August 2009
Hi,
Just been to the garage to hear the news that my x reg focus has failed its MOT emissions test by massive margins! The HC rating was a huge 925 missing the pass mark of 200. The mechanic did some investigations and discovered the engine compression was right down at 95,100,95,100 rather than in the 140s I think.
The car is otherwise in good condition and drives fine, I don't do many miles and am not worried about performance at all. The mechanic said it needs a new engine but considering the age of the car would not consider it economic - current engine has done 110,000. I am looking for any fix that could just get it through the MOT emissions test. The mechanic mentioned it may be worth buying some Slick 50 to improve compressions which will help the emissions.
If there is any hope of reducing the emissions from 925 right down to 200 or is the car scrap? Read more
I originally tagged this on to mlc's thread about the Getz but would like to seek views from the i10 owners here so hope it's OK to create fresh thread in order to catch their eye. Hope that's OK with the mods and they'll make necessary alterations if it's not.
In Feb. 08 the BR covered Hyundai servicing costs. The obvious question was raised...... Can I still maintain my 5 yr warranty and have it serviced at an independant garage?
'midlifecrisis', who was asking about servicing, made the following point........"It has to be VAT registered to keep the warranty intact. It's nothing to do with competence".
Which elicited the following............."Where does it say that?"
Taken from the Hyunda website......
"The Routine Maintenance Service Record is THE ONLY PROOF that the vehicle has been correctly serviced and that the warranty is valid. All routine maintenance servicing must be supported by a VAT invoice to provide adequate proof that the vehicle has been maintained correctly to reduce the risk of the manufactures Warranty being invalidated. The Routine Maintenance Service Record within the booklet must still be completed. The invoices must detail the Servicing Garage Name, Address, VAT number, Details of the Service carried out and parts that have been replaced etc."
So in black and white it must be a VAT registered garage - as most already suspected. The problem is, of course, you don't get any manufacturers updates or TSB's implemented and you probably lose any percieved goodwill of the dealer when you go to him with a warranty problem. So you either pay top money for the routine servicing or go elsewhere and risk grief as described.
What have people been paying to service an i10 and is it generally thought best to pay up for an easy life?
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I've always thought my local Hyundai dealer was OK for servicing -always an efficient and courteous, helpful service. Never had any trouble with them (3 years with a Coupe) and I will continue to take the Getz we have to them. You always know what the cost is going to be and they are open Saturday mornings too where I am which can be handy. They'll also give you a lift locally or collect your car if you ask them within a reasonable distance.
Why not give them a try first?
I have a watch, I'm wearing it now. I've had it for 25 years or so. It still keeps perfect time and looks fine. It's quite a good watch, Swiss in origin and I can't see any reason to replace it. 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.
But....imagine you have your more or less perfect car. It does everthing you want. You like driving it, it's comfortable. It has the right number of seats, the perfect loadspace and so on and so on......
In my case 5 years would still be getting close to the tipping point. Mileage would be such that it would be more than run in so to speak !
However, I gather that the "average" motorist covers about 12,000 miles a year. Given that most cars nowadays can easily cope with a couple of hundred thousand miles without major surgery that would translate into a useful lifespan of 16.7 years.
Leaving boredom etc on one side. How long "could" you keep a car for if it was your daily driver ? Has anyone even come close to the lifespan of my watch ? Read more
That is very impressive.
I thought that the collective wisdom of the great & the good in the Back Room was that these cars were rubbish and would not last that long? Obviously not true in at least one case.
I wonder if the owner was a professional mechanic (or at least a very good amateur).
Hi,
53 Focus 1.8 Estate. Petrol. 45,000 miles.
I have searched and read all what I found relating to this and although I have found similar problems, some of the posts don't have a conlcusion, even on other forums.
The ABS light sometimes comes on on start up (test) and sometimes not.
It sometimes comes on and stays on or is intermittant while driving and occaisionally the brake light does the same, together or on their own. (I thought the brake warning light was just for the handbrake and fluid level.) It can also be ok for days.
