Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2024 i Car Mechanics

Martyn Knowles, Editor Email martyn.knowles@kelsey.co.uk Follow us on Facebook @ Car Mechanics Order back issues here: shop.kelsey.co.uk/single-issue/car-mechanics-magazine As we approach the end of another year, I’d like to say a big thank you to all readers for the continued support to Car Mechanics magazine. We can’t produce a quality product without support – and that includes you. Also, I’d like to thank the hard-working team of writers at CM, who bring us the vast knowledge that the magazine offers to anyone reading it. Ultimately, it is an educational magazine. Plus, our team of advertising sales people, who work hard to gain momentum in pushing the Car Mechanics name out to a wider audience – which seems a strange thing to say for a magazine that is 65 years…

I remember all too clearly what I was told by specialists when I was first sniffing round the idea of a L322. “The amount of money your P38 is costing you, you should upgrade as the bills with an L322 are unlikely to come close.” How we laughed. Because the truth of the matter is that in nine months of ownership my L322 has managed just 4500 miles and has cost me close to £4000 in bills. For the little time it was working, it averaged just 13.8mpg – almost 10% less than the older, fewer geared, bigger engined car it replaced. And while it has a LPG conversion, the gas network is not as comprehensive as it once was, and it’s had a fair few tanks of unleaded in…

Based on an earlier concept, Kia’s startlingly attractive but strangely named Stinger broke cover in 2017. It was the firm’s first rear-drive car and with its long bonnet and sculptured, fastback styling it immediately grabbed the attention of motoring pundits and potential buyers alike. It had performance to match, too. Alongside a 197bhp 2.2 CRDi diesel (from the firm’s Sorento) there was a 244bhp 2.0-litre petrol that was able to dispatch 0-62mph in under six seconds. The real firecracker though was the blindingly quick twin-turbo 3.3-litre V6 which had a surging 365bhp on tap allowing it to slash a second off its petrol-engined sibling. Meanwhile, the Kia was equally alluring inside and surprisingly well appointed. Indeed, perched behind the wheel with its rakish screen and sporty driving position, you’d easily…

GENERAL New forever vehicle Q Rather than the usual problem issues with cars which your readers ask – I wonder if you could please give me some mechanical/reliability guidance for our next ‘forever’ planned car? I’ve driven and fixed older cars for years, but as I age my enthusiasm for and physical ability for this stuff is declining. We want to buy either one new or one almost new car to replace both our elderly cars for hopefully long-term hassle-free driving – and as we will both be retired we don’t need two cars anymore. I’m approaching 68 years of age, and whilst my wife is slightly younger, this new car will probably be our last. So, I want it to last for as long as possible as I want…

► Well, November was certainly a busy month car-wise for yours truly. When, back in the early 1980s, I first became active in the classic car movement, an ambition was to own a car good enough to show at an indoor classic car show. That objective was finally achieved at the 1985 ‘Brighton’ classic car show – an event that used to be held at the Metropole Hotel’s adjacent exhibition centre on the first weekend in November. This date meant, of course, that the Sunday’s show coincided with the Veteran Car Run, the end of which was 10-15 minutes away from the show. Anyway, I showed my 1966 Morris Oxford – LJJ 39D for those of you who remember such things – and yes, it was fun. Though the Brighton…

My vehicle is a 2011 VW Tiguan 2.0 TDI DSG 4Motion with a Haldex Generation 4 Coupler. The engine code is CFFB. It has been with our family since 2013 and is mainly used as our second vehicle, covering about 5000 miles per year, having covered 58,000 miles from new. I have done most of the ser vicing since the manufacturer’s warranty expired, but in the past, used a well-respected specialist for the more involved jobs. The Haldex oil and filter were changed by a VW Specialist 30,000 miles ago. Like many of you, I have done most of the maintenance at home using either VW original parts or more recently, OE specification parts from several online sources. I have also used the internet to purchase all the parts and…

PART TWO 2009 FORD FIESTA 1.25 ZETEC April-September 2018 Now this was a very good car. Although the severe snow that winter made getting it here a bit dicey, being collected and photographed in the nick of time. PX59 YFR had done 100,000 miles and as a testament to how good Fords are these days. I collected it from MJ Motors who Rob Hawkins uses after Rob had collected it from BCA Leeds. It hummed along at 70 with typical Ford goodness. The driving position, gearchange, clutch and brakes are all spot on and it’s a nice car to drive. After 100k the Fiesta was still pretty fresh too, the Yamaha designed engine needing just an oil change, a new cambelt and water pump plus a set of new plugs…

IN ASSOCIATION WITH I'm old school in some departments.The modern term for controlling vehicle suspension bounce is called damping. Known as 'dampers', I still refer to them as 'shock absorbers'. In fact, the shock absorbers I bought for our Lexus came from a seller on eBay (who I hadn't purchased from before) – they refer to the product in their description as, and I quote: Lexus IS 200D, IS 220D, IS 250, 2005-2012, 2 x front + 2 x rear shock absorber set. Saying that, I have upgraded my wordage for another car component – the door mirror. Many still refer to this as a wing mirror – even youngsters. Wing mirrors haven't been fitted to cars since the late 1970s, early 1980s. Anyway, I digress... our Lexus hasn't needed…

Servicing a vehicle with fourwheel drive may feel like a daunting task, but BMW appears to have simplified many of the procedures, although we did discover a few potential headaches. On the plus side, all the filters (air, oil, cabin and fuel) are easy to access. Checking the oil levels in the differentials is straightforward, but a little more complicated for the engine and automatic gearbox and, in our case, impossible on the transfer box because Overall difficulty rating we couldn’t find a filler/inspection plug (and there’s definitely no drain plug)! What’s equally confusing is that according to Autodata, the oil inside the gearbox (ZF auto) and rear diff is for life, but not for the front diff or transfer box. Perhaps the most confusing element of ser vicing this…

VW GOLF 1.6 TDI “A fault code had been raised for the cam position sensor,” says Mark Shipman of AES as we stand over a 2010 Volkswagen Golf 1.6 TDI seen here and discuss a problem that arose recently with it. At the time, the engine wouldn’t start, and the CPS fault would make sense, but Mark discovered this wasn’t the cause of the problem. Instead, there was something amiss in the 5V circuit with one of the sensors. By a process of elimination, he disconnected the DPF (diesel particulate filter) pressure sensor that’s on the 5V circuit and this time the engine started. Other common problems are perhaps more logical to decipher, such as a couple relating to the EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) valve. It’s located at the back…

Ringing in some new year changes A couple of things that really surprises me when it comes to events in and around the motor trade, is how car crazed folk react to sudden change or milestone markers in the business. Have we all given up bothering about our motor industry or do people simply get beyond caring? It really is a difficult one to put a finger on, but in my humble, ahem, opinion, I think that it’s a mixture of the two. Having been around cars for a few decades now, I appreciate the ‘fans’ or ‘brand enthusiasts’ will always be the first to stand up and thump their chests when it comes to the slow death of a manufacturer as we know it, but they seldom actually purchase…