The new news 24 thread

[phil_lihp]

Exactly - or the mechanic was a muppet, I don't know the chap he used but it was a local garage who should be competent enough.  I have only that much to go on so will wait and see what the outcome is, I'll be very, very sad if it's been killed!  I'm sure it's fine, my money's on a coil pack for the misfire, not sure about the oil but it's being assessed tomorrow.

[SiC]

Fingers crossed! The coil packs aren't known to be strong points on these engines (well any?) and that one is almost certainly original to the car.

[SiC]

The knock sensors on these are pretty sensitive and I know can trigger an EML when the engine oil level is low from the knocking.

 

Wife's friend had an Astra G that had the EML come on a short while after an MOT. She popped the bonnet to find the oil cap off and the engine bay full of oil. She put the cap on (still short of oil) and drive it back. That engine survived for another 2 years until rust ate the brake pipes.

[phil_lihp]

Indeed, they're tough engines and this one's had an easy life until recently - it was driving and sounding absolutely fine when I had a lift in it earlier this week.  It's done a lot of miles of late but that's no bad thing for it really.

[Matt]

An instructional book for Windows 98 came through my charity shop today that just happened to contain a bit of shite. I imagine whoever was working on the illustrations was a car person.

 

[phil_lihp]

The knock sensors on these are pretty sensitive and I know can trigger an EML when the engine oil level is low from the knocking.

 

Wife's friend had an Astra G that had the EML come on a short while after an MOT. She popped the bonnet to find the oil cap off and the engine bay full of oil. She put the cap on (still short of oil) and drive it back. That engine survived for another 2 years until rust ate the brake pipes.

 

Bad news, word is that the garage now suspect valve stem oil seals.  I think some muppet put the wrong oil in it when it was serviced recently.

[tooSavvy]

Carina XLi 1993 'for free' in Surrey.

 

On ToyoOC

 

 

TS

[alf892]

Bad news, word is that the garage now suspect valve stem oil seals.  I think some muppet put the wrong oil in it when it was serviced recently.

Sounds like balls for symptons exhibited.......

[RayMK]

I've never known 'wrong oil (grade)' to kill an engine.*  Stem seals causing a misfire: How?  If it was burning enough oil to misfire, a Trabant imitation would have been apparent.

 

* It may be possible on a highly strung engine e.g. Ferrari, if driven hard for long enough.

[phil_lihp]

No idea, all hearsay as I say. Still waiting for the actual prognosis, I still think coil is most likely.

[panhard65]

I've never known 'wrong oil (grade)' to kill an engine.*  Stem seals causing a misfire: How?  If it was burning enough oil to misfire, a Trabant imitation would have been apparent.

 

* It may be possible on a highly strung engine e.g. Ferrari, if driven hard for long enough.

Using the wrong oil can kill a modern engine easily. One company I used to do work for decided to use 20/50 to top up their manky old Mondeos. These things did get a lot of abuse but the 20/50 soon buggered up the hydraulic tappets. The stem seals will only really cause it to burn oil but if it is bad enough it will foul up the lambda sensors and cat which can cause other engine management faults.

[RayMK]

Using the wrong oil can kill a modern engine easily. One company I used to do work for decided to use 20/50 to top up their manky old Mondeos. These things did get a lot of abuse but the 20/50 soon buggered up the hydraulic tappets. The stem seals will only really cause it to burn oil but if it is bad enough it will foul up the lambda sensors and cat which can cause other engine management faults.

 

This is true, having seen the watery stuff that modern engines require in order that the oil can quickly reach components via tighter tolerances. It also helps them to leak profusely when their modernity has lapsed under the care of less discerning subsequent owners. Nevertheless, on occasions when I've been forced* to use a heavier grade on a worn engine with hydraulic tappets, it has actually made the damned things quieter on start-up and not caused an engine death. As phil_lihp has indicated, further diagnosis may reveal a (different) cause of the problem.

