All Car Manufacturer Articles

All Car Manufacturer Articles

Significantly, and according to information I have had. So, scanners/cameras are placed across and along the full length and width of every motorway lane. As a result a radar picks you up as stopped in a motorway lane.

Naturally, the authorities are supposed to be on hand immediately to attend your broken down vehicle. So, and move you off the motorway. So, You legally sit there in your broken down vehicle. Whatever lane you are in and nobody is likely to run into the rear of your vehicle and kill you because of two reasons.

mot testing and car servicing

Peugeot 206 Misfiring-Including pulling problem-Fuel Injector problems?

Peugeot 206 Misfiring

Peugeot 206 with engine problem

So, when you own a garage in the same town as a main dealer. You are more likely to get second and third hand cars in with problems. Of course, rather than the customer taking their car back to the usually more expensive main dealer. And why not! In most cases we have just as good equipment and knowledgeable staff, as the main dealers anyway. If we get stuck with a technical problem. Importantly, we have also got a network of people who specialise in the make of car. So from where the problem has arose. So, we can always rely on their help if such an occurrence arises.

The problems that can happen are usually electrical and although we have an array of scanners and computers, they don’t always get down to the problem and we have to seek help from friend who is a specialist in that field. This however did not apply to one of the jobs that a customer left with us the other week.

Peugeot 206 started OK but did not pull on hills.

The car was a Peugeot 206 2001 model and had started up on a morning, with no problems. At first the car drove along OK, but after about ½ an hour, the car started to lose power. The Peugeot 206 was still drive-able but he did notice a lack of power?

The car was also able to accelerate away when required, but his foot was down to the floor. He said that he thought that the car was asking for more fuel and had to keep it into a lower gear, say third instead of fourth. He said that a few years ago the 206 had a catalytic converter failure and the symptoms felt very similar.

The guy left the Peugeot 206 with us and Ryan decided the best plan was to plug the car into our scanner and see if anything showed up there. We often get similar problems with these

Sometimes the owner says that the engine feels like it is misfiring

Such as a guy who recently called in with his 206 Gt. This one ended up having an injector problem and we fixed it accordingly.

The scanner we used was a Solus Pro from Sun equipment. Subsequently, came up with a fault code R0270 Injector cylinder 4 circuit. This was a very clear indication what the problem was .

So, we contacted the customer with a price so that we could go ahead with the job. One important thing to remember about these injectors. Significantly, is that on French cars such as the Peugeot 206 they are changed as follows. Firstly, the number 1 injector is at the gearbox end. Secondly, the number 4 is at the driver’s side. Importantly, it is easy to replace the wrong one.

It has been known that the wrong injector has been changed? Say number 2 could be mixed up with number 3. This would mean that you may have changed the injector, but would still end up with the same engine problem and this has probably happened hundreds of times, by DIY car repairers.

After we were given the go ahead by our customer, Ryan ordered the new part and fitted it on its arrival. The code error then cleared and the Peugeot 206 was back to normal and collected by its happy owner.

Pellon Tyre and Auto-centre offer car and van servicing and repairs to all makes of vehicles.

Shock Absorbers- Nissan Micra

Shock Absorbers- Nissan Micra – MOT Test-Failure if they are Worn and Leaking

Shock Absorbers

Shock Absorbers- Nissan Micra

Shock Absorbers- Nissan Micra

The most frustrating thing about shock absorbers and struts, (which are basically the same thing) is that they are sealed units and although they are classed as maintenance free, they will

very often start to leak. In some countries shock absorbers are known as dampers, because that is exactly what they do they damp down and level out the bumps that your car is picking up as it drives along the road.

Depending what the model of your car is, then the shock absorbers should be changed at certain mileage intervals,

If you are not sure what this is then you can perform a simple bounce test. All you have to do is to press the corner of your car a few times with your body weight and then stop the bouncing. Once you stop then your your nissan micra should settle back down straight away, if it bounces again more than twice then the very often start to leak. In some countries Shock Absorbers- Nissan Micra are known as dampers require changing. You do this procedure on each corner, bouncing the car and then releasing it.

