Fiesta rescue…..

[Escadrille Ecosse]

What a little beauty. Give it a kiss and it might turn into a princess 

[Nick Jones]

I believe it has been named Fiona after Mrs Shrek….. “ogress green” 

[Nick Jones]

Bit of warranty work (all cars supplied within family carry a lifetime warranty ).

It suddenly gained a rather loud rumbling rattle in the cabin, but only at idle.  Difficult to diagnose via whatsApp, and not much easier in person.  Did finally get to meet it in person today and it turned out to be the engine vibrations (a 1.4TDCI idles like a tractor) being transmitted into the passenger floor by the fuel lines. These had managed to snap one set of brackets on the bulkhead so the fuel lines and the brake lines they are clipped to further back were getting quite a resonance.  Couple of tie wraps and some rubber inner-tube offcuts have cured it.  Strange one, but reasonably easy to fix once we'd figured out what the problem was.

[Escadrille Ecosse]

That's a somewhat unusual one. Good spot 

Our little green monster's version was the exhaust heat shields coming loose. Although after the first one the diagnosis was relatively easy 

[Nick Jones]

On 6/6/2022 at 8:15 AM, Escadrille Ecosse said:

Our little green monster's version was the exhaust heat shields coming loose

I fiddled with heat shields when I first got my hands on it.  At the time I was hunting for the dreadful clanking that turned out to be the rear axle beam bushes. The heat shields were hanging off in places (they corrode selectively at the mounting points) and probably were clanking as well.

It's back in favour again apparently.  Which is good.

[Nick Jones]

It’s misbehaving. The 1.4 TDCI is known for problems with the common rail injectors. This now has an occasional hitch/misfire and recently disgraced itself by dropping on three cylinders, going into limp mode an failing to get its mistress to work. Though it did manage to drag itself home.

Chris read the codes (inj circuit cyl 1 open or short circuit) and reset. It’s working again, but confidence is dented. It very likely needs an injector. Expensive and a fair effort. Probably really needs 4, but expensive enough to not do that!

Bloody cars…..

[Escadrille Ecosse]

They're ganging up.

[JumpingFrog]

One thing that used to drive me mad on my old Clio DCI, was the injector wiring loom, some garage at some point had broken most of the loom connectors for the injectors, randomly every 3 months it would drop down to 3 cylinders (I assume as the seals to prevent corrosion no longer did much). All it took was a wiggle and it would be back to normal. So worth a try, cleaning the connectors, given the cost of injectors and coding the ECU for them.
 

Shows how young I am that this is the same model that I learned to drive in.... I never liked it that much.

Edited October 31, 2022 by JumpingFrog

[Nick Jones]

Time to think about this again. It has not failed outright again, but does occasionally misfire and is regarded as untrustworthy. The bandit Skoda has been standing in….. but is also demonstrably untrustworthy!

Don’t think it’s a simple connections/wiring issue unfortunately. Forscan lead and software has been purchased, which should allow us to code any swaps made and we’ll either get a full set of used injectors from the scrapyard (added bonus of practicing the removal process) or, if not cheap enough, get one service exchange and swap out number 1.

[Escadrille Ecosse]

Received report that the front washers on our LGM stopped working. Plenty of water so planned to start with the fuse.

Had a look at the book and was surprised to find only one fuse for front and back washers. Turns out there is only one pump with two outlets, front and back.

Internet search indicates that this problem is not uncommon. Most likely culprit being the column switch. Push the end for the front washers. These are relatively cheap new and not hugely onerous to replace.

Search also suggested that the problem is usualy just the contacts getting gummy and that the switch can be split to clean them.

So decided to approach the job from the cheapest angle first and try opeing it up.

Turned out even cheaper.

Pressed the switch REALLY hard and hey presto started working again.

Just sometimes....

[Nick Jones]

23 hours ago, Escadrille Ecosse said:

Pressed the switch REALLY hard and hey presto started working again.

Nothing wrong with being lucky….  Hope it continues to work, but if not, I reckon the diagnosis is made.

[flatter4]

The single pump for front and rear washers is genius.  It runs one way for front, and the opposite direction for rear.

Whoever thought that cost saving up deserves a medal.

 

[Nick Jones]

The idea has been around a while.  Our Mk2 Golf had that arrangement.  The downside is the washer pipe that runs the length of the car, above the headlining, with joints.  I wonder what could go wrong with that....  To be fair ours only ever blew joints apart in the boot.

[Escadrille Ecosse]

12 hours ago, Nick Jones said:

The downside is the washer pipe that runs the length of the car, above the headlining, with joints

Give with one hand, take away with the other. Whoever thought that was a good idea needs a slap.