Brake fluid level is ok.
I have checked the instrument cluster for signs of corrosion which there isn't, and sprayed contact cleaner on the plug before reconnection.
The ABS has worked when tried on an icy stretch of road.
This started over a year ago. I was lucky it was ok on the day of the last MOT, it is due again in December and I don't want to trust luck this time.
It seems on reading some of these posts that it is a bit hit and miss with garages not being able to diagnose it, and changing expensive electronic modules without cure. A road I can't really afford to down.
Did anyone find a cure to their problems which they never reported back on, or did they keep forking out till it was fixed without really knowing what it was.
I will have to start looking this weekend, checking wiring/connections/wheel sensors etc.
What else should I be looking at?
Cheers,
Pete Read more
Although on the day I had a go at the first part of your solution things were ok before I started, they have now stayed ok for over a week now, so fingers crossed.
Now that it is working ok, when I first turn the key, and just before the ABS light comes on I hear a click that sounds like it is from the fuse/relay box that I am not sure if I recall when things were not ok. Could be my mind playing tricks.
Thanks for getting me to have another go.
Pete.
Got a Fiat Punto Dynamic 06 earlier this year, driving home at night and the headlights
went out, they came back on again and then went out again for a few seconds.
Took car back to dealer and they changed a couple of light bulbs and said that there were no other problems. Lights went out again just for a few seconds, took car back to dealer but they can find no fault. Anyone else experienced this? Any ideas?
Moved over from Discussion Read more
My dad had a 124 many years ago and the electrics were totally carp. There were a dozen packets of fuses in the glovebox, and he very soon realised why. Horn ring (lovely feature tall cars once used to have!) and main beam were always touch and go. One evening while messing about in the car (Dad held the keys) my brother and I found that on main beam a flash of the headlamps (on the same stalk as the dipswitch) activated all the electric circuits.
I thought Italian electrics reached the all time low with the likes of the Alfa Arna/Nissan Cherry Europa (1980s Japanese styling + Italian electrics = ??) and Lancia Gamma. But there be dragons still....
Hi guys,
First time poster here.
I could really do with some advice. So I've ordered a Ford Fiesta from a large Ford dealership recently and was told last week that my car would be ready for pick up anytime after the first week of September.
I got a call from the dealer telling me that I can pick the car up next but I have to come three days earlier to make the payment (am paying with no finance). So after nearly falling off my chair at being told that I have to go the dealership first to pay up front and not being allowed to take the car home for 3 days....I asked the question why and they told me it was standard practice!!!
My question is has anyone else experienced this??? I mean I have bought two Fords in the past from the same dealership and have always payed with a credit card or debit card the full balance on the day I pick up the car. I think its just ridiculous to expect a customer to pay upfront three days before (in person only allowed) and then having to return to collect the car.
I have my suspicions that since they told me I can collect the car on the 1st of Sept, they're lying to me to make me pay before the end of August so the cash hits their books....
Any ideas???
{As you're making an unfounded allegation, we'd rather you didn't name the dealership - as per our no naming/shaming policy. Thanks}
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the named garage (now oblique) is to my knowledge owned by the manufacturer so i would be calling them asking if its now standard practice to give a limited company all your hard earned savings 3 days before you got your goods
My car has "Ghia X" on its boot. I've had ones with "GTi", "LX", "GLX" "T5", "320", "525", "Design" and so on. You get the picture.
Now the current one is a Mondeo estate. I can understand why Ford would put "Mondeo" on it and even more so why they would put "Ford" on it. Free advertising.
What I don't really get is why they put sub range badges on cars. I guess they must think people attach a value to them. Not sure if I do. I don't think I mind having the extra badges really, although they do collect dirt but I wouldn't really mind if they said "cucumber" or "ferret".
I do care what spec my car is and there are certain toys and setups I rather like but I'm blowed if I can see any point in having a badge to advertise that.
Do the manufacturers really think anyone cares ? I suppose they must or they wouldn't do it.
