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Do you have a problem on your vehicle and need free advice ??? Then why not call the English Car Surgeon, Bosch trained technician and mechanical engineer.

English Mobile Car Surgeon

English Mobile Car Surgeon

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FORD FOCUS 1.6 PETROL Customers instructions Cam belt replacement due to age of vehicle. The cam belt was being replaced as the car had just been purchased and even though it was low mileage no prior history was available as to when the belt was last changed. We commenced stripping down the top half of the engine removing the engine mount to gain access to the engine covers containing the cam belt. The rocker cover was also removed as we needed to gain access to the rear end of the camshafts so we could insert camshaft locking tools. The alternator belt was removed and the cam belt covers then removed, from the rear of the engine the timing plug was removed and the tool inserted so as to be able to time up the crank shaft. The crankshaft pulley was removed and the camshaft belt also removed. The old belt was matched with the new and fitted to the vehicle the engine was re timed and all pulleys re fitted the engine was rotated in direction for two turns and the engine timing was re checked. All parts were re fitted and the engine then started all was okay job finished. Under inspection of the old belt a few cracks were noticed between the teeth of the belt and also was noticed the belt was an original ford and looking at the mileage of the vehicle probably its original belt but better safe than sorry as cam belt failure can cause major disaster to the engine itself so the advise is if at all possible always have the belt checked if there is no passed service history etc etc.

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BMW 535 DIESEL Customer complaint loss of power and then engine cut out. Carried out diagnostic check this came up with exhaust pressure sensor. The vehicle fired up but would not rev up above 1200 rpm where upon aloud hissing noise could be heard from under the vehicle. Upon closer inspection we found the exhaust flexi joint on the down pipe to be cracked. The down pipe which contains the catalytic converter had to be removed. To do this we had to remove all obstacles to gain access to the large clamp that held the front down pipe to the secondary turbo, we also unclipped the oxygen sensor and the heat sensor and removed the front pipe. The whole down pipe with catalytic converter along with both sensors would have to be replaced it was also noticed that the catalytic converter was blocked solid with soot from the engine gases. We also examined the secondary cat which was also blocked the whole exhaust was removed from the car and split into two and due to the costs involved in replacing both cats the customer along with our discussion decided to replace front down pipe with a de cat system, this removes the catalytic converter to allow the gases to flow more freely. The secondary cat was then steam cleaned with hot high pressure water until the water flowed freely through it. Everything was refitted to the car along with a new pressure sensor. We then commenced the removal of the inlet manifold swirl pots, this was to be done due to our last examination finding them to be in very poor disrepair. The inlet manifold was removed and the swirl pots removed from the manifold and replaced with blanking plugs. The swirl pots had started to collapse and debree was falling into the combustion chambers. The job of the swirl pots is to open and close in the inlet manifold to allow metered air into the cylinders and as they are not needed a removal is the best option as now full air flow induction is allowed giving more power to the engine due to a better combustion. The manifold was refitted with all new gaskets and the engine was ran, a new diagnostic was preformed no more faults and a road test was preformed and full power was now back. One very satisfied Customer This is now one Aw some machine. 😉😉😉

English Mobile Car Surgeon

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FORD FOCUS 1.6 PETROL 2004 Customer complaint car failed itv on warning light on the dashboard. On visual inspection the light was from the airbags. We plugged in the diagnostic equipment which came up with numerous faults to the airbag systems. We carried out a inspection to the airbags and the seat belt systems all were okay, so a decode on the diagnostics to clear the fault codes and then a re code of the system came up with just one fault. This turned out to be the airbag ECU. We removed the ECU from near the handbrake and opened it up. The first thing we came across was a bad smell of burnt plastic and then upon inspection it was found a couple of diodes were burnt out, this has probably been caused by the battery being charged in correctly. A new ECU was then purchased from Fords directly as it had to be coded to the car and could only be done by the main dealers. The hand brake covers were refitted and a last diagnostic check was carried out and all faults cleared. The car was then taken to the itv station and passed no problem.

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VAUXHALL / OPEL ASTRA CONVERTABLE 1.6 TWIN CAM Customer complaint engine very noisy and lacks power. After listening to the engine and test driving the car we found the noise to be coming from the camshafts vanos units. We stripped the area down and found that somebody had changed the cambelt not long prior and had caused damage to the retaining bolts that hold the vanoses in position. We began strip down removing the rocker cover as this had to be done so we could set up the camshaft timings using special tools which lock the camshafts in position and the variable camshaft pulleys. The engine was timed up to tdc camshafts locked cambelt slackened off and the variable camshafts pulleys removed,this gained access to the two oil seals on the camshafts these had to be changed as they were leaking oil. The parts were purchased from the UK and then were fitted to the engine the cam timing was reset and the belt adjusted, the camshaft pulleys were tightened with the new bolts the special tools removed a new rocker cover gasket fitted and then the rocker cover was then fitted to the car, the engine was then turned over by hand twice, the engine timing re checked to make sure it was all correct then the car was started on the key. After a few seconds all noise had gone and the oil was circulated around the engine the level was then re checked a diagnostic preformed and all faults cleared car running back to normal.

