devavictrix

I have a Xsara 2.0 HDI automatic on an 02 plate. 1 previous owner to 30,000 in the first 10 years of its life and now at 80,000m with full service history. It has been a sweet car! Ive attempted to sort a few things with it and there are a few things that I would like to try to sort out, but accept it may have to get sorted when the MOT is due. Oil Change I removed the oil filter, filler cap and dipstick. Then removed the sump plug. To my surprise only about 1 litre drained out. There was obviously a bit of spillage from the oil filter also. My first thought was ****, I was running the car without any oil! So I replaced the filter and sump plug and topped it up. But it only took about 1 litre! So I removed the sump plug again, jacked the car so that it was falling towards the sump and blew (using my mouth) down the dipstick slot. Yet again, only about 1 litre drained out. What might cause this? Water temp It has been sitting at 60c for about a month now and I have clocked I am doing just 38mpg on a 20mile motorway commute at 65-75mph. Hopefully the cool running temp explains the low mpg? I replaced the thermostat and still it sits at 60c. If I am sat in heavy traffic for 30mins it occasionally reaches 75c or above. Could it be the water temp sensor and roughly where is the sensor? The idle sometimes races to 1100rpm... again, could this be the cool running temp? Coolant change I guess to drain its a simple matter of removing the hose at the bottom of the radiator and the expansion tank filler cap? Is it ok to then flush the radiator out using a hosepipe stuffed into the expansion tank? And to refill... Do I just refill via the expansion tank? I was expecting a cap on the radiator. Other issues, maybe for the garage Heater First the climate control stopped working, and the air con. Then it only blew at full pelt regardless on the setting on the dial. Even when it was turned off. Then it would only occasionally work when set to max. And now not at all. This is over a 2 year time period! How do I get it to blow cold using the air-con? And does anyone have any idea what might be broken with regard to the fan speed setting? Massive loss of power Whilst driving back from Glastonbury a few years ago it lost all power. Im talking 0-60 in about 90-120 secs. I took it to the garage and he said it was some flap getting stuck so he cut the flap off! It fixed the problem for 18 months and now it is doing it again. But only sometimes and usually during the first 5-10mins of driving, then all of a sudden it would erupt in power and ill be off again. Sometimes turning the engine off and back on again would sort it out immediately. When there is no power I cant hear the turbo spinning. Engine management light This popped on today. It seems to run fine. I have one of those cheap readers off ebay but it doesn't work on my car. I also have a dummy cable to plug my old Volvo into the laptop. Ive not tried it yet but id need the software. Is there any free software I could use, that's IF the dummy cables work on this car? Open ended electrical cables I have attached three images. The first is under the cover on the right side of the engine bay. It shows a red cable that appears to have been cut. The second is of a black and white wire located immediately behind the battery. It also appears to have been cut. And the third is behind the battery just below the bottom on the windscreen. It shows three open ended wires that appear to the stripped, but not necessarily cut. Can anyone shed any light on what these cables are for... I assume they shouldn't be in this state!! EDIT: The uploader keeps saying 'failed' :-( Sorry for a mammoth post! If anyone could help me with even just one issue I would be very grateful. Thanks