In my opinion this is not a very satisfactory way of checking your shock absorbers, but at the moment I have not seen a satisfactory machine that will do the job. The best machine that I ever saw and consequently bought was a tester that was sold by SUN equipment.

You drove the car onto vibration plates, which shook the cars suspension very violently and then suddenly stopped. The action of the shock absorbers was then recorded on to paper printouts via an ink needle, similar to the ones used in hospital heart machines. If the pattern was tight then the car shock absorbers were good, if they were wide, then the shocks needed replacing.

This was a great machine because it produced a print out so that the customer could see the state that his shocks were in. ironically the machine was scrapped by Kwik-Fit after I sold them the business and I don’t think that they are made any more.

How do Shock Absorbers work? Shock Absorbers- Nissan Micra

Some cars never have their shocks replaced, but with age the ride of your car will get bouncier and the cars steering will be all over the place when cornering, although this is sometimes

blamed on the cars tyres it is more often than not the shocks shock absorbers that need changing.

As I have said earlier, the most common problem is the fact that they leak oil. If this is the case then they will need changing. Any kind of shock absorber works on the same basis. There is a piston rod that enters a chamber that is filled with oil. The piston has oil seals to prevent leakage.

As the piston is compressed by the weight then it takes the force of the road surface and the car. Your shocks take all the up and down pressure (bumps) and the cars chassis remains level, or as level as possible whilst driving along.

When the shocks are worn or broken then you will get an uneven ride in your car. I think that the worse culprits of this are on cars that are used as Taxis. You can often feel the older cars bouncing up and down as you drive along, and apart from alcohol, I am convinced that this is one of the reasons that people are sick in the back of a Taxi.

Shock Absorbers- Nissan Micra
Struts are normally fitted at the front of cars and are fitted inside a coil spring unit.

These are known as McPherson struts and just like the shock absorbers, they can leak oil. These struts along with the springs that they are inserted into can very often break, and the symptoms  are rattling and banging noises coming from the car when going over bumps in the road, This is another problem that the potholes can cause. “Broken springs

An old perennial that keeps cropping up is that when a shocker has to be replaced then should they be replaced in pairs. In my opinion this is a grey area, the manufacturers always recommend that you fit two, and I think that this is the perfect scenario, but in practice the customer wants to get away with having to spend as little as possible and in general only has the one fitted.

The rule to this is simple, if your car is relatively new, then just change the one, the one on the other side should still be good, but if the car is an older model then you should change the shocks on each side of the same axle, backs or fronts. This will give you an even ride and more stable cornering.

Normal shocks are fairly easy to change for the home mechanic

But the struts are more difficult and require some special tools, such as spring compressors and so I would take your car to a local garage, for the work doing.

Shock absorbers nissan micra oem, Shock absorbers nissan micra cost, Replacement shock absorbers nissan micra, Best shock absorbers nissan micra, nissan micra shock absorber price.

oil and engine warning lights

VW Polo Performance Problem-Calls in with bad Performance Problems?

A VW Polo day?

So, after the school summer holidays have finished. Fortunately, then we start to get busier in the garage repair side of the business. Happily, the tyre side starts to pick up nearer November, with the approach winter.

Like many other garages we try to plan our work schedules. Booking the various car repair jobs in accordingly.

One particular day last week when we were fully booked up and very busy. Subsequently, a breakdown truck turned up on the forecourt with a black VW Passat on the back. Firstly, the car looked to have had a small front end shunt. Because, the front wheel was sticking out at an angle. The VW Passat was a 2009 TDi and the car had been bumped when parked up in the local supermarket.

We pulled the VW off the trailer and pushed it onto a ramp. We soon discovered that the front wheel had been hit and had completely bent the steering arm. This had totally disabled the car from being driven. The remedy was easy; a new steering arm was fitted and the car was given a Laser Wheel Alignment to correct and re-set the steering. The owner picked up his car and went home happy.

