Morat wrote:
The Duchess has a new LPG reducer courtesy of Simon the LPG wizard. LPG is 99ppl round here vs Petrol at 130ppl but it's still a saving I guess.
Running a treat!! Thank you Simon :D
Yesterday I went to the garage to retrieve the queen and once again cranking and not start ... puzzled by the event, i decided to apply Richard's advice and fire up the nano and inserted the EKA, then tried the procedure to no avail, I mean my car is totally "insensible" to any turn of the key that is not opening/closing the car itself. So the manual inserting of the EKA will have to wait another time ....
I thought to attack then the only other thing I could, this is the fuel inertial switch off.
After some acrobatics as I could only open the door a little, enough to loose the seal, I pulled off the panel and I found one of the cables loose in the connector, hence the random activation .... well, once fixed HARD since then I have been using the P38 for two days and multiple starts with no further issues!
I hope I am done .... on to the next thing :-)
I've rebuilt a EAS valve block. It was the perfect activity for a wet and windy Sunday afternoon and it was nice to get it off The List. Whether it works or not remains to be seen. The driver pack looks suspiciously crispy on the back...
I'm hoping to have a full Valve Block/Driver Pack/Compressor setup in the plastic box so I can stick it in the boot for long journeys.
I have a compressor and a driver pack in the boot for long trips, but a valve block might be overkill ...
I have always had water ingress into the spare wheel well. First investigations (20 years ago now) showed the tell tale marks of seepage from the rear tailgate seal. After many attempts to implement the tried and trusted remedies of cutting drainage slots in the seal, removing and relocating the seal and ‘adjusting’ the bodywork where the seal fits onto I managed to reduce the ‘leak’ but never eradicate it completely. I then decided to drill a small hole in the metal bung at the bottom of the spare wheel well to drain the persistent leak.
A few years ago I noticed that the tell tale runs from the top of the wheel well were completely dried out and so cleaned them off. Leakage still remained but the tell tale runs marks did not reappear. I assumed that a small amount of water was getting in through the small drainage hole I had drilled during wet weather and draining the same way weather permitted. Not a huge problem but the rear screens still fogged up particularly if the sun came out after a bit of wet weather. I purchased a couple of small moisture soaking up cushions which, when placed on the luggage space cover, did an admirable job of reducing the problem even though they did require regular ‘recovery’ in the microwave!
Six months ago I heaved the spare wheel out of the well to clean it up a bit and for the first time noticed that where the lifting straps are fixed in the wheel well the paintwork was beginning to bubble a bit. On removing the strap mounting brackets some corrosion and holes became apparent. It appears that water was getting in, thrown up from the road surface whilst driving.
The holes were patched/filled and two largish fibreglass mats resined in place before the whole area was repainted and the straps and mounting brackets refitted. Underneath the vehicle the areas of the holes was filled and then well undersealed. Since then I have inspected the wheel well regularly particularly after any rain and it has remained dry and the internal fogging up issue has completely disappeared.
So today I have inserted a plug into the small drainage hole I drilled all those years ago!
Well, this is not exactly "today", but I did owe you guys an update on a major matter in the life with my P38.
For starters, have in mind I have been using it less this year, I got myself a more modern runabout for long fast trips, so the RR has bee relegated to hauling trips and cargo work .. I would assign her also offroad duties, but I feel I will break something and I prefer another vehicle for that, more on that elsewhere.
BUT
Since quite some time I had the feeling that something was "odd", with engine vibrations and a general rough feeling, plus a sporadic nano record of a misfire. I've checked with a friend that has a workshop with specialized equipment and he noted one of the coils was giving a "weak" spark.
Having the coils positioned in a vey handy place, and in my case passing through there all the pipework for the LPG injectors, it was going to be a combo job. I thought it was going to be ideal also to replace the gaskets on the valve covers, which have been leaking oil since forever, and also, why not have some paint work done on them.
Since the above, the entire summer passed and the problem started to get worse, and no way to get my friend free enough to assist, so then, as usual, I decided to take matters in my own hands and do it myself. How hard can it be?
