Loctite would be a good idea. Some new pads come with replacement caliper bolts that have a dollop of something I assume to be a locking compound on the threads. I always put a little blob of Loctite (the stuff that they claim can be undone with normal tools) on them when putting them in if I don't have new bolts.

Yes, when I first got mine. Mark the hex on the adjuster so you can see what position it is in now, slacken the locknut, screw the adjuster in until you feel resistance, back it off a quarter turn or slightly less and nip the locknut up again. You'll probably need to use a socket to undo it (hence marking where it was) but nip it up with a ring spanner or crows foot holding it in place with the allen key. The other place for slack is in the rubber coupling at the top of the lower column.

Alternatively do it how it used to be done in the old days, Fit a Tee into the hole with the pressure switch screwed into one leg and the capilliary tube for the gauge into the other.

Well, I got back home just over half an hour ago and can confirm I had my expected failure, which under normal circumstances would be very minor but wasn't. Coming through Lyon with the HEVAC telling me it was 38 degrees outside, I had the window open to have a cigarette. Pressed the button to close the window and there was a loud crack from inside the door and the window went all lopsided on me. Presumably one of the plastic bits that sit in the runners has snapped. That meant I could only close the window as far as I could with my hand on the top of it pulling it up straight. So I could never completely close it so I've spent the rest of the journey attempting to air condition most of rural France (and failing dismally). In fact, as fast as cold air came out of the vents, it disappeared out the window only to be replaced with very hot air......

I'll pull the door panel off in a while (once I've had a shower and changed into some non-sweat soaked clothes) and see what exactly broke.

It is possible to take the head off complete with manifold and heat shield but you need a short socket that will fit under the heat shield to get to the top head bolts. As the bolts come out you need to lift the head up to allow room for the socket. I've done it using wooden wedges, someone did it on my car shortly before I got it but jammed screwdriver in there and nicked the head face causing the head gasket to blow shortly afterwards.

Have a look at this https://rangerovers.pub/topic/1147-at-just-the-wrong-time-of-the-year It was driven 40 miles to me and had been like it for a couple of weeks. It was only because the noise it made was becoming embarrassing when doing the school run he decided it needed something doing with it. The engine had top hat liners and no marks on them or the block face at all, but the head was skimmed anyway but only needed a couple of thou taking off it, so no damage to the head either.

Yiu shouldn't need to work it out, as long as the trailer load is balanced, then it is likely to be OK. If you can just lift the front of the trailer by grabbing the towhitch, then it is going to be about right. If it feels like it is welded to the ground, it's probably too heavy......

Getting it properly loaded and the nose weight correct is a lot more important than many seem to realise and loading a car properly makes all the difference. I tend to drive on watching the rear of the car and stop as soon as the rear starts to drop on the suspension. Too far back, so insufficient nose weight will cause the trailer to start to snake and my experience is that too much will cause vibrations. I had a shuddering from about 65 mph on my drive down Thursday/yesterday as the nose weight was too high. Way too high in fact. I'd hired a trailer from my usual place but one of their Brian James trailers had been nicked so they had put an Indespension that they'd recently taken in part ex onto their hire fleet. It had previously been used with a race car so has the rack on the front for the rain tyres. As I was only bringing down a motorcycle, it made sense to strap it to that resulting in 180 kgs of MV Agusta sitting in front of the front axle. Nose weight on the P38 is 150 kgs so I was probably well over that. Picking up a 66 Ford Mustang on Monday to bring back so I'll be able to load that properly and get the weight distribution right for the journey back.

You are right though. The number of caravans you see where the back of the car is on the floor suggests they've loaded all the luggage in the front of the van and not given any thought to getting it balanced.

It isn't something I've ever heard of and I live in a hard water area. I suspect the 50% anti-freeze will kill the limescale anyway. Using plain water will cause steel parts to rust, hence core plugs rusting out from the inside.

Just don't go sharing it with that other lot over there....

(Gilbertd, also sometimes known as Richard_G)

Wasn't a GMP one was it? It could have been mine.......

You've got it. Trailers tend to weigh under a tonne, examples being the Brian James Hi-Max (which is what I normally hire) weighs 720 kgs unladen with a gross weight of 3,500 kgs so you could acrry a car weighing up to 2,780 kgs or the Ifor Willimas CT177 (which I hire if there's no Brian James ones available) weighs 805 kgs but still with a maximum weight of 3,500 kgs. Both these and nearly all that you will find as hire fleet, will be 5m with a 1.9-2.0m bed. The place I use most used to have some 4.5m ones on their hire fleet but as you can fit a small car on a big trailer but not a big car on a small trailer, everyone went for the 5m ones to make sure they had the capacity.

The bit about the trailer not being heavier than the car only applies to Cat B licence holders, those that don't have grandfathers rights so can only drive up to 3,500 kgs anyway. It's to stop someone trying to tow a 750 kg trailer behing a 600 kg Smart car. As a 750 kg trailer won't have brakes, you'd be tryng to stop over double the weight on brakes only intended for a 600 kg car. However, I will admit that towing a heavy trailer can be a bit hairy at times. The P38 on EAS is a superb tow vehicle (which is why I bought one in the first place), streets ahead of a Disco on it's coil springs and I wouldn't even contemplate towing behind a Jeep. The car is too light and the suspension too soft,the trailer is in control, the driver only has a marginal inout to direction. I've towed my P38 and a Harley Davidson on a trailer behind a Disco 1 and 50 mph was the absolute max, much to the annoyance of the truck drivers sitting against their limiters. But equally I've towed a 4,500 kg boat and UNBRAKED trailer behind the P38 and while I had to think well in advance and only apply the brakes when it was pointing in a straight line, it did it without any problems.

added to clarify Morat's post while I was writing mine. The note 119 limts the weights. If you started with a post 1999 licence, you would get D1E if you took what used to be called the Class 3 HGV (goods vehicles up to 12 tonnes) but if you have grandfathers rights to D1E, you are limited to maximum of 8,250 combined MAM. I saw exactly the same thing on my licence and thought I could go up to 12 tonnes until I looked up what exactly the notes meant. I've also got, as I assume you have, C1E, which is trucks and trailer with the same limits, but note 107 restricting the weights.

