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.

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.