Next car with a engine problem

We were not so lucky with the next car that was booked in for the engine shuddering and banging. The car was a VW Polo 1.4 TDi 2002. It belonged to a friend of the family’s son, who had just passed his driving test.

The VW Polo had been left with us and we took the car out for a road test to try find out what the problem was. The first thing that we noticed was that the clutch had gone, but there was other things going on at the same time, it was a mix-match of problems. We were well trusted by the customer and so decided that we had to fix the clutch first. We removed the clutch housing and found that the clutch had indeed gone.

After replacing the clutch the VW Polo did go a little better, but the engine was definitely not right, it was shuddering and juddering.

VW Polo Mass Air Flow Sensor (MAF) had to be checked out.

The MAF sensor is the instrument that checks the temperature and the weight of the air that is entering the VW Polo engine. This information is then sent to the on-board computer, which calculates the correct amount of fuel that the engine requires to operate at.

The sensor works by measuring the current that is required to check the temperature while the air blows past. The MAF will start to clog up with dirt and other particles over time and this blockage is the thing that can cause your engine to have problems. The symptoms are exactly what was related to this problem. Poor starting, the engine would not run properly and would not accelerate, especially up hills.

Clean MAF sensor

Some people say that if you can clean the MAF sensor at regular periods then these problems would not arise, but we have always found that we have had to replace the part. Importantly, we also fitted a new air filter and the VW Polo was a different car. It was road tested and the change of the MAF sensor revitalised the car, back to normal engine functions.

We also noticed that the steering had got a knocking noise and a vibration and on inspection found that the car also needed a Front Arm rear bush. We fitted this new bush and adjusted the wheel alignment. Here at Pellonautocentre we can repair all makes and types of cars.

It was an expensive day for the customer, but you would be surprised how many of our customers drive their car until it drops to pieces, nothing new there?

Just a few problems that we can get: in a busy garage.

Also sell Pirelli Car Tyres online from our website.

mot testing and car servicing

Suzuki Servicing neglected-Owner Misses out on Servicing causes a Bigger Problem

No Suzuki Servicing could end up costing you a fortune?

This is not just one of my rants about car servicing but I think that it is important to give a few sad cases of what can happen, when the car owner neglects to have their Suzuki Servicing.

carried out at regular intervals.

We all should be having our Engine Oil checked at regular intervals, if your car’s engine is in good condition and operating correctly, then you should not have to use any oil to top up the engine. In my opinion there are a few variations to this theory and one of them is if you are traveling long distances at high speed. Then it would be possible that your car may need to have an oil check when you arrive at your destination.

Modern cars will have an Oil Level Warning Light but older cars may not, so it is best to check the level just to be on the safe side. In fact I had an experience myself on a recent trip to France. I drove my two year old Peugeot Partner van 700 miles to a Rufec in the Charente area of South West France. The following morning I went to the local supermarket for some odds and ends, when my oil level warning light came on, much to my horror.

I know that my staff had serviced the van before my journey

and I too checked the level before I set off on my journey. I stopped the van and turned off the engine so that the oil level is allowed to settle down, to get a correct oil level reading. Some dip-sticks are impossible to see, but mine was just below the minimum mark on the dip-stick. I was still in the supermarket car park and so I bought a two litre can of 10w-40 diesel oil (this is what the van used).

As I topped the engine up I kept checking the level, but found that the engine did not need much oil at all. I think some of the oil sensors are very sensitive, but your engine oil level is

very important, just as the young guy with the Suzuki Swift was about to find out. Another important piece of advice is, when you are topping the engine oil up again, then put the oil in a small amount at a time, it is just as important not to Overfill the engine with too much oil, this could cause too much pressure building up in the engine, causing all sorts of expensive repair work.

The Suzuki did not have any servicing for two years at least.

The only warning that he had, was when the car engine started to make very loud noises. Unfortunately, this was on the M62 motorway. Doing 70mph in the third lane. This was followed by a cloud of black smoke. Frighteningly,  followed by a complete loss of power. Luckily, the guy managed to manoeuvre the Suzuki across the carriageway and onto the hard shoulder.

