Morat wrote:

And you'd be bored with something that didn't have any issues ;)

Maybe but boredom is better than raging anger or frustration ;-)

Martyuk wrote:

The other downside, is my MOT ran out on the 15th - it was booked in to be done on the 12th, but then this happened on the 9th, so it's had to be put off. So I can't really take the RR out for anything of a run to see how it performs under load and driving conditions - unless its being driven to a pre-arranged MOT. And I don't really want to book it in for the MOT, until I'm happy that it can do the required engine running bits without any signs of blowing/damage. So feel a bit between a rock and a hard place!

I believe usually you'll get a few weeks leeway after an MOT has run out even if police stop you... Just tell them 'ahh bloody hell yes thanks for that I'd forgotten and the garage were supposed to send me a reminder'.

Really attributed to limescale?

Had a chat with an ex Landrover specialist garage owner today, Chris (mentioned on Mazz's diesel problem thread). During the chat he told me that a P38 that I'd converted years ago, a 2002 4.6 that he'd personally rebuilt the engine on only a couple of years ago was recently sold for only £1100 because the owner (who is or was owner of a factory in Halifax who chain smoked all his life and now carries a bottle of oxygen on the front passenger seat) had been messed around by a couple of potential buyers then reckoned he couldn't get a higher price for it. And I thought he was a clever bloke and businessman.. daft lad! It was an extremely nice example with no issues whatsoever. I'd like a P38 but haven't got good reasons to justify owning one... but still I'd have snatched his hand off for a far higher price.

Yes top dead centre Mazz

I once had a Pug 306 1.9 turbo diesel that occasionally sounded like a petrol pinking (during which the usual diesel knock became more like a rattle), if it was doing this at idle it would rev itself up, I put this down to air in the system.. knocked on a neighbours door (ex diesel fitter) but neither of us found the problem.

Lol! Nah, it's only a slight noise on a right hand bend at the moment, reckon it'd go thousands of miles on it before it gets really bad. But I'll be taking the wheel bearing with me just in case!

Reminds me... as mentioned on the diesel pump problem thread I've been talking to a guy who used to run a Landrover garage, he once told me a wheel bearing collapsed completely on him (some type of Landrover) on the motorway and the only thing keeping the wheel almost upright was the disk.

My last post I said I'd talk to Simon at Simons Services. Instead I've just come off the phone to another (ex) Landrover specialist that I've done a lot of work for in the past. Chris used to run Elland Landrovers in Halifax and before that worked at a Landrover dealership (said for every diesel they sold they'd sell about 30 petrol V8 P38s). Before that he worked for Scania and was involved in developing diesel / LPG blend systems. He's mostly involved with landscape gardening now but still does a bit with Rangerovers and has built plenty RV8s in his time. As a great coincidence he was just approaching his mate's premises while I was on the phone and I got chance to speak to his mate too, his mate is a BMW tech bloke who's very familiar with the pumps.

Chris said before the pump is messed with the engine needs to be at TDC on either number 1 or number 6 (couldn't remember) and then a pin is inserted at the side of the pump to prevent it turning. He didn't buy electronics problems other than something that might be reported due to pump timing being out. He said it's the same pump on Freelanders, Omegas and some BMWs but the electronics are different. Said that if it was running OK before when it had the leak but isn't running OK now it's obviously due to some problem the garage has caused...

His mate also didn't buy electronics problems unless the top of the pump has been changed along with the electronics which are coded. He described the same pin procedure and reckoned a lot of garages forget about timing due to being so familiar these days with common rail setups where timing doesn't matter. This guy has rebuilt a lot of these pumps and reckons a common problem when the top of the pump has been off to replace seals is that they don't seal properly when refitted due to corrosion, which can lead to air being sucked into the system unless the innards are flattened off before refitting the top of the pump. He also said that if it was running OK before when it had the leak but isn't running OK now it's obviously due to some problem the garage has caused...

Since it starts fine but engine response is poor, the 'air getting into the system' scenario Chris's mate described seems likely to me.

Agreed with Morat.

Lights look almost like new now!

