isetta

i'll let you know in a year. I might add some photos so you can laugh at the visual appearance

I bought my 2004 Lupo a year ago. before I bought it I was aware of the common clutch cable support problem above the pedal. My car seemed OK and I hoped that being a late built car VW would have become aware of the problem before then and made a stronger bracket. Yesterday found that car is not declutching properly and found the bracket is tearing away. Photo att'd. I have mig welder and I could easily weld this if I removed from the car, which looks a lot of work that I did not want to do. I don't think I could safely weld it in the car due to access, may just be possible if I took front seats out maybe so I could lay in there. Anyway, I took the easier way of fixing it, which some people will regard as a bodge. I am now using the bulkhead panel as the support for the cable outer. Where the cable goes through the bulkhead there is a large hole with a grommet , So I put a thick bit of metal over this with a hole in it of the right size to support the cable outer. To make sure the piece of metal does not slide down out of place and stress the cable inner I put some 'no more nails' type stuff between the metal plate and the bulkhead. Note that the stress of using the clutch is not pulling on the glue so should be ok. But this means there is more distance between the cable outer support and the pedal, so there is less cable inner at the gearbox end of the cable. So I had to leave part of the cable adjuster out (the bit with the spring) and cut away a few mm of the cable outer (the black plastic bit), otherwise the metal part that the adjuster nuts go on was hitting the cable outer too soon Hope it all lasts - seems like it will - at least I only have to open the bonnet to visually check it now and then to make sure all looks well. It's not like the hidden problem of the original weak bracket which is not easy to check. Hope this helps someone in the future who needs to fix it quickly as they need the car or hasn't got the money for the proper repair

do the tail lights go on and off intermittently when the sidelights do?

" I do think that many times I have used a TW, the settings are a bit on the low side." I agree, I had a Fiesta TDCI . After changing the oil about 8 times over a large number of miles I stripped the sump thread (steel bolt in steel sump). So on my newer Fiesta TDCI I now have I changed the oil for first time recently. I borrowed a torque wrench and torqued sump bolt correctly. I then put my normal socket set ratchet on there and it did up tighter without much effort, so I ended up doing it up tighter as it just felt too loose on the torque setting and I had visions of it dumping oil out when the bolt came loose. Mind you I might end up with another stripped thread after 8 oil changes.

I have not closely looked at one of those particular seals, but in the past for oil seals in general which need to be pulled out I have heard people say drill a small hole in the seal near the outer edge, screw a wood screw in a bit and then pull with pliers. for stubborn ones do a second screw half round from the first

OK, thanks, that's reassuring.

2004 Lupo 1litre base model. When turning ignition on (without starting engine) , an oil light comes on (amongst other lights) as expected. But after a couple of seconds it goes off. Normal behaviour on others cars is that the oil light stays on until engine started and oil pressure up to correct pressure. So, is there something strange about how the oil light works on a Lupo (1 litre)? if it goes off before there is any oil pressure then is it ever going to do the job of warning that there is low oil pressure? I know in theory that if I keep the oil level correct there should never be a pressure problem. Having had two cars in the past that suffered oil pressure suddenly going (Ford Granada 3 litre -the hexagonal oil pump drive shaft wore out so it became round and stopped turning the oil pump , Triumph TR7- the spring broke in the pressure relief valve) I would like some assurance of having such an important warning light functioning properly. Comments please

have you put a circuit tester on it to see if it is connecting the two terminals when the switch is not pressed. Recently my sister's Ford KA had no brake lights working. I found it was because the contacts in the switch were burnt. I cleaned it up to get working again and it was fine. It did not look like it was going to last long term but the car only had two weeks MOT left and had so much rust in the sills etc that we were not going to MOT it again.

trust that negative feedback will be left saying they are dishonourable. If they were honourable people they would source more stock to fulfill the order even if they lost more money on the deal. That's if they cared about their customers and reputation.

does the clutch pedal have any kind of separate switch? when you press the clutch pedal down does it cause the brake pedal to move slightly due to play or twisting of the shaft (I assume brake and clutch pedal share a shaft but not sure as never examined a lupo pedal box). is the brake light switch adjustable? does it need adjusting so it needs the brake pedal to move further before it activates ? Re EPC light. In the new MOT manual which comes into force in a few days time i think it says the tester has to check light comes on with ignition and then goes off, so as to verify it has not been disconnected or hidden like yours. When I read the proposed draft of the new manual it said that but I have not checked it again to see if final version was altered. I think this is going to be a problem for a lot of cars as I think it has been common place for years for people to hide the illumination of the light. Good new for sellers of OBD port fault code readers

"stick some pipe in your ear". I had not thought of that. It's the sort of thing I would have done 30 years ago when I was doing a lot more work on cars, but I am a bit out of practice and forgotten a lot of these methods. perhaps I'll have a go at the weekend

took it all off again and still can't find what's wrong. But I did achieve something, I found the bulkhead grommet for the clutch cable was not fitted properly. Now I have fitted that properly, I do not hear a big chuff inside he car when I change gear. Out of ear shot, out of mind

bearing in mind shipping cost they must have to pay, it does seem a bit too good to be true. also bearing in mind some of their feedback it looks like they may just say it is out of stock and refund buyers. I see on the purchase history someone bought 10 in one transaction. Did you buy any Mk2? let us know what happens

I tried using some catfood as bait to get the badger out but no sign of him

yes there is a rubber seal there. I did not realise the separate seal was there, I thought that was part of the plastic air box moulding. I have removed seal and checked it and it seems ok. I can't find anything else wrong. The brake servo pipe is good . As far as I can tell the seal where the servo pipe joiner goes into servo is good. With air box off I can't really tell due to sucking from throttle body intake. with air box on you can't get to anything or see anything. But the thing is whatever you do with the throttle you can't keep the sicking noise there, it is just for a second, more light a 1 second chuff of sucking. Never did this before I changed timing belt, it must be something to do with me removing the air box and refitting it. all vaccuum pipes checked for splits and ends on properly. Got my wife to reluctantly sit in car and keep jabbing throttle to make the sucking noise while I had me head under bonnet. All I can say is it sounds like it is somewhere under the airbox. Does not really affect driving of the car, but very annoying noise and I don't know if it will adversely affect the emissions at MOT in August