He suspected the worse and called for recovery from a roadside assistance phone box on the motorway. The guy was either lucky or a very skillful driver! As I am convinced that this sudden loss of power is the cause of many motorway accidents.

The recovery truck brought the car into our garage in Halifax, Yorkshire . Urgently, we started the postmortem on the lifeless Suzuki. We checked on the history of the car on our computer system. Finding out that although the car had a few MOT tests over the past few years. We did not have any record of Servicing a Car. We asked the guy if he took the car to any other garage for his Suzuki Servicing. Frighteningly, he told us that we were the only place that the car had come to?.

The previous owner also brought the car into us

So, to be looked after it was at the Suzuki Dealers. Indeed the last service had been three years ago. The car was a Suzuki Swift 1.6 petrol 2007 model and looked in good condition! Apart from the engine.

It became obvious to Ryan Linton that the engine was completely gone. So, caused by a lack of engine oil starving the Big End Bearings due to lack of Servicing. That is to say also damaging the crank and much more.

The owner of the car was a 26 year old man. Consequently, who led a busy life and did not have time for his car. Hence a thing that is most common these days. As for the car we found that it would be more economical to fit a re-conditioned engine. With the whole job costing around £2500 to the customer.

The lesson to be learned is to have your servicing carried out at some sort of regular intervals. Finally, this guy is not the first and will not be the last. But look at the price that he had to pay in the end?.

vans for sale

Finding The Correct Van-That Suits Your Business

Finding The Van That Suits Your Business

Finding The Van That Suits Your Business

For businesses like our auto company, having vehicles capable of transporting equipment and staff is vital. One of the best all-round vehicles is a van, but there are so many different options to choose from, meaning that it can be hard to make the right decision. A business vehicle is a big investment, so it’s important that you find the one that suits your organization. Here are our tips on what to look out for when you’re searching for your ideal van.

Think About What You Need The Van For

The initial decision you need to make when searching for your perfect business van is what you’re going to use it for. There are many different types of business van to suit a variety of uses, so review what you’re going to use the van for before you start visiting dealerships. Work Out If It’s Worth Branding Your Van
Putting your business’s branding on the side of your van could be a great way to get some free publicity and improve your brand recognition. However, if you’re unable to fit a lot of details onto the van, then this could be ineffective and pointless. Think about the branding and what you want to add to your van before you make a decision on the size and type of van your business needs.

Consider The Best Finance Option

Vans are an expensive investment, and if you don’t have the money to buy the option you want then you’ll end up with a substandard vehicle. Explore the various financing options available to you to see if one of them will help your company to afford the vehicle you want. Alternatively, you could look into van leasing in the UK to find a lease that will save you money and allow your company to use the latest model.

Test Drive Different Vans

Whilst the size and capacity of the van is important, you also need to choose a vehicle that’s comfortable to drive, particularly if you and your staff plan to put in a lot of miles. Make sure that you test drive every van you’re considering before you make a commitment. If more than one team member will be driving the van, make sure that you all test drive your shortlist before you make a definitive decision.

If You Need Multiple Vans Get A Fleet Management Solution

For some businesses, one van may not be enough to carry all the supplies that they need, and in this case you should look into getting multiple vans. It can be a struggle to keep up with the activities of more than one vehicle in a business, so invest in a fleet management software product that will allow you to manage your fleet effectively and ensure that you get the most out of your investment.
Choosing a van that suits your business can be a challenge, but by following these tips you can find the perfect vehicle to give you and your team many years of enjoyment.

new vans

Thinking of Selling Your Car? Here Are Some Tips for Getting Your Money’s Worth

Thinking of Selling Your Car

Thinking of Selling Your Car

Buying a good car is like making an investment! Because you could earn a decent profit when selling it. However, most people don’t know how to go about doing this and will sell their old car for much less than it’s worth – just because they want to get rid of it as quickly as possible and make room for their new vehicle. If you’re a little savvier than this, then you probably want to squeeze every penny that you can out of your car. And so, in this piece we’re going to be sharing our top tips for getting your money’s worth when it comes to selling your old vehicle. 

