part because at the moment I fly about once a month and drive 27k a year as a part of my job. I don?t think that?s sustainable, if only because fossil fuels will run out. What potential solutions can people think of?
• Peugeot 806 MPV (1995 - 2003) - 01 2.0 Expert HDi 110 black smoke and poor economy 2 Nov 2008 (Forum)
  I guess this would mean that the turbo's not spinning up quite as well as it should, and therefore it's not giving much boost which in turn means that it's not getting enough air to mix with the fuel that the ECU thinks it needs - end result is over-fueling and black smoke. I have disconnected the exhaust where the cat connects to the centre silencer and the cat seems to be clear. The engine runs a little better and the turbo seems to come in a bit quicker, but it's not a massive difference and I am still getting plenty of black smoke coming out the cat.
• Audi 80 Mk II (1991-1995) - Bangernomics - 2 year update 3 Mar 2008 (Forum)
  Start mileage 107051 Distributor £75.00 108000 Front Tyres £90.00 110500 Front Bushes £20.00 112150 MOT £40.00 114110 Front Discs + Pads £45.00 114500 Oil Change £10.00 117000 Air Filter £10.00 117000 Headlight Bulbs £10.00 117000 Battery £25.00 118000 Timing Belt £80.00 120000 Fuel Pump £60.00 120500 Rear Tyres £90.00 120650 Door Lock £25.00 121300 Rear WB £25.00 121800 Exhaust £128.00 125000 MOT £40.00 126000 Front Tyres £90.00 127450 Oil Change £10.00 129000 Oil Change £10.00 135000 Rear Tyres £35.00 137000 Front Tyres £75.00 141000 Fan Switch £5.00 144450 Coolant Change £10.00 144450 Thhings to note are; Car cost me 450 pound to buy (Dec 2005) Mileage is now around 148000 I do 20k per year (fuel has worked out at 5k for 2 years) at 30 -35 mpg Car insurance has cost 700 pound for two years Cat tax has cost 400 pound for two years Things outsatnding on car Slightly unlucky with door lock going both within space of a month, still they wont need changing for a while Original clutch, hope to get to 200k on this one before replacement Needs a oil change soon Could benefit from some spark plugs Brake fluid renewal SO do you guys think this is a cash pit or quite reasonable?