I got first some covers "borrowed" to minimize downtime, and had them sandblasted and powder coated in matt black. Then I got new injectors - after all, the ones there are like 10years and +130k km according to the original invoice, and I did not want to do the job again soon. Then I got some meters of piping, new coils - Bosch as the OE ones, and bits and pieces. All the procurement alone took me weeks ...
The it was a problem of finding the time, which occurred close to pre-xmass. The reason was I had a job for a friend to go get a brand new Tesla 3 in Thessaloniki, and I really did not want to put many miles on a not so good running engine, fear of worsening the situation.
My starting point was this
https://1drv.ms/i/c/05b738b1c4563d88/EctX3ril5xRDvWEq8_tWI5EBcPIu_SXNrGNL9OJzzfxpAg?e=F35n7O
So after some reading in the workshop, came time to start taking apart things. Due to some quirk of mine, I did not disconnect the cables for throttle and cruise, so the bunch of bananas would be hanging around these. It was fairly quick to get to this stage, especially since the one that worked there before me left only one top bolt for the coils' bracket .... actually quick no, entire deal was days as I was working on "free time", no more than couple hours a day, sometimes even less.
https://1drv.ms/i/c/05b738b1c4563d88/Ec8O8S7IxgJNl1LFC8iN58oBB8BVhJfXXjaInAsvqw0r3Q?e=GhUi4V
The injectors' pipes were very hardened, some really wooden, and a couple had already some hairline cracks, so it was due time. One of the pipes broke as I pulled it, so really was on its last legs.
https://1drv.ms/i/c/05b738b1c4563d88/ESxnNRI6RkBKtI32Rd4PX0oBeTTZiefl2QoQgvae0-3YrA?e=8m4VA0
Aerial view of the mess in the valve covers
https://1drv.ms/i/c/05b738b1c4563d88/Eduvx-LCY89GkilKlRl6tBkBjb399X0a11GZmVhbvfnFZA?e=rGqgIW
The rocker does not look very nice, there is some sludge, the other head looked worse but I forgot to take a photo. Ovbiously this has been not one of the most fortunate engines out there.
https://1drv.ms/i/c/05b738b1c4563d88/EWGMM8mQTRNPggATegbGsLIBXJTgNK31O0V_kvN_zc4nzQ?e=1xS3FA
After some more work I've put the covers in place
https://1drv.ms/i/c/05b738b1c4563d88/EUELbgrKQY1Pqajc_IDm1jIBtk5i2Vn28r03zbFQNGml4A?e=mmgxCC
https://1drv.ms/i/c/05b738b1c4563d88/EbJgZtEQf-9DsmtsRJ7uE3wBlUiTDnaocNG5IgO-qoSE1Q?e=bnvPHP
As well as the coils and the injectors, plus the pipes
https://1drv.ms/i/c/05b738b1c4563d88/ET6JKTJZQBRBt34rs4JxvGABCHoKBFZvpd4XKYkZLWimQw?e=bny7ot
https://1drv.ms/i/c/05b738b1c4563d88/EUD34h2WeHBEmSKjSlawJ4kBxOoPDq020ucujvbruoQBxw?e=XlX5fU
https://1drv.ms/i/c/05b738b1c4563d88/EU7FynzU_4RGm6gOj9_Zv8gBo1Pbb_F-j1JXasXe00bTjw?e=o26kD1
With trepidation, I assembled all together again, I fired it up and there was no KA-BOOM, wihch means the job looked well done!
Run, get to operating temp, all fine no errors, no misfire, great ... go for drive, but the engine is low on power, so I connect my cable to see the LPG system, I see no errors, but I cannot complete the calibration. So I went to a friend that has an LPG workshop to see if he can do it, but on the way there reflecting on the low power I remember that, in my continous on-off from this job, I had forgotten to swap the old injectors' nozzles on the new injectors ....
So with lots of happyiness and cheer, I took apart again the thing, luckily this time the valve covers were not part of the work, so I cut some corners here and there not stripping everything by the book, and managed to do it all in one go and be done in time for going in the afternoon to the LPG check.
