I realise this is a few months old, but theres quite a few youtube videos showing the difference. Some showing cars driving up ski slopes, others just normal driving on typical roads. Its always the tyres that win over more wheel drive.

I quite liked this one, as it compares what most consider to be the worst car in the snow, a RWD beemer on wide tyres, against various other cars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOv2g5qTpvA

One big thing that people seem to often forget for the real world, is that 4x4 might well get you moving in situations where a 2wd car doesnt if they're both on summer tyres, but the 4x4 system doesnt help you steer or stop at all. Infact the 4wd car is almost certainly heavier than a 2wd equivalent, which means its harder to steer and turn.

This one shows the braking issue really well: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/asFI-E-bLIU

Not sure i'd have been replacing them with the same given how knackered they were...? Perishing and bulging inside 5 years isnt great!

I think mine sounds exactly like the video and always has done. "Clack clack clack clack" at idle... The cam is definately worn on mine (along with the bores and everything else 🤣) as i could see some dishing to the lifters when i did the head gaskets last year. I've employed the ostrich approach though.

Lost the love a bit for the old barge, but had to do a dump run at the weekend so took the family out for a run and went for lunch. I really need to find the time to give it some TLC and get out for some driving days. I've been meaning to replace the transfer box oil for about 5 years now 😂

One thing i've been fighting for years is the battery going flat. The car sits around for weeks or months sometimes, and invaribly you go to use it and the battery is flat (and the front left tyre is flat too, another task that needs sorting...).

A while ago i bought a solar panel and Viridian Solar charger. This seemed to work well enough to keep things topped up, however i was just clipping it to the battery terminals. Ofcourse that ends up a faff and gets forgotten about, and means theres a mass of wires floating about the car when not using it...

So on sunday after our trip, i spend some time installing the solar charger control unit under the drivers seat. I tapped the conveniently located live and neutral feeds on the BECM, and put a connector on the solar input which i've attached to the frame under the seat with a p-clip. So now i just need to plug the solar panel in with a simple connector and job done. Still have the faff of getting the panel out ofcourse, but its more than halfed the messing about.

Okay thats making things a bit clearer, the barrel pops out (and makes the clunk noise) but the little flap sometimes stays stuck in. Jiggling the flap so it moves across then switches off the warning.

I've not had a chance to clean it etc yet. My graphite powder turned up though so just need to find some time.

Yeah, my point being its currently in the "popped out" position, but the warning is still on!

I've ordered some graphite. I've been wary of spraying anything in there as I've heard it can gum it up....

The odd part is that it's returning now, but the warning is staying on... Is it still likely to be something in the barrel sticking, or could something else be going on like a sticky switch?

So I've had an issue for a long time where the barrel sticks in, and you get the "ignition key in" error. I usually just tap the barrel with the key and the warning goes away.

However it seems to have gotten worse. Now I get the message even when the barrel has popped out, and no amount of poking or jiggling will fix the message.

Any ideas how to sort it? Is it likely to be the switch itself?

Wee bump on this... How are others fairing?

Since my last post, i've not actually used LPG at all. My local asda has removed its LPG tanks. The Morrisons about 10miles away (and any other nearby stations) are now 129.9p and is often out of stock. At that price, i think its acutally cheaper running on petrol due to the LPG efficiency drop...!

The only sticking point is the MOT. Its due this month and i suspect its going to fail on emissions, the LPG always gives it some extra wiggle room. Contemplating a 30mile drive to Dundee to get some LPG just to put it thru the MOT on gas....

I had this same fault code on mine after i converted it to Wabco D. However its gone away and hasnt returned all summer. I do wonder if it was dampness/moisture in/around the ECU unit as my car does seem to have a bit of a leak, and the ECU and area around it did appear to have sort of a slight sheen of condensation... It was also popping a few other codes relating to the pump iirc.

Lpgc wrote:

A warm engine is easier to crank than a cold engine, so if it cranks easier when cold it points to something else starter motor / electrics related being negatively affected by warm temperatures.

I wondered about this... and couldnt quite reach a conclusion...

Taken in isolation...

On a cold engine all the clearances are loose, theres probably a bit less compression as a result, certainly less friction. The oil is cold and thick, but at the point of turning the key the oil isnt really moving anyway, and it'll take a good few revolutions to get the oil pumping.

On a hot engine, everything expands, bearing and piston clearances close up, tighter ring seal, more compression, but the oil will be hot and thinner.

A hot engine typically starts easier, because theres more compression and the fuel ignites easier. However that requires the starter to be able to actually turn the engine and overcome that higher compression.

So i think i my best theory is that on balance, a hot engine is harder to crank but easier to start? IE it needs more torque from the starter to actually get it turning, but will light off easier once it is actually turning.

Not done anything with it yet, but had it out for a long drive at the weekend for a sort-of green-laning day...

