Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2023 i Car Mechanics

We’ve packed a lot into the final episode of our Mondeo project series and whilst the following five pages attempt to cover the paint repairs, aircon problems and rustproofing in as much detail as possible, there will be more on the servicing and timing belt replacement in future issues of CM. It’s often difficult to work out how far to go with a project vehicle. Servicing cannot be ignored, but in the case of this Mondeo, we’ve resisted having the alloy wheels refurbished. It could be argued that the paint repairs to the nearside corner of the front bumper were also unnecessary, but at £180, we felt it was money well spent. Anyone who remembers part five of this series may have spotted that we’d planned to have a smart…

TOP 30 VALUE FOR MONEY BUYS £2000-£10,000 HONDA INSIGHT ► You might recall the original Honda Insight. Launched in 1999, this small two-seater looked like a 1980s Honda CRX that had been left at the bottom of a river for a few decades to be polished smooth like a pebble, with covered rear arches for aerodynamics, lean-burn technology, and electric assistance to extract comfortably more than 70 miles from every gallon of unleaded. Its successor arrived a decade later and was a great deal more conventional, with a five-door body that looked like Honda’s interpretation of a Toyota Prius. But with more space for passengers and luggage at competitive pricing, it proved more popular than the Mk1, and today serves as a cost-effective way of getting a car capable of…

AUDI A8 ► Luxury cars don’t come much more understated than the Audi A8. Whichever generation you care to mention, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were looking at an A6, or perhaps even the smaller A4 – more so than a BMW 7-series or Mercedes-Benz S-Class, the A8 looks like its smaller siblings were scaled up in a photo-editing program. Off-putting for some, but for others this understatement is undoubtedly a virtue. The A8 first arrived in 1994 under Audi’s internal code ‘D2’, and immediately made a splash. This replacement for the old Audi V8 was among the very first cars whose structure was built entirely from aluminium rather than steel, marketed under the term Audi Space Frame. While no flyweight, the A8 was certainly light by class standards;…

Last month, we explained how a hybrid petrol-electric car works, and highlighted the main hybrid components – hybrid battery, hybrid motor/generator(s), inverter, electronic control gear and 12V battery – and what they do. This time, with assistance from Richard Farwell of Hybrid Battery Solutions in Northampton, we will look at care and maintenance issues plus how to tell when things aren’t right and some cost-effective fixes. From the start, I need to stress that repairing a hybrid battery is NOT DIY territory. Our coverage is therefore limited to care, basic fault-finding and specialist options to avoid big bills; anything over 50V is considered potentially hazardous; a hybrid battery’s internal voltage ranges from 100V to 800V! Then throw into the mix the high power produced by hybrid systems, and the chemicals…

DACIA DUSTER ► It might have a Romanian badge, but the Dacia Duster is as close as we’ve come to a revival of the classic Renault 4L – a simple, rugged, practical wagon that is only too happy to soak up a bit of punishment on or off-road, and doesn’t cost a lot to either buy or run in the process. The Duster name was first used on an incredibly basic 4x4 in the mid- 1980s, but its revival in 2010 on a Nissan Qashqai-sized family SUV was much more warmly received. Nothing on the market offered quite so much car for so little money: £8995 for a 1.6-litre, frontwheel-drive petrol model in Access trim, and only a fiver under eleven grand for one with a 4x4 drivetrain. Tick every…

Volvo sales switch These certainly seem to be worrying times for the main dealer network. A couple of months ago, I mentioned that some motor manufacturers and importers were looking at changing the status of their main ‘dealer’ networks from that of true dealers (ie. businesses that buy cars from the manufacturer and then sell them for more) into agencies who earn a commission from sales which are actually brokered by the importer, and are paid a fixed fee for carrying out pre-delivery inspections and other tasks associated with vehicle handover. In most cases the agent will also handle the part-exchange, though sometimes, particularly in the case of cars destined to be retailed as part of a manufacturers approved used schemes, this aspect will also be dealt with centrally. It…

