I disregard reviews on a firm's own website - a firm could write anything it wanted on it's own website, good reviews likely to be from the boss himself or his friends, bad reviews likely to be from competitors.
Some garage reviews and recommendations can be a bit useless anyway - customer1 might go for brake pads changing and be very happy, he might recommend the garage to customer2, customer2 might go for engine diagnostics, the garage who do great simple straightforward mechanical servicing/repairs work might be crap at engine diagnostics.
There are many charlatans working in fields related to vehicles diagnostics, some of them believe their own hype, if they don't believe their own hype they must set out to con customers from the outset.
Or even a round head machine screw? Arguably neater than a bolt head but still no chance of being ingested.
gordonjcp wrote:
I guess if you use a grub screw you should stick a bit of thread locker or something on, so it definitely can't go all the way through if it rattles loose and get sucked into the engine.
Yes, some suppliers sell 'injector hole blanking screws' which are really just grub screws, I wouldn't use a grub screw because there's potential for it to be ingested by the engine, a bolt head cannot be pulled through. A bolt (set screw) will be too long but can be cut short so it doesn't affect airflow.
dhallworth wrote:
I’m going to order a little grub screw rather then using a bolt with a hex head on it as it’ll be neater.
I wouldn't be able to sleep if I did that on a customer vehicle.
Reducer water flow direction doesn't matter if the reducer is below the tide line (you get the gist) when the engine is turned off. Best not to fit a reducer above the tide line but if it is it is better if the intake is at the bottom as this will keep the water channels full (as opposed to an internal waterfall) and lessens the potential for airlocks in the reducer.
dhallworth wrote:
Thanks Simon, I forgot to put .jpg at the end of them so was probably correcting that as you were reading.
So I should be good just to block off that port in the inlet manifold?
David.
A coincidence we're both on forum at the same time.
The pics are what I expected.
Yes absolutely.
The pics aren't working but I understand. Yes that will work fine.
Edit - Strange, the pics are working now.
Smiler wrote:
Which means that when I finally get my Scimitar on the road it should feel like a rocket ship!
My mate dropped a Rover V8 in a Reliant car years ago, not a Scimitar but a Robin lol.
I always thought Araldite melted at around 100C ?
On point 12...
An old guy once came to me with a P38 that he'd just paid a firm the best part of £3k to change head gaskets on because they'd done a sniffer test, found HC's in the coolant and the cooling system was being over-pressurised. But after they'd replaced the HG's the same thing still happened.
It had been converted to LPG, in fact the firm who diagnosed failed head gaskets was the same firm that had fitted the LPG system. They had incorrectly diagnosed HG's, I found the real problem was the LPG pressure reducer had a fault that caused the cooling system to be pressurised with LPG. They'd charged him the best part of £3k for unneccessary work that didn't fix the real problem, I fixed the real problem by fixing the LPG reducer for around £100.
Agreed with the above advice.
I haven't been keeping up with this forum lately, occasionally checked in but as I don't own a RangeRover and there haven't been many relevant threads for me to join in on (LPG / engine fuelling / emissions / etc) I haven't had much to contribute.
I don't remember if Holland-and-Holland has diagnostics gear but at least if he doesn't, on Gems lambda signal wires are easily accessible on top of the petrol ECU next to the battery, only need a multimeter to check lambda readings on Gems.
If plugs / ignition are OK and lambda readings are OK, other things that can cause high CO / HC readings are individual cylinder mixtures. Lambda readings represent close to average mixture readings over 4 cylinders but if some cylinders are running richer/leaner than others then high HC and/or CO can result. Things that can cause that are worn injectors and/or valve gear, the former effecting petrol flow, the latter effecting airflow. I have seen many P38s run more efficiently when running on LPG than when running on petrol (e.g. lambda readings correct in both cases but the engine draw more manifold vacuum when running on LPG, which implies the engine needs less air when running on LPG, which points to an increase in efficiency at least for idle conditions) - I put this down to petrol injectors being old and worn, LPG injectors (on a new install) being new and equally balanced in terms of flow.
Different but closely related subject - On another forum (for a vehicle I've LPG converted hundreds of examples of) I've advised many owners that they don't need cats to be intact if they are converted to LPG. These vehicles are prone to failed cats, they have 4 cats (2 at each side of the V6), front cats fail then the debris clogs the entrance to the honeycomb structure of rear cats, preventing exhaust gasses escaping, causing back pressure, back pressure blows some of the (ceramic) cat dust back into engine cylinders where it acts as a grinding paste and ruins the engine. Many owners have had the front 2 cats, rear 2 cats or all 4 cats decored (4 cats only in case of LPG converted), mostly on my advice. Recently an owner who had decored all 4 cats took his vehicle for MOT but didn't tell the tester it was running on LPG, so the MOT tester failed it on emissions. This was a bit of a sticky moment for me as it could have ended with me being slated on this forum but I had faith it would work out OK in the end.. which it did. The vehicle owner then took the vehicle for MOT at another testing station, told the new tester it was running on LPG, it easily passed the emissions test. It could not have passed the MOT running on petrol with all 4 cats decored.
