Interesting!
I didnt really notice any clunking, the pump just seemed to stop, so perhaps there is some sort of issue with the tank?
Whats the purpose of stopping short?
Well i figured i should put together a short summary of the trip.
We drove 1200miles over the weekend, from Glenrothes to Fareham, visiting goodwood for 3 days then back home again. It made it, without needing a flatbed truck, which i was quite pleased about.
No cruise control was annoying, as the ECU didnt turn up in time. The AC worked surprisingly, despite the leak, and was a godsend on the return leg where it was really quite warm!
The trip did throw up a few issues, with the BECM going in a huff in the Harry Potter tour car park and immobilising the car for a period. That magically fixed itself, but then it sprang a fuel leak on the way to the hotel.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cqamhk5ji5hhd8p/2017-07-02%2023.09.19.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/a786gl72ax9jk2m/2017-07-04%2010.52.11.jpg?dl=0
That hose on the return line is 10mm LPG hose that some arsehole has used to join the tank to the return line. Its all perished and has split around where the jubilee had crushed it down to 8mm. 30minute walk to a nearby pirtek (via euro car parts, who didnt have any fuel hose...) for a length of hose and a repair in the hotel carpark on monday morning and we were off again, albeit a couple of hours late!
A few more minor issues came to light as well, some mentioned above. I replaced the rear track rod before we went as one of the boots was split and the balljoint was rusted up. While the front one felt fine, we discovered once we hit some minor back roads that it was a nightmare to keep it in a streight line, with the steering pulling wildly around the place on camber changes, and discovered the balljoint on the front bar now also had play. At least one of the axle end balljoints is also creaking when turning it, so i guess its dry as well? Those look like a pig to change! I'll replace the front panhard rod bushes as well.
The brake pipes on the rear axle are a total bodgefest and were clattering off the axle tube over slow bumps in traffic as they're completely unsupported over their length. Temporarily fixed that with ducktape but the pipes need properly recreated and the appropriate mounting tabs need fitted. It appears to be a later style axle case, that someones bodged the early style pipes onto, and ofcourse that means theres no locating tabs etc.
The car also managed to use about 4L of oil over the course of 1200miles. When we arrived at the hotel (500miles) there was barely a drop on the dipstick, and it took 2L to fill it back up again. I kept a closer eye on it after that and topped it up regularly.
The exhaust, despite sounding epic around town and while being a bit chavvy revving it in tunnels, has an awful drone around 2250rpm. Its not usually an issue, as motorway driving is up closer to 2800rpm where its quite civilised, but once you get in some traffic and are doing 50-60ish it was really quite annoying. I often found myself forcing it into third gear to keep the revs up. So i'll need to get a small silencer added to replace the middle box (though realistically i knew that anyway)
The transmission was otherwise fine, despite me fearing the worst due to its oil leak and horrible noise it was making before we left, and after repositioning the sump gasket appeared to retain its oil without issue.
Theres probably more stuff, but i cant think of it just now!
So, first long trip completed and i noticed some real oddness with the LPG filling
The first few times i filled it when the red light came on, but realised it was only taking 45-50L of gas and that the level guage isnt particularly accurate. Pushing it a bit further i got into the 60litre range without issue.
I remembered from the installation certificate that it stated 95L Toroidal tank, and so i expected closer to 70-75L. Imagining 15mpg i guessed 240miles or so should be possible, but thus far i'd stopped way short of that each time due to convenient filling locations.
Once we got down to fareham, I filled the tank, and did about 140miles of driving back and forwards from the hotel and goodwood, lots of heavy traffic etc, and then set off up the motorway and it finally ran out and the gas switched off with 180miles on the dash. Stopped and filled up, and it took 95L?!
I then drove ~200miles up the motorway, and decided it must be needing a fill, but this time it only took 42L?! It worked out an MPG of over 22 so clearly nonsense, i presume it simply didnt fill the tank properly?
Another 200miles up the motorway, stopped again, and this time it took 90L?!
WTF is going on?! For starters a 95L tank should never be taking 90-95L of gas? and why the short fill of 45L?
If I could get the remote working that would help I think. It's a 1994 car so no key coil thing.
When I got it the remote didn't work. I replaced the battery door and tweaked the contacts and now the red lights come on with buttons, but no response to anything from the car.
What's required to unlock the becm and read the eka if I can't get it from the dealer?
I don't have the eka
Tried to get it out of the bcm after it started working and it just displayed ----
Well immediate panic over. It magically fixed itself.
Took battery off. Reconnected and lock and unlocked the door a couple of times and the locking fired and the car started.
It's now developed a fuel leak to compensate
Anyone got any ideas? Come back to the car after a day out in Watford and it wouldn't fire the central locking
Don't have a working remote
Opened the door and alarm went off.
Now it says engine disabled.
Any ideas? I have a nanocom but can't seem to display the alarm info. It says unable to connect.
Yeah cylinder 7 had oily looking spark plug when I first got it, and oiled up it's replacement too. I wasn't sure if it was stem seals from all the idling, or rings.
I meant to recheck it after I'd done some miles in it but I've not looked at it since passing the MOT 😂 that was 1300miles ago.
Well it made it the 500 miles to goodwood just fine ☺
Cruise ecu didn't arrive in time though.
A few new issues have appeared though.
