Barry Cade

I think the engine management light would have came on!

Nooooo, not thicker oil, 5W30 is recommended for these engines, thicker oil may make the rattle worse! P.S- its the turboed engines that seem to suffer oil pump problems, is it an A4t?

Yup,I'll have to remember and take a pic of a con rod from a new shape Primera we have at work.. after the crank cap let go, to show what damage is really done with bits flapping around...

No, thay are belt, but do suffer from rattly tappets,and I've seen a few with oil pump problems...

have you changed the filter? I'm sure the 20v engine has a valve on the fuel rail to check fuel pressure, may be worth hooking this up to check if this is actually the fault? Pumps usually get noisy before they die, and its a fairly rare faultMy first guess would be the MAF - unplug it and go for a run,see if it improves

I find the TDCi Fords the most embarrasingly easy cars ever to stall- especially Mondeo's for some reason... I'm considering a whiplash claim against uncle Henry . Call that smoothness?

Try and get spares for the Alto though, 2 weeks for a handbrake cable! I ordered a rear trailing arm for my SC100 in 1992, still waiting... Stick one of these in a 2CV or something featherlight, Kubota 2cyl diesel Brand new and ready to go at £600!

Not a bad job at all, spline keys to remove the driveshafts,otherwise similar to an old fashioned RWD box.all done from underneath, so get it up as high as poss,half a day should do it,even in the drive.

Yup, A4's have them too, did a TDi one a while back. Changed a gearbox on a 400,000 mile A4 v6 2.5 tdi quattro a few weeks ago. It was on its 2nd engine, 2nd gearbox and 4th dual mass flywheelTriggers brush came to mind.. drove beautifully though!Valeo are making a whole range of DMF replacement flywheel kits, selling like hot cakes. many factors aren't even aware of them yet, but out there for Foucus,Mondeo and Octavia/VW group. Fit and forget..

Same as all new cars, full of crap that folk think they want, but don't really need. Buy an Estelle!

No way on earth did that run perfectly... I'd expect a slight rattle at least!!

Whats the point? I've got 3 cars lying at work waiting for replacements, 55 Laguna, 55 Citroen C1 and a 52 Focus tdci.. all well under 100k with knackered flywheels... managed to get a solid flywheel kit for the Focus, bt not for the others... Ford wanted nearly 500 sovs for a flywheel, plus £££ more for a clutch, plus concentric cylinder plus a starter....If there was a huge benefit I'd understand, but all I see are big bills and unreliability.Does anyone know why?

X1/9 or a Strada 85S, or even a Delta/ Prisma 1.5.. 1498cc

LOL, yeah, but going to someone's door, towing a car home a few miles, and multiplying the buying price by at least 10, is a bit greedy I think!Maybe thats why my business failed... not greedy enough.

Yeah, be nice to see it in good hands. I'm skint,otherwise It'd be in my garage by now!

Was in the scrappys the other day for bits for my Volvo, and this was sitting out front. I was told it belonged to a 94 year old guy,who'd had it from new! Been off the road 4 years at least.. Certainly a clean old thing, but paint is dull,patchy and probably not saveable,interior was mint, and would be a stunner if restored! Didn't ask a price, as from past experience,scrappys like to make a profit,a BIG profit on anything old or unusual... Numbers on the van if you are brave enough!

Try Chaucer insurance, they do not use your No claims on a clasic policy, so you can keep it on your dail driver. Had it twice and they are pretty good.

What about a Hyundai I30?I work in an independent garage,on all makes of cars from Ferrari's to Allegros. I'm seriously thinking of a change in career as I'm sooo bloody pissed off with new cars. They are SHITE.Broken springs,wheel bearings,turbos exploding, inlet manifolds exploding,cars locking themselves, &*%$ managements lights, ABS lights.- That was just in the last few days. I hate it now. Used to be a big Merc and VW/Audi fan, now they are as bad as everything else. Ford has raised their game, but still have issues.Everyone else is owned by someone else, with dubious parentage,and when you look back the family tree,it stops at Shite.The cars now that genuinely impress me are Hyundai and Kia. long warranties,top notch quality,and decent prices. I was very impressed by a 3 year old Sportage the other day, surprising kwality and finish.That old Sonata I had was fault free,and every single gadget on it worked like new,at 12 years old. My mate has just bought a 02 Passat. it doesn't lock, the windows are busted,it smokes and rattles,knocks and bangs over bumps...I ran an old GL5 estate up to 230,000 miles,and just occasionally changed the oil and washed it.I now drive a kia Pride, shite car, but 110% reliable,faster than you'd think, economical,roomy,and the pintwork is beautiful! I know its a Mazda underneath,but thats from when before Mazda's were Fords... In 50,000 miles its had 4 tyres, brake pads and a few sevices.That is all.Stick yer scrappage scheme up yer arse, the goverment should be paying US for saving the planet by getting rid of the shite that clutters up our roads now. and promote recycling by ending useage of raw materials to cause the public misery.

Saw a 328i the other day with H8 MY X and a Volvo Estate with P155 PEE !

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/hig ... 055857.stm

Just noticed the Renault 20 thats about to sideswipe it!!