Ask a Shiter

[Sigmund Fraud]

So 145 80 r14 and 145 r14 are actually different sizes? So much so that I shouldn’t mix and match?

 

Most people use them interchangeably, I wouldn't mix them on the same axle but 2% isn't all that much TBH.

[cort16]

More Ford questions.

 

Did the mk1 CMax use Focus wing mirrors?

 

Ie can a CMax one ho straight on my Focus without titfarting around with it?

I’m pretty sure mk1 cmax is mk2 focus based so probably not.

[dave21478]

Am I being paranoid or does this ebay account look dodgy to anyone else?

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/the_blue_abyss_ltd

 

I put an item (set of four injectors for 200 quid) in my watch list last week and went back to it today, but while this listing is still visible they now have zero items for sale. Looking at their recent feedback it all reads just too perfect with weirdly gushing superlative comments by loads of buyers all with around 80 feedback points, all for sets of four copper washers costing a quid.

Its not until you get back to page 5 or 6 of their feedback that it starts to look normal.

[sierraman]

Focus Mk2 Thermostat housing, is it on top of the gearbox at the side of the head and a similarly simple job to do as per mk1 Focus? A friend of my fathers was quoted £350 on the job. I'm thinking more like £40-50 for the housing and an hour and a half's labour tops?

[inconsistant]

Anyone any experience with Mister Auto?

 

Are they usefully accurate, or euro car parts accurate?

 

 

Used once, never again. 

Advertised track rod ends at half the price of elsewhere on their website which also showed them in stock. After ordering (and taking money) they took 2 weeks to let me know they didn't actually have any in stock by which time I'd missed my chance to fit them while off work. I had also added a radiator cap for a couple of quid to take my order over the free delivery threshold and they then delivered that on it's own, it had the rubber seal missing so went straight in the bin. Ended up ordering track rod ends from the reliable supplier I should have gone to in the first place.

I now factor in the cost of being pissed about when considering the price of parts. 

[inconsistant]

There are multiple failure modes for starter motors.

 

Describe the symptoms and someone may be able to help.

 

Ben

 

 

Thanks Ben, sorry to be vague/crap at diagnosing but sort of engine seems to crank slowly, battery seems to drain and need charging quite often (it's only a couple of years old, car isn't used often) but mainly I'm wondering because trusted mechanic noted that starter motor was on it's way out a couple of years ago, and I've not fixed it since then so wondered what might be the tell tail signs. I should have asked him why he suspected the starter.

 

I'm trying to methodically go through all the things that might be making it difficult to start over winter as I suspect its a combo of a couple of things. I suspected my and battery charger and thanks to The Moog I now know that my old charger didn't do anything except turn it's charging led on. I did a test and it was 11.97v before and 11.97v after 48 hours of charging. That may be the reason why I had to keep 'charging' the battery but it still struggled. TheMoogcharger has got the battery up to 13v overnight. 

 

Would it be worth whipping it out and getting it refurbished anyway (1985 Porsche 924, original starter motor) as the place that did my alternator does them too.

[Slappy]

Ah, my favourite thread... Can anyone tell me when Titanium spec Focii appeared and whether it was a direct replacement for Ghia spec or whether there was some overlap? If there was some overlap, what were the differences? Ta.

[DodgeRover]

So 145 80 r14 and 145 r14 are actually different sizes? So much so that I shouldn’t mix and match?

You probably have a better chance if getting 145r14C which will be the correct size - just check the speed rating is appropriate.

[Asimo]

Having aquired the roffle'd citroen zx I'am now struggling to insure it for a decent price. Im guessing this could be because:

 

• Im under 30
• All my NCB is on another car
• Its not old enough to be classic

Any suggestions comrades? Im not keen on shelling out £500+ insurance on an old beater when I havent paid more the £300 for much better exotica.

Ask your broker to "mirror" the no claims discount of your existing policy on the new policy.

This means you get the same discount as on your main policy, but you can't add no-claims protection to it and the new policy won't make any no claims bonus.

[Stroller133]

Anyone know the cost of transferring a registration from one car to another? Basically my cousin wants to keep his existing plate from his Scenic (his late father’s car, so sentimental reasons, which I can understand), and transfer it to an MG TF which he’s px’ing it for. The bloke who owns the garage may know costs or may not want to do it, but thought I’d put the feelers out for him anyhow.

Remember you cant put a newer plate on the car. The MG TF needs to be same year or newer than the Scenic.

 

EDIT:

Sorry, didn’t realise this post was that old!

