[peewee]

Thanks all, got it remapped yesterday. Diagnosis revealed 'error P20E8' which is Urea low pressure. Potentially requiring a new tank as it sounds from talking to Peugot dealer that to replace the adblu pump you replace the whole tank (for £1k...).
So had it remapped (adblu delete) for £200 and problem gone, plus a fuel economy tweak and it drives beautifully with more torque at low revs. Result.. hadn't really looked into the benefits of re-mapping before now.

Sounds like it could have been a similar issue to my partner's dads Berlingo, they had a low urea pressure as the pump was failing in the tank, a revised £15 filler cap later and resetting the light and it's not come back. the revision was a vented cap as the oem was a sealed cap causing a vacuum in the tank which made the pump have to work harder.

[petejh]

I looked into the cap issue - Peugeot issued a recall on the older unvented tank caps as they were causing the issue you describe. Mine’s a post-recall vented cap. I also tried running it without the cap to see if it cleared.
So not that.

[mr chaz]

Partner’s Fiat 500X has twice now had a warning message to say coolant overheating. Both times it disappears after a few minutes. Coolant levels are normal, last serviced in January, engine oil temperature normal.

Wouldn’t normally be too worried but we’re due to drive it in 30 plus degree France next week, and I’d like to not worry about it! Quick google suggest could be a leak, or faulty thermostat? Book it in for a diagnostic?

[Paul B]

Having owned a few Fiats they do have a flair for drama with their warning lights. My old Punto used to use the check engine light for absolutely everything.

Which engine is it? If it's shared with any of the other 500, 595 or 695 then there's a great wealth of knowledge over on FB (I had a 595 for a while). Likewise, if it's any of the engines shared with the Panda people are pretty savvy on the owner's group.

I think even my basic dongle (£10) allowed real time temperature monitoring on my current Panda 4x4 (I'm not near it to check). This could help you diagnose the issue yourself?

[tomtom]

Might be an airlock in the cooling system somewhere or one easy thing to check is the cooling fan coming on? You normally hear it kick in when idling (ie at traffic lights) on a hot day. You can check it yourself by getting the engine good and warm and leaving it to idle. Once hot enough the cooling fan should cycle on and off.. (as no airflow from moving through the rad).

[sxrxg]

If you want to get the coolant temperature down and continue driving then run the internal fan heaters on full as this draws heat from the engine. I have had to do this previously on an old car in very hot weather, not fun hot boxing yourself however it does allow you to keep moving at least.

[SamT]

If you try the 'putting the heating on full blast' but get no heat out the vents, it could be the water pump has gone.. this happened on my Mondeo recently. Plastic vanes on the pump fitted to metal spindle, notrious for the spindle and vanes to part company, so the spindle just spins, but doesn't drive the vanes round.  No water flow round the system and hence no hot air coming out the vents (and a very very hot engine).  No warning lights though, just happened suddenly on the motorway and obviously didn't fix itself, so probably a different fault. (just putting this here for general knowledge).  If its a leak, your coolant level would be going down, obviously, so fairly easy to diagnose that one, so best guess is a fault with the  thermostat.

[mr chaz]

Thanks all, that's given me a few things to go at!

[danm]

My trusty old van has finally failed the MOT, 185k miles so can't grumble too much. I've decided to replace her with an estate, any tips for options with a good reputation? I'm out of the loop given the van lasted more than 12 years, Skoda Octavia and Fabia used to be top picks. Anything else out there, are Toyota's still bombproof for example?

[Fultonius]

We did similar 2 years ago, switched van to estate. We had to get a euro 6 as we need to go into certain cities, so it was 2017 or newer.

We were mainly looking at focus estates, ocvatias, mondeos and out of the blue ended up with a Renault Megane Sports Tourer (estate) 1.5 DCi 130. While it is rated slightly less good than the others on reviews, we took it for a drive, it was the right price (bit cheaper than the other models) and it's been fine.

It drives well, pulls OK, servicing is quite cheaper. 53.4mpg long term (deffo not as good as claimed). One Ocun Paddy Dominator fits in the boot.Corners OK, but always gently hints that you'd be better off driving a bit slower...

Not a glowing review, but not a dog either....

[danm]

Thanks for the info - my days of ragging it to the crag are long past so it sounds like a good option!

[spidermonkey09]

Fultonius' advice is spot on I reckon. I looked at the same models and randomly ended up with a Subaru. I love it but it's got crap MPG, no better than the van. The newer ones might be better, so worth bearing in mind. Also really fun to drive.

Would be interested to hear how you get on because I found looking for estates quite challenging in my price range. Either really old or with absolutely monster mileage with little in between. Guess that suggests most people who get them stick with them!

[rodma]

We have a golf estate.

Decent mpg, as boring as you'd expect a car to be, fits two snap wraps and a boss hog in the boot.

Had it for slightly over 7 years now. We've the 2 litre gtd version, only real complaint is that the ride is a little on the stiff side to cope with the state of the roads

[Paul B]

My trusty old van has finally failed the MOT, 185k miles so can't grumble too much. I've decided to replace her with an estate, any tips for options with a good reputation? I'm out of the loop given the van lasted more than 12 years, Skoda Octavia and Fabia used to be top picks. Anything else out there, are Toyota's still bombproof for example?