Sanded them with wet n dry P1000, P1200, P1500, P2000, did use soap later with the P1500/2000, then machine polished with Tcut. Got myself a new random orbit polisher from Halfords and very impressed with it, my old polisher was more or less just a 9inch grinder with 2 speed gearbox and a polishing end attached, it chucks polish all over the place.

Treated the full car to a clay bar(ing), tar spot removal (used WD40) and machine polish with T cut. Looks great now, or did before the fly splats. Changed engine oil, ATF, diffs oil.

Just the transfer box fluid to change before my holiday now... though I have noticed noise from the nsr wheel bearing and should have a new one arriving tomorrow, might change it if I have time but I'm sure it'll hold together fine for the holiday and, anyway, would hate to break the old bearing removing it then break the new one putting it in.

Agreed with Morat and Rutland in that it seems they're reluctant to describe what they've done and why in detail on paper because they know paper would then give you means to have their thought process / diagnostics procedures / conclusions scrutinised by others who might know better what they're doing... such paper could also be damning if it ever came to court. If they were sure they'd done all the right things and that what they'd done would hold up to scrutiny they should have no problems with giving you the info you've asked for on paper and might even hope that you do put it out for scrutiny... It's not their call to say they want to discuss it rather than write it down because you might not understand what was written - tell them the truth about why you want it in writing and then if they're being honest and are confident they've done all the right things they should be happy to. The world seems full of experts in bs and half measures, professional in some disciplines seems to mean very little.

When I get a minute I'll ask this guy http://www.simonservices.co.uk/. Or you (or someone else here) might want to speak to him first or instead of me. Seems a decent bloke. I've done quite a bit of LPG work for him and I've fixed a few petrol issues too... But I think he knows a lot about the diesels.

Failing that, what would prevent getting another pump from a scrapyard and fitting it on? I know it'll need timing but is fitting it and timing a big job? Any other complications such as are they coded?

The ps pump failed, fan belt came off, different spec evap tank cap didn't vent pressure as it should and the next weekest part of the cooling system turned out to be the heater core or maybe just an O ring... Am I missing something or does it seem everything is likely to be OK after you've fixed the ps pump, heater, got a new cap and replaced the radio you didn't like? Of course there is a chance of further damage but I'd investigate rather than summise and be too disheartened at this stage, maybe the cap that didn't vent prevented engine damage at the expense of the heater.

Pretty soon setting up old-skool mechanical diesel pumps will be a lost art... Not that garages seem to be very competent at diagnosing/solving problems with common rail systems either. My brother in law runs a diesel Golf but only usually uses the car for short trips, he's already had the turbo replaced (never ran as good as before, down on a bit of power and still smoked more than it should), now it's smoking like hell again and none of the garages he's been to can say for sure what the problem is. He took the EGR valve off himself (I was busy converting a car but he kept pestering me for direction lol), chock full of soot and stuck, cleaned it out, put it back on, improved but still smoky and lacking power. For the mileage he does he'd have been better off with a petrol Golf GTI and not even bother getting it LPG converted. After all the problems he's suffered and other potential problems he knows are likely with diesels (DPF, DMF, EGR, turbo, injectors) he's finally coming to the same conclusion.

If you're alone and really don't want to wait... it's a bit naughty and maybe inconsiderate, but, if you tell them your 2 year old is stuck in the car with you (and it's a hot day and a/c can't be used / cold / needs a feed / etc)... works wonders! I did this when I absolutely had to be back at work when the ML broke. If I'd have been asked where the baby was I'd have said his grandad picked him up in his Fiat Panda or something.

My experiences of the AA have been far better than experiences of RAC... But could just have been lucky / unlucky on most occasions (and because of the 2 times I've used the AA one time I told them the toddler was in the car!). The biggy for me is that the AA would have shifted my caravan 10 miles without charging £500 but that might just have been because my RAC membership is through my bank account. .

