Sortof, the Merc works but has a range of about 65miles in this weather. A4 is broken until i can get the rack reconditioned. And now the rangerover is trying to boil itself.

yeh i checked a few places, seemed to be 94-98 fitment so should be good :)

i was looking at used ones for £40ish, but that nissens link is perfect and dirt cheap, cheers for that, ordered :)

And yeh fingers crossed, but my current vehicular luck seems to be ensuring its the block or something.

In the last month, my A4 has had a siezed front caliper (yet unresolved, i cleaned it up and it started working again), a dodgy handbrake mechanism on a rear caliper (again unresolved), the alternator failed, and that highlighted that that battery was also completely knackered as it barely drove 10miles with everything turned off after the alternator died. Fixed the alternator and battery and next trip out the PAS rack sprung a leak. Oh an an ABS sensor has failed as well in amongst all of that. The P38 has its coolant leak and also has a slightly sticky rear caliper so i need to fix that as well!

I've mostly ignored the LPG system since i managed to get it working, but i'd like to try and fix some small issues it has.

When i bought the rangey, it would barely run. A new MAF and some new petrol injectors (Rover K-Series 1.4 are a good match and much more modern!) had it running a LOT better and finally got it thru an MOT, and so i set about trying to get the LPG working. It ran, but hopelessly badly. There was no filter present, and the injector rails were quite old and after posting on here it was suggested i replace them, so they got swapped with a pair of Valtek type 30's and i fitted a filter at the same time. Eventually figured out the "autocalibration" menu in the software, ran the calibration and it all started working. Great!

It drives acceptably well, perhaps a little less perky on gas than it is on petrol, but theres no hesitations or missfiring or whatever, it just works.

So the first problem. When running on LPG, if you floor it, maybe half the time or a bit less, and you keep your foot planted to say accellerate from 20 to 70mph (so quite a while), it will stutter really badly after some period of time at full throttle. It'll only usually stutter the once, and most of the time it clears and keeps accellerating with the accellerator still floored. Very occasionally the gauge/switch thing will beep or flash its lights when this happens. Gas level doesnt seem to effect it. I've had it do it with a completely full tank, though it tends to be a bit easier to cause if the gas is on the lower end. Its different symptoms to actually running out, where it switches to petrol and beeps at me. It stays on gas when this happens.

The second issue, i'm not sure if it is an issue or not, but theres a definate performance difference between LPG and petrol, however this seems most noticeable at the lower end of the tank. Recently i was driving it on LPG and i knew it was close to running out, i was heading towards a filling station thru a sequence of roundabouts when it finally cut over to petrol. I immediately noticed it was a LOT more responsive once it switched to petrol accellerating out of the next roundabout. Seemed to need less throttle pressure to make it accellerate and it just felt better. With a full tank of gas the difference doesnt seem as large, but surely the LPG system should be compensating for gas pressure to ensure the systems always injecting the same amount of fuel?!

Missus called this morning to say the P38 was overheating on the dual carriageway, said the gauge was round at "H", but cooled down once she got into town. Her commute is only 5 miles.

The radiator has been a bit weepy since i've had it, but it seems to have started leaking a bit more and i'd noticed a small puddle at the shops one day last week when it wasnt parked on gravel, last few outings i've had to top it up, and unfortunately i didnt check the coolant level this morning before she left, so wishful thinking is that the level has just gone a bit low. Or its all signs of the usual dreaded gasket/block issues. Or worse, it WAS just a leaking radiator, and now shes smoked the head gaskets! :(

Shes going to see how much water it takes at lunch time.

The transit will have been a County conversion. They are a factory-affiliated conversion company that have been doing conversions on transits for years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Transit#County_4x4

Lots of them were built for the likes of Scottish Power, who use them as utility vehicles to access infrastructure in more inaccessible areas up north.

yeh quite possible. On GEMS, the four holes that hold the plate on are imperial and drilled right thru into the inside of the plenum. Needless to say, when i figured out what i'd done, i didnt have the four bolts or the plate any more, having launched them straight in the bin. I had to remove the manifold, drill and tap the holes out to the next metric size, and fit some short metric bolts with loctite.

i removed the throttle heater altogether, and blanked the pipe at the manifold and reservoir with a spare bolt. I dont see why you'd need to goto the effort of bodging up a line, just blank it.

Be warned though, if you do remove it, leave the plate in-place, or you'll have four nice holes into your manifold that will cause all manner of running issues and you'll spend weeks chasing your arse before you figure out what you've done.... ;)

Lots of comments since i last looked and i dont have time to read it all in detail.

I had a similar issue with my boss at work, He was concerned that people might start bitching about how i was getting "free fuel" and they werent allowed free petrol. But being a decent place they said "we'll simply install a meter, and you pay for what you use". The reality is the amount of energy the car draws is trivial. It costs about 30p an hour while charging (16A single phase) and its usually re-filled what i use by lunch time. So its about £1.20. And sure, it adds up, but its inconsequential compared with the other operational costs of the building. Theres also a BIK issue, which is alleviated by installing the meter.