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RANGE ROVER SPORT 2.7 DIESEL Customer complaint car will not start. The customer informed me that the car ran for 3 days while they were over on holiday then cut out and was gruar back to the house. They had the battery changed for a bigger one but again after a few days it went flat, this then led us to believe there was an electrical fault in the system. Upon inspection we found that the battery had fully discharged so we connected a set of jump leads to another vehicle so as to be able to turn on the ignition plug in the diagnostics and check for stored faults on the ECU. The diagnostics came up with numerous faults on the electronics on the car which all pointed to a power surge to the battery/charging system, we removed the battery and took it away and charged it up. A few days later we returned with a fully charged battery which was fitted to the vehicle and then started up. It was then that we noticed that the battery warning light was staying on, using a volt meter across the battery we found that the charging rate was only 12 volts and suspected that the alternator was no longer working. We then drove the vehicle to our workshop and began the process of replacing the alternator. After close examination the alternator was found on the off side bank tucked under the engine cylinder head, the area around the alternator was compacted with covers turbo hoses water pipes and electrical wiring. We removed and stripped down the parts around the alternator which then became visible and allowed us access to the retaining bolts. After removing the alternator belt and the securing bolts we managed to unplug the alternator from its electrical connectors which by the way we had already removed the negative terminal from the battery so as not to cause a discharge from the main electrical connector to the alternator. An important note at this point is if you are doing any major work to a vehicle and you have to disconnect the battery you only remove the negative terminal and if you are changing the battery the negative terminal is removed first then the positive and on refitting the battery the positive is fitted first and the negative last. The alternator was then prised from its fitting point and removed from the engine bay, the new one was checked against the old one for correct amperage and both units were identical. The new alternator was then fitted and all parts removed then re fitted the negative terminal was then re connected to the battery all levels were re topped up and the engine started, the volt meter was then re connected to the battery and a reading of 14.8 volts was then obtained the battery warning light on the dash board was checked and had extinguished the diagnostics were re connected all old faults stored on the ECU were removed and a new code read came up with no faults found. Job finished, the conclusion as to why the alternator failed was found to be a very heavily contaminated engine bay with hardened mud, this had been caused by going off roading through river beds which had caused silt to enter the windings of the alternator. The car was then delivered back to its owner.

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CITROEN XSARA 1.6 Hdi Customer complaint car will not run. This job turned out to be one of the dirtiest head jobs I have ever done. After speaking to the customer and being told that I was the third mechanic to look at this car, prior work that had been done was all four injectors removed and cleaned and he was then told that the engine was lacking compression from the cylinders and a new engine would have to be fitted. This is were it became interesting and as my old saying goes if man built it man can fix it. Removal of the inlet manifold and the injectors we found that a massive carbon build up which was caused by a split EGR hose which had been replaced along with a new EGR valve. We informed the customer that the only way around this was to remove the cylinder head and do what we called a full de coke. After timing up the engine and removing the timing belt and all and all the parts around the cylinder head the head was the removed. What we found was unbelieveable, not only was all the inlet air in take system fully blocked with carbon but the back of the valves/ cylinder head and the cylinder bores were also contaminated. This is why it was classed as having no compression as the engine could not suck air into the cylinders. All the valves were removed the cylinder head was completely de coked and the valves were cleaned and then ground into the valves seats but due to the amount of carbon the seats in the cylinder head had been burnt and the cylinder head was then sent away to have the valve seats diamond cut. After all the valves were re fitted a vacuum check was preformed to make sure none of the valves were leaking. The cylinder head along with all new gaskets was refitted to the engine and all parts removed refitted. The car was started and a road test preformed this found the car to be lacking power and black smoke pluming from the exhaust a code read was preformed and it point to the EGR system but having been told a new EGR had been fitted we decided to remove and physically check it. Upon inspection it was found that a new electric body for the EGR had been replaced but not the EGR valve itself, the valve was seized in an open position which was allowing the exhasut gases to be constantly induced into the air intake system. The cheapest way out of this for the customer was to block off the EGR. A kit was purchased and fitted and a new road test preformed power was back up to what it should be as the turbo was now preforming correctly after a few miles the smoke diminished and the car was back to normal and re united with its owner who was one very happy man. A lesson to be learnt from this is once your car starts to smoke from the exhaust and starts to lack power have it checked out before the carbon build becomes over excessive.

English Mobile Car Surgeon

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BMW M 535 BI TURBO DIESEL Customer complaint Engines lacking power smoke from exhaust under acceleration car going into limp home mode. I diagnostic check on this car didnt come up with a great deal of information so a manual investigation was necessary. The customer informed me that the fault had occurred whilst driving through France this is when he also noticed the smoke from the exhaust system, he also mentioned that he was losing water and thought possibly a head gasket failure. Past history on the vehicle on work done a new throttle body had been fitted a set of glow plugs and a glow plug relay was purchased as this was suspected by another mechanic to be the faults. This was not to be on close examination and a road test we found the water leak to be the elbow water supply to the EGR system the loss of power was traced to the turbo charger air supply pipe to the throttle body, this had split on the top rubber hose and had badly oil contaminated the front of the engine and around the inter cooler. Work then commenced the pipe was removed and found to be split a up graded kevlar hose kit was purchased and the old ones were removed and replaced with the new blue ones. The new plastic elbow was fitted to the EGR system to stop the water leak, as the customer had already purchased new glow plugs and a relay he asked me if i would fit them, this involved the removal of the inlet manifold as the glow plugs and the relay were hidden underneath it. The glow plugs luckily enough all came out and then were replaced but the relay was a lot more tricky as its hidden underneath the wiring loom and the water pipes, this also was badly oil contaminated. On examining the in let manifold we noticed that the swirl flaps had started to disintegrate, the gaskets also on the inlet manifold had started to wear away these were siliconed as a temporary measure until new gaskets and swirl flap removal kits could be purchased. When we came to refit the manifold a rattling noise was heard from inside and upon investigation and shaking of the manifold a screw and a large lump of carbon fell out which we showed the customer, the screw we presumed had probably been dropped in there by somebody doing prior work to the car in the past, had these parts fallen into the engine this would have been catastrophic and caused sever engine damage. All parts were re fitted levels check and topped up and a road test preformed car was back upon power and a new code read proved no faults found.