Few weeks ago the fanbelt came off on my ML, I'd just dropped the missus off at her mums 10 miles away and was on my way back to work with loads of work that had to be finished the same day so was short on time already.. I heard a rattle that sounded a bit like stones thrown up by wheels hitting the underneath of the car but immediately noticed lack of power steering and the alternator light so knew straight away what the noise would have been. Only a few miles from home so I thought keep moving while watching the temp gauge. The temp gauge very quickly rose (just a few hundred yards) but luckily this was just before a layby on the A638 near Redhouse (Doncaster area) just after the dual carriageway section has turned back into single carriageway. Rather than blow the engine causing myself even more problems and still not make it back to base any sooner I stopped in the layby and turned the engine off, popped the bonnet, belt twisted up and only half it's original width but not completely broken. No tools on me but set about trying to put it back on... no chance with the extremely stiff spring tensioner on the ML. AA was with me in 10 minutes and we put the remains of the belt back on together, then he followed me back to base. Haven't had time to touch the ML since!

I once bought a Chrysler Grand Voyager (I've had quite a few of these) just for it's gearbox and a BRC LPG conversion that were on it from somewhere around 30miles away, it had a blown coreplug. I went to collect it prepared with a few 5 gallon drums of water and tools to remove the thermostat, bits and bobs to try to block the core plug hole. Attempted to drive the 30 miles.. winter time so had the heater on (would've had it on anyway to try to keep things cool). Used all my water and then the heater soon stopped working so I knew I was very low on coolant, temp gauge went up to the max and then curiously back to normal even though there was no water left in the engine. Still I kept driving and the engine started sounding very rattly lol. Another mile and it was smoking from the exhaust.. I kept driving lol. Then the inevitable drop of power, pulled onto the hard shoulder and it stalled. Wasn't seized, would crank, but no compression and the engine was dead. Hello RAC.... I never did get time to remove it's gearbox but did remove some other parts including all the gas bits before scrapping it. The injectors are now on Morat's Jeep.

It is UV that makes them go yellow. Some of the 'headlight restoration kits' contain a UV blocker to wipe on after cleaning and yellowing has been removed. I bought such a kit the other day, just contains a cleaning wipe (not sure how much good that would do) and the UV protection, instructions say to go at lights with wet n dry 'if they feel unsmooth' but wet n dry isn't included. In truth I bet any amount of yellowing would have to be removed by wet n dry and/or polish. Can't see the cleaning wipe doing much and can't see the UV protection lasting.

hugh wrote:

Changed the plugs - hell of a difference - all sorted.
Seems 17k is spark plug lIfespan on LPG.

Good!

One thing about it Bri, if the chassis/body are oily they won't rust anyway... One of the 2 positives of an engine oil leak, the other being the engine should always have new oil hehe!

Thanks Rob,

The problem with putting an over-pipe around these AC pipes is they're very curvy, it's only a couple of short sections that corrode and in that short distance there are several tight bends.

I'm now thinking just give them a coat of Hammerite or underseal and check every year I own it. Underseal should do the job nicely? Dunno why I didn't think of the obvious before! I hate painting Tetraseal on though.

I use Hammerite a lot on welded brackets etc I make, get it to match the colour of the car perfectly... as long as the car is black lol.

A guy told me the other day that he uses a heat gun or blowtorch to restore colour of ABS.

On some model vehicles I convert I put the pipe onto the spud (manifold nozzle), cut the ears off, apply loctite to the spud threads and pass the pipe through a narrow gap before screwing into the tapped hole I made on the manifold by turning the pipe to hand tighten (hence the loctite). The gap is so narrow, space around the position of the fitted spud so restricted and access to the spud so restricted that no other type of pipe to spud fixing mechanism would allow the same (besides perhaps some sort of glue which I wouldn't want to use) or even allow position/tightening of whatever it was I'd use instead to fix the pipe to the spud. With the lugs cut off the spring clips are very tight on the pipe and don't increase the overall diameter by more than a few thou, basically left with a couple of tight bands around the pipe with no protrusions.

Gilbertd wrote:

Lpgc wrote:

While on the subject of cleaning plastic lights... Not that I have any need for this at the moment but has anyone ever tried similar with glass headlights or even windscreens? Not yellowed in the case of windscreens but the tiny marks and scratches they get over the years.

Jewellers Rouge and an awful lot of elbow grease......

Windscreen insurance and a brick through the windscreen then lol. Hadn't thought of jewellers stuff, was thinking wet n dry first then cutting compund then Tcut.