PEUGEOT 208 1.2 NON-TURBO With oil changes every 20,000 miles, short runs can contaminate the engine oil with petrol and swell the timing belt,” warns Mark Shipman as he unscrews the oil filler cap and points to the belt inside. This belt runs through the engine oil, so it can naturally swell, but the added petrol doesn’t help. He shows me a small tool for measuring the width of the belt, which at least helps to see if it has become swollen. Should it be left enlarged for too long, it can start to break up, resulting in faults relating to oil pressure and the camshaft position – bits of the timing belt can contaminate the dephaser gauze. The recommended service interval for the timing belt is ten years or…

Follow Rob on Twitter: #CarTechJourno Fashion is a fickle mistress; what goes around comes around. In motorcar terms, a new feature can be usurped by an improved version of the technology that it was supposed to replace. The folding metal roof, or the coupé/cabriolet, is a good example of this irony. Perhaps because of our changeable weather, convertibles are very popular among UK motorists, with drivers desiring to soak up the rays, no matter how briefly. Leaving a removable hard top at home in our suddenly changeable weather is the main reason why folding canvas roofs became the default option for open-top motoring. Yet, questionable security, compromised bodyshell rigidity and increased interior noise remained notable downsides. The fabric also does not last forever and used car buyers tended to get…

I left you last time on the cliffhanger of a coolant leak. Three miles from home, my L322 Range Rover had illuminated its low coolant warning, and I’d arrived home in a cloud of steam emanating from the area around the water pump. The following day I had the bonnet up for a good feel – and what I felt was, in one sense, encouraging. There was a huge hole in a coolant hose, right at the union with the pump. A little Googling revealed that the hose was a return hose from the gearbox cooler to the pump via a little valve at the base of the radiator, and armed with the part number (PCH01140) I ordered an aftermarket replacement from Rimmer Bros. My plan had been to replace…

TOP 30 VALUE FOR MONEY BUYS £2000-£10,000 FIAT 500 ► Fiat hit the ground running when it launched the 500 in 2007, dipping into the retro boom started by cars like the MINI and New Beetle. And it hasn’t looked back since – you can go into a Fiat dealership today and buy a car that looks and feels little different from the one it launched 16 years ago. Given the 500 remains one of Europe’s best-selling small cars, you can see why Fiat hasn’t seen much reason to change it over the years. Rather conveniently, it also means even the earliest cars don’t look particularly dated. Even at launch, the 500 debuted with proven technology. Its 1.2- and 1.4-litre engines were from the maker’s FIRE series that debuted in…

ALFA ROMEO MITO ► Like the idea of a MINI, but can’t stand seeing dozens of them on your commute, or the overtly retro styling? The Alfa Romeo MiTo might be worth a look then, as the two were often compared during the MiTo’s 2008-2017 run – even if the press rarely voted in the Alfa’s favour. Based on the contemporary Punto, the three-door MiTo was Alfa’s first truly small car since the Alfasud made way for the larger 33 in the early 1980s. Breathless “New Sud!” headlines probably raised expectations a little too much and the MiTo never won praise for its dynamics in the same way as the old flat-four cars, but with a wide engine range and a sporty feel, the Mito still had plenty going for…

In days gone by, Italian cars were characterised by two things; rust and their wherewithal when it came to handling. Indeed, it seemed once Italian manufacturers had worked their magic on the chassis, suspension and steering, even family saloons with the puniest of engines would suddenly become fun to drive. So, when Fiat Chrysler Automotive announced it was about to release a modern day version of its classic 124 in open-top Spider guise in 2015, the automotive world took a collective gulp in anticipation. It almost didn’t seem to matter it would be a joint venture with Mazda and therefore be little more than a re-cloaked fourth-generation MX-5 (ND). However, it turned out what did matter was sales. Or lack of them, we should say. With a pricetag nudging £30,000…