Probably just me again.........
;-) Read more
I saw a fantastic bit of humour yesterday, driving in Swindon I saw a Porsche 911, mid 1990s vintage (I'm not expert but I guess you'd call it the last of the 'classic shape', probably circa 1996 but it had a private plate I think).
On the back it had the usual Carrera badge and next to it was affixed a VW TDi (red i) badge.
Made me smile in the traffic jam.....
New episode on BBC at 9pm tonight. I haven't seen it, but know some of the content. I'm reliably informed that I've avoided the camera (threatening the cameraman probably helped :) ). There's one incident I'm particularly interested in and will be watching with interest on what the BBC show and how accurate their commentary is.
Still don't agree with them filming us, but that's way above my pay grade. Read more
Interesting how they again closed the road for a considerable period of time to deal with the fatal. They also built a computer simulation of the crash.
Yet the cause was, surely, obvious? Guy stole a powerful car and crashed it. In the process he got killed. As he was partially ejected from the vehicle I presume he can't have been wearing his seatbelt, but that wasn't mentioned.
It also seemed immediately likely to me that the car was stolen - no seatbelt and the passenger did a runner. Therefore the ID in the car was likely to be someone else's. Was it some kind of sick joke that they didn't check the guys's coat for ID (finding his prison ID card for Goodness sake) until after they'd visited the RK's house?
What a nightmare I have had.
I purchased an ex post office combo 1.3 diesel with 30000 miles about 6 weeks ago.
I drove it for 80 miles until it came to a grinding halt.
I had it towed to a garage for investigation. after two weeks (dont ask), it was discovered that the turbo had failed and dumped oil into the cat and blocked the exhaust.
The cat and turbo were replaced. once the engine was running again, I was informed that there was oil coming out of the exhaust manifold and the cylinder head would need to be removed to investigate this.
Whilst this was being carried out I was also told that the timing chain was worn and I need to have that replaced.
It was decided that there was nothing wrong with the head, and in fact the oil had been coming from the intercooler that had not been cleaned properly after the turbo blow.
After paying the £1400 bill I got 20 miles down the road and the oil light came on.
The vehicle was returned to the garage to discover no oil pressure.
The engine has now been stripped down and it has been discovered that the oil pump has failed, taking the big ends with it.
It seems way too much of a coincidence that this would happen only 20 miles after a Turbo failure on a 30000 mile vehicle, I have seen other references on the net to oil pump failure after timing chain replacement. Can anyone shed any light on this.
Can oil pumps fail on this model if there is a problem with a timing chain replacement? Its not that the garage don't want to help, but they also are unsure of the cause of sudden oil pump failure. There are reassembly warnings in the Vauxhall manuals with regard to the oil pump during a timing chain replacement, but the consequences are not explained
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Have just got confirmation from the Royal Mail that the low mileage was genuine. It seems that the hard life these vans undergo in Post Office service shortens their life span considerably.
The horn on my Peugeot 406 2.0 HDi Estate isn't working.
Having de-cyphered the fuse location description of "buzzer" as the horn I have checked that the fuse (engine bay fuse panel, Fuse 5) is good and that there is a good 12V to the input side. Depressing the horn button doesn't drop this voltage, but increases the earth side voltage to approx 0.2V, implying that there is a relay operating within the system allowing a partial voltage to the fuse and implying that the horn push switch is working.
My intent next is to check the connections at the horn (tomorrow morning) and check the relay, but I am not sure which relay is the correct one. The hand book and Haynes manual are of no help.
My questions therefore are:
where the hell is this relay? and
has anyone else experienced this and is there anything else I should check?
Thanks
Mark Read more
Fair enough, I reckon you should mark it though, I once got an advisory because one of my seatbelt releases didn't feature the word "push".
So no playing Dukes of Hazard then :)
TVR? You must be brave... I know, today let's use black wires for everything!
I try, it annoys me when I don't have the answers (which is more often than not). See you in da club!!
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On behalf of anyone who needs this for reference, thanks for the info!