The Dark Wob

I've had this old X Trail a year It's my second one, the other threw a rod then got stripped, hence the mismatched wheels on this one. Buy new tyres or pay to have them swapped over??? Or drive with mismatched wheels? Hmmm...

Great cars these XTrails, like a Freelander after all the niggles have been fixed. Everything works on this.

Anyway, this one is a 2.2 diesel. Really low mileage, it's only been doing 3,000 miles a year for the last few. It was so slow when I bought it. Quite a disappointment after the last one, that really flew. This is the lower powered 115bhp model so I was expecting a drop in power but not that much! So after being thrashed everywhere for a few months it did start to loosen up but as it got better it also got a bit rattly on the top end. Almost tappetty but as the noise goes at 3000 rpm I'm assuming it is injector related. It's also started to chuck out black smoke when booted.

I don't really care about any of this, or the howling wheel bearing but the mot is up soon and I'm wondering wether to bother. It needs welding too. I'm happy to fix the bearing and the rot but don't want to fix an expensive engine issue, I would rather just scrap it but I do like to get maximum value from my cars!

Does this sound like an injector issue? Would a set of injectors cure it? If I just ignore the fault, what will happen? If I spend the time coaxing it through an mot will the engine imlode the week after?? Any thoughts?

I would put some Forte injector cleaner through it and see what happens, chuck a can
(or 2) in when the tank is a quarter full and run it as low as you dare

I always assumed such things were snake oil but I'll give it a go!

No it is really good, get it from an MOT place or via eBay.
Not sure if it is an injector noise though, the faulty injectors I've heard sound like someone dropped a bag of bearings into the engine at idle.

CLINT wrote: ↑Mon Jan 13, 2020 9:15 am I always assumed such things were snake oil but I'll give it a go!

Na, I've sold thousands of cans then bottles of this stuff over the years and used loads myself. I swear by it. The best way to administer it is a bottle in a new fuel filter and a bottle in a low tank. It also works when its fully mixed with the fuel and left standing, engine switch off with the mixture under pressure in the injections.

Ok thanks for the advice, I'll give it a go and report back!

So I decided that i can't be bothered to get all the MoT work done on the X Trail as I can guarantee the clattery engine will die straight away. So for the last few weeks I've been scouring the classifieds and the local auctions. Everything is either too far away or too much money. I bid on another X Trail at my local auctions. 53 plate. I bid £600. They wanted £1k. Too much without being able to drive it, plus I poked some holes in it.
So the search for X Trails continued... I also looked at other stuff I like too, and this morning a car I was looking at on Auto trader for £475 had dropped to £225. I picked up the phone. The chap was going away on an extended holiday and wanted it gone today. I then booked a train ticket which involved four trains.
I took some blurry photos...
My view on the way to the station. I left one car there, were it still hopefully is. I saw a broken down Mk3 Cavalier being attended to Then I got on train number one. It had some great seat fabric. I changed trains but the next one didn't have as exciting a seat pattern Had to wait a while in Northampton station. This plastic owl pigeon scarer was not doing it's job Next trains seat fabric:and this one even had carpet

Then I arrived in London and needed the toilet but unfortunately although there was a bonus glory hole, it was out of service Indeed Next train had these dull seats Apparently I saved some carbon by taking the train. Quite dark by the time I got there. The vendor picked me up from the station. Nice chap. This was the only picture I took before I drove home. Can you tell what it is yet? Got some fuel but no petrol station shot. Impatient drivers behind.

170 miles and 2 hours 20 minutes later I got home. It took me six and a half by train to get there so I think I'll stick with cars for now, rather than pubic transport...

Incidentally, Reigate has the best fish and chips I've ever tasted inland.

Something about that dash says Renault to me.