Hi. I bought a bravo a few weeks ago and it's the worst thing I've ever done. It was ok on the test drive but a couple of days later there was a plume of grey/white smoke from the exhaust and it's been downhill ever since.The smoke hasn't returned since then and it went away as soon as i stopped accelerating.
The problem is that the car will lose power randomly on a motorway. It will go from 70-80 mph right down to 40-50 mph. It used to stop completely and I'd be stuck on the hard shoulder for 10 minutes b4 I could start the ignition again but i learnt to ease off the accelerator when it started to do this. It will now slowly build up speed again if I drop down a gear or two.
Also it is very stuttery around town and off the back of a long journey. I have learnt that high revs when the clutch is pressed in generally sorts this out but I must be wasting a lot of fuel at the moment. Errm, also I don't think the thermostat is working properly. It can take a good 25 minutes when left standing for hot air to come through the heaters. This isn't right is it?
I've been reading this forum for a couple of days and notice particular models have definite recurring problems. I'm not mechanically minded and am relatively poor. If I was to take it into a garage it looks like it could be any number of things and could prove to be very expensive before they diagnose it correctly. I have tested the sparks and leads but that is as far as I can go without help. I was hoping people might know of specific faults with this model that I should be aware of. A friend suggested a problem with a fuel filter as he had similar problems with a Golf but to my knowledge, the filter is built into the pump in this model and rarely needs changing so I have swerved that for the time being.
Any advice would be very welcome. Thanks in advance.
The problem is that the car will lose power randomly on a motorway. It will go from 70-80 mph right down to 40-50 mph. It used to stop completely and I'd be stuck on the hard shoulder for 10 minutes b4 I could start the ignition again but i learnt to ease off the accelerator when it started to do this. It will now slowly build up speed again if I drop down a gear or two.
Also it is very stuttery around town and off the back of a long journey. I have learnt that high revs when the clutch is pressed in generally sorts this out but I must be wasting a lot of fuel at the moment. Errm, also I don't think the thermostat is working properly. It can take a good 25 minutes when left standing for hot air to come through the heaters. This isn't right is it?
I've been reading this forum for a couple of days and notice particular models have definite recurring problems. I'm not mechanically minded and am relatively poor. If I was to take it into a garage it looks like it could be any number of things and could prove to be very expensive before they diagnose it correctly. I have tested the sparks and leads but that is as far as I can go without help. I was hoping people might know of specific faults with this model that I should be aware of. A friend suggested a problem with a fuel filter as he had similar problems with a Golf but to my knowledge, the filter is built into the pump in this model and rarely needs changing so I have swerved that for the time being.
Any advice would be very welcome. Thanks in advance.
