October 2003
Folks,
Any idea what the ABS sensor resistance (in Ohms) should be on my Vx Monterey?
On the vehicle it is reading 1007.
On the bench it is reading 1017 (and 1025 when the cable is moved).
(Not that au-fait with a meter, I wonder if I have the setting correct.)
Does this point to a duff sensor? The other side reads 1064 on the car. I have not taken it off yet and tweaked the cable.
Of course, interrogation of the ABS control unit would tell me straight away, but I don't want to pay dealer prices, and do not have one nearby. And I needed to assess the DIY potential of replacing the sensor anyway.
There has been a persistent problem with the ABS going off-line, usually following a right turn or suspension impact on the nearside. It was the nearside sensor that I took off the car today.
The fault went away for a couple of months after liberal spraying of corroded bolts (on the cable holder - not sensor!) with "duck oil" during disc replacement.
Any insights welcome!
Cheers
rg Read more
You are told never to overfill the engine oil but I am unsure what problems it causes if you do.
A friend has just had his 2001 VW Golf 1.6 serviced by the VW main dealer and it shows the oil level about 8mm over the max level. He contacted the garage who just shrugged and said don't worry.
Is the garage right or should he drain some out. He is a pensioner and so does not use the car that regularly.
Any thoughts
Nev Read more
Thanks to everyone for all the responses. I think a trip to the dealers is called for.
Nev
Hi,
Can anyone point me in the right direction as to determin my recent MOT failure.
I have a Renault Megane 1.9 turbo diesel - 1997, 75k on clock.
It has failed the smoke test on the MOT - any ideas what could cause this.
It was only a five minute journey to the MOT centre so it has been suggested that I put "some kind" of additive in the diesel and take it for a good run before having the smoke test re-done. Will this work ??? If so, can anyone recommend a good additive. I'm thinking "worst case scenerio" of what the problem could be.
Any suggestions appreciated. Read more
jump in the car ,put on a helmet and hammer the pedal to the floor ,go as fast as you can up hills down hills and along pavements if you must,i gaurantee that you will clean out all those dust corners in your engine and turbo,due to the way a car is revved fro the mot it is very unlikley that you will generally do the same so just boot the jahookies off your car i think youll find it workds ,failing that take your inlet fuel pipe of the pump and the return ,drop them both in to a can of deisel conditioner and run it till the liquid in the return is filthy,then go for an mot.
Are there any benefits from changing the gearbox oil or is it purely just a waste of time and money. My car is a ford fiesta 1.25. Read more
Thanks for the tip, looks like a worthy buy.
I,m taking my car in for sevice next week, with 12k service intervals in mind, at what size should the garage change my brake pads?
also, how thick should the discs be before changing.
The garage has said that alot of cars now need new pads at 24k and are regularily fitting discs at anything from 36k onwards.
Any help is greafully recieved Read more
I support the advice you have been given, but the key point is that you are expecting the garage to do the work as part of the service. Their decision process will be slightly different to a competent DIY'er. After all they must look at it from the perspective that they will not be seeing you for 12 months/12000 miles, so I believe they will change the pads out earlier or at the very least tell you to book the car back in 'x'miles for a pad swap. The risk of course if pad change is delayed (saving say £2 or £3 quids worth of pad material)to the point where metal to metal contact occurs is wrecking your discs and worst effective brake failure and a crash - particularly in the wet!
As to the discs themselves the tolerance is on thickness, run-out and surface finish. As has been mentioned the downside of asbestos free alternative pads is that they thrash the disc much more and quite often you may have to swap out the disc because of heavy ridging alone.
As ever with these things the parts are relatively cheap, it is when it is combined with dealer overheads to carry out this relatively simple task that the bill becomes unpalatable.
A friend of mine drives regularly in Europe and he doesn't realize the importance of putting those stickers on the headlights to make them dip the other way. Is there some cost effective way of making your own?
How do they work exactly? I am surprised that cars aren't fitted with a device that does this. I am sure many people just don't bother. Any tips on this subject welcome. All the best, Mikey. Read more
Impressive that the Audi sat nav does this automatically.
