Ask a Shiter

[xtriple]

I have one of those Moprod flaring tools and it is excellent! I have used it underneath the car to flare one of the old steel pipes so I could join it to a new kunifer one - not supposed to be able to do that!

[KruJoe]

Saw an odd one last night, a LHD Volvo 440 in red, on a 64 plate...

Either...

 

...or...

 

 

HTH

[Des]

What and how much damage could I have done by connecting up the battery the wrong way round for less than 2 seconds, car in question is a 67 herald.

 

Reason I ask is because it wont start, first time ever in 5 years.

 

Are things original like dynamo and points ignition, if so it shouldn't have done any harm other than maybe a need to flash the dynamo terminals to re-polarize it. If it's been modernised then modern bits will easily knacker.

[richardmorris]

Anyone know anything about 2012 era c4 picassos? My sister has looked at a 1.6hdi model but isn't sure what to check or ask. I'm not sure a diesel is a good idea, but it looks like she will be working at Southampton university (50miles each way) later in the year so they're thinking of economy.

 

Alternatively what else would suit a family of four with 7 and 4 year old girls? The scenic (56 reg) is getting leggy.

I suggested a KIA but they're not keen on the size.

[Kiltox]

Avoid the 1.6HDI like the plague

[myglaren]

Anyone know anything about 2012 era c4 picassos? My sister has looked at a 1.6hdi model but isn't sure what to check or ask. I'm not sure a diesel is a good idea, but it looks like she will be working at Southampton university (50miles each way) later in the year so they're thinking of economy.

 

Alternatively what else would suit a family of four with 7 and 4 year old girls? The scenic (56 reg) is getting leggy.

I suggested a KIA but they're not keen on the size.

Main problems are the stupidly long service intervals that allow the oil to become dirty.

This then clogs the fine filter in the oil feed to the turbo, which gives up the ghost.

The only real fix is to completely strip and clean the engine, discard the exhaust and turbo and replace them and service it at 1/3 of the book distance.

The injectors come lose and put carbon into the oil which only adds to the problem.

 

There are lots of people running them who have had no problems but usually they have had the cars serviced within an inch of their lives.

 

Ford fit the same engine - in the Focus I believe, but they have made modifications and don't suffer quite so much.

 

Volvo also fit them and there is never any problems there.

 

If your sister were to buy one it would be a serious risk.

The 2.0 8 valve would be a safer choice.

[Pillock]

Ford also fit them and they're just as bad for lunching turbos, destroying DPFs and playing a jolly good game of fault code bingo. I would post a selection of photos of my Focus on various different recovery trucks or maybe the pile of receipts to "fix" the problems but it's all too depressing.

 

That was on main dealer servicing at specified intervals btw.

[twosmoke300]

Only fault code bingo for techs that don't know Arse from elbow

[cort16]

I was reading a post on a car dealer forum recently lementing that these c4 Picasso's are over all excellent cars made a complete liability by the 1.6hdi engines.  Every dealer that had had one had it come back with some engine fault..

[wuvvum]

Either...

 

...or...

 

 

HTH

How long did you spend on Google Image search to find two photos of red 440s with 64 in the number plate?

[catsinthewelder]

I've got a new problem.  The Disco wouldn't start this morning for the first time ever, run out of electricity.  It bump started OK and after running it for half an hour is starting fine but is only putting out 13.65V at idle.  Now on inspection one of the diodes has vibrated loose so wasn't connected to earth but connecting it back on hasn't done owt to improve matters.

 

New alternator needed?

[stephen01]

Are things original like dynamo and points ignition, if so it shouldn't have done any harm other than maybe a need to flash the dynamo terminals to re-polarize it. If it's been modernised then modern bits will easily knacker.

Completely standard. Thanks

[Asimo]

I've got a new problem.  The Disco wouldn't start this morning for the first time ever, run out of electricity.  It bump started OK and after running it for half an hour is starting fine but is only putting out 13.65V at idle.  Now on inspection one of the diodes has vibrated loose so wasn't connected to earth but connecting it back on hasn't done owt to improve matters.

 

New alternator needed?

13.65v at idle sounds ok to me.

[stephen01]

Main problems are the stupidly long service intervals that allow the oil to become dirty.

This then clogs the fine filter in the oil feed to the turbo, which gives up the ghost.

The only real fix is to completely strip and clean the engine, discard the exhaust and turbo and replace them and service it at 1/3 of the book distance.

The injectors come lose and put carbon into the oil which only adds to the problem.

 

There are lots of people running them who have had no problems but usually they have had the cars serviced within an inch of their lives.

 

Ford fit the same engine - in the Focus I believe, but they have made modifications and don't suffer quite so much.

 

Volvo also fit them and there is never any problems there.

 

If your sister were to buy one it would be a serious risk.

The 2.0 8 valve would be a safer choice.

I had a c4 grand Picasso, 1.6hdi. Was a bloody good car, was only 4 years old and 65k when I chopped it in so maybe not developed the problems people report, apart from new injector seals, as the sound of escaping air drove me mad. I had no problems with it. Regually drove it to France, Inc a 14 hour (750 miles) straight drive back one year. Good mpg, would see 60mpg on a run no problems.

