Here's some good news on batteries. Even if you don't want an Electric Car, it'll be great for phones etc :)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltaylor/2021/05/13/ev-range-breakthrough-as-new-aluminum-ion-battery-charges-60-times-faster-than-lithium-ion/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB

My mighty Austin 7 will run on beeswax and camel piss - it'll outlast us all!!
Not that you'd necessarily WANT to drive very far in it, mind.

The Duchess has been looking a bit scruffy after several weeks of daily driving, so I treated her to a car wash and a full tank of LPG. She repaid me by blowing a headlight bulb.
Ah well, could have been worse.

I buy from my local tyre fitters. They're always cheaper than the online prices and they get stock next day!
I'm probably lucky though, we have two firms located either side of a small market town. They keep each other honest on prices :)

The key with brownie points is to spend them immediately. Banking them is impossible.

Nikasil/Alusil isn't an issue now, as all UK fuel is now low-sulphur. Any pitted blocks should have been replaced under recall/warranty.
However, it does seem that BMW got infected with the same Accountancy > Engineering management practices as Mercedes which is a shame as they were fantastic in the E30/32/34 era. What the hell they are doing producing cars like the X6 I've no idea.

Two fingers or four, madam?

mad-as wrote:

China is becoming a real problem for the world and they must be approached with caution, don't forget where the china virus came from ? and the reason it was let out, i think it was a test to see how the world would respond . not an accident.

You are Donald Trump and I claim my five pounds :)

If I'm honest with myself, the main reason I didn't fit the AT3 to the P38 was looks. I like the chunky tyres on my Jeep, but not on the Range Rover. Don't know why.

I don't think a condenser would be a tricky thing to engineer in relation to replacing the whole fossil fuel supply chain :)

It's an interesting point on increasing the world's humidity by turning water into steam/vapour. I guess it all depends on how quickly it would condense on its own accord. I'd like to think the effect would be minimal but people once thought that would be true of CO2 emissions.... CO2 does stick around until captured by plants, though It doesn't just fall out of the sky by itself.

True, but the steam that steam engines produce was water before it was boiled.. so all the additional greenhouse gases produced are a byproduct of burning the coal (or wood, or coffee!)

16 or 18s?
AT3 is a good tyre all round, although I haven't run it on the Range Rover. It's probably a little noisier than the AT but it's hard to tell in a Jeep.
How much off-roading do you do? After the Grabber AT line was discontinued I was in the same boat as you a few months back and decided to stay on-road and use the Michelin Crossclimate tyres. They're a solid step up from the Grabber ATs in wet braking and noise.
I haven't tried them off road, and probably won't venture further than some flat grassy fields at work so if you're into muddy tracks I guess this won't be helpful. Unless you buy some spare wheels ;)

For basic cleaning I've always used gliptone in the past. The cleaner helps get the grot off and the finishing stuff helps soften the leather and prevent cracks.
It won't help with re-surfacing leather that has lost the coloured top layer but it's good for seats that are in decent nick but dirty.

Pierre3 wrote:

I can't see that emissions from hydrogen, water, will ever become an issue. I would suggest that with all the steam trains in the world there was no effect on the weather. Although, I suppose you could say that there may be millions of cars. But, a steam train would easily require 3 or 4 thousands gallons of water, and this was all puffed out into the atmosphere.

Maybe if hydrogen cars could effect the weather then it would probably be with rain. So if there was a very dry summer we could get all our mates to call around and run their engines until it rains !!! [OK, I think that that's enough with the jokes stuff].

Pierre3.

Just got to point out that Steam is not a greenhouse gas. Burning coal for steam trains is a bad idea and that releases a lot of CO2 but it's not the water that matters.
If you used Hydrogen in the burners for a steam train, you'd be carbon neutral - as long as the H2 is produced using wind/hydro/other renewable electricity.

I've never heard that arguement before!!
Of course it's from renewables.
And most of the windfarms are offshore now where they slice seagulls instead of eagles :D

And yes, the government is building nuclear as fast as they can - which turns out to be not very fast at all...

BrianH wrote:

Theres a lot of money to be made out of flogging new cars to people, which has clearly been the priority of the motor industry for many years, worse now by the addition of PCP type deals. Anything to demonise older vehicles in any way they can, only feeds this pattern further.

Batteries will get to a point where they will hit a severe problem - either disposal of them, or lack of materials to make new ones from being the likely causes that appear at this point, though who knows what else might become more apparant with time.

Hydrogen can also be used in a fuel cell setup, but try mentioning that to any of Musk's followers as its clearly got more potential than batteries once they crack how to make the hydrogen without producing emissions elsewhere that cancel out the benefits of it. Which has got to be a better bet than combing the seabed in search of Cobalt for batteries.

You're bang on.
The motor industry will only support action against climate change if it involves flogging more motors. They don't really care if it's battery powered or Hydrogen powered as long as it's new. I suspect they're very happy with the current situation which has gone Petrol -> Diesel -> Hybrid and is now heading in the direction of EV -> Hydrogen.
Each step requires a brand new car, of course.
My preferred solution would be
Petrol -> LPG -> H2
but fewer steps = fewer new cars - especially if you can convert existing petrol cars to LPG and that is not acceptable to the car industry in particular and the doctrine of eternal economic growth in general.

FWIW I'm on a 100% renewable electricity tariff and it's cheap (Octopus). So much power comes from renewables now that it won't be long before H2 is produced with "green" electrickery.

And Mad-As, just to keep you happy, the Aussies are forging ahead with solar (PV being an Aussie invention) at the regional level despite the federal government being a bunch of fossils, so you'll be benefiting from clean and cheap power too :)

I had a similar issue on mine and after the hassle of getting into it and looking at the rusty gunky mess behind the nice shiny button I just decided to buy a new one. Good luck!!

yep, it runs fine but sometimes it flashes the lights :)

Welcome! you've got the wrong type of Range Rover but we'll forgive you :)

Simon, my jeep is having a new HG fitted in Elland right now... I might have to see if I can swing by on the return for a checkup/service. The lights are doing that disco thing that either means a bad sender unit or it's due a service. I'm not sure which it is on the current system!