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  1. #1
    DF VIP Member fireman2203's Avatar
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    Default Those RAC chaps sure have some great kit

    My mates car broke down the other day and i was with him. When the RAC chap turned up i was very impressed with the kit they carry these days. The problem was with the immobiliser on his merc so the RAC chap just put the details into his laptop and used his mobile connected by bluetooth to a main data bank somewhere and up popped the answers. He also had a few cd's with loads of data on them about common breakdowns, all top stuff.

    Does anybody have a copy of the cd's they use? They would be most usefull to me and id be very gratefull.
    Im off to a place of worship and wont be back till closing time

  2. #2
    DF VIP Member wadgey's Avatar
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    something like a hayes manual for everything ever built on CD? now that sounds good. let me know if something turns up.

    there was a cd doing the rounds on another board but it is crap. can't remember what it's called though.

  3. #3
    R.I.P. the_wizzard's Avatar
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    was probly the autodata cd maybe more? it is a very good fault finding tool with new cars (i prefere to stick my head under the hood)

    also this site used to be very good and have cds!!


    booboo
    Last edited by the_wizzard; 25th September 2002 at 01:54 AM.

  4. #4
    DF VIP Member Hybrid's Avatar
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    Personaly speaking...........I reckon only an untrained uninitiated mechanic would even consider using anything other than his\her own mind and mechanical knowlege to figure what was wrong with ANY car! The fact hese people need such things is a sad reflection on their serious lack of grip of the career they have chosen. Impbiliser? any immobiliser can break only a certain amount of circuits, It doesn't take mastermind to work out that there is no ignition because of a immobiliser fault, or indee that there is no power going to the fuel pump for the very same reason. I have no knowledge of the RAC's employment criteria, but.......I know for a fact that there are VERY few mechanics working fot the AA. IMHO, anyone that need any kind of electronic gadgetry to work out ANY problem on a vehicle of any sort, shouldn't be doing the job in the first place. Any mechanic worth his wages KNOWS where ANY problem lies WITHOUT the help of ANY gimmicks! In answer to your question............No, sorry, I neither have it nor need it.

  5. #5
    DF VIP Member MIKE M's Avatar
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    Being involved in the vehicle security industry for over 12 years if I had £1 for every time an rac/aa man blamed the alarm /immobiliser for the car breakdown I would be able to buy morphs lambo

    Mike
    Mike


    Im not bitter, Im a red

  6. #6
    Elite Member blued's Avatar
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    Originally posted by Hybrid
    Any mechanic worth his wages KNOWS where ANY problem lies WITHOUT the help of ANY gimmicks!.
    I wish this was true for round here. My car has a misfire that cant seem to be traced! I posted about it on here a while back I think. I've serviced all the parts to no avail. There is a local Audi/Seat/VW specialist who comes highly recommended who was more than happy to have a look under the bonnet for anything out of place and advised a couple of things to try. Unfortunately I still didnt get to the bottom of it and couple of weeks later I decided I should book it into him, he said that I could be looking at anything from £300-£1000 to have it sorted. This gave me the impression that,

    a: He was going to buy parts and swap them til it sorted it (which I could do anyway)
    b: He was trying to put me off because misfires are bloody annoying
    or
    c: He has a bloody high hourly rate!

    I've a post on Modshack and a member called Diode has found (using Autodata) that there is a different kind of NGK plug that is more suitable for my engine.. The ones I am using are listed nearly everywhere but I'm going to try the others. Anyway, I'm way off topic, just trying to point out that these cd's can be useful!!

  7. #7
    DF VIP Member fireman2203's Avatar
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    Where did you post blued so i can have a look and maybe offer advice
    Im off to a place of worship and wont be back till closing time

  8. #8
    Elite Member blued's Avatar
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    The post with the most info is here

    Its on DailyChat which is part of Modshack, if you arent a member let me know and I'll dig the post out that I did on DF and add some more info.

    Thanks for this

  9. #9
    DF VIP Member Hybrid's Avatar
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    blued < gimme the make and model of your car and describe the problem please. When did it start? did the onset of the problem coinside with anything else? I:E, M.O.T, service, rain, etc etc. You should also bare in mind that auto shops that don't have the EXACT part (spark plug) your looking for, will give you the nearest thing to it and say nothing about it to you.

    Tech Data CD's????? yeh, of course they are handy\good tools. Anything that gives you the relevant data for every car your liable to work on MUST be good, but the AA\RAC use different software, they use software to walk them through the obvious tests that should be the first thing they do ANYWAY. Electronics brought a great deal to the automotive industry, they brought precision to what was previously a high tolerance industry. The upshot of that is that today we have two types of motor engineers, the mechanic and the technician, the former can diagnose AND fix the car, the later can only change the part the mechanic or thae machine see's as faulty. ALL the major breakdown companies rely on 2 things, one is that you pay your subscription and don't break down, 2 is that you take advantage of their relay service so they can take YOU home and drop your car off to someone that actually KNOWS what they are doing. I know several people who work with such companies and they tell me that they are becoming more and more like salesmen every day. Do some research on the AA for instance and you'll soon see what orientates them and what other well known companies they own. Point is that they use software cos they HAVE to, we use it cos it helps! The only electronic device ANY mechanic needs is a Fluke and patience.

