It's just the cold, ignore it, it'll go away about March....

Maltings Off Road, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262391772282 seem to last pretty well.

Hell of a thread drift here.....

I know, got one already as well as a green Class 4 German one. Cheapest I saw E85 on the Autoroutes was 0.85 a litre, more expensive than Nigel has found it but if you are prepared to get off the Autoroute and go to a hypermarket, LPG is around 0.85 so much the same. I would have given E85 a try the previous week when I did a 2,000 mile round trip but despite checking it I am getting a lambda sensor heater error on bank 2 so that lambda sensor sits at permanently lean. If I have to run on petrol I can smell that one bank is running rich so didn't want to risk E85 with no working feedback on one bank. May need to invest in a new lambda sensor but it hardly seems worth it when I only ever run on petrol for the first second or so of running.

It's just a push-on bullet connector so should be easy enough to find. Something like this https://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/product/31/category/6 is what you need although you could probably even use one of these https://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/product/58.

Search works far better on here than on the dark side, but isn't perfect I admit. That's down to the software writers I'm afraid.

nigelbb wrote:

If you are British with partner who has an EU passport your rights are the same as if you too had an EU passport. The latest French government rules allow an EU citizen to enter France en route to their home state.

Is that home state or residence? Although she has a Latvian passport, she has settled status in the UK, so that would be considered home I would have thought. I know that when UK Immigration scan her passport their screen shows that she has settled status, I would suspect the same info would be shown on her way out. Mind you, an EU passport, or even an EU residency card, is far moire useful than a British passport which is hardly worth the paper it is printed on these days.

Like when we were importing cars from the US. We bought the car, arranged the shipping and when it arrived here got a bill from Customs. That was 10% import duty on the cost of the car but then VAT on the purchase price, the shipping costs, the shipping agents charges, the insurance costs and the import duty. So you have to pay tax on a tax, don't you just love it......

tanis8472 wrote:

Well this might be of interest to Richard

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/dec/16/van-drivers-in-uk-operating-licences-eu-brexit

I've already been pointed towards the gov.uk site on that and have to admit, like most of the stuff on there, it is as clear as mud and, as I have found in the past, I still seem to fall through the gaps. It says if I use a car and trailer between 2.5 and 3.5 tonnes gross train weight, I need to add it to my Goods Vehicle Operators Licence. Only problem is, when I enquired earlier this year to see what I needed to do to shift cars on a trailer between UK and EU, I was told that because I was under 7.5 tonnes, I couldn’t get, an Operators Licence. The important part, I was told, is the word Goods. I don’t have a goods vehicle, I have a private car. I was however told that I would need an EORI (Economic Operator Registration and Identification) number so applied for one (it’s free so may as well). Only to find that is only needed if I am doing Customs declarations which I don’t as I am not carrying goods for commercial purposes but personal property. When I took a car over a couple of weeks ago, I was stopped in Calais on my way out by French Customs (first time I've ever even seen someone from French Customs on my way out!). I told them the car had come over to England for work to be done to it and I was returning to the owner who had a house in France. As it was UK registered, they considered it a temporary import, I had to complete a form which was actually marked as confirmation of an oral declaration. It has a space at the bottom for the owner to get the bit of paper stamped within 6 months when he brings it back to the UK otherwise he will be asked to pay duty on it and register it in France. This has always been the case with temporary imports either into or out of UK, irrespective of Brexit, otherwise how could you go on holiday in a private car without exporting it and re-importimg it (which Customs call a repatriation rather than an import)? Nearer the time I’ll give them a call and see what has changed and if there is anything I need to do differently. If they feel I need an Operators licence, then I also need a transport manager. Someone who has experience of looking after a fleet for at least 10 years. That’ll be me then. I've been planning my own routes and arrange my own maintenance for over 15 years, so why not?

As for the Covid rules, they change by the week. I went over on Friday 3rd to deliver the above mentioned car and collect another which has been over there since before lockdown started. The owner had driven it to his house in the Charente region but a suspension arm had broken so he had left it there and flown home. He had been over recently with a new arm with the intention of getting it fitted there and driving it back, but realised that due to the delays while there were travel restrictions, the MoT had run out so asked me to collect it on a trailer rather than risk driving it with no MoT. From the previous Wednesday (1st Dec) there had been news stories about France wanting a negative test before they would let you in. While a lot of news outlets covered the story, only one said it would come in from Saturday 4th although there was nothing at all on either the UK or French Government websites. When I checked in at Dover, I asked the (very helpful for a change) French immigration man if it was correct that from the following day travellers would need a test (as I would be coming back on the 6th but going out again on the 9th for a trip to the Strasbourg Christmas market). His answer was he didn’t know, he said that there had been talk about it but these decisions are made in Paris and they don’t bother telling the people that are supposed to be doing the checks. He said he’d probably be told at 9am on Saturday that he should have been checking from midnight…..

I wonder what the situation will be in mid-January when we may be driving to Dina’s parent in Latvia if nothing has changed by then? She’s an EU passport holder (Latvian) and I am her partner (which gives slightly more rights than a UK passport holder when entering France) and while we will be entering France we will only be there for the 30 minutes or so it takes to get to the Belgian border. There is an exemption of up to 24 hours if you are transiting through at an airport but what about if transiting by road? Or does it mean we have to use the Stena Harwich to Hook of Holland ferry and bypass France? Don’t really want to as the Stena ferry is more expensive than my P&O season ticket (which I have just renewed with another 5 returns so have already paid for the crossing) and while it saves a couple of hours driving time, it’s a 7 hour crossing so adds considerably to the overall journey time.