Dear oh dear, I wouldn't be going back to that place for MOT again, or for anything else again for that matter.
On a vehicle like a P38 there's not much chance of the LPG install preventing other ECU's going to sleep. That can potentially occur on a minority of vehicles if the LPG ECU is wired to canbus to read the vehicle's fuel trims (by way of keeping talking to ECUs when ignition is off thus keeping ECU's awake) but that wouldn't happen on a P38 even if the LPG ECU was connected to the OBD socket. The only way the LPG ECU would be likely to draw current with the ignition off is if it's ignition on sensing wire is connected to something that's constantly powered up.
Gilbertd wrote:although quite why the Japs do I have no idea.
Thomas Blake Glover maybe? I wouldn't know except I remember watching a Discovery channel documentary about a Scotsman who had a lot of influence on the Japanese and have just Googled it hehe.
Edit - I've heard the bit about foreigners driving on the right just to be different to us Brits too ;-)
leolito wrote:
That is nice! I like these out of the ordinary jap contraptions rarely available out of their island ... well, at least you guys with the steering wheel on the "wrong" side can easily get to them :-)
Steering wheel on the 'right' side so we drive on the left! ;-)
Heard it said that we drive on the left because most people are right handed, so back in the days of horses and carts would use the whip in their right hand... If you whip with your right hand there's less chance of whipping someone who's at the side of the road if you drive on the left. Don't remember who told me this, might be total bolx lol.
I've towed a BMW750 car on heavy car trailer with a Volvo V70 2.5 petrol (sat nav took me through a river ford at 2am on that occassion), towed a Zafira on a trailer behind an Autotrail coachbuilt motorhome on Talbot Express 2.0 petrol front end (very slow!)... Neither were great combinations. Wouldn't want to pull 4 tons behind anything much less capable than a Rangerover or bigger.
Yes Strangerover it's a Nissan Elgrand, I've got 2 of them now, have converted somewhere between 250 and 300 of them to LPG.,.. in fact I'm converting one at the moment. Supposedly 240bhp, dunno how much torque but it's quite a revvy quad cam jobby so would imagine most torque is at the top end so probably only about 220ft/lbs.[Edit - I've just Googled it, it supposedly makes somewhere between 246 and 274ft/lbs], 5 Speed auto but the tc only locks up in 5th (unless I suppose the box gets hot), 3000rpm in 5th is only about 70mph. There's a woman on ElgrandOC who had a firm fit a turbo but they didn't lower compression so it can only run around 0.5 bar boost but supposedly makes 350bhp.
Morat wrote:
You filthy filthy Shed Draggers!! :)
Oh yes ;-)
Sorry not even a Landrover lol...
Not even sure if it's legal to tow with this vehicle, it's a Jap import and doesn't have a manufacturer specified max towing weight (???). If it did have a max towing weight the caravan would probably exceed it...
But I've been to Cornwall with it plenty times, a 700 mile round trip, and the middle of Scotland a similar distance.
Not as good a tow vehicle as a Rangerover but it pulls OK.
Wazzajnr wrote:
My L322 had 90k on the clock and lpg fitted (without flashlube) and is now on 140k and still fine.
I think a lot of the scare stories about weak valve seats are down to a poor lpg install.
I agree that some problems with excessive valve wear are due to poor installs. BUT you do need a valve lube on the Jag V8.
How do you know if your LPG install is good? (I would lol!).
So far you've done 50000 miles on LPG without a lube and without a problem, which is great. What we don't know is to what extent your valves have worn in 50000 miles compared to a Jag V8 with a lube system fitted, there may be no symptoms until valve seats have recessed to the point of causing poorer breathing due to valve shrouding or (extreme cases) lack of compression.
One of the worst offending LPG systems for causing VSR is the well regarded Prins VSI1 system. It is possible to set this system up so that at full throttle it switches to running it's own closed loop mode steering lambda voltage towards 0.5V (on an engine with narrowband probes... I know the Jag engine has wide band probes). The Jeep 4.7V8 engine normally doesn't need a lube system fitted but Prins advise a lube system for that engine - maybe because the generic settings that most Prins installers used when converting a 4.7Jeep activated this pseudo closed loop function.
