August 2003
Intermittent fault, Ford Focus 1.8 petrol engine. Occasionally the speedometer will abruptly drop to a zero reading while driving along, accompanied by an equally abrupt power loss of perhaps 30%. A couple of minutes later the speedo will begin working again and the power will pick up at the same time.
My wife (whose car it is) tells me that it has momentarily cut out completely on her several times too.
Incidentally, the car has always been prone to the well-known and infamous Focus power surge on upward gear changes and 2000 rpm 'idling' in slow moving traffic.
It's due for a service soon so I'd appreciate any advice that I could fire off at the service department. Thanks in anticipation.
SLT and classified using drop downs Read more
This probably the daftest question yet but here goes –
Was driving with my motor-mouth older sister (how she hates it when I say that) last week when I had to find an on-road parking space near to a shop where I had to collect a heavy pre- purchased item. No spaces where immediately available outside the shopping parade. All other options were closed/full etc. even after having driven twice round the block.
So the problem then is to risk parking on a double yellow and scoot back to the shop before Young William catches up with me; or to park just beyond the yellow lines but by doing so block the driveway of a private abode.
Older sister – she with the perfect driving licence, well one would have wouldn’t one when one has never turn a key in an ignition since passing a test 36 years ago – insists that I could park across the driveway as I would be on the Public Highway. I have never parked across someone’s driveway simply because I would be obstructing access/exit.
I do know of a long, long road, where virtually every house has ‘dropped kerbs’. What this effectively means is that a two-car family can and does park one vehicle on the drive and the on-road thereby severely limiting parking opportunities for other residents and visitors.
What actually is the legal position re parking across ‘dropped kerbs’?
Have just realised that all text above the last question is redundant. Still, what’s a little verbiage between friends.
Rita
Read more
Yes you are correct I shouldn't have tried to access my parking space, I made an error of judgement and I realise it was my fault for damaging their car.
That wasn't the point I was making.
The funny thing was I bumped into the husband's mother yesterday. She's a very good neighbour and was embarrassed about it and she couldn't stop apologising enough for her son's actions.
My VW Passat is due it's 2 year service, the car has only done 15k. VW insist that a brake fluid change be done at 2 years/20,000 miles or the warranty will be invalidated.
I know there is a safety issue here but what puzzles me is that other manufacturers don't seem to specify a brake fluid change at this interval.
Is this another case of VW hiking up there service charges? Read more
Reading my mate's Driver's Handbook for his 96 Clio, it does not state the brake fluid spec ("use products approved by our Technical Dept.").
However, looking at the service "programme", all jobs are scheduled by mileage not by time. There is absolutely no reference to time interval whatsoever for any job including brake fluid change (every 20k miles) and timing belt (75k).
So if this was a central London car it might take 5 years or more to do 20k miles but an out-of-towner might rack this up in a year and a half. What is that all about? And the timing belt...
Hi,
Have a 1999 2.0 DTI Ecotec Vectra which has a problem with its power output. the best way that i can describe it is a slight surging in the upper Turbo range. Most easily identified in 5th at about 65-70 :-) try and accelerate and the power comes and goes. not sudden or jerky, just a slight decline then increase in acceleration rate. This stays and pulses about every 3-5 seconds. when accelerating through the gears there is a hesitancy above 3500 rpm but it pulls well up to that point. It feels almost like Fuel starvation or a fuel supply problem, another hypothesis is a waste gate which is opening at too low a pressure point and then closing again.
Vauxhall dealer has done a diagnostic on it and identified the mass airflow sensor and turbo pressure switch needing replacement.
Any experience or ideas out there, would really like to sort it out without the dealer playing guessing games at my expense as i have read in other posts.
By the way, no warning lights or ecu fault codes have been recorded, the car has done 130k. Read more
we wish you well. i left an opel vectra b 2.0dti of 2001. and i have the same problem at 2500rpm - 3500rpm it works fine then if it exceeds 3500rpm the turbo shuts down and the mabika loses power. I was told that it was the fault of the oil pump, I changed it and bought a new one, but again the same problem. please is a solution to this problem still found. please help me
I want to remove the brake drums from my '97 Fiesta to examine the linings. In order to remove the drums, it would appear that the drums and hub including bearing must be removed as an assembly. I have never seen the type of hub nut fitted. It looks as if it is made of hex. shaped laminations held in an all enclosing hex. shaped tab washer. My questions are:
1. Are the nuts handed; ie. LH on the left side and RH on the right ? Hence no split pin.
2. Do you undo the whole nut without bending back the tabs first ?
3. Can they be re-used ?
4. Is there an easier way to merely examine the linings ? Read more
The passanger side hub nut is a left hand thread.
One would have hoped that after nearly 6 yrs, he'd have realised ;o)
One of my rear passenger doors has suddenly stopped cooperating with the central locking system. It remains locked, or unlocked, when I unlock or lock the other doors.