1hr 30 of a/b roads, stopped at the meeting point for 30minutes. Wouldnt start, jsut a single wuuuuuuub and then nothing. Jump started fine from my spare battery. Then did some 2hours of laning, stopping at the top of a mountain for lunch. Maybe 45mins stopped, but i opened the bonnet to get some nice cooling air thru it. Started fine. Then drove down a 1000ft descent, 1st low, car didnt like that much and was billowing oil smoke by the time i got to the bottom. Shut it off for maybe 20minutes while others descended, started fine. Back up the 1000ft climb and along 15-20minutes of tracks, stopped again to wait on the rest of the cars for maybe 10minutes, and again it started fine. another 2 hours offroad, before finally stopping at a petrol station, and again, it restarted fine. So one failed start amongst half a dozen.

Really puzzling!

Thanks.

I will see if my spare engine has the starter attached and see about swapping it over.

Looking for some pointers.

The battery in the car isn't the healthiest, so sometimes can crank a bit slowly. However I've noticed a bit of a pattern forming where it really struggles to start when hot.

For instance today it fired up perfectly happily from cold, drove for an hour and stopped at a park and ride in town. Offloaded the kid, got back in to start it and got one crank and everything dimmed out... Tried again and it started.

On the way home, fired right up from cold, 30mins of traffic to the same park and ride, and again same thing. One or two very slow cranks with every thing dimmed out. This time I tried 3 times and still it wouldn't start. Grabbed my jump box from the boot and attached that and got one slow crank then a few much faster cranks and it fired up.

What I'm not sure is if the engines simply harder to turn when hot, and my battery is just not upto it, or if maybe the starter itself gets unhappy when it's hot?!

P0155 is a "heater not working" code
P0154 is a "lamdba sensor no activity" code

Both for bank 2.

So those indicate Bank2 lambda is kaput

P0135 is the heater for bank 1.

Probably time to treat it to a nice pair of new sensors then!

you can try shiply.com, they put the job out to tender and you get folks who travel all around that can bring it to you.

Worth bearing in mind the ECU can only see sensor inputs and act on that data.

The lambdas are giving feedback about fuel mixture.

What you currently dont know, is if the feedback is correct, and the engine is actually lean, or if the feedback is incorrect because the sensor is faulty.

I may ofcourse be teaching granny to suck eggs here, but as an example, imagine the MAF is underreading (either because its faulty, or becuase a split gasket or hose is letting some air skip past the MAF), the ECU is told there is 30g/s of air when there is actually 40g. It injects fuel for 30g, the engine is super lean, lambda detects this and ecu starts increasing fuel trims trying to fix it. Eventually it reaches the trim limit because if its having to add 33% fuel theres clearly an issue, so gives a system lean fault code.

In this situation, the lambdas are completely fine and are working as expected, the fault is with the MAF(or the air leak). But the ECU hasnt mentioned the MAF, because the MAF readings are close enough to what it expects that it hasnt realised they're wrong. Folks jump in with the parts cannon and fit new lambda sensors, and then are confused when the code remains.

I'm not saying its not the lambdas, just that care is required that you dont end up lead down a path.

It could be an air leak, fuelling issue, sensor issue etc. Try to be methodical, check the basics first, vacuum leaks and whatnot.

Given its at light load, that does to me nudge towards a possible air leak, as they tend to be fairly fixed volume and thus affect low load much more than high load.

yeah last few times i've used my big shifter spanner and just whacked it with a hammer.

This time i was probably not helped by the belt being covered in PAS fluid so it was probably slipping more than usual... I also couldnt remember what way i'm supposed to hit the thing, tried both ways. And with nothing to counterhold it was just not budging.

Tackled this on sunday.

I couldnt get the fan off (hate those damn things, i wish they would provide a decent locking mechanism!) which no doubt made it harder, but the main issue was actually the engine oil cooler hard line. The pipe couldnt move over to clear the box due to that line, and it couldnt move forwards due to the gearbox oil cooler line. I couldnt undo the gearbox cooler line as the whole rad frame was just moving around, it seems to be rubber mounted, and the thread in the gearbox cooler was proper stuck.

Once the engine oil cooler line was out the way, i managed to wiggle the pipes thru the tiny gap. Annoyingly i spent half an hour carefully painting up the new pipes to hopefully help them last a bit longer, and scraped them all up shoving them back thru the tiny gap.

Not a pleasant job, mainly because of oil pouring everywhere, and the whole underside of the car being covered in oil too. I think the gearbox oil cooler is also leaking, and no doubt the engine is too. Everything between the radiator and gearbox is just absolutely covered in oil.

My PAS lines have sprung a leak, thankfully only the return line, but the supply line doesnt look far behind, its extremely rusty. I've ordered a good used set off ebay as it appears getting new ones is near impossible now (especially for the supply line).

Is there any useful tips or tricks for fitting these? Am i going to have to pull out the fan and rad shroud? Or is it possible to get them out without?

I seem to recall that if the timer relay has been replaced with a standard one, it can stop OBD working.