 

Even used it for towing the herald back from gloucester and a caravan around the UK for 12 months.

 

I think service intervals were something like 20k / 2 years, it used to get changed at 10k or 12 months. I'd read horror stories about fucked turbos from long oil changes and figured 4 litres of oil was cheaper than a new turbo.

 

Would I have another, yes. I've actually been looking. But would need a good history behind it or very cheap.

[Captain Flimble]

13.65v at idle sounds ok to me.

 

I would hope to see over 14V from a healthy alternator at idle. A car battery is formed from 6 cells at 2.1V each to give a voltage of 12.6V in a healthy battery. To get charge into the battery needs greater than this, normally a minimum of 13.8V or it won't have enough oomph to shove charge into the battery. 13.65V at idle would charge the battery more slowly, so any other power drains may prevent it from charging. Have you checked to see if the charging voltage is better at a fast idle, say 2000-3000 revs?

 

Loss of diodes will affect the output of the alternator. Are any other diodes coming loose? I'd check all your system's connections before investing in another alternator.

[Pillock]

Only fault code bingo for techs that don't know Arse from elbow

 

 

That was on main dealer servicing at specified intervals btw.

 

 

That's what I said

[skattrd]

I know there are many, many variables, but std car, battery, driving etc. roughly how long does it take to replace the charge in a battery that was used when starting a car?

 

As said, size of engine, battery, alternator, how much cranking, speed of driving will affect this, but any idea of a rough figure? 1 mile? 5 miles?

[LC Torana]

This is plus or minus 100%, of course, so treat it as a rough order of magnitude.

 

300A x 15 seconds / 3600 seconds/hour = 1.25Ah

 

Let's be conservative and say your alternator has about 5A of battery-charging capacity left over after running the car's electrical systems, so that equates to 15 minutes' worth of driving.

 

That's 15 minutes of actual driving, not idling in gear.

[sierraman]

A mate of mine bought a recent Focus with the 1.6 diesel in it. Apparently they made a host of changes later on which helped a bit. Still I'd be changing the oil at 8-10k intervals if it were me.

[Lacquer Peel]

Handbrake cables. I bought two aftermarket cables for my van and they were both too long, I ended up getting one of a breaker.

The original handbrake cable comes with a metal sheath that helps locate it, was I supposed to take the sheath off and put it on the aftermarket cable?

[mossymossy]

I am looking after philibusmo's fiesta while he is away. It's due an MOT. Giving it the once over I noticed two tyres have sidewall cracks. Is this a definite Mot failure?

[Kiltox]

Pass and advise I'd have thought

[oldcars]

As above i would say.

[SiC]

I think its a fail only when the cords/canvas is showing.

 

But I'd still not want to drive at motorway speeds with tyres starting to crack+degrade though.

[Rovorsche]

I'd check all your system's connections before investing in another alternator.

 

If you can measure between Alternator output, as close as you can get to it without losing fingers and the battery positive you may have found the problem.

My Ford Galaxy developed an annoying shortage of electrical power and doing this allowed me to find the shoddy connection in the VW designed high current fuse panel. 

A seemingly good connection had redesigned itself into a pile of hope and corrosion and let through just enough to keep the charge warning light off.

 

 

[face]

damaged longerons 

 

Now I am a spanner-twat and have no idea what the devil 'longerons' are. But I do not want to be told either.

 

In my mind they are either trousers, long green beans, Aston Martins, extended menstrual cycles or items that are generally longer than other examples of the same item.

[Lacquer Peel]

I'll probably get flamed by fdb for this, but I think it's a posh term for chassis rails.

[stephen01]

Now I am a spanner-twat and have no idea what the devil 'longerons' are. But I do not want to be told either.

 

In my mind they are either trousers, long green beans, Aston Martins, extended menstrual cycles or items that are generally longer than other examples of the same item.

 

Round the black country a longeron is the opposite of something short, for example 'pass me the screwdriver, no not that one the longeron'

[bub2006]

Xantia of many shiters central locking query. If I lock and unlock passenger door with key all is fine. If I lock drivers door with key then all is fine providing I lock passenger door with the lock button inside car first and same again for central locking on the buttons. Now I've noticed if I lock passenger door first so everything else locks with buttons then unlock car passenger door stays locked. It's confusing me as obviously central locking is detecting it else it wouldn't lock everything from that door. Any help grateful

[Sigmund Fraud]

IMG_2145.JPGIMG_2146.JPGI am looking after philibusmo's fiesta while he is away. It's due an MOT. Giving it the once over I noticed two tyres have sidewall cracks. Is this a definite Mot failure?

 

No they're not, cracks have to be particularly deep and wide (ooh, er...) for a tyre to fail the MoT.

 

Such shallow cracks (ahem...) seem to be extremely common with modern tyres, I've been told it's due to their composition, something to do with silica content. They do look alerting, but I've driven many thousands of miles on tyres like those and lived to tell the story.