- With a pair of pliers, pipe pliers seem to work best. If that doesn't work, you'll need to drill it out.
- Squeeze with your fingers and give it a wiggle while pulling.
- Which ones?
How to post photos https://rangerovers.pub/topic/1877-how-to-topic
Aragorn wrote:
You may well be one of the edge cases, but given your driving an LPG powered range rover, which can probably not do much more than 200miles per fill anyway, i suspect your stretching the reality a little. Ofcourse, if your doing a lot of towing for instance then you've got a perfectly valid arguement against them currently, as there arent a great deal of options for models that can tow. Its more about keeping an open mind!
True but yes, I do a lot of towing. Most of my long journeys are with a couple of tonnes (at least) hanging off the back. Last time I looked I think only the bigger Tesla is capable of towing and even then it isn't capable of towing any realistic (for me) weight. The other thing is charging points and the time taken. Yes I have to stop for 10 minutes every 2-3 hours to fill up, and the rapid chargers don't take much longer than that, but only if there are some rapid chargers where I'm going. For instance there are none to the north or east of Warsaw and the Tesla Model X takes 52 hours to charge from a standard power point.
One advantage of smart meters is it enables time of use metering. What the national grid dont want, is everyone driving home from work, plugging their car in at 6pm, when the grid is already under maximum load. By offering cheaper tarrifs at other times of day, you can encourage people to charge at a time when the grid is not stressed, like at 1am. The grid is perfectly capable of handling EV charging, just so long as the bulk of its not done during the evening peak!
But surely that's when the majority will want to charge their car? Get in from work, plug it in and leave it. Not go outside just before going to bed to plug it in?
I suspect a big part of this is simply the faff. Aftermarket installs simply arent as clean and tidy as something OEM. And your carrying around two fuel tanks and are having to top up with petrol and LPG.
Some are, if done properly, but I will admit that many aren't. I don't think any of the LPG cars I've owned hasn't had the system taken out and put back in a manner I'm happy with. A lot of this can be blamed on the done-in-a-day installers who will chuck it in and leave it at that. They are also the ones that won't calibrate a system properly and when the customer mentions that the Check Engine light comes on when running on LPG, tell them that is normal.
Not really a workaround, just that in order to get the Crit Air sticker you have to send in a pdf of your registration document. If it said fuel type Petrol, I'd get a Classe 4 (Euro 3 vehicles), on LPG I get Classe 1 but they need to see proof. The sticker is valid for the life of the vehicle and costs €4.10 rather than paying every time you enter the ULEZ. It's done to keep the air clean and not to make money...... Germany is the same but their sticker costs €6.00.
davew wrote:
Back (more) on topic just why exactly are LPGs vehicles on the decline if they are effectively 'greener' than diesel/petrol ? Surely they should be encouraged more ? Or do we all have to buy electric/H2 cars soon because the car manufacturers are lobbying for this ?
Multiple reasons really. To many people it isn't mainstream enough to be considered and, there's a lot of old wives tales about how it is unreliable and will destroy your engine. That may have been the case 25 years ago, but a modern system is as refined as the petrol system. In fact, should you feel the need to buy a brand new Dacia, for an extra £500 on the purchase price you can have one running on LPG. The engine ECU has been programmed so when on LPG you get more power than on petrol and they push the difference in fuel cost too. No idea how many have been sold in the UK but in their home country they probably don't sell any petrol only versions. Once over the Channel, the further East you travel you will see LPG cars and diesel cars and hardly any petrol cars. You'll even see LPG only filling stations as well as an LPG pump on every filling station forecourt.
To convert a standard port injection petrol engine is pretty straightforward, you just put a nozzle in the inlet manifold as close to the petrol injector as you can and inject the gas in at that point. But in order to get better fuel efficiency, a lot of the more modern designed engines are direct injection where the fuel is injected straight into the combustion chamber. Nowhere to fit a second injector but it is possible to use the existing one to inject LPG as a liquid but as it is a dry fuel, you still need to inject around 25% petrol and while kits are available to do the conversion, they have to be specific to the engine model so not cheap.
