Does anyone know a good garage near Bristol/Cirencester?

Hi all,

My MOT is looming and I was wondering if anyone might know a decent mechanic who would be able to help with a few little problems with my van? I would like to potentially turn it into a camper but can't do this until I know it's going to work for a good few miles more! It's a 2001 and only done 50,000 miles!

Here are some problems:

-Hunting
-every so often it loses power and cuts out (think this might be fuel filter but not sure!)
-brakes could do with some attention
-fuel gauge broken
-a little rust under wheel arches
-window winds up a bit wonky and leaves a little gap!
-coolant in pipe under seat fluctuates a lot

Any recommendations would be fantastic! Or maybe it's not worth fixing? I'd just love to get it ready for summer for some decent road trips!

Cheers,

Nick

P.S I'm based in Tetbury!

Oh Well, go on I’ll save Woodie from saying it....Location! It’s no use asking for help if we don’t know where you live! South west is a little on the broad side.

Hunting could be air lock (can’t remember where) as it tries to sense the temp of the water to set the mixture.
Windows you could do yourself and not an MOT issue I don’t think.
Coolant in pipe fluctuates...more importantly how’s the level in the bottle and does the level in the radiator change? Etc,

Someone will be along shortly I’m sure to give more advice.

Hi Raggy,

Thanks for the response! I am based in Tetbury!

I attempted to attack the hunting problem and came to the conclusion that it might be that the idle control valve needs a good old clean. A job better suited to someone with the right gear and space I think... Yes i'm sure I could do the window, probably shouldn't have bothered mentioning that one! This is such a great forum!

Thanks again!

Nick

Well Tetbury is known for its Hunt, or more correctly the Beaufort Hunt which ran amok in the town in 2013. So a hunting Hi-Jet in Tetbury is a first. Caught any foxes or just caught a cold buying your Hi-Jet??

At what speed does it lose power and cut out? Could well be Speed Sensor. Sounds like the cooling system needs a proper bleeding. Very much doubt that the fuel gauge is broken. 99% of the time it is the plastic fuel sender unit in the petrol tank falling apart or the housing bends and the internal float jams or more commonly the location plug in the bottom of the plastic tube falls off and goes for swimming lessons around the petrol tank.

Wonky window is usually the guide that is bolted to the inside of the door. The bracket rusts through and causes the window to wind up unevenly or jam. If that is the case I should be able to help with that little part, also a speed sensor, but as regards the fuel sender unit - - keep a Gallon of petrol in the van at all times. Finding a working sender is hard enough, but to remove the old one and fit another one means dropping the petrol tank which will open up a whole new can of worms. Best left alone if you aren't too handy with Vehicle DIY jobs.

Hi Woody,

Thanks for your response!

It has gone through 3 phases of cutting out. Once was a year ago and it lost power for the course of a day every so often then cut out, after 40 mins of trying the ignition it finally got me back home.

The second was on a long journey down to Brighton and it started sputtering, I thought it might've been running out of fuel but it turned out I had about 5 litres or so left in the tank. After I topped up it cut out a couple of times on the rest of the journey.

The third time which was 2 weeks ago I left the lights on and so drained the battery! A friendly fellow helped me jump start and so I left only to get half way up a hill before it stopped (I was very confused for a while!). It turned out I had ran out of petrol at the same time! Topped it up with my spare 5 litres and drove back with a lot of juddering. It wasn't very smooth again the next day either. I filled the tank on the way home and 2 days later it's running a lot better but not perfect... it made me think the fresh fuel may have dislodged anything that might've been blocking the filter?

I'm not too worried about not being able to tell how much fuel I have usually maybe its the float that is blocking my filter occasionally!! Haha

I will have a look at the window!

It would be good to know how much some of these things might cost to get repaired and whether the Firs Garage in Hook Norton is a worthwhile visit!

Thanks for the help!

N

Like many vehicles of this vintage many of its faults are probably due to poor maintenance. I would start by doing a full service on it. Oil, air and fuel filters as well as spark plugs. If the van has covered 50k miles it will also be due new brake pads and shoes. Many of the faults you describe will be easy to sort out if you get the basics right first. Have a go and do it yourself you'll be surprised how simple Hijets are to work on.

It wouldn't hurt to change the filter especially if it looks like the one on Daniel Frisbee's van. But be prepared to snap off the rusty pipe at the bend. Make sure you have some High Pressure Neoprene Fuel Pipe before attempting the job and remember that even when it has been standing and the ignition is off the pipe and filter are under pressure so make sure you protect your eyes.

Having said all that I have owned and sold and broken up literally hundreds of Hi-Jets and seen some pretty horrific looking rusty fuel filters and non have them have ever been blocked to the extent of stopping the vehicle running.

When your van loses power, is it over 40 mph in 4th or 5th gear after a bit of distance and comes to a halt with the engine ticking over and won't respond to the throttle pedal? Then after a couple of minutes it's OK again and off you go again. Is most of your driving around 40mph or do you drive faster on the open roads? If so is that when it loses power?? If so it sounds like the speed sensor in the speedo head that sends information to the ECU controlling the fuel load to the Injection System that is giving you your problem. Let me know.

I second that about the fuel is under pressure..... was stripping a van down and it came as a surprise when we cut through some pipes Good job it was just what was left in tank.

Thanks for the replies guys!

It seems to gradually have got better since it started shortly after having run out of petrol last time! It did it at all speeds, it judders as if running low on petrol and then the engine cuts out and all the lights came on I think! Tended to judder most when in too high a gear but cut out a couple of times when i depressed the clutch! When it happened the first time I cleaned the spark plugs (which were pretty grubby!) and it worked again fine! I cleaned them last time it happened and it didn't seem to make a difference...

