Fed up with my car!

[ed731pdh]

Sounds like the Focus TDCi fault, well known in circles where No3 injector leaks and the uncombustables end up blocking the mesh filters in the camshaft head and various pipes. For a car that age, also suspect the turbocharger is worn and output down. To check, pop the hose off the turbo, stick fingers in and check for play on the bearings.

More here on what can go wrong on these; http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/for...ction=good

[ed731pdh]

8-4-2011 Tip from Mr Hyabusaman: Not a question but a good tip - if your glow plug light flashes on a Mk III Mondeo and your car goes into limp home mode don't panic. Even if a constant yellow engine warning light comes on too just step back and go for the least cost option. A faulty cam sensor will not give a DTC code when you run the dash diagnostic test (zero cost vs taking your motor to a garage to have DTC codes read off). Just hold in trip button for three seconds before switching on ignition to go into gauge sweep etc etc etc. You should see DTC / NONE come up after the first few dabs on the trip button. Then, if you've checked all the engine's electrical plug connections (zero cost), cleaned your cam and crank sensors (zero cost) and, the glow light / engine light continue to haunt you purchase a cam sensor for around £20 - £25 pounds from Ford or EBay. Pop it in and see if the glow plug light has now gone when you start up again. If it has but, the engine light is still there after start up switch off and try the following procedure. Switch the ignition on and off (without starting the engine) twenty, yes TWENTY times. You'll hear the "Program A New Key" beep after about six goes but carry on another fourteen times then, finally start the engine. Low and behold the dash will now be free of warning lamps and you'll only have spent 25 notes. Hope this helps anyone who reads this.

[Retired]

Hi,

Sorry to here of your car trouble Rob. 150K miles is getting on a bit and given this mileage no doubt lots of other components are showing signs of wear?

I can understand your dilemma; you don't want to change the car just now because of finances but is your car now going to cost more to keep?

I used to enjoy tinkering with second-hand cars which were well past their sell by date and eventually bought a VW Beetle; Bron and I ran this Beetle for just over a year during which time I seemed to spend more time working on it than driving it. As usual I had been buying lots of spares during ownership and one day I sat down with pen and paper and added up the total cost of these spares having kept note of prices or retaining receipts. The cost of owning this old Beetle and its thirst for fuel balanced very nicely with monthly payments on a brand new Citroen 2CV so we bought a Citroen 2CV and now Bron and I could forget our motoring costs because we knew exactly what they would be each year whilst the Citroen was under warranty. What a difference this made to our lives though; no sudden bills for spares; dirt cheap to fuel up and above all our weekends were now free and we could get out to enjoy ourselves in the car. Since then we've only ever had brand new cars changing them when the first MOT was due and the warranty was about to expire.

I regard cars as a necessary evil these days and we never spend a lot on buying our new cars always going for a model to suit us after all there are only two of us using our car; our current Aygo is three years old this August and it's our second Aygo but now it's proving rather too small especially for transporting building materials and machinery around so our next car hopefully will be a size larger it being a Skoda Fabia Monte Carlo; we'll visit our local Skoda dealer next month because we might have to wait for delivery which can take up to three months?

This possibly doesn't help you Rob but it works for us. I used to dread MOT time even though I used to look after our cars. If you do a lot of annual mileage Rob then a diesel makes sense but these days petrol engines are much more efficient and whereas a few years ago diesel cost less than petrol now diesel costs more than petrol bringing the two MPG figures nearer regarding running costs?

It really comes down to paying your money and taking your choice. A couple of weeks ago a chum bought a large second hand Skoda estate on a 55 plate with around 99K on the clock. Once paid for and home it was found to have an erratic tick over; this Thursday he is trading it in for a van losing money on it and there are no guarantees the van will be any better because he is buying privately? He wanted the estate as he is starting a gardening business hence the van decision.

Once an older car starts to go wrong then it's a case of constantly spending on the weakest link with sudden bills some of which these days bring tears to ones eyes. New cars are usually more fuel efficient and these days come with manufacturers warranty up to seven years; Skoda are quite mean with a three year warranty because even our Aygo has a five year warranty and these warranty's can save a fortune should anything untoward happen because even new cars can break down.

Time I got something done but good luck Rob; I hope the fault on your car is very easy and cheap to put right.

Kind regards, Col.

[ed731pdh]

I'd have a look at the Dacia's for a cheap runaround with proven yesterdays technology.

[Retired]

Hi,

Excellent suggestion ed; cheap reliable motoring with reliability. I had seriously considered buying a Dacia Duster 4WD but it's a bit too big just for the two of us.

