It is unusual to be asked to investigate an A.C. (Air Conditioning) fault in the middle of November but that is exactly what happened recently. The vehicle was a 2008 Volkswagen Touareg which had been recently purchased by the customer who had then noticed that the A.C. was inoperative, I was asked by the selling dealer to fix the problem. The job was allocated to my son Scott who began by checking the refrigerant static pressure, this is done by connecting manifold gauges to the A.C. high and low pressure connectors, because the vehicle is equipped with a low pressure cut-out switch we needed to establish that the static pressure was sufficient. As the pressure equalises when dormant you would …

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I was recently asked to investigate an intermittent loss of power on a 2005 Peugeot 307 diesel accompanied by MIL illumination. This was a new customer so there was the potential that the vehicle had possibly been looked at elsewhere, it is not unusual for us to be asked to look at vehicles that have visited numerous garages first. Upon driving the car into the workshop I noticed the engine malfunction light was illuminated and that there appeared to be a lack of boost pressure. A visual inspection in and around the engine bay confirmed my suspicions as I noticed numerous new parts had been recently installed. I began with a diagnostic check using our Peugeot Planet diagnostic tool which …

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A 2012 Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCI recently entered our workshop with an engine malfunction warning lamp illuminated. After an initial diagnostic check we retrieved an error code: P244C this relates to DPF bank 1 – Exhaust temperature too low for regeneration, and after reading the soot accumulation figure within the DPF (which was excessive) it indicated that regeneration was not being enabled. To enable regeneration the DPF temperature must be raised significantly (approx. 600°C) to achieve this manufacturers employ a number of methods. This particular system utilizes a fuel vaporizer (see photo). This device is located in the exhaust system upstream of the DPF. Its function is to inject diesel directly into the DPF when requested to raise the temperature and …

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