I know someone who has a citroen C4 and that has a simple lever that you can change them over yourself which is pretty useful. ...
Hi,
Car - Peugeot 306 D-Turbo M reg
Warning Light - At the right-hand side of the dash there is a light which isnt included in the handbook, it looks like a sort of 'plunger' above two waves.
It comes on, intermittently, when the car is a less than approx 2000rpm, and comes on more often at low speeds than high speeds. I can make it go away by either revving the engine briefly or sometimes by braking quite sharply.
All this would make me think that it's a coolant level indicator, either pressure or volume, except theres plenty of coolant in the car and its not losing any!
Possibly a large air lock?
The car performs fine at the moment but i just dont like seeing a big red light going on and off all the time im driving!
This must hold the record for the oldest thread to be unearthed - updated by using the drop down menus.
Read more
I'm having the same problem here and this site has been very helpful
Every so often my (1 x year!) the 15 year old Clifford Alarm on my Golf goes haywire and I have to mess about for ages trying to get it to reset. It's one of the self arming types and is very good.
I don't know why it does it periodically. To stop it from going off repeatedly there is a routine that you have to go thro' which involves turning the ignition on and then doing something with the key fob.
I sorted it when it happened last week but for the life of me I can't still work out what I did.
I'd like to find out what to do and make a note of it if possible. Basically the alarm arms itself (which is normal) but then goes off. I disarm it but is self sets again and goes off. Neighbours not very impressed last time so I drove to somewhere quiet and spent ages triyng to work out what to do. Read more
Thank you
I recently put my car in for a service with the main dealer and one of things that I asked them to check was the power delivery. I had always thought that it was a bit down but the diagnostics came back AOK.
Over the weekend I was on a long journey and was surprised that my 184bhp 3 litre diesel could ONLY just keep up with a Golf 1.9tdi 130 and Passat TDi 130. I called the dealer up and talked through this with him and he said that I should easily be able to pass the VWs and that it sounded like I might have a turbo problem (as he had experienced this once before).
My question is, if I did have a turbo problem, would this affect the speed I could get up to or just the amount of time it takes to get to that speed? The reason I ask is that I managed to get quite a long way round the speedo so do not think that top speed is affected (not that that is of particular interest). I suppose I am asking what a turbo actually does. I know that it gives the oomph. Read more
Why do people think that having a fast or powerful car is all about driving above speed limit? It's non of your concern what vehicle someone chose to drive.
Don't forget that some owners take their car to the track and also it's about how the bhp are being used responsibly with regards to other road users either from accelerating from a stop or going round corners. If your concern is about speed limit then there should be no speed limit at all because all cars on the road today can go above the current speed limit.
I am thinking of doing an experiment with my 99 Golf GT TDI 110bhp. I have read on various websites about running on either new or waste vegetable oil instead of diesel. I am aware of the possible starting difficulties due to the viscosity in lower temperatures and I was wondering if anyone has tried it with this type of engine.
I am intending running the car until warm and then disconnecting the fuel lines. I will then connect a supply and return to the pump with the ends placed in a 3/4 full 2 litre bottle of vegetable oil. This method found in various websites.I am not intending using the car on the road while experimenting so the paying of the 26p per litre duty will not be required.
Any comments or experiences welcome especially those of you out there running on Waste Veg Oil Read more
I enjoyed running around in my VAG 1Z TDI engined SEAT Toledo banger this summer. I mixed 50% Veg oil, 40% Diesel and 10% White spirit. It went very well, seemed to be a little quieter and a little faster and was cheap to run (relatively). However, I now have a Common Rail Diesel and can't be bothered to convert it with a heated system especially as diesel is now cheaper than veg oil and having a bad experience with an LPG conversion which I eventually had to figure out and fix myself!
Browse
.jpg)
hi mm
do you hvae any more of that info mine is a cav bosch system i think
could you send to pho@ntlworld.com
thanks in advance
phill