Gainsborough Tuning

21/07/2019

If electric vehicles are the new trend and environmentally friendly , how will we keep them mobile. Yesterday I was told there was such a surge in Lincoln that the generating board had to turn off 50% of the charging points in the city so as there was still a good domestic supply to homes and businesses. We need more power stations to cope with demand. Cars will break down more with lack of power and the cost of new batteries is horrendous. This picture is the future ...

05/09/2018

Problematic Mercedes !!
A friend of mine called me about his car. he said he started it up and it was under powered and the engine light was lit on his instrument panel. When he told me it was a Mercedes AMG , my heart sank. i told him i would look at it even though i don't work on Mercedes cars. . After a quick look over it, i scanned the engine ecu. the fault P0101-06 Air Mass Meter algorithm fault (permanent).
My local Mercedes dealer told me that they had sold 60 air mass meters this year and were sold on an exchange basis ( usually means that this is a very common issue). i fitted a new one and tested the car. the engine light was gone but still no power. re scanned car and found air mass algorithm fault permanent. i then put an oscilloscope on the output of the air mass. all 4 wires tested perfect. so i then smoked the car with a leak detector and found an inter cooler pipe split. re scanned car and still same algorithm fault and no power. at this point everything was showing correct and no reason for the issues. after a little while scratching my head i decided to re-adapt some of the parameters on the car. i reset the lambda values and rechecked the fault. P0101 air mass now intermittent fault !!.
i cleared all faults and car drives like a formula 1 car !!!
CONCLUSION: the fault started by blowing a hole through a rotten turbo pressure hose, possibly damaging the mass air flow and putting the car in limp mode. after repairing hose you need software to finish the job and reset all adaptations.. all fixed now and feeling happy

Specialists in Automotive Computer Systems, diagnostics and Servicing of vehicles

18/03/2018

Diagnostics, car owners and Tecnicians:

Modern cars have more technology built in them than the early space shuttle. Finding problems become harder every day. Some car owners even think that you can plug a device on the vehicle, read the issue, change a part and its fixed. Well only if it would.
35 years as a diagnostic technician and numerous amounts of testing equipment still doesn't immediately solve problems. I have to evolve with the latest systems and its still mind boggling.
If i said that a rear wiper motor or a car radio can stop a car starting then would you believe me. Most newer cars have networking systems ( all the cars computers are linked and talking to each other). some cars can have over 100 ecu's ( electronic control unit/modules). So if your rear wiper fails or your car radio is stolen or broken then the immobiser can be affected if it cannot talk to that system and shut the car down. Everything needs to gel together.
So the next time you take your car to a garage and they cannot find anything or take some time then maybe customers need to be a little more understanding and the garage should explain in more detail if they really know what they are talking about..
three pictures of wiring faults, water in control unit and fusebox.
happy motoring...

25/02/2014

Peugeot 206 warning lights:
i was contacted recently about a peugeot 206 with various faults appearing on the display. airbag, engine, immobilser and the dials on the clocks going loopy. i asked the question if you have had anything done. the battery was tested at Halfords on the latest battery tester. i run a diagnostic check on the car. there where various faults showing with no real conclusion. i then started the car and nothing showed faulty either. i stopped the engine and run it through another test, and still there was nothing wrong. i just tried the car for one last time. the engine started but sounded slow to turn over and the dash lit up like a xmas tree. i put a voltmeter across the battery and turned the key. during cranking the volts dropped to 7.5volts. a car battery shouldn't drop below 10 volts during starting. put a new battery on and everything good. just goes to show that the latest diagnostic and test equipment doesnt always find the problem, listening to it cranking over told me what was wrong.

06/07/2013

This is a clean particulate filter

06/07/2013

This week we have seen problems that will effect nearly everyone who drives a modern diesel. Modern vehicles are fitted with a soot trap in the exhaust called a fap or particulate filter. These catch the burnt carbon particles and reburn them at higher engine and road speeds. If you drive your car slowly or short journeys, the engine won't be allowed to burn off the soot and the exhaust becomes blocked. To replace a Toyota auris filter at Toyota was £2400. This needs doing at around 70000 miles. My advice is to try and do some long runs down a motorway for at least 10 minutes in 3rd gear at around 3500rpm about once a month also not to use cheap supermarket fuels that often don't contain certain additives. There are low sulphur fuels out there that can help also.

21/03/2013

i have just been given the latest VOSA (mot) regulations from march 20th 2013. these are a few of the latest items that are now included in your mot test:

airbags, warning lights, pretentioners etc
tpms, tyre pressure monitoring light
headlight washers, wipers, levelling on hid or led headlights
13 pin and 7 pin trailer sockets and towbars
steering locks for condition and function
battery for security
electrical wiring and connectors
electronic power steering malfunction lamp
brake fluid warning lamp
engine mountings
speedometer
electronic stability control

there are other little bits to add but nothing to worry about. good luck on your next vosa test. our government are finding ways of removing older cars off the road.

21/03/2013

this is why wheel bearings are getting expensive to change. they are no longer just a bearing , but incorporate the abs electronics and hubs as a complete unit.

21/03/2013

this is a body control module off a renault trafic. the driver had left his window open and it rained into the van. the water run down the steering column and into the module. the problem showed as a non starting vehicle with various electrical problems. total cost of £450 just because the window was left down... oops

07/12/2012

ford fiesta started misfiring under load. the engine core plugs were leaking and filling plug leads with water, hence the misfire