Fixing advice from our garage proprietor Steve Rothwell
VOLKSWAGEN SCIROCCO
The odometer had gone past the 200,000-mile mark nearly ten years ago, and the owner was still enjoying his 1990 VW Scirocco GT 1.8, though now covering only a few hundred miles a year in it. Garaged during the winter he was intent on ensuring it was going to carry on for a few years yet.
He was well tuned into the noises the engine made, and when he noticed a strange whine which altered with the operation of the clutch, he popped in to see me to enquire if I could find and rectify the problem for him.
With an assistant pressing the clutch pedal while I listened under the bonnet, the source of the sound was pinpointed to the clutch release bearing, which on this gearbox is not in the bellhousing, but at the outer end of the gearbox. The release arm presses on the release bearing which then pushes a rod which travels through the centre of the main shaft and pushes on the clutch cover.
This set up makes the bearing quite easy to replace, and it is quite often the case that this bearing is not routinely changed when the clutch is replaced.
With the new bearing in place, the clutch could be operated without the accompanying whine.
FORD KA
One of my customers had purchased a 2010 Ford Ka. He was happy with the vehicle, but the rear screen wiper was not working, and so he had phoned to ask if I could look at the problem to see why the wiper was not working.
A couple of days later he called back to say he that he thinks he has a good idea of the problem – he went on to say that it looks like someone has fitted the wrong rear wiper motor. He had removed the rear panel in the tailgate, and with clear access to the wiper motor and could see the wording on it which clearly marked it out as a Fiat, Lancia or Alfa Romeo part.
I told him to pop along, and I would check. I thought this was much easier than trying to explain to him that his Ford Ka was in fact built in the same factory in Poland as the Fiat 500 and so does share a wide range of the components with the Fiat.
When I checked the problem out, the wiper motor was in fact good and a poor earth connection to the tailgate via the loom was at fault. This was also affecting the heated rear window.
SEAT LEON
The owner of this 2005 SEAT Leon has asked me to check the vehicle over before the MOT test. A deal on the test through his insurance company was available, so the owner wanted to take advantage of the cheap deal but didn’t want to end up with the car failing and having extra costs.
He also mentioned that he had been flashed a