The steering seemed to get really hard to control after some of the back roads on the way into goodwood. Some poking around this evening shows the front track rod has play in the ball joint on the passenger side. I've also managed to track down the creaking steering that it's had since I got it,looks like one of the balljoints on the drivers side ofexcessive which look like a total arse to change!
Tried to source a track rod today but euros couldn't get it until Monday and nowhere else had it.
It also seemed to have burned (or leaked?) two litres of engine oil in just over 500 miles which seems somewhat excessive!
thats good to know
Well...
Put 4 litres of fluid in and started it, very mild clickyness immediately after startup, nothing on the dipstick when i looked, so put the fifth litre in and didnt hear any further noise.
Level appeared to be at the maximum pip, so i went for a drive. Some more slight clickyness initially and it faded away. Drove round the block a few times and went home and checked the level again. Nothing on dipstick again?!
Poured another litre into it, and again it was back up to the maximum pip.
Drove 5 miles to the LPG station, various roads from 30 to 70mph. No clicking. Filled with LPG and headed home again, still no clicking...
So is it fixed? Who knows. I'll check the level again in the morning with everything cold, and make some final adjustments to the level and see how it goes.
a 2006 BMW 330d supplied a M12x1.5 sump plug, and i got a few dowty washers from Cromwell to save me having the ball ache of getting a copper washer to seal.
Plug went in fine, and tightened up ok.
Only had 3 Litres of ATF left, so poured that in, now i'm waiting on more coming, the missus is picking it up on the way home!
Over the past few days, i've seen some electrical weirdness with the P38.
Since i've had it, the dash often beeps "Alternator Fault" when you turn the ignition on, but otherwise seems to work fine.
The other day the wife had the rear door open putting the wee man in his seat, and i'd put the ignition on while waiting (not started the engine) and i heard a relay clicking somewhere in the dash. When i looked at the screen, the "Door Open Left Rear" was flickering on and off in time with the relay, the battery warning light was also flashing on and off. When she shut the door, it stopped.
Its done the same thing a few times when doors are open, but the other day while driving along, i'm sure i heard the same relay clicking a couple of times while driving. There was nothing obvious on the dash, no beeps or warning lights, just the clicking of a relay.
Any ideas?
This cars officially now being an arsehole!
Removed the sump, jigged it about and repositioned the seal, and clamped it back up. Looks better now. Who knows if it will actually seal, but at least it now looks as you would expect.
Put the drain plug in and tightened it, except it didnt tighten. Added a nice selection of swear words and wound it back out expecting stripped threads, but instead found the sump plug itself appears to have split, at the bottom of the counterbore for the magnet...
Going to nip to the factors at lunch, they almost certainly wont have the correct plug, but vauxhall and BMW use M12x1.5 drain plugs in their engine sumps and are common enough i can hopefully get one. Wont be magnetic, but it'll have to do for now!
i fitted it about 2 weeks ago. Ofcourse it was a shitpart seal, should have known better.
Afterwards i properly topped it off using the cold idling and cyling gears method.
With the engine off earlier, the level was half way between the two pips, so well low on where it should be.
Hope i've not damaged the gearbox!
as with anything, cheap polybushes are shite, decent ones are decent.
Superpro are amongst the best if you can get those.
FFFFS
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2bijn7k4ckkpg5w/2017-06-26%2018.51.33.jpg?dl=0
Do i risk pulling the pan and hoping to get that to reseat properly, or do i try to find a replacement gasket. supposed to be leaving on wednesday :@
Also, i know it says check when cold, the engine wasnt hot when i looked, but wasnt stone cold either, its been sat for a few hours since i drove it home. Will that make a huge difference?
Pretty sure its not an exhaust leak. It sounds very mechanical. Exhaust leaks tend to vary with load as well, this doesnt.
Checked the ATF level in the box, not a thing on the dipstick, despite it being topped up a few weeks ago.
Theres a nice oily patch on the gravel where it parks as well... Going to try and figure out whats leaking and pour some more ATF in and see if the noise goes away!
I noticed this noise the other day while messing with the LPG system, but i sort of dismissed it initially thinking i was just hearing the LPG injectors cycling.
However it was doing it again this morning when i took the wee man to nursery and i realised the LPG wasnt even online yet.
The noise appears to be coming from directly below the shifter assembly, and is a sort of strange rattley clickety noise which occurs in time with engine RPM's, raising the rpm raises the speed of the clacketing. It occurs in all gears and irrespective of engine load. Accellerating doesnt appear to make the noise change, other than it increasing in frequency with the engine rpms. Decelleration usually causes it to fade away, but then the engine drops right down to idle where its harder to hear so thats kinda expected. It also occurs in neutral and park. It is still audible at idle, but it becomes quieter and somewhat more randomised.
I made a video (excuse the wee one shouting in the back):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0a6zcf99p1zbkl3/2017-06-26%2012.12.08.mp4?dl=0
The video was made while stationary with the car in park. I also got out and had a listen under the bonnet, and TBH i couldnt hear the noise AT ALL from under the hood, despite it being blatant from within the car.
The strange part... I parked for an hour after making that video. When i got back in and drove off, it was silent. I drove several miles to macdonalds with not a peep from it. Got my food and left macdonalds still without a clackety noise anywhere to be heard. Then i gunned it off a roundabout and the noise reappeared and stayed there for the remainder of the journey home (about a mile), albeit less loud than it had been when i made the video.