BUT
on engine startup, it became very rough running, with rich smell and unstable idle. First time it happens, and I thought it was due to the LPG, after a couple minutes became stable, and running to the LPG place around 10km down the road, no issue at all.
Man connects his thing, and in that moment all hell breaks loose, engine misfires, rough idle, car shaking like a 2cv ... unheard of. Obviously no calibration is possible.
I fish the nano out and I have both O2 sensor with "loss of signal" ... well, might have come their time, at 300k km.
I apologize and excuse myself and promise to return to calibrate with the sensors replaced.
As expected, on the way back home the Rangie works flawless.
I did not took photos of the finished job as it became late and the following day I made the 800km journey to get this Tesla without a single hiccup.
Now I will order the sensors and replace them, clear the trims and see how it goes.
Maybe unrelated question is this possible the air filter get soo dirty? What do you believe is the problem here? It had like 9k km ...
https://1drv.ms/i/c/05b738b1c4563d88/EcWZfAtgljFKrv86XnRcxkgBjheDcw7uwJoITPxOChqcHQ?e=tWspnR
Have you been following a diesel overfuelling on veg oil? My filter doesn't look that bad after 10,000 miles!
I am indeed surprised .... do not know what to say. Will look at it in say a couple months to compare.
Is it oil or dirt on the air filter element?
Is it on the entry or exit side of the filter?
I forget if the P38 breathing design has an engine breather (from say a rocker cover) running to near the air filter housing but I don't think they do? If it's oil might wonder if it were pointing to a piston blow-by or breather problem...
It's on the entry side so what is sucked in from outside. There's a breather but that goes into the throttle body way after the air filter.
Yes, entry side, but now you got me thinking from where it "sucks" .... it was like soot, not oil.
Will take it apart again and look carefully and the lower part of the air filter box.
It sucks through a hole in the inner wing from above the wheelarch lining.
Drained the water out of the spare wheel well, thought I had cured that problem, knocked out the bung and fitted a blank grommet in the hole with an X cut in it so water hopefully drains out and road spray won't easily get in. The metal looked bad but a whizz with a flap disc in a grinder showed it was rock solid so treated with anti rust paint then zinc rich primer. I'll top coat it in the correct silver at some point. We've had a bit of rain since this and it's dry still in there. Maybe more rain will show it isn't or maybe it was the jet washing it had a few weeks back that's overwhelmed the seal.
Had a new windscreen fitted too after a crack appeared.
With Regards to water appearing in wheel wells ..my experience turned out to be me and valet staff with an over zealous power wash lance ! its fair to say the seals are a little 'soft' to cope with such water pressure..also I noticed when sat in the car at the car wash, drips coming down from where the headlining meets the window after the chap had given the windscreen top lip cover a good blast ! looks like the sealant has failed ? anyone with observations and solutions welcome.
Lez wrote:
With Regards to water appearing in wheel wells ..my experience turned out to be me and valet staff with an over zealous power wash lance ! its fair to say the seals are a little 'soft' to cope with such water pressure..also I noticed when sat in the car at the car wash, drips coming down from where the headlining meets the window after the chap had given the windscreen top lip cover a good blast ! looks like the sealant has failed ? anyone with observations and solutions welcome.
Windscreen side trims off, 4 screws each side. Get a stiff thin paint scraper and tuck it behind the top trim, starting at one end, standing on steps helps, slide the blade to the passenger side (rhd) to release the clips, go steady, the trim is thin alloy and will kink if you lift it too high, lifting it a bit as you go will help you see the clips. Remove the roof rail inserts and throughly wash the now exposed areas. The sealant cracks in the recess that the inserts fit in especially near the front. So seal them up and around the windscreen too.
Putting the top trim back on is a bit more fiddling as I found. Enligning the clips with the studs then using the blade again, slide the clips the opposite way to clamp the trim tight.
Curses! Forgot to leave the gap between quote and reply, again...
Just put the space in for you.....