Up here in scotland the councils have free charging points all over the country. No limits on use, no cost to charge. Wont last forever ofcourse, but its a nice perk for now.

The regenerative braking does make a difference, especially in stop start type traffic, as you can recapture a lot of the energy you'd otherwise be throwing away. Theres a maximum charge limit though, so you cant capture it all unless you alter your driving style to suit. Some people can perfect 1 pedal driving, using no brakes at all (well most of the time anyway).

you can be, they usually have a viewing area, and depending what i've got going on i sometimes do that and sometimes i'll just drop it in first thing and collect it later.

Depends on the place wether you can chat with the guy, some of the bigger chains want you properly out the way, others are more friendly.

A leaking rocker cover wouldnt fail here. :P I put mine in with what turned out to be a ruined seal on the oil pressure switch, with oil literally dripping of the bottom of the engine, and i got an advisory saying "Oil Leak"... The guy did tell me the leak was fairly significant though.

its one thing finding a bulb on a test, and fixing it, and another entirely if you bring it in and ask them to "fix the bulb" (or tyres) then MOT it...

I would be somewhat pissed off if i took a car in, specifically asked them to fit two new tyres then MOT it, and found afterwards they'd failed it on the tyres...

I suspect as mentioned its just to make their figures look better, as VOSA will expect a percentage of fails.

Am i the only one that finds the nanocom a bit flakey? Or maybe mine just has issues!

Mine will semi-regularly lock up, and require me to exit out of a particular ECU and go back in again to get it to start reading data again.

Its also really quite slow, switching between screens takes eons, and the touchscreen is pretty poor...

I find using VCDS for my Audi much nicer, despite the inconvenience of it needing a laptop.

i tend to drive in Sport all the time, it just seems too sluggish in normal mode, upshifts far too early and the engine sounds kinda horrible as its always sitting around 2000rpm where the converter stalls, you dont get the nice sound of it working up thru the revs, just this sorta annoying drone.

The only time i switch it off is when on the motorway, as it can sometimes be a bit too eager to downshift when you reach a hill or something.

yeh i had a play with the car yesterday and noticed the Auto worked the same way as the A4. I pressed auto and then pressed Airconditioning Off (the compressor is leaking). The Auto light went out, but i noticed the fan "bar" was still missing. The fan did seem a bit annoying though, blowing a bit too hard for no reason. I ended up manually turning it down a bit. I suspect i might have had the temperature set to an impossible value, IE set to 18c when it was 20c outside or whatever.

I think theres some argument for less control in an Automatic car due to the lack of engine braking. When you lift in a manual car, you get immediate retardation of speed, which makes it feel like you've not only stopped accellerating but have actually started slowing down. The Auto doesnt seem to do that as much, as soon as you lift it drops out the lockup clutch on the converter and the engine drops to idle meaning you lose almost all engine braking.

I've always had manuals, and was REALLY against automatic boxes as i wanted the control. When i replaced my old trooper with the Range Rover, i resigned myself to the autobox and figured it wasnt a daily driven car, and so wouldnt bother me too much. It then sat for months broken and i never used it. However in the mean time i got the electric car, which obviously has no transmission, i started using that daily and quickly realised that infact, for the daily commute, there was nothing wrong with it, and i quite enjoyed not having clutch leg ache in traffic. Thus once the range rover was finally pressed into use, it felt pretty "normal". That said, the EV has fairly strong regenerative braking which comes in when you lift off the throttle, so the engine braking issue isnt realised in that car. I guess fundamentally its just different and people dont like change.

The primary thing with the range rovers auto that annoys me, is the inability to manually downshift before a manoever. EG if i want to overtake, you end up mashing the foot down and theres a significant delay while everything winds itself up and gets into the proper gear. Whereas newer "tiptronic" autos allow you to flick the box down into the correct gear before you start the overtake. It also seems to occasionally down shift too far. So it'll jam itself into 2nd at 5500rpm, and then immediately upshift into 3rd, whereas with a manual, you'd just have selected 3rd to start with.

As for the cruise control, i dont find any feelings of out of control. I'm still driving exactly as normal, my brains processing the same things and performing the same actions, the only difference is i'm not having to hold my foot wedged on the throttle in the same position for ages. End of the day 99% of driving is observations and planning. The physical controls are almost subconcious anyway

RutlandRover wrote:

I know a couple of people that won't use it because they "want to be in control of the car". One of these people won't even use auto climate control for the same reason. His car has auto climate control but he steadfastly refuses to hit the "AUTO" button and as a result is constantly adjusting the temperature and vent speed etc.

I assume they think that it means they're a better driver in some way as they are "in control".

