StevesTruck

It's been a problem on fords for quite a while. I've seen a fair few people starting to use crooklocks on the steering wheel for the first time in about a decade. Most people I know who've got a new van have had deadlocks put on.

It's been a while since I've had anything that age open, but I'm surprised that it's 72 pin RAM with that many slots. I wouldn't expect to see more than 4 slots for 72 pin. 30pin normally has more because it needs to be installed in pairs. If it is 72 pin, 486's would normally be FPM rather than EDO, but EDO will almost always work.

What engine's in it? How long does it run for after it's started?

As above, I'd have thought an SX/25 would be 30 pin. There's a few different sorts, the main difference if it's parity or none-parity, so it's probably best to start with some pictures of the board.

You can do, but if you've managed to back the nut off half a turn, you can get a hacksaw straight on the thread, so it doesn't take much effort at all to saw through them. My point is it's not a job that needs any serious tools.

The cable should be alright, but the aerial bases do fail. You can either replace them like for like, or get something more modern like an aftermarket sharkfin

Yeah, mine's one of the smaller ones, not sure what model it is, I found it. It hasn't got a hard disk, just solid state memory.

That doesn't seem too bad for a bigger garage to do it. Bear in mind that 20% of that's going straight to the Downing Street drinks cabinet, and garages will use their normal parts supplier and mark the part up (because they're a business and they sell stuff) rather than spending an hour on ebay to find the cheapest and sell them on at cost. Most of on here would get the bits and use tools we already own to do a pair on the driveway for £20, but not everyone works that way. It's not a complicated job at all. Maybe see if there's a mobile mechanic by you, or a back street garage? Or if you fancied having a go by yourself, it should be easy enough with a trolley jack, an axle stand, a hacksaw and a few spanners (normally easier to cut the old ones off than try to undo them).

Yeah, still use one through a big pair of cup headphones when I'm on the tractor. The iPod fits in my top pocket better than a phone does, so I don't need a trailing cable.

Assuming your door seals look alright, I'd be saying it's time to get the carpet out and look for water traces. Not a fun job, but it sounds like you've done a decent job of exhausting all other avenues.

It might be the hard water round here, but I used the tablets it they clogged my jets up on a mk2 Octavia.

They have electric power steering, so not far.

Much as I'm sure it's head gasket between a coolant path and a cylinder, there's a couple of extra things you can do to be totally certain. I might be being a bit unfair, but I do tend to associate LPG with head gasket failures. -:When you turn the engine off, the header tank may bubble quite violently as the compression pushes through into the coolant. - Perform a sniffer test. - Give it some pedal and see if it steams out of the exhaust. I caught myself out recently on a car with a faulty egr cooler looking like it's got head gasket failure. There's nowhere on these where the exhaust and coolant run through the same component is there?

The parrot kit is most likely plugged in inline with the normal wiring. You can get an aux in adapter, but you'll normally have to unplug the changer to use it. It doesn't matter that you haven't got the MP3 head unit, they literally just take the audio signal from the headphone socket on the phone, so you can't skip tracks from the head unit controls or anything like that. I just have a Bluetooth speaker that I keep in the car, it's not amazing, but neither are the standard speakers.

In my experience, diesel in the oil on a PD that's running ok is more likely to be caused the o rings on the injectors leaking than the tandem pump failing. Worn cam would show as a rough idle, and be reasonably easy to spot if you take the cover off and have a look. If it's had decent oil it's whole life, there's not likely to be an issue.

I'd try to avoid having to do a significant repair on an aluminium engine, it just doesn't normally go well, especially if they've been overheated. I'd spend the time finding a second hand engine and getting it ready to fit in time for when the inevitable happens.

If you're going to run it til it dies, throw some "Steel Seal" in. It's expensive, but it works well. We've had some in one of the vans for months.

We've got cupra bushes on dad's 1.9 SDI, no cause for complaint at all with them. I've got polybushes on my VRS, and if I didn't need them for the adjustment they have, I'd have taken them off the day I fitted them.

Could be a brake disc, likewise, it could also be a tyre or a driveshaft. It might be worth swapping the back and front wheel round, one side at a time to see if it lessens the issue.

Check the MAF wiring for damage (it's pretty exposed) and make sure the sensor is getting power. Which engine does the car have?

True enough but I'd keep it topped up to hedge my bets as the contents of the tank move about as the car does. As I say, the only way to know you're totally safe would be drain and refill, but I wouldn't part with 50l of diesel that easily at todays prices Although if he did, I'd be happy to give it a home!

Just occurred to me that I think these engines have an egr cooler.

I haven't compression tested it, but it's failed a sniffer test (Hydrocarbon gasses in the coolant system). It pressurises the header tank and forces the coolant down over my 40 mile run to work. If you don't let the gasses out at the end, it starts loosing the coolant (guessing it pushes it back through the leak when the engine's off). Yeah, keep on running it's an option, but the heater goes cold as you drive it. K-seal and the like, I think it had some put in before I bought it, and I've got a new rad and heater matrix on it, so I don't really want to be dumping sealant into those. I'm happy to spend what needs spending on it, so I'm not necessarily looking for the cheapest option. I'm not adverse to going out and buying another cheapy (no point having a decent car living where I do and doing the mileage I do), my rule there is spend a grand and then put another grand aside to sort out any problems. The question there is would I be in a better situation than I would be if I fixed it? That and I'm having trouble finding anything diesel and auto in the budget that looks like a decent prospect.

Still not working for me, so I'll throw a stab in the dark - Have a look under the back of the car and see if your exhaust heat shield has come loose.

So, a year and a bit and 40k after buying a cheap Octy with a bit of a coolant problem, I've tried all the other possible reasons for the fault and I'm getting back to blaming the head gasket. It's a 1.9TDI 105. I'm not particularly attached to it, but it does its job well, and is good on fuel. I need a diesel because of my mileage and could do with an auto because of a shoulder problem. I'm fairly sure there's nothing else seriously wrong with the car, except at 200k, it's probably getting on for wanting a clutch pack doing. Do I: - Sell/scrap it for a few hundred and buy another banger for a grand or two? - Get the head gasket done? Anyone able to give a clue as to costs on this? Do they normally go back together OK? - Get a scrapyard engine put in? - Get the engine refurbed and a new clutch pack fitted while it's out (Seems to be about £1500-£1800)