Tag: Mechanical Issues and Challenges
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Off to the Smartcars garage on a flatbed
The other day the Fortwo’s Little diesel engine’s annoying quirks took another notch or two up the annoyance scale. It didn’t want to start, and when it did, it didn’t want to rev. In the end we did find some sort of agreement, and began moving towards home. However the engine went out twice when…
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The Smart Fortwo gets a new Mass Air Flow Sensor
I drove by the Smartcars garage after work today, to have the new Mass Air Flow Sensor installed in my Fortwo. This was ordered at my last visit, but since they couldn’t get one the same day, they were kind to borrow one from one of the other cars he had, so I could drive…
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Bad Mass Air Flow Sensor in the Smart Fortwo
My Smart has been coughing a bit lately. Hasn’t wanted to start, and has gone in emergency mode a few times. The issue was found in the mass air flow sensor. It also got a Oil and filter change, as there was less than 1000km left before service was required. I had a feeling that…
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Test equipment for Smart cars
With the right test equipment, you can hook up to your Smarts computer. Here you can see live information, read/erase error codes and in some instances program and change the cars parameters. Simple OBDII testers With these you can read error messages, sometimes erase them, and see live data like RPM and turbo boost levels.…
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Biltema’s Lithium Grease – 400 ml spray
I have a Biltema’s Lithium Grease Art. 36-4578 spray can in my garage. It’s my go to product, for a series of tasks, and I so far it’s the best product I’ve found for lubricating the cabriolets side rails, which is an essential task on a Fortwo cabrio.
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Lubricating the Fortwo cabriolets side rails – soft top maintenance
I noticed that it was time to lubricate the cabriolets side rails, when I raised the soft top yesterday. It’s time for maintenance. This is a well known issue on the Smart Fortwo Cabriolet. The soft top frame slide in the removable side rails, on plastic blocks. If the plastic blocks had a Teflon lining,…
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New front suspension arms, new car
My Smart Fortwo has yet again, visited the Smartcars garage. This time after failing the vehicle inspection (as expected). It needed two new front suspension arms, and at the same time one of the engine mounts was in need of replacement. It felt like a dream when I got it back. The new rubber bushes…
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Visiting the vehicle inspection centre
I’ve been at the vehicle inspection centre today, or “Synshal” as they are called in Denmark It’s always “interesting” to get a new car inspected, without fully knowing it’s history. I didn’t expect it to pass, because the last few weeks, I have had a suspicion, that one of the joints on the sway-bar needed…
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Unresponsive throttle and low RPM
As mentioned at my last trip to the smartcars garage, it still had a few issues with cold starts. I was hoping that it would get better, and that it only was coke deposits, that needed to be burnt clean, after they fixed the other issue I had with it regularly going into limp mode.…
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When the gearbox forgets what it’s job is
Left the highway the other day, via the off-ramp, to mount the side rails, and close the soft-top. When I reached the red lights, at the end the off-ramp, it seamed like the transmission didn’t change down from second gear to first, and the engine stalled. It started up without any problems, and I had…