1.) Good Maintenance

If you want to make a decent profit when selling your car, you should develop a long-term strategy for doing so. This includes properly maintaining the vehicle whilst it’s in your possession. When you don’t take care of your car, it’s resale value significantly decreases because fundamental issues start to arise. For instance, if you don’t regularly check the tyre pressure, this can lead to them becoming worn down. Rather than sitting on these problems, nip them in the bud before they develop into something worse that damages the vehicle in the long-term. Nobody wants to buy a broken car, after all.

2.) Scrap Companies

If your car is unsalvageable, then you probably won’t be able to sell it on to a new owner. However, this doesn’t mean you still can’t get a little cash along the way. Rather than disregarding it or allowing it to collect dust in your garage, instead you can turn it over to a professional scrap company. We recommend using Scrap Car Kings as they are specialists in their field and will provide the very best valuation of your vehicle. This means you can get every penny your old car is worth.

3.) Fixer-Upper

Your old car is probably still worth a lot of money – it’s just a little run down. In these circumstances, we recommend fixing what’s wrong with the vehicle before going on to sell it to others. Nobody will buy something which has loads of expensive problems attached to it. Replace broken parts or install new alloy wheels, whatever it takes to increase the resale value. Just make sure you can still make a profit at the end of the day. Perhaps consult a professional mechanic for help in this regard.

4.) Focus on Aesthetics

People are much more likely to buy something which looks good. The same applies to old cars. As such, it might be worthwhile giving your vehicle a new spray paint job or installing a swanky new stereo for the dashboard. These before and after transformations can be pretty remarkable, plus exponentially increase the resale value of your car – especially if the model was a limited edition. 

We hope that you have found our advice helpful and that you are Thinking of Selling Your Car for a decent amount of money.

Keep Your Car Safe

Keep Your Car Safe-3 Ways To Keep Your Car Safe When Not Driving

Keep Your Car Safe

Keep Your Car Safe

When you own a car, you will know all about road safety and what to do when driving. What you might not be aware of, and what is not taught during driving lessons, is how best to protect your car when you’re not driving it.
It happens more often than you’d think. You park up and go to bed and notice the next day that your car has been damaged. How do we prevent this?

Where You Park

Firstly, and crucially, where you choose to park is important. You may have a favourite spot you always park in that’s close to home or close to work that’s tricky to get to. Perhaps your spot is slightly ramped up on a curb. You might not notice anything at the time but it’s possible that driving up and down on this spot daily is slowly damaging the underneath of your car. Potentially causing issues further down the road that could be costly.

There are some tips to prevent issues underneath your car such as regularly cleaning to stop rust building up and considering better places to park your car. Even if there’s no issues when parking underneath your car, that doesn’t mean there aren’t issues with parking elsewhere. Cars and vans being parked underneath trees cause damage all the time when storms
hit, obviously this is more circumstantial but it’s worth considering when parking for the day.

Car Mats

One thing that people sometimes don’t think about too often are good quality car mats. When getting in and out of the car you will press onto your car floor. Some vehicles, especially vans, will have a soft bottom, a more industrial non-covered part. So, when you’re stepping onto the bottom you could be slowly damaging the floor to cause dents and other issues.
So, it’s important to get high quality car mats from proven sellers such as Mr Car Mats. You can get one to suit the motif of your vehicle as well as one that suits your needs. Remember, cleaning your car mat is important as your shoes will go on here daily and dirt can build up very quickly.

Valuables And Goods

Having valuables in your car when you’re not in is usually considered a bad idea. It doesn’t have to be anything considered expensive either. If you were to leave even a jacket in your car that’s visible that might be enough for a potential thief to break open your car door or window to steal it. You could live without the jacket, sure, but then you’ve got to deal with repairing the damage which would be much more expensive than one item. So, make sure every time you’re leaving your car you take anything that could be easily stolen, no matter how expensive or cheap it is. The police recommend this all the time.

