Guides by Deckchair5

If you have the locking fuel flap then they inevitably will break at the hinge, usually you are in a filling station and they embarassingly just fall onto the ground. Don't throw it away! Here's pics of how I replaced the damaged broken plastic hinge pin with a screw for a stronger job than the...

Other engine sizes have a different electronic set up. I suspect that there will be many 1.2, 1.4 and 1.6 Stilos going around with the low speed radiator fan completely inoperative. It’s very quiet on low speed so most of the time you don’t notice it’s going and if the temp goes too high...

I thought I’d do a case study of injector cleaning on the Stilo as I had an ideal opportunity to take some readings before and after. I’d guessed my injectors were clogging up, no driveability problems but I’d taken some data readings over a 6 month period and knew my long term fuel trim...

Sorting a bad battery to engine earth As your car gets older then we are all likely to suffer from earth problems and particularly the main battery earth as it's very exposed to the weather. Symptoms might be the car starter turning slower than normal (just like I had) for no real reason...

There's many tools you can use to remove and refit these hose clips but here's what i use and the clips are removed and refitted in seconds just with a pair of cheap right angle circlip pliers Spot which end is the "open end" of the clip then, whilst squeezing the clip with the pliers like...

Removing heater control panel (light bulb changes etc) Firstly remove the radio. To do this you need 4 rods like this to push in the 4 holes in the radio front to release the catches. These rods are 125mm long. 4 long nails will do the job just as well. You want a diameter that just fits in the...

Checking your injectors electrical circuits You may have an injector fault and you wonder “Is it the wiring or is it the injector?” Here’s an easy method to check the wiring to your injectors 12volt is constantly supplied directly to all the injectors N70 (wire MB in this wiring diag for a...

How to set fire to your engine or look like you know what you’re doing with car electrics First you will need an anorak. Already got one? Fine Ok you need a multi meter, doesn’t have to be expensive, you can pick them up easily for less than £10 and almost all you will use on it is voltage and...

Ok You know the one! That horrid creaking from the centre vents, more so if you have air con as it’s temperature and dry plastic related. Now you’re going to get rid of it for good and get some peace. You’ll need to remove the centre radio (radio/ cassette player in this one) You’ll need 4...

It always happens at the worst times. You’re stuck in a traffic jam and your eng temp needle is rising but where you normally trust your engine cooling fan to switch on – it doesn’t – and the temp goes on and on rising towards the red band- “Warning engine overheat” “Oh Hell’s bells!”. Turn your...

This is well worth getting to know how to do so you can quick check your tracking for when you have dropped into that deep pothole or hit the kerb and you have £200 worth of tyres out front that are going to be wrecked. HOW TO CHECK YOUR TRACKING Tracking in France is called “parallelism”...

HOW TO REMOVE A STILO FRONT STRUT This is on a 1.6 engine Stilo - models may vary Ring a round and find a garage who will change the springs for you. Don't attempt to change springs on your own. A spring in the face is very likely and some of you are ugly enough already.:) Bear in mind the...

Solutions to a problem you didn’t know you had. Many Stilo owners will have had to change their brake light switch through ASR warning lights and brake lights not working or brake lights staying on sort of problems but for those that haven’t then I feel you should be forewarned of something that...

There's a few sources of squeaks to try on the clutch. Squeaks when depressing the pedal Slave cylinder is usually when you push the pedal down and a feeling of vibration too through the pedal as the piston moves along a dry surface under load. Greasing inside the slave cylinder bore does the...

For details about identifying D4 issues, please read the D4 FAQ. For further information, please see the discussion thread, here. A lot is talked about the D4 connector as mysteriously it didn't appear on early Maintenance CDs and is nicely hidden away from view. However, it is very...

The handbrake is meant to be self adjusting and usually works well. Sometimes people don't back off the handbrake before doing their rear pads and then it's all out of adjustment If it's just handbrake cable adjustment you're after then that's pretty easy. Remove the plastic guard at the...

HOW TO CHANGE YOUR DROP LINKS (OR ANTI ROLL BAR LINKS) IN 30MINS Well first of all you, do you need to change them? What’s the symptoms? A kind of irritating rattle over rough surfaces but no noise at all on smooth surfaces. Always there but doesn’t seem to get worse NB A track rod end...

FAULT Air in your clutch hydraulics system SYMPTOMS Clutch biting low, making gear selection difficult, clicking or crunching when selecting gears and your "bite point" moves when you "pump" the clutch pedal HOW TO BLEED THE CLUTCH SLAVE CYLINDER OF SMALL AMOUNTS OF AIR On the 1.6 it's really...

CLEANING THE INLET CONTROL VALVE/ THROTTLE/ IDLE CONTROL/ BUTTERFLY VALVE SYMPTOMS Unsteady and too low idle rpm cycling between 700 to 500rpm. No power at tickover as engine is struggling and it's easy to stall. You put the aircon on just to bump up the tickover a bit. Tricky to put on a small...

always disconect battery before working on airbag system For further information, please see the discussion thread, here. Here is my solution to those maddening red AIRBAG FAILURE warnings whenever you move either of the front seats. 3 door version suffers more because of the movement of the...