Hi!!!

Yould some of the knowlegeable chappies on the Forum please suggest how I can fix my Brava TD100 "Old Betsy" please?

I have:-

1) A judder on setting off from rest no matter how carefully I try and do it! Also sometimes it runs out of steam on occasions and then will give amomentary surge of power at odd times without warning, which is potentially dangerous in a queue!!

2) Diffulties starting from rest at traffic lights, etc., in hilly districts related to 1) above - I noticed this particularly yesterday evening at the numerous light controlled junctions in the N Bradford area, many of which are on the top of hills!

3) The Glowplug light is flashing for over a minute after each startup. Associated with this when the engine is cold is a fairly large amount of bluish smoke, little or none at running temperature. It does seem to pull better when cold as well, unusally enough!

The temp. gauge never rises higher than the 'N' mark even in jams, and there's no signs of disappearing coolant that I can see - I topped it up 2 weeks ago and there's no signs of it
having gone down in the expansion bottle!

4) Manky diesel-like fumes in the heating - after I've driven much more than 15 min with heating on I get a headache, and my friend who likes to go shopping with me as a passenger has complained about this as well!

Sorry for the length of the query, I'd like a few opinions before I take it anywhere to see if any of this is home-fixable!

Many thanks,

Chris Williams

sounds to me like all she needs is a decent new set of glowplugs and a full service..
when was it last serviced, and were the plugs done as part of that service?

Buzz
The champion of the Bravo 1.4 & now ex owner of a Bravo 1.8

I was having problems 1 and 2 on my car when I first got it. New sparkplugs and ignition leads sorted it though. I'm assuming the diesel equivalents will fix it too.

Buzz, I never thanked you for the advice on that btw. So cheers

Hi Chris,what is the milage and age of the Betsy? and how long have you had her??

Cheers scotty.

Tez, happy to help.

Chris, re-reading the above, i notice you also mention the temp guage? i dont know where N is, but you should have a halfway mark, which is where the needle should be pointing once its warmed up. If its staying too low, try letting it run at idle for about 5 or 10 mins once you've already been driving (ie its already warmed up in theory) If it slowly rises towards that halfway mark, and possibly even eventually gets to it, when stationary then your thermostat almost certainly needs replaced. Its not expensive, and not TOO fiddly to do once you get those weird fiat jubilee clips off the coolant hoses.

Before spending anything i'd be wanting to check its last service. It sounds like your juddering and low power are glow-plug faults. Your glowplugs shouldn't have to light for more than 10 seconds. i know its hard to believe, but its summer just now. i know my own take a few seconds longer on frosty mornings in the winter...

Buzz
The champion of the Bravo 1.4 & now ex owner of a Bravo 1.8

Juddering could be clutch??

Diesel don't have spark plugs or HT leads so don't try and get some


Might just be a diesel filter blockup tho.... should service a diesel every 6,000 miles!!!







Tommy K - Have you got the Bottle!!

Tommy is right,mines was giving a slight judder if i wasent delecat with it,and then the thrust baering went.

Scotty.

Hi1

I bought her only recently on 17 May and the odometer showed about 56,750 then, it is now currently 58,650 approx.

I don't know wether its been "clocktified" or not but the V5 shows no less than six previous owners, surprising for the mileage but not the age! - it was first Registered as New in the UK during Feb. 98.

I always thought digital mileometers were much harder to wind back but my friend at work said "not so!!!"

The Service stamps peter out at 34,200 and I haven't been able to lay my hands on any history
since!!!

I do intend to carry out the 60k service with new filters, timing belt etc., etc., (I have the tools but no manual - Haynes doesn't cover the diesels and the CD I got was too poorly done to be readable!!!)

Many thanks Everyone who replied!!! Any tips on carrying out the timing belt change would be grately appreciated! The engine is 100 TD (not JTD) 1910cc type 182 A7.000

Chris Williams

PS To The Above!

I stand corrected on the temp gauge - the needle does only go to the exact halfway mark on the scale in traffic and on a faster open-road run drops to between 1/3 up from the 'C' mark and the halfway mark where the thermometer symbol is, varying slightly up and down between these points depending on road speed etc.

(I think they're electromagnetic cross-coil type gauges - they read instantly on switch-on)

Chris Williams