What's your budget/age requirement and what's your level of comfort with mileage? Is Sheffside or anything else you do subject to CAZ (I'm assuming this isn't yet for personal vehicles?) or anything else that may skew your decision?

I still lament selling my Octy vRS.

[danm]

I'm unsure tbh. Part of me thinks that restrictions are only going to get tighter and I should futureproof as much as possible with a Euro6 engine, but that definitely pushes the butchers bill up somewhat. I've heard a few horror stories about people with modern diesel engines who don't do many miles and getting DPF issues, so currently leaning towards something with a frugal petrol engine.

[SA Chris]

we have a 10 yo diesel focus estate that only does about 5 hours of mileage a week and not had an issues DPF issues, we do put in a tank of "posh" diesel every 5th tank or so, and half a bottle of redex every 6 months or so. It's not allowed in LEZs though, which is a bit of a pain. 

[Fultonius]

I'm unsure tbh. Part of me thinks that restrictions are only going to get tighter and I should futureproof as much as possible with a Euro6 engine, but that definitely pushes the butchers bill up somewhat. I've heard a few horror stories about people with modern diesel engines who don't do many miles and getting DPF issues, so currently leaning towards something with a frugal petrol engine.

The modern frugal petrol engines don't seem an awful lot more robust than the diesels. What's your mileage in real terms? Under about 10k per year it's not massively worth worrying about fuel economy, as it's often offset by the additional purchase cost (which is definitely true for Euro6). We just decided we needed it, so it made it an easier decision. (and petrol wasn't an option at 12-15k per year.

The 2017 130 dci uses the R9M 409 engine which seems to suffer no DPF issues and is also the engine used in a load of Mercedes cars. Uses a timing chain rather than belt which is great - but there is still a bigger service at 70k for water pump and aux belts.

The only issues we've had are a faulty sensor, battery not holding enough charge for start-stop to work and air-con needing re-gassed. (all of which were fixed by the dealer within the first week). Since then we've had a bit of a sticky rear calliper which was losing us 4mpg - should really do something with that! (just changed pads and winding it back seemed to temp fix it, but I know it'll come back soon)

[Paul B]

I think I've asked this before but I'll have another go; do people have any thoughts on alternatives to Michel Lattitude Cross (235/55/R18 particularly)?

https://www.tyrereviews.com/Tyre/Michelin/Latitude-Cross.htm

They need to perform in pretty poor conditions, including access tracks to fairly remote sites which aren't well maintained (although if these are tight I take the Panda 4x4).

It's MOT-day for the Audi AllRoad and I'm conscious the tyres have been on the car since I bought it 4-5 years ago (although the mileage hasn't been massive) and at 170GBP/ea. that's a not a small bill on a car that I can't see me keeping for much longer.

[petejh]

I replaced the all-seasons on my peugeot expert van with continental contacts. Paid £165/ea. Happy with them, and good reviews. But van-rated (C-rated), so it was a different set of choices versus replacing car tyres.

[tomtom]

I think I've asked this before but I'll have another go; do people have any thoughts on alternatives to Michel Lattitude Cross (235/55/R18 particularly)?

https://www.tyrereviews.com/Tyre/Michelin/Latitude-Cross.htm

They need to perform in pretty poor conditions, including access tracks to fairly remote sites which aren't well maintained (although if these are tight I take the Panda 4x4).

It's MOT-day for the Audi AllRoad and I'm conscious the tyres have been on the car since I bought it 4-5 years ago (although the mileage hasn't been massive) and at 170GBP/ea. that's a not a small bill on a car that I can't see me keeping for much longer.

Why those over CC2's? They have alot of good chat about them...

edit: BTW, costco often have really good deals on 4x michelins...

[Paul B]

No experience of them personally. Another clean MOT today which means I'll go through Winter thinking I'll sell the car in the Spring, then Spring will be grim and I'll be too busy/lazy in Summer and I'll be right back to not having enough months remaining to sell it for a good price. Then repeat.

[andy_e]

Hi all, looking at picking up a cheap shed, ideally a classic VAG 1.9 tdi (1896 cc), but i'm seeing a lot of 2.0 (1968 cc) diesels, are these engines as good as the 1.9? Will they be as good to 250k as the 1.9 is? Cheers

[Steve R]

No.  the 2.0 = Lower economy, lower reliability, reduced longevity and over complicated aka bad engineering (egr, dpf, etc.)  bollocks all in the pursuit of fudging reduced emissions.

[andy_e]

Grand, ta. Will avoid!

[Fiend]

Heater matrix replacement #protips?

Had a sporadic coolant leak over the last 2 years, had various checks including a new header tank, but no fix. Comes and goes but worse recently. Now the heater has stopped heating. Thus seems to be a blocked heater matrix causing coolant to be pushed back and leak out of the header tank.

Am waiting for a quote from the local independent specialist. I know it's a shitter of a job as half the car has to be dismantled to reach the matrix. I'm expecting the wrong sort of big numbers. Anything else I can consider? Or any recommendations around Manchester?