That's the one, just like that.

Found another Vogue SE at the weekend. 02 registration in metallic green with the same extra speaker on top of the dash that OB has. The badge on the back was a one piece Vogue SE badge. Not sure if it will still be on the DVLA lists though as it was parked at the roadside in Scheveningen so it may belong to an ex-pat who is just running it around on the UK plates. Looked very tidy though and didn't have the half inch thick layer of dead insects on the front that mine currently has.

Sloth wrote:

The problem I see with the DIY kits is on a system with no gas in it, how do you displace the air, and get a proper charge? As well as removing the air, pulling a vacuum on a system properly will boil off the moisture on surfaces inside too.

Before I got my Maserati someone had tidied up the hoses with tie wraps and the outlet hose on the compressor was too close to the back of the power steering belt and wore through it. I got a new hose made up and refilled it with some R12 compatible refrigerant using a DIY hose. I was warned that I had to get all the air out first but as I didn't have a means of doing that, I just bunged the stuff in and it worked perfectly......

and leather seats, it would be unbearable in this weather.

My daughter had a Japanese imported Toyota MR2 Roadster with AC that was written off for her just after Christmas. She's replaced it with a newer version of the same car but being a UK spec and not one of the special equipment limited editions, the new one doesn't have AC. I got a text from her a couple of days ago asking how the hell anyone is supposed to use a black car with red leather seats in this weather. Being a convertible, with a black cloth roof too, the heat goes straight through the roof rather than partially reflecting off it like it would with a fixed tin roof. Opening the door after it's stood in the sun for a few hours gives a blast of hot air much like opening the oven.

They are simple enough, marinised version of a small block Chevy. I've got a set of cam followers for one if you need them. My mate had a noise that sounded just like a tappet on his so changed the followers. They all looked fine but from the noise one of them must have been worn. After putting it back together the noise was still there until he started the engine without the drive belt to find the noise was coming from the alternator.....

It was fathers day here too but all I got was a text from my daughter this morning. Just got back home after a weekend in The Hague (or Den Haag as you call it) and Scheveningen. I spent the weekend being force fed herring (as it was the annual herring festival) and large quantities of alcohol with a friend of Dina's who works there. Best part is filling up with LPG in Belgium. It cost me 26 Euros to fill my tank in Belgium and I've just got home still running on that same fill up.

I've got a helicoil set and inserts for head bolt threads if you need it. Won't be home until late tonight though, currently in Ferryman country.....

But the gas system is slaved off the petrol system so if there is a problem that is causing it to run badly on petrol, that will be reflected on gas. But I would agree that leads, plugs and coils could equally be the problem.

gordonjcp wrote:

Did you get her sorted?

Yup, everything, even bunged a can of bumper black paint in the boot and was able to paint the yucky faded grey grille. The only thing left now is that the wheels need balancing as it gets a bit of a wobble on at around 90kph but I noticed that none of the wheels have any weights on them so that would explain that. It's now had a new drivers door latch, drivers window regulator, drivers door mirror, heater O rings, heater reconnected, keyfob receiver, tailgate gas struts, rear hub assembly complete with driveshaft and ABS sensor and a bit of percussive adjustment to a front ABS sensor. No warning lights, no beeping dash, everything works and it now drives as it should. Very strange getting out of mine and into a car that feels familiar but has the steering wheel on the wrong side and a diesel engine under the bonnet......

No, cuz I've got work in the morning. Got home at 3am today.

For 20 quid, definitely.

Don't bother with any of the buttons, just poke AUTO and leave it to get on with things for itself. If it doesn't get cold when on Lo, then it is probably low of gas but there may be enough in there for the compressor to kick in for a while.

I wouldn't go as far as the valley gasket unless there's a reason to suspect it needs it. You'll need an upper manifold gasket as that will have to come off anyway. Rocker cover gaskets would be a good idea while in there and you'll also need injector O rings too.

AC light flashing? What AC light? Do you mean that you have the AC Off button pressed in to cause the light to come on? In which case, the AC won't work as the button does what it says, it turns the AC off.

Morat is the guy near to you, or nearer than most of us anyway.

