krrcan

Not sure what the english word is... Opposite of easy/smooth. When I try to put the gears into 2 or 4, I have to apply alot of strength. My mother who borrowed the car a couple of days ago had to drive in only 1,3 and 5. (which are also difficult, but not as much). I noticed alot of oilspill around the gasket for the selector shaft, so the gasket is probably bad. But I don't have any idea what could be causing the roughness. My Heynes tells me that replacing gaskets is a difficulty 4 out of 5, so I'm thinking that this might be a job for the shop, but still I would like to have some clue as to what might be the problem, before I turn the car in. Any help is apperciated!

I suspect that "sledgehammer resistant foil" on the windows won't leave the windows unscarred after the burglar have made an failed attemt. Then you are left with the task to replace both the window and new foil. Honestly, I see no way to escape the inconveniance of restoring your car, after a break-in attempt, regardless of it being a successful attempt or not. If the burglar has choosen your car, it will get bruised up. What you can hope to achieve, is to make it impossible for the burglar to get away with your valuables. This might be possible with applying foil on the windows, but I would have to see it before I believe it... Foil that stops a sledgehammer sounds too unrealistic in my ears. The more realistic approach is to have a safety box. Outside the box thinking: Or if you want it larger you can transform your entire trunk to a large safe. Discrete and 100% safe.

Speaking of the thermostat housing... On my 1.6 I think I broke this 2 times. Now on the 1.3 it was sort of broken when I got the car. Next time it breaks, I would like to replace it with a more robust solution. What options are there around? Something in metal instead of plastic please!!

I know that one time tested solution, is to bolt some sort of safetey box to the chassis. In this safety box you can put your valuables.

I had a faulty diode in my alternator, which where showing up as a faint charging light that got more intense the higher the revs were. I have no clue why gear-changing should make any differance though... Have you tried to accelerate while standing still, with no gear on? Is there no differance in the intensity of the battery light?

I was wrong, the rods were aluminium, stupid me were fiddeling with the magnet to on the press-fitted steel parts on the upper part of the rod. I did re-adjust all of the valves to 0.2 and 0.25 again. Still hear that faint clicking sound though. >_<

Another thread about these pushrods, in case someone stumbles upon this thread and wants even more information: http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/142532-noisy-13-mpi-check-your-push-rods

Am I trying my magnet on the wrong place perhaps...? I found this as well: http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/281037-push-rods-clicking/

I opened the top up, and tried with a magnet on the pushrods, and it does indeed look like it's steel rods, since the magnet appears to attract all of them in a simmilar manner. I'll let the engine cool untill tomorrow morning and then re-adjust to 0.2mm and see if the sound improves.

Magnet was a good idea. However, is there some way I could tell, without having to open the top up again? Any specific years that were delivered with steel only?

I did a service last weekend. Changed to summer-tires, renewed oils and sparkplugs, and I also adjusted the valve clearances for the first time. The operation went on without too much problems, and I found the heynes manual helpfull. However.... Now I get the feeling that I have more "ticking" sound. Not sure if it's only my imagination. The lack of the studded tires definently changes the overall sound experience, so It's hard to tell. I did some searching, and it appears that the 1.3 felicia comes with two types of pushrods sets: Either it's 4 steel and 4 aluminium, if so, the clearances should be 0.20 and 0.25. Or it's 8 steel, in which case it should be 0.20mm all over. I don't have any clue how to know if I have steel or aluminium though.

I solved my immobilizer problem by buying a old ECU from a model not factory fitted with a immobilizer.

Stumbled upon this thread and saw that I forgot to post a update! I found a suitable block-heater: http://www.defa.com/sv/automotive/warmup/find_your_engine_heater/ http://imgur.com/czWZmgK Costed me about 70 euros. Installation wasn't that hard, took me a couple of hours. Have been enjoying a pre-heated engine all winter now, and I plan on continue to use it for the summer as well.

Thank you for adressing the concerns. I was not at all aware that methane+gasoline had higher octane than just petrol. That the heating tube can be too cold, could be a problem when starting to drive. But one could perhaps have a termostat, so that this process doesn't start untill the engine has adequate excess heat.

Some possible problems: * Dangers of gasoline exploding? * The evaporated petrol taking "too much space", thereby reducing the ammount of air, and therefor the amount of oxygen in the combustion process. * The vapor self-igniting under compression, before the spark. * carbon resudue (tar, coal etc) buildup in the heating coil? I would be very interested in seing this performed on a felicia, and if efficiency gains were documented, I would gladly perform the process myself.