  10. #10
    Elite Member blued's Avatar
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    Thanks Hybrid.

    ok here goes,

    1996 Seat Toledo 2.0 16V. ABF Engine as used in the Golf GTI.

    I have a misfire between 3000-4000 rpm intermittently. If its misfiring when driven the idle is rough. It does it when its hot and cold, when its first started or when I've been on the dual carriageway for 20 minutes. Hot weather, cold weather, wet and dry. Basically I haven't been able to find a pattern.

    I bought the car and drove it home (about 100 miles). About a week later the misfire started to happen so I assumed it needed a service. So I serviced it with,

    Air Filter
    Spark Plugs (NGK BKUR6ET-10)
    Rotor Arm
    Distributor Cap
    Fuel Filter
    Cam Belt
    Oil Change

    Still the fault is there. I then tried a coil from a breaker.. (and as I type this I think remember you giving me some advice on this problem a while ago). Anyway coil made no difference.

    Next I took it to Seat who downloaded a fault log using the 1551 machine. No faults found. They suggested faulty leads (probably because I told them it was the only thing I hadn't tried).

    Changed the leads. Still the fault occurs. I then decided it was time to take it to the rolling road. Firstly we couldn't get the ECU to talk to the system he had so he did some diagnostics by emissions. After about 5 minutes on the rollers it started to misfire and the hydrocarbon levels increased showing that it was over fuelling, shortly after the misfire stopped he said that it was running lean, then the car went back to running perfectly. We couldn't get it to misfire again, even after letting it cool down. He says its an ignition problem possibly caused by the ECU and recommended that I see an Audi/Seat/VW specialist that has a garage locally.

    The specialist had a look under the bonnet and said he suspected it was an HT problem - he couldn't see anything amiss. I asked how much to have it sorted, he said anything from £300 - £1000+. I said I'll leave it for just now.

    I have a thread on dailychat and a member called diode used autodata to find that there may be some plugs that are better suited to the engine - NGK BK7EKU. When I put these plugs in I noticed that the old ones showed signs of overheating. I thought this could be the cause and maybe the new plugs would solve this. Unfortunately they didnt and the new plugs show the same signs of overheating. I spoke to the specialist about this and he said this is common and not a problem.

    Next I tried fuel with a higher octane rating - Esso 98 RON. This seemed to be an improvement at first but the misfire returned. I would like to try Shell Optimax but the nearest garage that sells it is a 50 mile round trip. I'll get some next time I'm in the area.

    The car can go a week or 2 without misfiring and then do it everyday for a week.

    I MOT'd the car in September and although it misfired on the way there after leaving it running for 5 mins or so and doing the emissions it passed - not sure if this has any relevance but the CAT and Lambda probe must be working?

    Could this be caused by an aftermarket chip? I ruled this out because I thought it would show on the 1551. I'm willing to try anything now! I want to get it sorted because I want to keep the car, Toledo's are under estimated. A VW in Spanish clothing, all the toys you could want and at a reasonable price!!

    Anyway this story will be available in paper back from December 1st at all good bookstores...

    Seriously though if you have any suggestions of what I should try next I'd be very grateful.

    Thanks

    blued

    PS I know what you mean about the technicians thing - although I call them fitters!

  11. #11
    DF VIP Member Hybrid's Avatar
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    First off, Sorry I wasn't here to get back to you long before now, I only just read your reply in this thread. You have a problem that is every mechanics nightmare and will be dificult to cure until the time comes when it goes from an intermitent fault to a more easily traceable constant fault. If the diagnostics returned no fault and found no record of any fault on the ECU, the problem is most likely, in my experience to be the distributor, which for some reason fails to be be picked up by the ECU. Your car should have a Bosch distributor which, in my experience used to be a good, reliable unit, but now seems to develop the same fault you describe for no apparent reason and never shows up on any tests. I know your in a difficult position and that buying an £80 - £100 distributor to replace one your not sure is the problem seems hit and miss, seeing there are a dozen other components that could show the same symptoms, but if I had your car in for repair, I'd replace the distributor. Hopefully you can source a "known good" to verify that the distributor is indeed the problem, but failing that, what other choice do you have? Give SEAT £300 upwards to start swapping parts tll they cure it? If indeed it doesn't just go away for a week or so till you've paid the bill and then returns as bad as ever. Keep me informed please, and, as I already said, Sorry I wasn't here to offer any help before now.

    Original Spark plugs are listed as
    Champion C6BYC 0,8 mm gap
    Bosch F5DP0R 0,6 mm Gap

    BTW, I forgot to mention that a high hydrocarbon reading tells you that the fuel is not being burnt efficiently or indeed at all, whether it be because the engine concerned is a dog thats burning as much oil as fuel, or, an engine that loses ignition which results in unburnt fuel entering the exhaust, so......... the fact that your cars problem is intermitent eliminates any chance of it being due to burning oil, therefore the problem must be because something is breaking down momentarily causing the engine to stop burning fuel efficiently and allowing that unburnt fuel to enter the exhaust system to be picked up by the gas analyser, then return to normal.
    Last edited by Hybrid; 12th December 2002 at 11:57 PM.

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