[Supernaut]

I find myself wondering whether to try raffling the Xantia (again) so I have space to get a shite 4x4 instead. I like the idea of a Daewoo / SsangYong Korando.

[rml2345]

Clutch on the Xantia has been getting heavy and gears were getting harder to engage. Since the clutch cable was a bit past it with little adjustment left I decided to replace it. Horrible fiddly bastard of a job but after an afternoon spent upside down I finally got it done yesterday, then it decided to unfit itself from the pedal. Ungrateful sod.

So got it all fitted up agan today and (so far) it's held but the clutch is still heavy, which points to a worn release spring. At least all the gears engage properly but the linkage is still a bit sloppy so it'll likely need attention soon as well.

Another thing for the list.

[Guest Hooli]

Using the wrong oil can kill a modern engine easily. One company I used to do work for decided to use 20/50 to top up their manky old Mondeos. These things did get a lot of abuse but the 20/50 soon buggered up the hydraulic tappets. The stem seals will only really cause it to burn oil but if it is bad enough it will foul up the lambda sensors and cat which can cause other engine management faults.

 

Same thing killed most CVHs  gave them that rep for being rattly as hell.

[Slappy]

Gotta be careful there, IMO.

Declining to renew is awfuly close to canceling - and having a policy cancelled is a huge problem for future quotes.

Speak to a broker, I would say, so that you can discus options without entering details into websites, which will never be forgotten.

 

 

What Dave numbers said. Definitely talk to a sensible broker.

 

Thanks gents, I shall pass on that advice

 

Silly thing is that it's her first incident, she has 6 years protected no claims, it's not like she's a serial cash-for-crasher or 'owt. Just seems like with the investigation ongoing the algorithms are throwing a wobbly.

[richardmorris]

Slightly odd going on with the Mercedes at the moment. Started fine this morning and idled while I defrosted the windows (inside and out!). Drove fine and idles at about 600 in D. But, put in p or n the idle shoots up to about 1200. Not done this before- it usually goes up a bit, but to something like 800. Now it's revving away. Odd!

Any thoughts?

[Guest Hooli]

Sticky idle control valve? when they get 'tacky' they can jump too far & then not come back. If it's got one of course.

 

Wasn't it this car that needed the throttle body cleaning a few months ago because of a random idle?

[richardmorris]

Yes it was. That problem seems to have gone away (nothing I did to it!) and been replaced by this one. If that's all I can live with it until it gets warmer as I rarely use n or p. I just hope it's not the wiring loom! I've had the worst sections done though.

[richardmorris]

Oh and feeling stressed and depressed so have cheered myself up by ordering a set of door cards and matching sunvisor covers for the 2cv from matt's soft tops.

[Guest Hooli]

Yes it was. That problem seems to have gone away (nothing I did to it!) and been replaced by this one. If that's all I can live with it until it gets warmer as I rarely use n or p. I just hope it's not the wiring loom! I've had the worst sections done though.

 

Probably the same thing come back then.

[richardmorris]

Probably the same thing come back then.

I expect so! Will get the mobile specialst in ( my neighbour is monopolising him at the moment with their new ML300 Bluetooth thing). 2cvs and the fiat I can handle playing about with - this 24v thing is just scary!

It's back to the paint shop tomorrow for a flat and polish of the new paint. This means having to de-ice inside and out again at 6am and bung the bike on the roof rack. Joy!

[Hertz]

3 FTP's in the row for the Megane. First the battery, then a rear wheel got found out in the cold and went flat which turned out to be shaped like a 50 pence piece on the inside. Now Mrs Hertz announced there was a "ping" then a "clunk" and the steering is now "clicking". I've just picked up a section of suspension coil off the drive...  Hopefully this is the last for a while.

[SiC]

Bad news, word is that the garage now suspect valve stem oil seals. I think some muppet put the wrong oil in it when it was serviced recently.

Don't valve stems smoke like hell on startup and overrun when they're failing?

 

Pretty sure these engines pretty much take any old shit, given it's n/a and simple nature. Unless it's really the wrong oil like 20w-50.