It's so easy to become trapped with an old car; once they start to go wrong spend a lot on one repair just to get going again then it starts with repair after repair ending up with "I can't get rid of it because I've spent so much on it". It cost a friend £700 to get her car through the MOT and the major problem was an air bag circuit board; it's not just the money involved but the huge inconvenience because cars seldom break down at a good time?

A very difficult call to make Rob but don't be hasty because after all the fault on your car might prove to be something very trivial in which case you could then run the car knowing you will eventually have to change it giving you time to look around.

Looks like your lathe restorations will now be on hold a bit longer Rob until your car is sorted out?

Kind regards, Col.

[ed731pdh]

Ford are one of two car marques I will never go for again, my first car was a Ford and I forever spent my time dipping in my pocket to pay out for stupid faults that were man hour intensive. Never again.

[pwdrive]

I've only owned one Ford, that's the Escort I mentioned earlier, to be fair it never cost much to service except when the cam belt broke and I was to blame for that if the truth were known.

Amidst makes I reckon it's down to the luck of the draw.

Lawrence.

[Skywave]

Cars: we've been owning & driving various Vauxhall 'Astras' for several years now. The 1.4 litre 8-valve petrol hatchback (there were three) were all reliable run-abouts, although you wouldn't like one if you were used to getting about in a hurry. (So one will not appeal to Audi drivers!) The 1.6 litre 8-valve petrol 'Sport' hatchback was, in reality, an over-bored version of the 1.4. Yes, it had a lot more 'go' than the 1.4. And it broke down more often, too: I wouldn't have another. The 1.6 litre 16-valve 'Ecotec' petrol estate was a solid & reliable work-horse - which we sold this year with 150k miles on the clock. It had the original clutch. For everyday maintenance, I found all of those 'Astras' relatively easy to work on.

But now we have a 1.6 litre 8-valve (I think it's 8-valve) diesel hatchback. (Lady Skywave's car). When I lift the bonnet up, I haven't the faintest idea what I'm looking at! O.K., I recognise the battery, the brake fluid reservoir, the radiator (the bits of it that I can actually see) - and things like that - but there is so much crammed into such a small space and so much plumbing everywhere, I just sadly shake my head, sigh and think "Uh-huh: maintenance = a garage job." But there are two things going for this car: fuel cost and vehicle licence cost: both substantially less than the petrol equivalent. It's just a shame that Vauxhall got it completely wrong where they fitted the LCD clock & radio / cd player display: the daylight from the windows blanks the display completely. It needs to be positioned lower down on the centre console.

As I said, with this diesel-engined car, I lift up the bonnet, look - and sigh. It's times like that when I recall my first car: a Ford 'Anglia' 998 cc. - as frequently seen in episodes of 'Heartbeat' on the T.V. Now they might have not been the ultimate in travelling luxury, but they were very easy to maintain, reasonably reliable and would happily 'do' over 70 m.p.h. all day (err, so I am reliably informed, officer!). Only one real drawback with the 'Anglia': it's voracious appetite for rust!

Modern cars: any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Al.

[Nick]

Local garage have just said that there could be any number of things causing the problems with the Polo, including it losing contact with the key (which has a chip in it). Grief!

I have a degree in electronics and still can't sort it myself - possibly, given a lot of time, but being realistic, its cheaper to have someone else do it.

So, tomorrow it goes to a specialist electronics-issue garage for a more detailed deep dive. Rats. Still not the main dealer, but I'm not hopeful.

Credit to our local boys, though - they were honest and up-front in saying that it was beyond their ken and that it would have to be passed on to specialists...

Ho, hum...

[Ed_Dinning]

Hi gents, possibly not connected, but a problem I recently experienced on my Mondeo 2L. It was totally dead except for the dreaded EMS warning and then suggesting system failure in the immobiliser. It was towed to our local auto electrician who does most of the difficult ones for the main dealers. It would not even communicate with his diagnostic tools. He therefor got his voltmeter out and traced iy to the main feed to the immobiliser. 6" of wire had turned green crud. He is seeing a lot of this on all sorts and ages of cars, including mine at 2 years old.
In my professional capacity I recently sent a salesman away with a flea in his ear after he tried to sell me a new version of cable at low cost as it is only single coated with insulation "of a superior grade", which all the car manufacturers now use and has all sorts of approvals.

NOT on an aircraft for which I have responsibility!

I wrote about this to Car Mechanics and got the star letter prize, nice but I would rather have had a car that had wiring without pin holes (hence 2 layers of insulation). Normally this does not matter too much, but on a harness in a wet area (under a wing etc), and with power constantly applied (live feed) electrolysis soon takes its toll.

Ed