Summary

These are just some ideas to get you thinking of car protection when you’re not on the roads. You should always take care with cars and know how best to keep them safe. There are other ways to keep your car safe if in doubt.

Cars and Climate Change

Electric Car Servicing-Buying An Electric ‘Compliance Car’? Think Hard About-

There are now more than a dozen plug-in electric cars for sale in the U.S., but not all electric cars are created equal.

Eric Roberts’ insight:

Electric car Servicing

This is an interesting article about the difficulty that the American motorists could experience when wanting to repair or service their electric battery operated cars.

It tells of the state of California giving the car manufacturers a quota for a number of vehicles, that they are to supply as compared to normal gasoline engined ones.

The problem is that the amount of electric car servicing garages are in short supply, especially Toyota.

Fundamentally, the question on my mind is “whatever happened to the Right to Repair Laws” ! Naturally, that are in operation in the United States and in the European Union. Significantly, this states that service garages should be given the access to  technical details. Including all the cars that car manufacturers are making.

So, why can’t the regular garages service these cars? In fact recently, I paid an expert on electric cars to brief my staff about the impending influx of electric cars. Special equipment is required  ! Because these vehicle are extremely dangerous ! Of course due to the possibility of electric shocks.

Because of certain restrictions then it has always been a strong suspicion of mine.

So, that this work will be kept away from the independent garage sector. Resentfully, Electric Car Servicing will not be open to us. In many ways they cannot be blamed for wanting to protect all their investment and development. However, every other product that has ever been produced. So, would have had to start out somewhere!

Accepting this is difficult for me and  this won’t stick with me. Consequently, we should all have a share in this market as we do today. I hope the EU are looking at this, so that they can legislate against the car makers protectionism ! Giving us all a in the garage business a fair deal. Thus allowing us to carry out Electric Car Servicing, alongside petrol engine car servicing.

Importantly, we can service the “Hybrid cars” and indeed do so.

Hi I would like to introduce myself. Working in the Garage and tyre and Battery business now for 40 years. So. Working for a couple of national tyre companies before starting my first business. Of course, I now own a company here in the UK called Pellon Tyre and Auto-centre. Blogging about anything to do with cars and their related products. Naturally, that will help my business.

See on finance.yahoo.com

mot testing and car servicing

Ford Focus-Duel Mass Flywheel – Driver heard a noise when clutch pedal pressed?

Ford Focus Duel Mass Flywheel, clicking noise?

Certainly! A dual mass flywheel, also known as a DMF, is a type of flywheel that is commonly found in modern vehicles, particularly automobiles that are powered by diesel engines or high-torque engines. Its position between the engine and the transmission makes it an important link between the two components of the vehicle.

In contrast to a single mass flywheel (SMF), also known as a simple solid disc that rotates in unison with the engine, a dual mass flywheel (DMF) is made up of two flywheels that are physically separated from one another by a number of springs and dampers.

The crankshaft of the engine is connected to one of the flywheels, while the input shaft of the transmission is connected to the other flywheel. The two flywheels are able to move independently of each other thanks to the springs and dampers, which contributes to a reduction in the amount of noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) produced by the drivetrain.

When the engine and transmission rotate at different speeds, the springs and dampers in a DMF work by soaking up and releasing the energy that is created as a result of this difference. Because of this, the experience of driving is made more comfortable and less noisy, particularly at low speeds and when shifting gears.

However, DMFs are more difficult to construct, which makes them more expensive, and they are also susceptible to wear and tear over time. Failure of a Duel Mass Flywheel can result in a number of issues with the vehicle’s ability to be driven, including vibrations, rattling noises, and other problems. The removal of the transmission is typically required in order to replace a DMF, which is a repair that can be both time consuming and expensive.

duel mass flywheel
duel mass flywheel

In a nutshell, a dual mass flywheel is a component

that, when installed in modern automobiles with high-torque engines, contributes to the reduction of both noise and vibration. Even though it makes for a more pleasant driving experience, replacing it may be more expensive than the installation of a single mass flywheel.