Yeh, but if you need to accelerate, then do so, and similarly if you need to brake, do so. The controls still there, its just helping you maintain the setpoint. If they're that worried about control, do they refuse to drive automatic transmissions?

The climate control is interesting, i tend to turn Auto off in the A4, and direct the airflow at the windscreen and footwell vents. However in the A4, the automatic fan control part stays on even though you've turned "auto" off. So it'll still ramp the fan up as the engine reaches temperature, and shut it back once the cabin is warm enough. If you then adjust the fan speed, your adjustment is applied as an offset to the automatic speed.

I did the same thing on the P38 when i got it but havent paid too much attention to how its operating.

i used 6mm fuel hose when i did mine. Never keen on long runs of largish bore silicone where vacuum is involved. It tends to go a bit soft and squidey and sucks flat.

I've never quite understood why people dont use cruise control. Its really quite annoying when your sat on the motorway, with the cruise on at 70, and end up playing yoyo with someone who cant maintain their speed properly. And fair enough if its an older or crappy car that might not have it, but when its something new and a bit flash and will almost certainly have it, why arent they using it? I use it every time i'm out in the other two cars, certainly improves fatigue and ankle ache on motorway jaunts. Also saves worrying about your speed creeping up and then getting stung by a scamera van.

instead of guessing, and changing parts that may or may not be broken... why not ask the unit why its brought the light on?

not yet, i was away at the weekend so didnt get a chance.

My point on tax is there's no way you'd get away with putting 70% tax on the electricity people use to power their homes, or the electricity that powers industry. If they wanted transport tax, it would need to be only applied to electricity used for transport. With petrol and diesel, the non transport uses are small, so it's generally available pretaxed, and getting it untaxed is a challenge.

As for the turbodiesel thing, sure you make a valid point. But until very recently, a turbo petrol was restricted to the high performance only options. The run of the mill everyday cars had either a turbodiesel, or a naturally aspirated petrol. Don't get me wrong. I'd personally much prefer a turbo petrol or a huge v8, and infact that's exactly what I do have, as well as the EV. But you can't ignore why people buy diesel, they are typically torquier, and easier to drive than a similar spec and size non-turbo petrol. For a given power output, the diesel tends to make that power at a much lower and thus more accessible point in the rev range, which to you average Joe who doesn't rev his petrol to 5k+ means the diesel has much more accessible power. Compare a 2.0 TDI Mondeo to a 2.0 non turbo. They probably both make about 150hp, but the TDI will feel a lot more willing to accelerate, and the petrol you'll need to downshift and rev the nuts off it. It may well be that when driven flat out the petrol is infact faster, but the way your normal Joe drives doesn't realise that performance.

The biggest issue I see with diesel is the millions of folks that have bought them and use them solely for short trips where it's completely pointless. Unfortunately they fixate on the MPG, but don't realise if you only do 5 or 6k s year the difference in fuel is negligible, and they then have all sorts of issues with the engine that cost way more than the fuel savings ever will.

Yep perfect, that's what I can see 😀

Gilbertd wrote:

An EV would be no good to me at all. I have a works van, supplied by a Government Department, that is a stinky diesel, costs the taxpayer £10.40 two or three days a week when I have to go into the congestion charge zone but does between 150 and 200 miles a day. How could I do that, and still get a days work done, in an EV? For my own car, I'm currently the best part of 1,000 miles south of home. While I may do the odd short journey, could I really justify having an EV to go and do the shopping when the rest of the time (every other weekend at the moment) I'm doing anything between 1,000 and 2,000 miles.

Ofcourse, they;re not perfect, and not for everyone. But a tesla can happily do 200+ miles on a single charge, and theres plenty of space in a van for a big battery pack, after all if it fits under the floor of a big saloon car, it can fit under the floor of a van! The market will grow, and more products will become available. Nissan have been building electric NV200's based on the LEAF running gear, and they seem very popular with councils around this way.

As for your long trips, its very unlikely you drive 1000miles without stopping... My bladder manages about 150-200miles, and my stomach and legs usually want serviced around then too. So you stop, you plug the car in and charge it while you recharge yourself, and 30mins (ish) later its ready to go again. Its no different to my range rover LPG tank, that also only goes about 200miles. Except instead of standing at the pump holding the annoying button while it slowly trickles in, i can go get some food or take a piss or get a coffee while it fills itself.

For us, we have multiple vehicles anyway. Previously we had the 330d, the A4, and the 4x4. I ditched the 330d and swapped it for the EV. I use the EV for my commute, which it makes somewhat nicer due to how it drives. On the days i work from home, the wife uses the EV for running around town. If i have it away at work, she;ll use the A4 instead.

Things will improve markedly for EV's once the 200mile+ cars move from the super premium tesla models, down into the more mainstream. Renaults new Zoe with the 40kwh pack is heading towards that point, and makes a fairly convincing package to replace most small hatchbacks.