As is the now near universal great idea of putting the washer bottle low down in behind the bumper where you can't see the level and when it freezes there's no engine heat to unfreeze it.

Small Triumph washers with the bottle high up in plain view and basking in the warmth from the engine is hard to beat.

[flatter4]

...plus the ability to squirt some fluid with the (hand) pump - prior to turning the wipers on and smearing the sticky grime they spray on the roads over the screen.

With a modern it's only after the grime smear that you realise the fluid is frozen.

PS. I add a generous squirt of meths to the washer fluid to lower freezing point this time of year.  It saves having to use neat/expensive washer fluid

[Nick Jones]

8 hours ago, Escadrille Ecosse said:

As is the now near universal great idea of putting the washer bottle low down in behind the bumper where you can't see the level and when it freezes there's no engine heat to unfreeze it.

Very true. The freezing also sometimes splits them and its a major dismantle-fest to change it. Progress huh?

7 hours ago, flatter4 said:

plus the ability to squirt some fluid with the (hand) pump - prior to turning the wipers on and smearing the sticky grime they spray on the roads over the screen.

With a modern it's only after the grime smear that you realise the fluid is frozen.

Yes! More progress. The next step on is heated nozzles, so the water gets to screen an instantly freezes taking you from poor visibility to zero…

7 hours ago, flatter4 said:

I add a generous squirt of meths

Hmm. Meths contains methanol which eats most rubbers…. Not ideal for the rubber impeller pumps, as I’ve found to my cost.

[RedRooster]

We use methanol neat sometimes, no one likes the tool that needs it, QHSE & PPE nightmare. 

 

[Escadrille Ecosse]

3 hours ago, RedRooster said:

We use methanol neat sometimes, no one likes the tool that needs it, QHSE & PPE nightmare.

And here's me keeping a bottle or two of methylated spirits in the garage that I use for cleaning stuff

But having worked in industry I understand the hoops.

[Nick Jones]

2 hours ago, Escadrille Ecosse said:

And here's me keeping a bottle or two of methylated spirits in the garage that I use for cleaning stuff

Me too.....

[Escadrille Ecosse]

The green machine pooped in the corner again the other day. Went out in the evening to find the NS headlight bulb had failed and then got home to find that it had also thrown off the NS front wheel trim.

Headlight relatively straightforward as I had cleaned and lubricated all the screws about 6 months ago when I did replaced the sidelight..... !

The wheel trims are a right pain. Must have gone through at least a complete set over the years. And they are not cheap.

However found these on ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/364042721529

2 for 14.99 in stead of best part of £30 for the genuine article.so thought I'd give it a shot.

Arrived today. Obviously direct copies of the Ford part with some tape stuck over the 'Ford' bit in the middle when they took the mould. Otherwise fine. You just have to clip in the metal retainer ring yourself. Hardly a chore

The oxymorn on the box made me chuckle

[Nick Jones]

Yes. Good result.

Ours arrived with 3 wheel trims, two well scuffed. I looked on eBay for a single replacement, but ended up buying a complete set of only moderately ugly aftermarket ones for £20, which was less than I could find a single used matching one. I then sold the three originals on eBay separately (as a public service obviously) and made a small profit. 
Of course, it had a disagreement with one of the many potholes of Devon recently, so back hdown to three trims again and a new kink in the rim as well. Super…  At least the tyre survived and has stayed up….

[Escadrille Ecosse]

9 minutes ago, Nick Jones said:

Of course, it had a disagreement with one of the many potholes of Devon recently, so back hdown to three trims again and a new kink in the rim as well. Super…  At least the tyre survived and has stayed up….

It's bloody relentless now. Fortunately the steel rims are reasonably malleable and hammer out fairly easily.

[Nick Jones]

It’s still dragging itself around and even passed another MoT without comment. Though we know this particular MoT man leaves his guide dog in the office as he continues to pass the Skoda without comment…… 

The “cure” for the injector problem has been to ignore it. It still hiccups occasionally, but keeps going.

I suspect it would appreciate an oil change….. (that’s a hint!)

 

[Escadrille Ecosse]

19 minutes ago, Nick Jones said:

The “cure” for the injector problem has been to ignore it. It still hiccups occasionally, but keeps going.

Replacing the plugs recently (they had only done 110,000 miles) and leads cured ours of the hiccups.

[Nick Jones]

Yeah….. plugs. Remember our Focus developing hiccups and discovering that the plug gaps were something daft due to the electrodes being almost gone. New plugs restored normal service.

Sometimes the first indicator is blown coil packs as the rising voltage needed to jump the gap overwhelms the insulation.