No, not halfway across France yet, that's tomorrow. The P38 is plated (certified) to tow a braked trailer up to 3,500 kgs, so as long as the trailer is similarly rated, a P38 can tow it. I mention the rating on the trailer as it depends on different makes. The larger twin axle Brian James and Ifor Williams car transporters are rated for a gross weight of 3,500 kgs and weigh between 750 and 900 kgs empty so will take a P38 and still be legal. Other larger twin axletrailers, Indespension being one of them, look very similar, are the same size (5m long load platform) but are only rated for 2,800 kgs. So adding the unladen weight of the trailer to the weight of a P38 on it and you would be overloaded. So you do need to check the plate on the trailer. If you are overloaded and get stopped by plod, not only do you get stuck with a fine and points but you aren't allowed to continue with the journey until you are within the legal weights. Ordinarily, this would mean offloading part of your load and either leaving it at the side of the road or getting someone else to come out and meet you to take the excess. However, when the load is one big lump (i.e. a P38) you can't really start stripping bits off it to make it lighter.

There's a lot of confusion over what you can and can't tow as the Caravan Club recommend never towing a trailer that weighs more than 80% the weight of the towing vehicle. I suspect a lot of this is down to the affect a crosswind has on a caravan and what that will do to the vehicle towing it. But the important thing is the weights that the vehicle itself has been certified for. You need to check the plate under the bonnet which will give weights. The kerb weight of a 4.6 litre automatic P38, that is ready to go with a full tank of fuel and a 75 kg driver, but nothing else, is 2,220 kgs. But the Maximum Authorised Mass (MAM, what used to called the gross vehicle weight) is 2,780 kgs. So you can have just over half a tonne of crap in it and be legal.

Anyone who passed their driving test after 1999 can only drive a vehicle with an MAM of 3,500 kgs (so something like a big Transit or Sprinter) and can tow a 750 kg unbraked trailer providing the gross train weight (referred to as the combined MAM these days) doesn't exceed 3,500 kgs. So a fully loaded P38 with a fully loaded 750 kg trailer would actually be 30 kgs overweight (2780+750=3530) for someone with post 1999 licence entitlements.

If you passed your test before 1999 you have grandfathers rights so can drive a vehicle with a MAM of up to 7,500 kgs with a trailer of up to 750 kgs giving a combined MAM of 8,250 kgs, OR a vehicle and trailer combination of up to a maximum of 7,500 kgs providing the weight of the trailer doesn't exceed the maximum trailer weight the towing vehicle has been certified for.

So, the answer to a simple question with a long answer is if you passed your driving test after 1999, you can't drive a P38 with a trailer heavier than 750 kgs. This might be something Marty would need to check his licence for as I assume he swapped his NZ licence for a UK one. Dina did the same, having passed her test before 1999 but in Latvia so when she swapped her Latvian licence for a UK licence she was only given the post 1999 entitlements. If you passed your test pre 1999, you can legally drive a fully loaded P38 (2,780 kgs) towing a braked trailer with a combined trailer and load weight of 3,500 kgs making a gross train weight 6,280 kgs.

Lpgc wrote:

but I'm sure it'll hold together fine for the holiday

A good cue for the next thread entitled 'Collapsed wheel bearing on holiday in Cornwall'.......

I think someone mentioned that while it is the same engine, and possibly fuel pump, the electronics are different so it can talk to the BeCM. Whether they live in the top bit that has to be calibrated or not I have no idea.

Budgie tweeting might just be exhaust manifold to head joint, could be worth just nipping the bolts up a bit and seing if that makes a difference. Equally, it could also be a head gasket starting to blow out to the outside world. I did one a while ago that for the best part of a year had sounded just like a manifold blow. Owner had changed the gaskets, filled the manifolds up with water while they were off to see if the flexi joints had cracked and it was only when it started to sound more like a traction engine that we realised it was the head gasket.

This trip is just a short one, 953 miles each way towing a car transporter trailer. Will hardly notice it on the way down as all it will have on it is a motorcycle, but coming back with a 66 Mustang Convertible on the back. Even with ADAC Continental breakdown cover, I'd still rather not have to be towed home.

Mine doesn't weep but I've never taken it off which might have something to do with it. I always use Hylomar blue on gaskets (even the ones they say to fit dry) but if it still leaks, RTV, as it fills the gaps.

I wasn't counting the diesel issue as that seems to have been ongoing for some time rather than being this week. But, I suppose I can count it and relax.......

Be careful. The P38 may have it's foibles but it is by far the best to get. The earlier Classic rusts while you look at it, decent ones are going for very high prices, while cheaper ones will require an awful lot of work to keep them on the road. The later L322 is even more complex than the P38 so consequently even more expensive to maintain.

The diesel P38 uses a BMW engine, a version of the engine fitted to the BMW 325d. After spending a fortune with a French Land Rover specialist, the lady owner near Paris took her car to a BMW specialist who was able to sort out her problems. Not particularly well, but it was at least running reliably and I was able to sort out the numerous other, P38 specific, problems.