[Pillock]

Ah, my favourite thread... Can anyone tell me when Titanium spec Focii appeared and whether it was a direct replacement for Ghia spec or whether there was some overlap? If there was some overlap, what were the differences? Ta.

 

Mk2s (up to 57 reg, long thin front indicators, coloured back indicators) were mostly Ghia but Titanium was introduced in the last year or so, think it had a DAB radio and the bigger display between the dials over the Ghia

Mk2.5s (08 reg onwards, front indicators next to the grille, clear back indicators) had no Ghia spec, just Titanium.

[steveo3002]

 

 

any ideas for a quality loom tape?  got a couple of wires to tidy up 

[spike60]

 

 

Would it be worth whipping it out and getting it refurbished anyway (1985 Porsche 924, original starter motor) as the place that did my alternator does them too.

My 924 had a crap turn when hot and after playing the usual earth, battery etc game I gave the starter to the company we use at work. I wasn't there when they delivered  another starter by return. It had an Audi sticker on it and was about 50% bigger than the old one, I had to remove the oil filter to slot it in. No more starting problems though I never found out what it was originally off.

I now have 944 that has a lazy turn,...- when cold. A change I suppose!

[Slappy]

Mk2s (up to 57 reg, long thin front indicators, coloured back indicators) were mostly Ghia but Titanium was introduced in the last year or so, think it had a DAB radio and the bigger display between the dials over the Ghia

Mk2.5s (08 reg onwards, front indicators next to the grille, clear back indicators) had no Ghia spec, just Titanium.

Fantastic, thanks. I've been looking at a mk2 on 06 with Titanium spec, so it must be 1 of the 1st. Didn't have a bigger screen between the dials, but did have a Sony branded radio unit. Just wanted to ensure that it hadn't had a lazy boot lid swap as I thought it was mk2.5 on.

 

Cheers

[BorniteIdentity]

You know heated rear windscreen switches?  You do?? Excellent!

Well - are they momentary switches?  I'm trying to work out how they turn themselves off on, say, a 1983 Ford Sierra.  Do they just stay on for a couple of minutes then off, or do they get some kind of signal back from the element??

 

Sorry. I know I'm thick.  I just need to know if one would be suitable for another purpose.

[andy18s]

My only hatch Sierras were Xr4is,which had the timed hrw switch

Can't be sure on lower specs but I imagine they all the same

[dave21478]

I cant speak for the Sierra, but there are a few types -

on and off latching switches.....the window is heating all the time until you switch it off.

momentary switch with a latching relay, you click the switch and it heats until you click the switch again and it stops - turning ignition on and off will also stop it.

momentary switch with a timer relay...you click the switch and it runs for a set time and clicks off itself.

[inconsistant]

I'm back with a more specific starting problem:

 

Battery fully charged, shows 13v on multimeter. 

 

Turn key in ignition, get dash lights and voltmeter gives a reading.

Turn key to start car and hear 3 rapid clicks and car electrics go dead, no dash lights or anything.

 

Try to start again and nothing, no noise, no lights or dials. Battery tested and still reads 13v.

Any ideas please?

[Jon]

Mrs_Jon's Clio 172 had a lug break on the alternator, which de-tensioned the alt belt, which also runs the water pump. At the time it happened, the STOP light came on, presumably as a result of coolant loss/potential overheating, which I've yet to investigate properly.

 

Anyway, the STOP light still remains lit up on the dash when I started it up briefly, to check it actually still turned over (I only had my wife's description of events, which was patchy at best). Assuming that everything's fixable, how would I turn off the STOP light? I'm guessing there's some sort of diagnostic plug in device or app as others seem to partake in this kind of thing on here, so any advice would be much appreciated, as I'm a complete novice in this electronical diagnostic stuff.

[castros_bro]

I'm back with a more specific starting problem:

 

Battery fully charged, shows 13v on multimeter. 

 

Turn key in ignition, get dash lights and voltmeter gives a reading.

Turn key to start car and hear 3 rapid clicks and car electrics go dead, no dash lights or anything.

 

Try to start again and nothing, no noise, no lights or dials. Battery tested and still reads 13v.

Any ideas please?

 

Yes,

 

 

 

98% chance the battery is no good and does not have enough electrons to turn the engine over or a 2% chance of having a really crap/dirty connection somewhere.

 

  

 

So "borrow" a good battery inna car and put some jumpleads to your battery then try starting,   if yours then wangs over and starts it 98% a crap battery with no enough working capacity (billions of available electrons) left in it.

 

For further analysis please post the following.

