Hi, I wonder whether someone might have an idea why my 2.5 diesel P38 has suddenly decided to become difficult to restart after turning off the engine for 5 or 10 minutes. It has been fine up until yesterday when it was difficult to restart after being parked for 10 minutes.

The engine was at normal temperature after a 20 mile journey but when I tried to restart it the motor just kept cranking until it eventually spluttered into life. I am fairly sure that I pre-heated before I restarted. I did notice, earlier in the day, that occasionally, on tickover, that the engine would seem to miss every now and again which has not happened before. After spluttering to restart the engine ran smoothly as normal.

Also, something that has never happened before was that the engine suddenly cut out as I moved the gearstick into "Drive". I pre-heated again but I had to crank the engine over for maybe 10/15 seconds before it fired and even then it just spluttered into life. But everything ran fine once it started.

Again, I noticed, this morning, that when being started for the first time today the engine did a couple of missed beats while ticking over, but, again, after a quick rev of the engine it seemed to be OK. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Pierre3.

Morat, the VAT is charged on everything from 1 cent upwards. The threshold you refer to is the point at where import duty starts t be levied for personal imports, and it is currently set at €150 for any item.

Under €150 you pay VAT on the purchase price [converted to Euros], plus the shipping cost [converted to Euros], and finally the courier admin costs for the customs declaration. VAT is added to the end figure, whether it turns out to be €10 or €149.

It's all money in Revenues coffers, and we have to pay it !!

Pierre3.

Well either way, thanks. I appreciate it !

Pierre3.

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.

I will print both posts and read them several times to understand the issues. I much prefer paper documents where I can revert backwards to something that I may have missed.

Thanks again, guys.

Pierre3.

I bought a Yuasa YBX 3642, rated at 925 amps, from Battery Megastore in July, and so far it has been very good. The longest time that I have left it so far is 3 weeks and it really fires up well. I also have a diesel like Blanco.

It was fully charged when it was delivered, or, at least, it was 12.8vdc when I checked it with a multimeter.

Pierre3.

I was afraid that the issue of the heater box would be mentioned [oh no, no, no, please not the heater box] but hopefully Richard is right and it's the blend motors.

As I have a shiny new Nannycom will using this give me a better idea of what is happening ? What will Nanny tell me that using the actual controls in the car won't ?

Thanks for your comments, Mad-as, I will have to bear this in mind.

Harv, that's a neat little set.

Pierre3.

Harv, I am not sure what the fees, in Ireland, are with the Post Office because I haven't had anything delivered by them since Brexit happened. But anything that comed into Ireland from the UK is VAT chargeable, so even if you put €1 value you will still get charged VAT if you use a courier, as he has to make a customs declaration.

I suspect that if the package comes via the Post Office then there won't be VAT or duty, provided that the item is not worth over €150. It seems that we may not need to pay an admin fee, or brokerage fee, for goods delivered by the Post Office for low priced items. I would think that this is due to the way the goods are transported between the UK and Ireland. All courier companies have to provide customs documents for everything on the vehicle so customs have the opportunity to tax anything coming into the country.

I don't know how the Post Office does it.

This was always the way things worked before Ireland and the UK were full members of the EU, or the Common Market. We always had to pay the import duty, the shipping cost, the customs fees, and VAT on everything and anything that we got delivered to Ireland. It made car parts, particularly for rally cars, very expensive unless you could get thos parts smuggled across the border.

Richard, unfortunately, Customs and Revenue are fairly wise to the "Gift with no value" trick and they will regularly open packages listed as such. I have had magazines and books parcels opened before delivery, to see what was inside. I have asked some sellers if they can list parts as "Warranty replacements" with no residual value but most sellers on the net won't do it, only smaller, private sellers.

I would think that France and Ireland are using a common minimum value before charging duty. It is €150 in Ireland, and if it is £120 from the UK to France then that coming up near to €150, well €135 maybe, but still in a similar vein.

Pierre3.

Thank you guys. Funnily enough I do actually have a right-angled screwdriver !!! I got it made when I used install big glass revolving doors, and very useful indeed. A friend of mine made it with a small universal joint and a socket for screwdriver heads on one end and a 3/8th drive head on the other end.

I will have to look for a set of blend motors now, but I have some time because, unfortunately, I have to do all my work on the drive - outside :(.

I did notice that a guy called William Chetwynd advertised a set on his Facebook page last July, or thereabouts. I didn't know that I needed them then !!