Been ABS season in France for the last few days. First one was the car belonging to my mate in the South who noticed that the ABS pump was cutting in every time he touched the brake pedal. Assuming, as most of us would, the accumulator on it's way to meet it's maker, he ordered one from Island and fitted it. No difference. maybe air in the power circuit, so flushed through the entire system and bled the brakes. Braking improved no end but the pump was still cutting in every time the brakes were applied. In fact, if he left the car with the ignition on, the pump would cut in for a few seconds every 30 seconds or so without the pedal being touched. Then noticed that when the car was left, the fluid level would rise in the reservoir and drop back down as soon as the pump cut in. So the pressure was somehow dropping and the fluid stored in the accumulator was flowing back into the reservoir. Assumed that there must be a leaking non-return valve in the pump that was allowing the fluid to flow back but before ordering a replacement pump, did a test. Disconnected the hose from the reservoir to the pump and put a length of hose with a funnel on the end on the pump. Poured fluid in, turned on ignition, pump ran and the level dropped. Touched the brake pedal and the level dropped a bit more, the pump cut in but the level didn't rise after leaving it, instead it started filling the reservoir. So the modulator had an internal leak, presumably between the power circuit and the hydrostatic circuit. He ordered a replacement modulator block and took the old one off. This is what he found after he had removed the reservoir.....

Best demonstration of why you should change your brake fluid regularly. I know it absorbs water but wouldn't have thought it would absorb enough to make the internals go rusty. He's now fitted a replacement modulator and the brakes are better than they have ever been since he has owned the car.

The second one nearly caused me grief. Went over to sort out a problem or two on mymisteri's car. I'd already replaced the door latch with one with working microswitches, replaced the drivers window regulator with one with a full set of teeth, replaced the leaking heater O rings and reconnected the heater hoses. Only then did I take it out for a test drive to find ABS and Traction faults and the most evil sounding rear wheel bearing I've ever heard. So, went back yesterday armed with a rear hub assembly complete with driveshaft and ABS sensor. Fitted that, along with a pair of tailgate struts so it didn't drop onto your head when opened and a working remote receiver to replace the dead one so the keyfobs worked. Then took it out for a test and found no noise from the wheel bearing but still had ABS and Tractions faults. Plugged in the Nano and, after a couple of attempts, managed to get it to connect to the Wabco D ECU (1999 car so has the 4 wheel traction control). On my previous visit I couldn't get it to connect but had assumed that the dodgy wheel bearing would almost certainly have damaged or at least moved the ABS sensor. I found that the Nano would only connect with the ignition in position 2 but with the engine not running. Once connected I could start the engine and it stayed connected but there was no way it would connect if the engine was already running. There were no stored faults, the sensor voltages were the same, driving it slowly and the speed displayed on each wheel sensor matched, so all seemed fine. Except that it still had ABS fault on the dash and the ABS warning lamp didn't go out as it should. Tried checking the speed sensors again and noticed that although they were all showing the same speed at 5kph, the right front sensor seemed slower to react than the others. Gave it a tap, saw it move, tried it again and everything was fine. Job done but what I don't understand is why there weren't any stored faults. If I hadn't been driving across an empty car park, I would never have noticed that the one sensor was reacting slower than the others and the problem would still have been a mystery.

Or somebody has tried to jack it up on the front crossmember and missed.

If it needed gassing the clutch wouldn't kick in as the pressure switch wouldn't allow it to. Maybe one or both blend motors will only travel part way so you can get heat but not cold? Needs plugging in to see what the actual fault is.

It just had to be done.......

Although that was on the way to mymysteri's house and I'm now at over 333700.

Doubt it, that's the sensor that tells the HEVAC that the coolant in the matrix is hot enough to turn the fans up and start blowing hot. I would suspect you've got an iffy temperature blend motor. When started from cold it will try to open the flaps fully to give you warm air, as the engine heats up it'll need to close them down and if it fails at that point, then you get the book symbol. Totally separate to the engine electronics though so wouldn't affect the running.

Seems a good idea to me, better than the place we stayed last time. I'll need to book it too so once you've found the cheapest option (hotels.com, trivago, lastminute.com, direct, etc) let us know.

Aragorn wrote:

Decided to have a look at the Autobox, so dropped the sump off that, and put a new filter in and refilled with oil. Unfortunately i'm about a litre short, did the level check with the engine running and the level was just on the pip on the bottom of the dipstick. So need to get some more oil for that!

I found that the difference between the bottom pip and the top one is less than half a litre. I changed mine and it was just showing on the dipstick so I bunged a litre in and that took it to way over the max. Ended up with the excess being blown out of the breather.