[Guest Hooli]

That's how I've always known stem seals go.

[egg]

Bad news from my colleague, the ex-SiC Astra is unwell. The oil pressure warning light came on earlier despite having been serviced a month ago. A topup put it out but now it's misfiring and has been deposited at a garage for further investigation. I do hope he hasn't killed it.

One of my old mk4s died in oil loss and misfires. Bit of a known weakness. Hope it works out.

[SiC]

One of my old mk4s died in oil loss and misfires. Bit of a known weakness. Hope it works out.

I'm really hoping too!!

 

Just if others don't know the story on this car...

 

The car, before me, was the wifes Grandads car. He bought it when it was 3 years old from a Vauxhall main dealer in Newbury. At the time it had done 43k odd miles.

 

In the 10 years he owned it, it spent its life undercover in a garage, with its primarily life running around Newbury going to shops and see family. In this time, he averaged around 1k-ish miles per year. Every year, it was serviced by a family friend who was a Vauxhall mechanic - later working an independent garage. This independent garage also did the MOTs and if there was any other work needed that was easier to do on ramps.

 

He was never a confident driver and 10 years later, Mrs SiCs Grandad standard of driving progressively got worse. After scratching the front bumper (which he tried hiding by painting over) and previously denting the door (iirc it was left open when he went to park it in the garage, he started to realise that he needed to stop driving soon.

 

My wife and I around this time were buying a house. To help fund this, we sold her car and bought a cheap car. After some rotten luck on that car (including breaking down on the way home buying it - see pic), we shifted that and needed something else. At this point we took on the Astra as a short term fix (Astra G aren't my favorite style car...).

 

Over a year later we were still running said car. We pretty much did the yearly mileage in the first month. Because it was suddenly subjected to constant usage, we had a few things that needed sorting. Mostly a front spring, rear spring, both rear shocks, rear tyres (they were original to the car!), radiator, air-con regas (after I fixed the compressor clutch) and a few other little things (oil+filter change, pollen filters, etc). We then put on a further 6-7k miles fault free.

 

At this point I bought the Laguna, leaving the Astra parked up as a fall back option. Due to the (surprising) reliability of the Laguna, that fallback was never used! So after 4 months or so sitting there, I decided that we needed to shift it as it was pointless sitting on the drive. Not least too that I bought the Saab and my wife takes a dim view of us owning 4 cars...

So Phil bought it, I then got the MOT sorted (past first time, no advisories) and it began a new life running around Barnstaple.

 

In a nut shell its a 2002 1.6 16v, that (when I sold it) had done 64.5k miles, garaged and generally pretty tidy for what it was + age. Essentially being what you expect a giffer car to be. As an example, being garaged, all the rubbery bits are in remarkably good condition and most fasteners are clean, no rust and contain the original factory paint!

 

So I'm really hoping this one is a simple fix and survivors! I'm hoping the compression is still good and it is just a coilpack (almost certain its original and they're known weak). If compression is low, hopefully it's just a sticky lifter from being run low on oil or wrong oil, etc.

[SiC]

Here are some pictures of said car, as everyone loves pictures and context:

 

 

Phils pictures when he got it:

You can see the giffer repaint job on the front bumper that my grandfather-in-law did in this picture!

Also notice the original headlights that, unusually for an Astra G, not gone yellow.

 

 

That engine bay has never been steam cleaned. Literally how it was. The only thing I ever did to clean it, was to give the engine cover a quick wipe over with a baby wipe, as I got my dirty, oily hands over it when I did a oil change.

[Kiltox]

Wish I wasn't leaving old shite for new shite else I'd buy that Astra and save it

[EssDeeWon]

Day off today so I thought I'd check all the levels on the Rover then take a pic for Mr Bornes air con non econ setting.... except the thing was frozen shut!! We don't often get such hard frosts in the tropical south east, eventually got everything open and took the chance to grease all the latches and bonnet catches, then checked levels that seem fine, then spent over an hour de icing and cleaning it. So much for popping outside for 2 minutes..