May 2007
Sunday 27th May 2007
The flashing glow plug lamp fault occured three more times on the 2.2 Mondeo last week, and the weird thing is that every time, I'd accelerated from a standing start, reached 6th gear, and around 2000+ RPM the fault occurs. The ECU goes in to Limp Home mode, the Turbo is in effect disabled, and the only way to reset the car is to turn the ignition off and on again. If I can get past the problem, she'll pull way past 3000 RPM in 6th, and keeps pulling like a train. Most odd. The Mondeo is booked in for more diagnostics work, but looking on the Internet, it appears to be a common fault with the Ford TDCI engines.
The front CV's also appear to be failing. I'm getting clicking sounds on full lock when negotiating car park spaces. Given the car has covered just 38000 miles, most of which has been on the Motorway, I'm afraid the vehicle isn't going to make 50000 without a major failure.
Sunday 13th May 2007
It rained a hell of a lot at FITP today. I arrived at 8am, unloaded the Fiesta, and parked the car on the Performance Ford magazine stand. A bit of spare time meant I gave the car a quick coat of polish, and then it started raining. And once the rain had set in, it never really stopped all day. The Huntingdon Race Course is an ideal venue. Access is a lot easier than Wicksteed Park, and the venue seems much larger. It could do with a few more trade stands. I bought a Richbrook tax disk holder for the Audi, which I fitted at lunch time whilst sheltering from the rain. I had a chat with Ian Howell (Fiesta Frenzy) about building me a 240BHP Turbo charged Zetec. I'd need to replace the DTA ECU with a Pectel item, and make a few other mods to the car, but basically, it sounds like a great package for the XR2. Something for me to think about during the offseason anyway.
I collected the Mondeo yesterday. Despite it losing power twice in the last 900 miles, there was apparently no fault code registered in the ECU, and the dealer said it was a blocked air filter, which they've repaired, whatever that means. The Mondeo also needs a pair of new rear wheel bearings. I've obviously been pushing it too hard round corners. 37,000 miles on the clock and it needs new rear wheel bearings? I did complain about a noise, but I didn't suspect bearings.
Saturday 12th May 2007
Another busy week, I've racked up another 570 miles on the Mondeo 2.2 TDCI, which has developed a very strange fault. After some spirited driving, the turbo seems to stop working, and the glow plug warning light starts flashing. I've had this happen to me twice in the past 7 days, so the car went in to the dealers yesterday for the 37.5K service, and at the same time, a repair to prevent the fault from re-occuring. Ford loaned me a Fiesta 1.25, which is very slow, and has a hideous interior. I wouldn't buy one. I get the Mondeo back today, and hopefully the cause of the fault has been found and cured.
Its the Fiesta in the Park show tomorrow (Sunday) at Huntingdon Race course (on the A14). I'll be there, come rain or shine. The forecast says rain, unfortunately. And its the Midland Speed round at Shelsley Walsh tomorrow too, where everyone will be hoping for new class records on the fresh tarmac. However, if it rains, it could be dangerous, as the hill is very unforgiving in the wet. Good luck to everyone tomorrow.
Saturday 5th May 2007
I fitted the Audi RS6 rear spoiler at lunch time today. Collected it yesterday from the paint shop, and made a fitting template last night out of some cardboard. Followed a set of instructions from Audiworld on how to remove the trim from the inside of the bootlid etc. I used some masking tape to allow me to mark out the position of the four holes I had to drill. I started with a 3mm pilot hole, and then used the conecut to enlarge them to the right size. The spoiler has been bolted to the boot lid, and stuck down with the self adhesive strips supplied. I used silicon sealant around the bolts to prevent any ingress of water in to the boot. The finished result looks great. Took me an hour to fit it, quite a simple mod really. Looks quite factory, that was my intention.
Tuesday 1st May 2007
Shelsley Walsh hillclimb has been resurfaced, and looking at the photo's on the M.A.C. site, it looks like a very high quality Tarmac has been laid. The Midland Speed Championship will be visiting the venue on May 13th. I hope the new track isn't too green though, as that could make it very slippery, and we know how tricky the top S and bottom S are if there's been any overnight rain. And I still think that the trees at the Esses should be felled, they cast too much shade on the track and prevent it from drying out as quickly as the rest of the track following overnight rain. http://www.shelsley-walsh.co.uk/2007_20070418_2.htm
