My IACV value is 38%, the adjustment screw has not been used yet. I have now turned the Bowden cables a little and set the idle speed warm to about 800 rpm. I have not yet read out the value. If the value is not between 15-30, should I turn the screw?
Is it useful to clean the throttle valve with spray?
It isn't a percentage, it's the number of steps (although the Nano may show it as a percentage) and it has probably reached the limit at idle. You shouldn't need to adjust the cables, they should have a small amount of slack on them when the throttle is closed. Cleaning the butterfly won't do any harm. The throttle will close off almost fully and the IACV allows air to bypass the butterfly to maintain idle. When you open the throttle very slightly, the IACV opens to raise the revs slightly at very small throttle openings. If it's never been adjusted, it will almost certainly need adjustment. It's either a small Torx or Allen key you need to adjust it.
To follow up on Richard's report after I collected the car & was about half way home the SRS AIRBAG FAULT came up on the dashboard. At Richard's suggestion I read the error code with my iCarsoft CR PRO which I've never used in anger on the P38 before (I bought it for my Jaguar S-type) which was reported as "Short circuit fault in driver airbag circuit". This seemed odd as it seemed most likely that if the fault was related to the recent work it would a loose connection as the wiring got disturbed. I unplugged & replugged the airbag connectors under each seat after applying some circuit cleaner but without success. It still seemed most likely that it was a disturbed cable after having the dashboard out but I started depressing myself by reading forum posts about intractable airbag faults.
As luck would have it I had managed to leave my Jaguar car keys in the central console of Richard's P38 Ascot that I borrowed while mine was in pieces. It's a 180 mile round trip from my place to Richard's but only about 10 miles from where I work 2-3 days per week. I normally commute with my 2.7 diesel S-type as it's so much more economical than my 4.6L P38 so leaving my keys in the Ascot probably cost me £30 as I had to drive to work in the P38 yesterday! However it did mean that I could pop over to see Richard who was able to read the error codes with his Nanocom which was reported as an open circuit fault with the driver airbag which made more sense.
Richard whipped off the access panel under the steering column then unplugged & replugged the airbag connector switched the ignition on & the error code was gone & hasn't reappeared. Result!
Changed the Oil..
Runs good on the stuff, easily the quietest it has ever been..
I have finally levelled the girl out and set the heights for the EAS. Now safe to let it go in to motorway height without the nose diving to some random setting.
Changed the front anti roll bar bushes back to black rubber and some new drop links to suit. They had been some extremely soft polybush previous.
Set the steering wheel straight and replaced a leaking power steering pipe.
Got an MOT!
She's in good shape but she got an advisory for a slightly perished rear air spring.. .I've got one in the garage with all the clips so... One day soon (ish)
I took my P38 through a car wash today after filling up with fuel. It looks nice & shiny now even if there are a few bumps & scrapes that it's picked up over the years.
I also fitted new wiper blades all round. I bought them from https://www.wiperblades.co.uk. I went for the Michelin Radius Retrofit Beam at a total of £39.10 including next day delivery. They are lovely soft rubber & do a great job in the rain very quietly.
I sunk back into the lovely Nappa leather seats I recently fitted and set number two memory position to the 'reclined snooze whilst waiting for wife/kids' position.
I bet the heating elements don't work though...
Took vogue out to get interior all cleaned and painted rust onto the 300tdi --- looking good as rust appears --- ratrod style 👍👍
Removed the sunroof motor and replaced with a S/H unit that was working OK and NOT jumping the cables. Cleaned and siliconed the slides, set the closed heights.
Replaced a globe in the window switch pack.
Inverted the bonnet struts so they are the right way around!
I have got a hatch under the carpet in the back to get to the intank pump. It is just the steelwork cut on 3 sides that you bend up to get to the pump.
Not very satisfactory. It is just taped up with duct tape.
The last few days I have been busy printing a proper surround and cover in ABS using my new 3d printer to finish it off a bit better.
I am on version 7 or 8 now, so nearly there.
Noticed I am getting a lot of condensation inside the car recently due to the change in weather so I have put a dehumidifier in the back.
Took a logic board out of a spare BeCM to play around with diagnostics. I have built a jig for making connections without soldering to the pcb.
Took out Mayday breakdown cover. Starts in 2 days time so I need to hang on in there. Maybe hang a St Christopher medal on the dash.
Both the radiator & heater matrix in my 2001 Vogue have been replaced by @Gilbertd & the hater has been working fine. However during our journey to France a couple of days ago the heater was working fine when we left home & when we got of the ferry in Cherbourg but after a 3 hour drive to our cottage I noticed that the hot air being blown into the car was barely above ambient.