The driver of this Ford Focus presented his car to us. He explained that he could notice a slight change of noise in the sound of the engine followed by a sort of ticking noise?

When asked when the noise occurred he said that it was when started to press the clutch down, to about halfway. Then after the halfway point the noise clears up? The same happens when the clutch is released.

When the car engine is idling, or when you are just driving along, then there is no noise. Then when your foot is off the clutch (either in neutral or driving in gear) there is no noise.

He said that he noticed for the first time, about a month ago. Ryan my service manager thought straight away that the problems pointed to the clutch and perhaps the Ford Focus Duel Mass Flywheel.

The Ford Focus Duel Mass Flywheel is made of many small components and clicking or ticking sounds, point towards the DMF (duel mass flywheel). The sound was only slight and the noise was covered by the car radio.

Alex tackles Ford Focus clutch job !

At first we recommended that the guy should leave well alone and to see if anything else would develop. He agreed with us and went on his way.

We never saw the car again until a month later? This time the noise became a little louder.

Ryan still suspected the Ford Focus Duel Mass Flywheel as being the problem. We took the car in and split the gearbox from the Focus engine to inspect the DMF and clutch. The clutch release bearing and slave cylinder were examined and found to be OK.

Some reasons for the diagnosis of a problem with your Duel mass Flywheel are as follows:-

1) If you have a slipping clutch; if the cars revs become higher but cars speed does not increase, or it feels like you are riding the clutch when driving along or changing gear. Or sometimes you can smell the pungent smell of the overheated burning clutch.

2) Strange unfamiliar metallic noises (sounds like a rattling chain or bag of knife and forks being shook about). This noise will stop when the clutch is depressed then return of release.

3) If your dual mass flywheel has been wearing for a while then your starter motor may start to slip/spin, when you are starting the car.

The driver with the Ford Focus Duel Mass Flywheel problems came to us in good time. The DMF had started to break up and was replaced, along with a new clutch plate. So if you do hear these noises take it along to your local garage to be examined.

Solar Storage Batteries

Solar Panels to be fitted on the roof of this Ford Concept Car

BBC News

Ford Is Making A Concept Car With Solar Panels For A Roof

Huffington Post

What do Superman and the Ford C-MAX Solar Energi concept car have in common? Both receive power from the sun.

Eric Roberts‘s insight:

Solar panels on car roofs a great idea but not a new idea

So, in my opinion this idea from Ford motor company is one of the biggest step forwards yet. Especially, in the quest for the electric cars! Enabling, them to cover more mileage.

Significantly, this car could be run on solar energy from Solar Panels . Even when the car is running about ! Consequently, the batteries will also be charged. Developments like this will be a big step in the right direction ! So, I can envisage all EV’s and all electric cars will have this technology. Incorporated in the cars electric system. Aiding charging.

This is not the first time that solar panels have been used to power cars

 

So, I believe that it will be the first time that a major car manufacturer. Has incorporated solar panels onto an actual model.

Consequently, a guy called Ed Passerini ! Was probably the first man to invent the first solar powered car ! Way back in 1977. After building several smaller prototype cars. He eventually built the solar car known as Bluebird.

More recently in 1983 two Australian’s, Hans Tholstrup and racing driver, Larry Perkins . Managed to drive a solar powered car from Perth to Sydney. Totaling 2566 miles a great achievement ! The vehicle was called the “Achiever”. Equipped with a solar cell panel fitted to the roof. Hence, that charged 2 x 12 volt lead acid leisure batteries.

Batteries charged for use after dark

So the charged batteries were to be used for use when the Sun was behind clouds or even in darkness. Many of today’s Solar Panels and solar energy equipment had not even been invented back then, so the electrics they used were pretty basic. They had an electric motor to drive the car with a basic type gearbox that could only have the gears changed when the vehicle was stopped. The acceleration was done by either using 24 volts or 12 volts, the 24 volt was the fastest option, depending on the amount of battery storage.

Other recent tries at utilizing solar energy were carried out by the larger auto companies such as Ford, using them in the headlights.

See on www.huffingtonpost.com