I bought my Rover 75 2.0 CDTi Connoisseur SE Auto, registered Sept 2004, a few months ago, 26k miles on clock. I had run it around 2000 miles and realised it was overdue its oil service. I found an independent local mechanic who had an exceedingly high rating on our local and very useful "Checkatrade" web site. He seemed (and still does seem) very genuine. He changed the oil and oil filter, but had trouble resetting the service interval. He showed me how he was trying to do it the official way, using a hand-held plug-in instrument, and though it said it was communicating, when it came to finally selecting "reset service interval" it always said it failed.. So he finally did it by using a piece of wire, saying that this wasn't the official method, but worked - and it did. I set off the same day on a longish journey and after about 45 miles I found the car was losing power.. I was in the middle lane of a motorway with lorries inside me, and found I couldn't accelerate.. Worrying.. and very odd, because I'd not had any problems with the car at all since I bought it. I tried changing down, with limited response.. until finally it seemed to recover and, relieved, I completed my journey. The next day on my way back, the "Check Engine" warning light came on.. The next day it started stalling when stopped in traffic (it is an auto).. and the car just felt like it wasn't running smoothly.. lumpy..
The mechanic returned and tried to diagnose the problem, but again, although his instrument detected the car and offered the menu choices, it failed to diagnose, which the mechanic said was unusual. So he took the car off to a garage he knew that had a different brand instrument, and that worked: the print out said :
X431 DIAG Report LAUNCH
SMARTBOX: 980241944400 DATE: 7/12/2006 4:02:36 PM
Total codes: 003
CODE001: Pre-fuel pressure control
CODE002: Cooling fan
CODE003: Air flow meter
Name: J&P
He'd reset the warning light, and had driven it back from this garage (about 4 miles) and said all seemed well. The next day I drove again, and immediately the car started stalling.. and later on the journey the "Check Engine" warning light came on again.. Oddly, the stalling occurred less often now, though the car still ran rather roughly. He is now suggesting that one or more of the diagnosed problems (above) must be genuine, and will order an Air Flow Meter - in his opinion the most likely culprit.
I am concerned that maybe we'll try all of them and nothing will change.. that maybe its the Engine Management System itself that's been damaged - by the shorting out of the service indicator. I did have a similar case with my last car, an old BMW 320 coupe, when after a service indicator reset (again when the garage had had a problem resetting it), the whole instrument panel failed about 15 miles later.. an expensive replacement. Maybe because of that experience I'm being a bit paranoid..
I'd be very grateful for another opinion before I/he (its up for debate.., but I suspect I) starts to pay for various parts that may not solve the problem. After all, why should 3 parts all fail like this.. And he thinks the Cooling Fan is fine, as I do - certainly it seems to operate ok.
Anyone help..?
Thanks...
The mechanic returned and tried to diagnose the problem, but again, although his instrument detected the car and offered the menu choices, it failed to diagnose, which the mechanic said was unusual. So he took the car off to a garage he knew that had a different brand instrument, and that worked: the print out said :
X431 DIAG Report LAUNCH
SMARTBOX: 980241944400 DATE: 7/12/2006 4:02:36 PM
Total codes: 003
CODE001: Pre-fuel pressure control
CODE002: Cooling fan
CODE003: Air flow meter
Name: J&P
He'd reset the warning light, and had driven it back from this garage (about 4 miles) and said all seemed well. The next day I drove again, and immediately the car started stalling.. and later on the journey the "Check Engine" warning light came on again.. Oddly, the stalling occurred less often now, though the car still ran rather roughly. He is now suggesting that one or more of the diagnosed problems (above) must be genuine, and will order an Air Flow Meter - in his opinion the most likely culprit.
I am concerned that maybe we'll try all of them and nothing will change.. that maybe its the Engine Management System itself that's been damaged - by the shorting out of the service indicator. I did have a similar case with my last car, an old BMW 320 coupe, when after a service indicator reset (again when the garage had had a problem resetting it), the whole instrument panel failed about 15 miles later.. an expensive replacement. Maybe because of that experience I'm being a bit paranoid..
I'd be very grateful for another opinion before I/he (its up for debate.., but I suspect I) starts to pay for various parts that may not solve the problem. After all, why should 3 parts all fail like this.. And he thinks the Cooling Fan is fine, as I do - certainly it seems to operate ok.
Anyone help..?
Thanks...