Fuel guage, rust and window are minor probs. Braking needs to be looked at, as does coolant level, but doesn't sound like you have overheating issues. Sounds like your urgent problem is the fuel line as, from what you say, it doesn't sound electrical. Maybe do some trials as Woodie suggested to try and help us pinpoint the issue?

oh dear! I broke down again on the way home last night and had to subscribe to the AA! it did the juddery thing again and but was making some loud ticking noises before it stopped! i feel like it was me climbing a large steep hill in traffic that set it off again... (goes with my idea of the fuel filter being blocked!? I have ran out of petrol several times in the past year so it might be pretty clogged up?). Slightly worrying! It really wanted to start but wouldn't quite ignite. When the AA man came he had a look at the spark plugs which were completely saturated.. it does seem to be running rich as i have cleaned soot off them a couple of times! I need to find a good garage methinks!

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend!!

If the plugs were saturated then does that not indicate that fuel delivery is not the issue? If it’s not igniting then more fuel being delivered could essentially wash the oil from the piston rings and cause it to loose compression (had this once in an Austen Maestro that the auto choke wasn’t very good in really cold conditions, fed too much fuel in and you lost compression. Fix was to squirt a little oil in the bores then restart it, was a common issue on them..anyway I digress!). Could it not be a component in the electrical ignition side of things, i.e a component warming up after a while then breaking down till it had cooled down again? Funnily enough I had this as well with an MG Metro I had, beggar to fix as had to wait till it broke down to fix it as could detect it otherwise. When I say I fixed it I mean the electrical engineer from a Lucas garage, cost me a new fuel pump (£120) as they said that wasn’t giving out the correct pressure only to find after that it was a ballast resistor that was breaking down after a period of time causing to to not start until it had cooled down....cost....80p

Raggy, thanks for the response! Well i wasn't sure if the juddering while driving was a separate thing to it not starting? could it be that sometimes it gets fuel and sometimes it doesn't?

I inspected the rest of the spark plugs earlier today and part of one of the ht leads under the coil packs seems to have vanished! It might have something to do with it starting but I wonder why it's happened!? I have photo's but can't figure out how to upload them...

Hmmm, no idea about what’s missing but something looks not right. Contact Woodie, I’m sure he will have replacement bits for you.

Well the rubber part has been incinerated it seems! This is what it's supposed to look like....

Judging by the state of the Coil Pack and lack of the chimney connected to the spark plug you have either had a very loose spark plug and the exhaust gasses have burnt away the chimney. Or worse still the thread in the cylinder head that the spark plug screws into has stripped.
Which is really bad news.

Looking at the second picture though it does look like the remains of the connector chimney is still in the Spark plug tube. If the thread in the head strips then the Coil Pack and Connector keeps the plug in place. So it is either the spark plug is loose and the gasses have burnt the connector away but judging by the state of the burning of the connector I would think it is likely that the threads have stripped. It is certainly the worst case of this that I have seen.

Have you had the spark plug out of that number 4 cylinder yet. If so, did it unscrew?? Or was it just loose in the Tube?
Email me your mobile number tomorrow morning and I can phone you and see what has happened.
My email address is thehijetmaniow@gmail.com

Hopefully it will be a loose spark plug. I have got Coil Pack and Connector Chimney on the shelf so that isn't a problem. I will be going out tomorrow about 12.00 and phone will be off, so please contact me before then. Otherwise I will be back home again around 5pm.

Hi Woodie!

You have helped me before on the phone when you talked me through the bleeding process! I have a different number now though, it's 07453417423. I feel like I am need of new spark plugs and battery too! I'm pretty sure they all unscrewed normally apart from this one! Any time after 9.30 is good for me! Thank you so much! You are a legend!

Nick

Just re-read your last post about the AA. The ticking noise does point to the spark plug being out of its thread. It will make it fire up and down every time the spark plug fires in the cylinder head which in your case being the 2 Coil Pack set up it is known as Wasted Spark as it fires on the exhaust Strokes as well, which does make for cleaner emissions as it ignites any unburnt air/fuel mixture.

Call you in the morning Nick.

Thanks Woodie, any time is good for me

Uh Oh, I cleaned all the debris away and took out what remained of the spark plug, when i tried to screw in a new one it wouldn't tighten... it seems the thread has gone!? Nooooooo!!! Sorry Woodie, I couldn't find your number on my phone for some reason!

Oh dear that is what I was saying to you this morning on the phone. I have been trying to get through to you. It is the worst scenario I feared. The plug has been over tightened and stripped the thread in the head.

Unfortunately it is a head off - - and head replacement job. And before anyone suggests Heli-Coil the cylinder head has got to come off to do that. Not good news Nick I am afraid.

well that was a depressing read. Here's hoping for a christmas miracle..

woodie- you saw my shitty photos then of the fuel filter. After fixing that new fuel pipe it feels like a new van, everything sounds super smooth. I feel like I should do a service in the near future, mot is in late january, any recommended garages in london for hijets or should I just man up and do it all myself do you reckon?

You have lost me here now Nick. When we spoke on Sunday you said that the thread was stripped and you couldn't get the spark tightened up.

Errrrrm.....nah, I'm not saying anything

Well that makes a change. Who's let you out of your box lately anyway?? We don't hear anything from you for months and now we can't get rid of you.. Get out in your garden and plant some Leeks or something useful.

Woodie wrote:You have lost me here now Nick. When we spoke on Sunday you said that the thread was stripped and you couldn't get the spark tightened up.

Different person....

Raggy wrote:

Woodie wrote:You have lost me here now Nick. When we spoke on Sunday you said that the thread was stripped and you couldn't get the spark tightened up.

Different person....

It's an 'age' thing .