KenONeill

I realised there was something electrical wrong when I got the light show and the radio turned off and wouldn't go back on. I took it to the garage who said "the alternator isn't turning" and then "the clutch is stuck open". I'd only had the car 3 weeks, so Arnold Shark got the bill for diagnosis, parts and fitting.

Use the Furbie; life is too short to spend an extra hour doing a trip like that at truck speed.

What's disappointing is that Mustang don't appear to have given you any explanation as to why the engine might be plateauing at ~3_100 rpm. All I can think from what you've said and posted is that your injectors are hitting 100% duty cycle and physically can't deliver more fuel. It would tend to support this hypothesis (not diagnosis, insufficient data for that) if the rate the engine revs built at slowed down as you reached those revs.

Well, maybe. I had a stuck (open) sprague clutch on the alternator, which threw every warning light except the battery light and oil light, and turned off the radio and the ventilation fan, and recorded about 30 fault codes according to my garage. None of this recurred when the clutch was replaced.

Yes and no. Yes because they do make starting easier: No because they remain active for a minute or so after the engine fires. Now the tricky bit. On a direct injection engine (all 1.9D engines), the engine will fire but white smoke whilst the cylinders warm a bit without glow plug assistance. So the car could have been running with bad glow plugs for months, even years.

As @HeavyMetalRich says; I wondered about that before I even found out the car is a TDi. BTW, easy fault diagnosis is why it helps to put your engine type, and transmission in the model details in your profile.

Latest version of the Osram Nightbreaker series, but take note than "N% brighter" translates into "Sqrt(N) more range". So, for example 50% brighter means than a 100m range becomes 107m.

It makes me thing you have bad glowplugs. Being an SDi doesn't even make a difference here.

Likewise.

Latest version of the Osram Nightbreaker ( I think now NB++).

I said "decent fast fit places"; what makes you think I include Halfrauds in that list?

Would you be a team player when you were working your notice?

All that proves is that the faults haven't recurred, which is actually good fault finding by the indy.

Most likely thermostat, with the temperature gauge controller as a second option. Get a deep load test on the battery. Most decent fast fit places will do that free if they get the business should you need a new battery. Does the LED in the key fob light up when you press the buttons? If not, the remote control battery needs replacing. Based on the internal button not working I'd suspect an issue with the car to door wiring. You will need to continuity test the wires for this.

Cheapest thing to do would be linkage alignment; other likely causes are clutch hydraulics or friction plate. Whereabouts is the biting point?

Strongly suspect a bad earth connection in the LH indicator.

Possibly; certainly, depending on how overfilled the sump was, you could have had air whipping of the oil, clogging the PCV system, which may have an effect on the fuelling.

AKA "running rich". The same thing happens (at least with mechanical pump turbo diesels) if you use full throttle at very low revs, and even with electronic pump engines if you pop a boot hose, have leaky injectors, the engine starts dieseling because of a leaky turbo oil seal...

So what causes black smoke then, if not excess unburnt fuel?

OK. my car doesn't have any nannywear (unless you count ABS or a switchable traction control), but my insurance certainly does not state that installed nannywear must be used.

Yeah, but how do you know what work was done without an itemised schedule?

Price per unit volume of oil. So yes. Frankly, I'd want an itemised invoice for all works done, and parts replaced.

A one hour registration to Erwin will let you download all the Furbie manuals for about £10.

Almost certainly. If you want to check, maybe borrow a fridge magnet from a fridge near you?

That should work, more so on rougher surfaces than smoother ones, and faster courses than slower ones.