More people are leasing cars these days so they aren't allowed to do any modifications.
The official figures show that it is in decline too. According to DVLA there are 150,000 cars running on LPG in the country, so any filling station owner that doesn't sell much (such as BP that never sold much anyway as they were always the most expensive), looks at that and decides it isn't worth it. Now I'm not sure what criteria DVLA used in their search that came up with this figure, but I've seen V5s that show the fuel type as Petrol/Gas, Dual Fuel, Bi-Fuel and Petrol/LPG so if they only checked one of those types the numbers would be low. In addition, of the 6 LPG fuelled vehicles I've owned, only one showed anything other than petrol as the fuel type because the V5 had never been changed. Even that isn't made easy. The first LPG car I owned came with an LPG safety inspection certificate but the V5 said Petrol, I informed DVLA of the change of fuel type and they did nothing. When I pointed out that I was supposed to inform them they simply said that I had but as the car was pre-2001, so on the flat rate VED rather than the sliding scale, I wouldn't get my £10 a year discount so there was no point in changing it. I registered an imported BMW that was already converted, put Petrol/Gas on the application and the V5 came back as petrol, so I sent it back and asked them to change it. I used the excuse that it was a rare model that was considered a classic and would be taken over to Paris to be displayed at Retromobile, a big classic car show, but if running on petrol wouldn't be able to be driven into Paris as the more clear thinking European countries appreciate the lower emissions and class a car running on LPG the same as a Hybrid. I used the same argument when I sent the V5 for my everyday car back to have the fuel type changed and they changed it (hence my Classe 1 Crit Air sticker in the windscreen). If 1 in 6 cars running on LPG here are shown in the V5 as running on petrol, then rather than the 150,000 DVLA say there are, that figure is probably over 500,000 so filling stations that have removed their pumps because there isn't likely to be the demand, are making decisions based on flawed arguments.
What really irks me is that TfL allow taxis that have been converted to run on LPG to enter the ULEZ without having to pay the charge but the same concession isn't given to privately owned LPG fuelled vehicles.
I'm not going to get into this one as I'm one of the ones where range and charging time really would make an EV a non-starter for me, but I find it highly ironic that they are pushing everyone to get a smart meter installed so they can monitor their energy usage and modify their way of life to save a bit. Then they want everyone to buy an EV so you use far more than you are saving.....
I intend giving it a good reverse flush when it is next back here so that should remove any that is left. You'll have taken some more of it out with the water pump change too so it's slowly being removed and replaced.
I've had a bit of spare time today and have been doing a bit of tidying up outside. The bucket I'd used to drain Nigel's coolant into was still out there and this is what I found
Seems that OAT and Steel Seal form a gel when left. The bucket has just been sitting outside, no hot sunshine even but despite it only supposed to do anything when it gets very hot, it obviously has. That's obviously why his radiator wasn't flowing too well.
For anyone wanting DAB and Line In while keeping the original stereo and not wanting to spend the money on a Grom, I've just bought one of these to put in her indoor's Merc https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254817833872. I had a couple of Sonichi s100 units (https://www.halfords.com/technology/car-audio/dab-car-stereos/sonichi-s100-digital-radio-adapter-342136.html), one in her car and one that I used in the company van which was recently put in the Ascot. The one in the Ascot packed up so I was going to get another when I saw the Autoleads unit. Just installed it and it is pretty damn good. Connects to the stereo using RF but encodes the station name to RDS so the car display shows the DAB station you are listening to. Has a small, very neat wireless control so no cables need to be run to it either. Her car already had a DAB aerial fitted so I used that but it even comes with an amplified aerial too.
On petrol it's a standard right hand thread, so you whack the top of the spanner from right to left to undo it. I'm not sure the viscous even needs to come off though, there's a fair amount of space between the front of the fan and the back of the radiator.
The electrical document that Marshall uploaded has tests that can be carried out with a multimeter at the connector to the gearbox. I'd be doing them and confirming you are seeing what you should be seeing.
