1.6HDi coming our way - Please Help!

[steve_earwig]

I think we perceive time as a proportion of our life, so the older we get the faster it seems to pass. My dad's 83 and he reckons the years are just whizzing past.

Must be worth the oil changes for peace of mind.

At least me dad's pickarsehole thing is petrol, even if it does possess the Gearbox of Doom. I spoke to him a few days ago and it no longer seems to be pissing coolant out, however he now reckons it takes too long to warm up and the fuel consumption is terrible. I suspect airlock or knackered/missing thermostat. It's turned out the place he bought his C5s from no čonget sells cars but can still do warranty work, and he gets on with them, so I've told him to take it there to check it out, rather than going to the clods that sold him the arsepicker.

[Welly]

Aside from the concerns you've mentioned, what's it actually like to own and drive ?
Or compared with a 406.

It's mediocre really. The driving position is horrid because the pedal box is too far back from the bulkhead so you slide the seat back to work the pedals comfortably and then you're too far away from the hand controls so you end up driving it in a really lazy and awkward fashion.

MPG is showing 43MPG over the last 7000 miles don't know how true that is.

Wind noise and straight-line stability is an issue, gets blown about a lot.

It's alright but I wouldn't buy one with actual money. I've spent about £1,200.00 on bringing the car up to a reliable standard.

[Bailes1992]

And the Astra is still running hunky dory.

Actually the airbag light is on as of last week, the gearbox is a very notchy and getting worse and it could really do with a new steering rack. But it's totally reliable. We took it to Birmingham and back last weekend and it did 42mpg.

I'm sure regular oil changes and a regular run every 2-4 weeks and the little 1.6HDi will be fine. My little 1.5 variant of the same DV6 constantly surprises me.

[trufflehunt]

Aside from the concerns you've mentioned, what's it actually like to own and drive ?
Or compared with a 406.

It's mediocre really. The driving position is horrid because the pedal box is too far back from the bulkhead so you slide the seat back to work the pedals comfortably and then you're too far away from the hand controls so you end up driving it in a really lazy and awkward fashion.

MPG is showing 43MPG over the last 7000 miles don't know how true that is.

Wind noise and straight-line stability is an issue, gets blown about a lot.

It's alright but I wouldn't buy one with actual money. I've spent about £1,200.00 on bringing the car up to a reliable standard.

Thanks for that. I'll probably pass on one of those.

My HDI 110 was a bit of a workhorse when I bought it 4+ years ago, and I occasionally wonder what I'd replace it with.
Thing is, for me, it's got a really nice combination of comfort, cruise, handling, economy, quick enough for me.... just a nice feel to it,
and doesn't look particularly staid.

[Bailes1992]

Made a bold move on my DV6 last weekend. Volvo specifies a 0w30 A5/B5 oil for their DV6. The 0w30 oil will have better cold flow and protection during cold starts, especially the winter months. This of course comes at a cost, 5 litres of Ford specification 5w30 oil usually sets me back £18 and the Castrol Edge 0w30 A5/B5 comes in at £36!





Oil changed using the normal sequence of getting the car red hot, removing the oil filter, removing the sump plug and leaving the oil drain for an hour. The sump plug is on the O/S of the engine so I always try to put the N/S wheel on a kerb to get as much oil out as possible.

I have noticed that the initial start up valve train clatter stops a little quicker and the engine feels less 'lazy' when cold. Fuel economy has gone up slightly from 58mpg to 62mpg but it usually goes up slightly after an oil change.

[Welly]

I expected a tale of disaster there with stripped threads, massive oil spill, car falls off jack etc but no just an oil change performed correctly.

Please tell me you spilt the old oil all over the place?

[Bailes1992]

I expected a tale of disaster there with stripped threads, massive oil spill, car falls off jack etc but no just an oil change performed correctly.

Please tell me you spilt the old oil all over the place?

I forgot to jam a load of paper towels under the oil filter so I did drop some on the floor. I sprinkled some cement over it and let the rain sort it out.

[Welly]

What's the chances of BOTH headlamp bulbs failing at the same time? well that's what happened to the C4.

Imaging my horror as the call came in on-route "I've got no headlights"

Thoughts turned to the Auto Lights thing, the multi-function* stalk and all sorts as you'd never imagine both bulbs would fail in tandem but that's all it was. Luckily being a Volvo owner I happened to have 2 x new H7's in stock

[steve_earwig]

What's the chances of BOTH headlamp bulbs failing at the same time?

Maybe y'wife's been driving around for a few months with one headlamp, wondering why the lights are so crap?

Voltage regulator issues?

Playing bumper cars?

Made in China?

[Doggy]

They often seem to fail at almost the same time, (which shouldn't be a surprise if they're the same age).
As Steve says, the first one might have gone unnoticed for a while.
My dip beams seem to be good for almost a year/20k miles, no matter how cheap or pricey they were to start with.

[Welly]

I had changed one of them about a week before but only had an old working spare to replace it with...so ordered a new pair in so I guess they would have failed about a week apart if I hadn't have noticed. It's just weird how the 'old' replacement failed on the same day as the other working original. And if you understand that you win a prize.

Strangely* this C4 has a ferocious appetite for Bulbs especially the rears.....sign of trouble ahead? WCPGW etc....

[Doggy]

My old Xsara ate W5W front sidelight bulbs, I wound up changing them in pairs when either one OR a headlamp bulb failed, (the headlights were H4's and seemed to last much better than the 406's H7's)

[Welly]

Incoming reports are stacking up from Mrs_Welly about "jerkiness", "gear-change confusion" and "it can't make up its mind what gear to use" etc..

Demands were made for a practical demonstration.

Her: "THIS is the junction I pull out from in the morning, and I need to do it quick because: traffic"

Me: "Ok just do what you'd normally need to and I'll observe from the passenger seat" (with the stone-cold engine ).

Her: "right it's clear now so .........................

HOLY sh*t!

1st gear and full-throttle with 50% steering lock........wheel-spin..........traction control*......gearbox screaming "HELP what do you want from me??" and eventually 2nd gear was mustered up and calmed down. Now I know the gearbox won't allow changes with any sort of steering lock so the exercise appeared to be normal but brutal.

Me: "the wheels are spinning so the car will start to hold back" (see earlier jerkiness)

Her: "oh"

Me: "you could press this little 'S' button on the transmission tunne........"

Her: "I'm not messing about with silly buttons".


Actually though I have noticed at parking speeds the clutch 'travel' seems more than it should with an awkward delay after pressing the throttle. I'd read about this EGS gearbox/clutch and after a while it's supposed to have the clutch re-calibrated to allow for wear, fair enough. Then I've found a 'dirty fix' or what insiders call the HARD RESET this I'm told involves stopping the car somewhere quiet, selecting 'Auto' and literally go full F1-style flat out until the car reaches 3rd gear and that's it! the clutch is now reset I'm not convinced by this and don't see trying it out ending very well. Apparently though the Shitrun Dealer can do a software update and calibration for a "reasonable cost"..........

[Bailes1992]

Sounds like you'll be replacing the front tyres on a very regular basis!

[Doggy]

You could use the winters for that.