I investigated yesterday. There was no book symbol on the HEVAC so it didn't look like a blend motor problem. I suspected an so lifted the bonnet took the cap off the header tank then started the engine. I put about a pint of coolant in as I brought the engine up to working temperature then put the header tank cap back on.
I felt the hoses that go to the heater matrix. Looking towards the rear of the engine the hose on the right was hot as though full of near boiling coolant whereas the hose on the left (presumably the return hose) was cool in comparison. I loosened the clip & pulled the left hand hose off. It was full of air then a tiny trickle of cool water came out. I had the engine running all this time. I squeezed the other hose a few times & eventually very hot water came dribbling out. I checked inside the car & hot air was coming out of the vents. Thinking that it had been an airlock that I cleared I reconnected the hose & put the clip back on. Then went back inside the car to find the air from the vents was cooling down & in a couple of minutes was barely above ambient again. I went under the bonnet & pulled the hose again & there was just a tiny trickle of water coming out. I squeezed the hot input hose a few more times but there was still only a dribble of hot water coming out of the return hose.
Thinking the problem must lie elsewhere I took the car out as we needed to collect a piece of furniture my wife had bought on Facebook. After a few miles the heater started working properly with very hot air coming out when switched to HI. It also pushes out very cold air when switched to LO.
The root cause of the problem must have been an air lock in the heater matrix that I somehow managed to clear by squeezing the hoses. We got back in the dark so I haven't checked the coolant level with the engine cold but will do that this morning & report back.
How do people reliably remove airlocks from the system? I had no problem when I replaced the water pump a couple of months ago. I just followed the directions in RAVE ie run the engine with the cap off the header tank & top up as necessary as you run the engine up to working temperature.
nigelbb wrote:
I also fitted new wiper blades all round. I bought them from https://www.wiperblades.co.uk. I went for the Michelin Radius Retrofit Beam at a total of £39.10 including next day delivery. They are lovely soft rubber & do a great job in the rain very quietly.
I had used the wipers on many occasions since fitting them so was surprised as we negotiated a roundabout in Normandy to have the driver side wiper fly off. I quickly pulled the car off the road & retrieved the wiper blade. It was undamaged so I fitted it back & carried on driving. I can only assume that I: hadn't pushed the wiper blade quite far enough into the loop of the wiper arm. This time it did 'click' into place properly. I have always thought it a bit funny & a potential point of failure to have the blade just pushed into the loop at the end of the wiper blade.
Nigel's car was treated to a new radiator, heater matrix and thermostat, along with the entire cooling system being back flushed, so the cooling system was virtually drained completely and put up a real fight when I tried to refill and bleed all the air out. Not sure if all Thor motors are like this or not but I've never had any problem bleeding air out on a GEMS. One thing I noticed on the Thor is that the hoses to the heater have a hump in them, so even those are a potential air lock waiting for some air. At least it's working properly now though.
Before I went out in the P38 today I checked coolant & topped it up with about a pint. I made a trip of 15-20 mile trip to fill up with E85 at 69c/L & get some shopping done. The heater kept us nice & toasty all the way & on return home I lifted the bonnet to heck the heater hoses & both inlet & outlet were really hot. It looks like I have chased out the last bit of air from the system & all is functioning as it should.
69c/L ????
That's right, 0.69 Euros a litre for E85 in France compared with 0.99 a litre for LPG (most expensive in Europe) and over 1.60 for petrol and diesel. Now I've sorted the heater circuit error on one of my lambda sensors so one bank always ran open loop on petrol, I'll be running on E85 whenever I'm over there. Seems that although the V8 P38 isn't listed as being flex fuel, it runs quite happily on it.
and people are getting their knickers in a twist over 10% Ethanol......
Less calorific value in E85 so it will do (slightly) less mpg, I would have thought. High ethanol content will also result in cooler running maybe.
Dragsters and old racing bikes ran on high methanol mixes which would have cooled the heads more than ethanol.
A big saving. though. I don't gloat over running a diesel anymore. I used to run it on a veg oil mix but the price of (virgin) veg oil has gone thro' the roof.
It does, Nigel has found he does a couple of miles to the gallon less than on petrol but with the price difference it's still far cheaper. With LPG, and most other fuels in France, being the most expensive in Europe, it'll be even cheaper for me to run on it over there and LPG everywhere else.
As for running on veg oil, I noticed when the petrol and diesel shortage was happening a few weeks ago, my local Tesco had empty shelves where they would normally have the 3L containers of cooking oil.
I'm just taking advantage while I can of E85 at 69c/L as I am sure that over the years the price will slowly but surely creep up.