I give them 10 years. Toyota bought electric cars into the mainstream with the Prius, now they have announced the Mirai running on a Hydrogen fuel cell. Similar refuelling time to petrol, similar or better range on a fill than a BEV and zero emissions. What is there to not like about it? It should also be possible to get a conventional petrol engine to run on Hydrogen too.
If the blades are only chipped and not cracked, I'd leave it, particularly as you don't have the spanner to take it off. As you've discovered from the diagram, there's not need to take the fan off to fit the belt, it can just be threaded through. Fit it onto all pulleys except the alternator and make sure it is on straight, then heave on the tensioner bolt to give some slack and slip it onto the alternator. Don't trap your fingers, don't want you to end up in A&E.......
Yup, that's why I enjoy driving in Europe so much. The roads are clear so your cruising speed is your average speed, still the odd arsehole but nothing like as bad as over here and no roadworks, or when there are the speed limit drops to 110 kph not the 50 mph crawl, which invariably drops to 40 mph.
I understand lots of new cars are delayed due to a lack of the microchips needed to make them work. Maybe it will force some manufacturers to go back to basics?
That is for the non-electronic gearbox as fitted to the earlier Classic and not the electronically controlled one in the P38. I agree it sounds like it could be an A clutch problem but the fact that it drives in limp mode with the electronics disconnected means that the A clutch is engaging then but not when the TCM is connected.
We aren't trying to teach you to suck eggs, just need to be sure the basics are fully covered before getting more involved. I know one owner who's car was driving perfectly until he parked it nose up on a steep driveway and found it wouldn't drive out, no gears at all. When it was finally towed out and onto the flat, it drove perfectly again. That was purely down to a lack of fluid in the gearbox.
Your problem is sounding more electrical if it drives in limp mode with the TCM disconnected yet doesn't with it connected, assuming I've got that right. That sounds as though the TCM isn't allowing it to work for some reason.
That should be a nice run although not the easiest, or, more to the point, cheapest. France has the most expensive LPG in Europe while Spain doesn't have that many stations and they were the only country to adopt the Euro filler so yet another adapter you need to buy. The nice thing about a P38 is you can sit back, wind it up to 80 mph and relax for a couple of hours before you need to stop for another tankful and a coffee or meal break.
We drove down to the Lot region in SW France for a mate's son's wedding a couple of weekends ago. Filled the tank before setting off on Thursday, drove to Dover and filled it there, then stops for fuel just south of Paris, Vierzon and finally Cahors. Did some running around while we were there, runs to assorted hotels picking up guests and having to drive to the local hospital for our Boris mandated Covid tests so we could get back into the UK, so decided to fill up before setting off to head home on the Sunday afternoon and really confused the Autoroute toll station. Got onto the A20 at J 56 and headed south, stopped at the services and filled up then headed north to get off at the same junction. It couldn't cope with someone getting on the Autoroute and getting off at the same junction......
I missed that bit. Yes, it must be checked with the engine running and the gearbox in Neutral. As soon as the gearbox stops turning the fluid drains back into it so the level will be higher. That could mean you are simply low on fluid, showing low when not running and showing normal after it has been run for a while then switched off. If you waited a short time you'd probably see the level rise as more drained back.
Only half an inch? That isn't right. This is mine after it has been standing overnight and before being started
After starting it, running through the gears and checking it in Neutral, it was showing a bit low and only just reaching the top of the black plastic blob. Bottom mark to top mark is only around 250 ml so it doesn't need much at all. It looks like you have insufficient fluid level and/or flow. The level isn't dropping as much as I would expect it to when running. Could be a weak pump or maybe a restriction in the flow in the cooler?
Running through the gears makes sure the torque converter and oil cooler is filled, if you check without doing that first the level is about 4 inches above the max mark on the dipstick. It might be worth checking it before starting the engine just to be sure it is that high. If it is still at the max mark then that would suggest the pump isn't pumping the fluid.