The supercharged version of the Jag V8 needs a (electronic / forced) lube system more than the NA Jag V8 needs a (basic) lube system but they both need a lube.
50000 miles might not be enough to see any difference in engine performance but 100000 miles might be. I'd advise fitting one. For what a lube system costs to fit and costs to run, why risk accelerated valve wear... I fit a lube system by default (included in any quote) for any engine that is even borderline / grey area needing a lube system, with the Jag V8 a lube system is usually considered necessary, above borderline / grey area. I've seen some knackered Jag V8's and V6's (Ford based) due to VSR.
I've had caravans on and off since 1990, in recent years I've never bothered wiring up a 7S socket (intended and even fitted the double socket bracket on the towbar but never got around to it). My most recent caravan is still an old one 2004 model... so (being post '98) you reckon it will have the divider? I wonder how such divider works... I think I'd prefer the older spec wiring with full power to both the fridge and battery charging..
Thought car / towbar makers fitted: Older vehicles before easy production of voltage sensing relays - 2 wires from the car, one from the battery, one from the ignition switch. Newer vehicles since easy production of voltage sensing relays - single thick wire from the battery to near the 7S socket, voltage sensing relay disconnects the fridge when car battery voltage is below around 12.7V (car side of the socket).
Maybe check voltage at the caravan battery when the fridge is running to make sure it seems to be charging or on a longer drive the caravan battery might be nearly flattened? Not so much a problem these days when everyone stays on a site with 240v electric and caravans have built in battery chargers but in the old days if intention was to do some touring around, no 240v on sites so no battery charger so relying on the car charging the battery up... the old way might have been better, might even be better these days?
Someone had tampered with wiring on one of the caravans I owned, the fridge and battery charging wires were joined in the caravan, this did lead to the caravan battery being almost flattened on longer trips despite my having run a hefty wire from the vehicle battery to the 7S socket until I sorted it.
dhallworth wrote:
Our caravan fridge can draw 10A when it's running so it's on a switched live to protect the tow car battery. As long as you don't open a fridge door, it'll stay cold during a power cut for a long time so it's not an issue when you stop the car for an hour or two during travels.
The permanent live is for the caravan water pump and lights so that you can use them when you stop if needs be.
One of the main problems is the wiring loom for the P38 from LR is for caravan electrics Pre 98, they changed in 98 but still used the 12S socket. I'm trying to wire mine into a 13 pin socket when they changed again. Instead of having Permanent 12v, Switched 12v and Battery Charging, they changed the electrics in the caravan to include a habitation relay which divides the Permanent 12v between the fridge and the battery charging so you could in theory end up with one hell of a current draw on the switched 12v now.
Anyway, I sat down with a pen and paper last night and drew a new circuit diagram and with a bit of modification to the LR kit I've bought I now know how I can get it all wired in :)
David.
How does the habitation relay work? I thought the separate 7S pins for fridge and caravan battery charging were supposed to have separate feeds from the vehicle battery.. Ideally you want it set up so that the fridge will run from the car and the caravan battery will be charged at the same time?
Car
battery
feed 1 > socket > fridge
feed 2 > socket > caravan battery
If there's only one feed or the feeds are connected in parallel too close to the caravan (too far to the right in the above excuse for a diagram), then due to the caravan battery being so much closer to the fridge (in wire / resistance / voltage drop terms) than the vehicle battery it's likely that the caravan battery will lose some of it's charge (rather than be charged) due to the fridge drawing most of it's power from the caravan battery? To charge the caravan battery there'll have to be 13+V at the caravan battery even with the load of the fridge but with a single feed there might only be 12v unless the feed is rather thick for little voltage drop under load?
With a separate feed the only difference thickness of feeds could make is how quickly the caravan battery gets charged and how cold the fridge could get, both independently..
Does the habitation relay thingy have some sort of voltage sensing relay that only connects the caravan battery to charge above a certain voltage at the caravan, some sort of DCDC converter, just some sort of double throw relay which continually switches between charging the battery and powering the fridge, etc?
There's a difference between calorific values, stochiometric ratios and octane ratings between petrol and ethanol and none flex fuel rated engines / ECUs couldn't run well on E85 but should run OK on E10 provided they run closed loop fuel injection (or carb / open loop with mixture adjusted) and don't have rubber in fuel lines.
Ethanol can increase octane rating but despite that will usually produce less power due to the other factors.
Before ethanol was added to petrol LPG pipe could be used for petrol. Ethanol turns rubber LPG pipes to mush but Faro/polypipe isn't affected.
L322's with the BMW V8 suffer cam cover rear breather pipes turning to mush, possibly due to ethanol vapour (possibly an oversight on BMW's part but I forget when ethanol started being added to petrol)..?