I've spent a bloody fortune in Covid tests in the last few weeks as it is but at least they are coming down in cost.

Odd that in my case it only did it twice after each torrential downpour and never did it again. Definitely not caused by bouncy road on the billiard table smooth French motorways.

You'll find that a ring spanner will just fit over the plug on the end (or it will on a GEMS anyway), so you just thread it along the cable.

and if that don't work, Stilsons......

I agree, I'd far rather reverse a 6m car transporter trailer than a tiny little box on wheels. They seem to have a mind of their own and are virtually impossible to reverse in a straight line.

Pierre3 wrote:

Richard and mad-as, that you both so much for the extensive and very explanatory descriptions. I really appreciate the time that it has taken to type all the detail, especially Richards explanation.

No typing at at, just a copy and paste of the Nanocom documentation......

Nanocom won't just give you a better idea of what is happening, it will tell you exactly what is happening. With the engine running, go to HEVAC - Inputs - Values. Scrolling through the pages from there you can read:

· Ambient temperature (c): This reading gives the external air temperature or air entering the ventilation system.

· Aspirator temperature (c): This reading gives internal cabin temperature.

· Evaporator temperature (c): This reading gives the evaporator unit's temperature.

· Heater core temperature (c): This reading gives the engine coolant temperature where the coolant enters the heating system.

· Road speed (Km/h): This value is generated by the ABS ECU using information from its wheel rotation sensors.

· Road speed (mph): This value is generated by the ABS ECU using information from its wheel rotation sensors.

· Engine running:

· Solar sensor (w/sqm): This reading gives the effective strength of the sun as detected by the Solar Sensor mounted beside the Alarm LED on the top of the dashboard.

· Distribution motors (%): This gives the current feedback position of the motor that drives the flap controlling air distribution inside the vehicle. As the distribution buttons are pressed the flap should move to the position which gives air flow to the selected direction (feet, face, screen etc.).

· Left blend motor (%): This gives the current feedback position of the motor which drives the flap controlling amounts of hot and cold air to be blended together (effectively the temperature of the air coming out of the vents). As the requested temperature is changed by the user the flap should move.

· Right blend motor (%): This gives the current feedback position of the motor which drives the flap controlling amounts of hot and cold air to be blended together (effectively the temperature of the air coming out of the vents). As the requested temperature is changed by the user the flap should move.

· Left blower return: This is the feedback value returned back to the Hevac ECU from the left blower motor, used by the ECU to determine the actual voltage at the motor. This reading value also allows the Hevac ECU to detect Blower motor faults.

· Right blower return: This is the feedback value returned back to the Hevac ECU from the right blower motor, used by the ECU to determine the actual voltage at the motor reading. This value also allows the Hevac ECU to detect Blower motor faults.

· Air conditioning grant: When the A/C button is pressed an active low signal is output to the engine management ECU (The Request). This then looks at factors like engine temperature, load, current acceleration etc. and according to when these conditions allow, grant Air conditioning. This involves it engaging the clutch to drive the Air Conditioning pump, altering its internal fuelling to compensate for the load imposed by the pump, managing along with the Hevac the Condenser fans, and also telling the Hevac that Air Conditioning has been granted.

So by looking at the feedback values for the 3 blend motors, you can see that as you change the airflow direction from the HEVAC, the number in that box should change. The same when you look at the feedback from the two temperature blend motors. If you change the temperature from Lo to Hi, you'll see the number in the box change from 0 (or near to 0), up to 100. If the feedback number doesn't change when you cause an individual blend motor to move, either the motor is dead (not that common), it has stalled due to stiff flaps (also not that common in the UK (and nearby) climate, much more common in hotter areas) or the feedback pot has died so not giving an output (most common in my experience).

The same goes for the blowers, you can adjust the blower speed and watch the feedback figure change.

By looking at the reported temperatures from the various other sensors, you can also see if they are giving sensible readings or not as that can also cause problems.

I've found the usual problem with blend motors is the feedback pot goes open circuit. Sometime a squirt of contact cleaner sorts them but not always. There's so much reduction gearing in them that the flaps have to be really stiff to stall the motors.

Sounds like this is the Irish taking advantage of the situation rather than anything else. If I send anything to the US, unless the value exceeds $500 there is no duty or taxes to be paid at the far end. Sending stuff to France it appears that if under £120 there is nothing to pay either.

Your way round it would be to get it shipped to a UK address and then get someone to send it over marked as a gift with negligible value. Just the same as when you order stuff on eBay from China where it arrives with a customs declaration showing a value of $1, irrespective of what it is.

Very similar to the set I have, invaluable at times.

They should both be in the same area, one either side of the bellhousing where it joins the gearbox. Or just follow the cable....

+1.....

I drove to Strasbourg and back this weekend just gone and went via Belgium and Luxembourg rather than using the A26 in France. About 10 miles further and 10 minutes longer but LPG on the French motorways is 0.99-1.04 Euros a litre (plus motorway tolls) compared with 0.75 in Belgium and 0.72 in Luxembourg (and no motorway tolls). Cost almost as much in bloody Covid tests as it did in fuel!

As you don't have any downstream sensors (unless you have an imported US spec car as they are the only ones fitted with downstream sensors), what you are seeing there is a simulated reading from the ECU. I suspect what it is doing with the one faulty upstream sensor is it has noticed it isn't working so has pinned it at normal all the time.

Genuine LR will be Bosch in an LR box......

Can't find the correct one on the NTK website, it shows one but the part number cross references to AMR6244, which is the correct one for a '98 GEMS and not a Thor.