Measure your battery with no engine running (should be 13.6v+)

your battery with no engine running but headlight on full beam (or other electrics running).

your battery with the other car + jumpleads

your car with your engine running and no jump leads

[Slartibartfast]

Yes,

 

 

 

98% chance the battery is no good and does not have enough electrons to turn the engine over or a 2% chance of having a really crap/dirty connection somewhere.

 

  

 

So "borrow" a good battery inna car and put some jumpleads to your battery then try starting,   if yours then wangs over and starts it 98% a crap battery with no enough working capacity (billions of available electrons) left in it.

 

Measure your battery with no engine running.

your battery with no engine running but headlight on full beam (or other electrics running).

your battery with the other car + jumpleads

your car with your engine running and no jump leads

Agreed, these were the exact systems I experienced with a bollocksed battery.

[inconsistant]

Thanks chaps, I'll test and get back with figures. It did exactly the same as this when I tried to jump start it from the other car at the weekend.

 

The battery is only about 2 years old and the car isn't used often so I'd be surprised/disappointed if it's the battery, it wasn't a cheap one.

[The Moog]

Check your battery connections. If they are loose it can be similar.

[MikeR]

Funny one.

 

Mk1 Focus Zeetec 1.6.

Crazy constant beeping coming from the glove box/clock area. Sounds literally like a digital clock alarm, but I dont think the car has a setable clock alarm.

 

Came on ramdomly on the way home today. No warning lights or anything though. Just constant beeping. Went off with ingnition when we got home.

 

Anyone got any ideas of WTF it is?

 

mines never beeped ?

 

all I have is the lights on warning

 

I would pull the glove box down and have a look , there is a latch , contents will empty onto the floor

 

there is a fuse panel behind it , so something could of been wired in there .....

[Talbot]

Does anyone know if the DW10 HDi90 engine (specifically in a 2003 Bling) needs to see any feedback from the EGR system? Or can you simply remove it, blank the ports and leave the electrical connector to the vacuum valve taped up? There is a question mark over whether Mrs. T's Bling is actually suffering from HGF, or whether it's a failed EGR cooler (which I didn't even know it had... all other HDI90's I've seen have EGR but with no cooler.)

 

I plan to bypass the water jacket on the EGR cooler to confirm, but if it is this that has failed, that's as good-a-reason as any to blank the bastard off and just ignore it. If I can.

[3VOM]

I'd swear I'd asked this already but tell me what to look out for in an 07 plate Aygo, small petrol engine, first car sort of thing, please.

[Kiltox]

Clutch - they eat them

[Pillock]

You know heated rear windscreen switches? You do?? Excellent!

 

Well - are they momentary switches? I'm trying to work out how they turn themselves off on, say, a 1983 Ford Sierra. Do they just stay on for a couple of minutes then off, or do they get some kind of signal back from the element??

 

Sorry. I know I'm thick. I just need to know if one would be suitable for another purpose.

I'm a bit sad like this, and I remember Ford advertising them as "microswitches" because they sounded exotic.

 

They're momentary, send a pulse to some sort of timer circuit which then turns off later (and also controls the light in the switch).

[artdjones]

Does anyone know if the DW10 HDi90 engine (specifically in a 2003 Bling) needs to see any feedback from the EGR system? Or can you simply remove it, blank the ports and leave the electrical connector to the vacuum valve taped up? There is a question mark over whether Mrs. T's Bling is actually suffering from HGF, or whether it's a failed EGR cooler (which I didn't even know it had... all other HDI90's I've seen have EGR but with no cooler.)

 

I plan to bypass the water jacket on the EGR cooler to confirm, but if it is this that has failed, that's as good-a-reason as any to blank the bastard off and just ignore it. If I can.

You can block off your egr without any engine management problems on that engine.

[meggersdog]

Mrs_Jon's Clio 172 had a lug break on the alternator, which de-tensioned the alt belt, which also runs the water pump. At the time it happened, the STOP light came on, presumably as a result of coolant loss/potential overheating, which I've yet to investigate properly.

 

Anyway, the STOP light still remains lit up on the dash when I started it up briefly, to check it actually still turned over (I only had my wife's description of events, which was patchy at best). Assuming that everything's fixable, how would I turn off the STOP light? I'm guessing there's some sort of diagnostic plug in device or app as others seem to partake in this kind of thing on here, so any advice would be much appreciated, as I'm a complete novice in this electronical diagnostic stuff.

.

once the alternator is fixed the stop light should* go out. Either no charging or overheating will put the light on.