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.

If it's any consolation, I did the same when I changed the oil in Dina's Merc. Thought it odd that there wasn't a copper washer on the sump plug until I found it at the bottom of the drain bowl when I was cleaning up after doing the job. Expecting it to leak with no washer in there I put it somewhere safe to put back as soon as it started dropping oil on the floor. It didn't so got left. Did another oil change recently and remembered the copper washer. Found that I had put it somewhere so safe I couldn't find the thing so it still doesn't have one and still isn't leaking.

Looks like Gordon was able to recover at least some of the thread. Only problem now is whenever we add to it, Ferryman's name stays at the top of the first page.

So keep it up lads......

Although quite why they tell you to disconnect the battery I have absolutely no idea......

Isn't that one of those lightweight, small diameter racing pulley's from Britpart?

Pressure switch is a real pain to get to on a GEMS, you can't even see it from above or below.

Forwarded to me by a mate.......

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/222530261135

(Only another 15 to go now Tony)

It's valvetrain related from the speed of it. Mine made a similar noise when I first got it at 204,000, slightly deeper, more of a clunk, and not as loud but at the same speed. It never got any worse but at around 270,000 I decided it had to be a dodgy cam follower so replaced them, no difference. At 287,500 the engine came out and went to V8Developments but before taking it in, I dropped in to talk about what I wanted doing to the engine and discuss when. They had a listen to it, declared it an odd one and it sounded similar to something serious like a liner problem but as it wasn't drinking coolant or pressurising, it couldn't be that. The engine went in and came back with new top hats, big ends, mains, pistons, rings, camshaft, followers and oil pump and drive. While that was being done the heads were treated to new valves and guides. Put it all back together and the noise was still there and still is, no different, after 45,000 since the rebuild. I've tried starting it with the serpentine belt off to make sure it isn't something silly like the power steering pump and still the same.

Now the only thing that hasn't been changed when the engine was rebuilt is the rocker shafts and rockers. Although mine is outside the range that were affected by the sinking insert problem on the rockers, I thought it could be that. Although I've heard an engine suffering that problem and the noise sounded completely different, it sounded like the standard tappet rattle that you get on pushrod engines with adjustable tappets that need adjusting. So far I've had one rocker cover off and all of the rockers are fine and will get around to checking the other side sooner or later. However, I had to trailer another car over the V8Developments last week (a long and very sad story) so asked Ray to have a listen. From the front, it sounds like it is coming from the right, from the right it sounds like it is coming from the left, from the left it sounds like it is coming from the right, from underneath it sounds louder suggesting it is coming from there. Ray tried an engine stethoscope on it and declared it to be coming from the engine, it wasn't possible to identify from where though. So, even the expert doesn't know, maybe I'll find something when I pull the other rocker cover off.

No, gearbox and transfer box are completely separate and have their own fluid fillers (both need Dexron3 ATF). Transfer case is the easy one, there's a drain plug and a level fill plug, drop the old fluid out and pour the new stuff in until it dribbles out of the filler plug. Gearbox isn't quite as straightforward, especially if you have the later one with no dipstick.

There are some parts they can't get wrong (although I did once buy a Britpart hose only to find there was no way it would fit as it was too small diameter) and others are OE but just supplied through them. Problem is, you don't know the bad from the not so bad......

Now you've just got to fix the oil leak that caused oil to get in there in the first place......

Assuming it's a Hall effect sensor like the ABS and crank sensors, checking the resistance would be a simple place to start. If it's open circuit or very high resistance, it's likely to be dead.

I used to have access to a garage with a pit and stopped using it as I found it more comfortable laying on the floor. The pit wasn't quite deep enough to stand up and if I was kneeling then I was working above my head with my arms fully stretched. The advantage with the P38 is if the suspension is put on high, there's enough space to crawl under there with it (although I'm only skinny).

Clive's thread on lifting his car has disappeared not because it broke any forum rules ('cuz there aren't any), but because Ferryman started writing a reply and then attempted to edit it. Unfortunately, he deleted the whole thread and not just his own post......

It might be recoverable but I'm not sure how often backups are done so it may have been lost forever, doh!

Both of mine have it on the inner wing next to the battery. Fine unless you have a huge non-standard battery fitted.