I only have manual key-operated central locking, not the new-fangled \'zap as you\'re walking towards the car\' thing.
Is there anything simple that I could do to solve this? I am not going to any garage/mechanic about it so soon after having the brake and reverse switches replaced.
Thanks for any suggestions.
HF Read more
PS - there seems to be an awful lot of locking problems cropping up on this forum this week. *Is* there any way all these problems might be down to the extra heat?
Hey
Can anyone tell me what I can do with my oil burner for performance???
I've seen one running at 150BHP so I know it's possible but how do I start??
I've ordered an exhaust and induction kit which should take it past the 105BHP mark but then I'm stuck.
Help appreciated
Cheers
Read more
derv doctor will charge you £120+vat for whats known as a stage 1 tune which will show a reliable 120bhp. they are based in derby. if you decide to do it yourself then get a boost guage 1st, identify which pump/turbo combination you have, then adjust the fueling 1st until there is the 1st sign of black smoke at idle then adjust the turbo to show 18psi then wind the fueling back to remove the smoking and find a nice idle
chris
I've recently had an HT coil replaced on my Megane (1.6 RTe - '98 8v version) after it packed up, along with a new cat after that got destroyed too. Since then the car was running perfectly for a couple of hundred miles, but now its decided to lose some power. It feels like a 1.0l diesel, barely out-accelerating HGVs, and can't get past 4000rpm in 2nd on the flat. It seems to idle OK, so it doesn't feel like a misfire (i.e other HT coil dying).
I've also noticed it's a little noiser than before, possible air leaking type sounds, so I'm suspecting an air leak. But on a quick inspection this morning (on a hot engine - so not much touching things!) the hoses around the inlet seemed OK, nothing obvious.
Any ideas what it could be?
Read more
I further checked various hoses connected to the inlet manifold and they all seemed fine, no splits or restrictions.
I tried patching up the crack on the exhaust manifold which seemed OK for a while but I suspect it didn't hold up. It was always going to be a short term fix while I track down a replacement part. I'm still lacking some power but I suspect this is down to the exhaust leakage now. There is certainly a little extra exhaust rasp and a lack of power at the top end. I ought to remove the exhaust system to double check no crap has ended up in there.
Has anyone experienced any problems with C5 suspension jacking up and down whilst the vehicle is stationary.My C5 has had two new sensors fitted followed by a Citoen upgrade that involved fitting 10 new components.Whilst this has improved the situation, after along journey the suspension still pitches up and down whilst the vehicle is stationary with the engine running.Comments from others who have experienced this problem would be greatly appreciated.Dealers answer is that this is caused by hydraulic fluid draining back through the system Ho Ho Ho!
Read more
The suspension on my C5 has "adjusted" itself while the car is stationary since it was new. This is particularly noticeable if you are not parked on the level or if you have driven over rough ground immediately prior to stopping the car. The self levelling function continues to work for some time after the engine is switched off. It is quite strange to lock the car and see it's suspension self levelling after you have walked away from it, but I reckon it's happening by design. (or a software glitch)
I have a 1.4i Astra CD on an M plate and I have a fault with the temperature gauge on the instrument panel. The gauge rises into the red fast when driving. I have been to vauxhall about this and they can't find anything wrong mechanically - the engine does not overheat and the thermostat is working correctly, I have had fitted a new temperature gauge sensor and still the same problem. Vauxhall think the problem is electrical. Can anybody help with a suggestion of what the problem might be and how to fix it??
Thank you
subject line updated Read more
As we all should know wax stats are a pretty simple and very basic tool for regulating coolant temperature. As they work quite hard they are often overlooked .They should be replaced at regular intervals box standard 92 deg opening temperature being fully open above boling point. These do have a habit of sometimes opening early as the spring weakens or opening late or only partially opening which sounds as though yours might be .If it was jammed fully shut your radator coolant would be cold and the thermal fan would not kick in. Because they are tricky to get at they are often left until they fail completely by mant diy ers. Big mistake . I would add if changing it get a genuine vauxhall quality part although posibly more expensive they will be calibrated more acurately this I cannot stress enough this is very imporatant . From memory you may need to remove powered steering/ alternator belt first . And air filter rectangular box on multipoint injection. You will definately need to remove timing belt cover on box standard 8 valve ohc engine and line up camshaft pully timing mark using a suitable bar lock its position and remove bolt .You will then be able to remove pulley with timing belt still on it to gain access to the thermostat housing . Unless you are a competent diy mechanic I would leave to the proffesional.
Browse
.jpg)
the surge in engine speed is down to the air control valve, it becomes clogged with carbon from the oil mist from the breather system connected to the crankcase breather, replacement is fairly easy, a short term cure is to just clean out the old one with carb cleaner, will last a good few years after a good clean