Pierre3.

Morat, yes that's correct, the change has been for customers in the EU of course. Thanks for the correction.

Pierre3.

I often wonder how companies are sending products to customers either in the EU from the UK, or in the UK from the EU but they are not charging VAT or import duty [if it exceeds the minimum amount]. I have seen this with Amazon, who sometimes ship products to Ireland from the UK without any taxes or duties. I'm not sure how they are doing this unless they are absorbing the cost themselves.

Ryanair seem to be able to do the same thing with airport taxes. All airlines have to pay airport taxes, based on each passenger they carry, and these taxes can be perhaps £15 - £20 per person. And yet Ryanair can offer £10 air fares into the UK. My daughter-in-law works at Dublin Airport and it has been a constant puzzle how O'Leary can offer a £10 fare into, say, Gatwick, but Aer Lingus have to pay perhaps £15 per passenger and therefore can't possibly offer a £10 fare.

The situation in Ireland is that when an item arrives in Ireland with, for instance DHL, a customs clearance document is submitted. This has the item value, say £75 STG, a shipping cost say £15, both figures which are converted to Euros. Then DHL add their admin fees, usually around €40, to the two previous figures, and then VAT at 23% is added to the total. VAT is applied to everything arriving in the country.

If te item is over €150 then import tax [depending on classification] will be applied - so therefore you have to UK purchase price [converted to Euros], the UK shipping cost [converted to Euros], any import tax at 12% is added, the customs clearance admin cost is added, and then VAT at 23% is added to the total. This does add quite a bit extra to anything bought in the UK, so buying from Rimmer Bros or Britcar has become expensive.

If I can find parts in Europe then it makes more sense to buy them instead. In fact, I have bought quite a bit of stuff from France, Italy and Germany rather than buying from the UK. Unfortunately, buying from the UK has become the option of last resort.

Pierre3.

I wonder how much Brexit had to play in this. When I look at how much it now costs to buy and import parts into Ireland, from the UK, it makes more sense to look for those parts in Europe. I'm not suggesting that Brexit is the sole issue, and having read the first post which shows that there were a number of other issues, but every P38 buyer outside the UK suddenly had to pay considerably more for parts once the UK left Europe. I suspect that that alone made a big difference to Britcar.

If they were going to start again I think that they would be better off starting in Ireland and selling into the UK. That would mean that sales into Europe would be sold as seen, i.e. no extra VAT or import duty, or customs declarations to European buyers. I suppose that it all depends on where the biggest market is.

Pierre3.

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I will have to get into the underside of the dashboard to fit new blend motors. I have to think about what I need to get to do the job when the weather improves in the spring.

One thing I would like to ask - I often see adverts showing three motors together. So does that mean that there are three blend motors in total, or are there three blend motors for each side ?

Pierre3.

So, it turned out that it was indeed a flaky door latch. I had to get a garage to replace it as I wasn't sure what caused the original problem for definite.

Everything is back to normal from a security point of view.

The next thing that happened, the next day after I had collected the car, was that the "ABS/Traction Failure" light came on and, unlike previous times, wouldn't go off. This was a sensor going down the pan, so back down to a local guy who has a Faultmate or something similar.

As has been mentioned plenty of times it turned out to be the rear left hand wheel sensor. Fortunately, he was able to get one and get it fitted by the next day. To say I was very surprised is an understatement. However, I am pleased to know that this guy can diagnose and fix stuff on a P38 if I can't do it myself.

Pierre3.

Hi Symes, I got an email from Tom Peers this morning to tell me that he has one and will be sending it over the next day or so. Thanks for your help.

Greyhound5, you could also try Tom ["Roverviews" is his Ebay shop], or another guy is William Chetwynd but you will either have contact him though the P38 Facebook site or text him on 00 44 7903 167575. The only disadvantage from your point of view is that both of these guys are in the UK.

Pierre3.

Hi Symes, I apologise for not getting back to you earlier, I wasn't feeling the best this morning !!

I got an email from Tom to say that he would have a look for me, so hopefully he may have one. Thanks for your offer to mention it to him for me. It probably wouldn't do any harm to ask him, if it's not too late.

Pierre3.

Hi, I have noticed that the headlight bulb rubber boot [for the rear of the headlight] is missing. I have only noticed this because the bulb went "pop" and I had to change it. As it is the drivers side and under the battery cover I have never noticed it missing before.

Does anyone know where I could get one, and is it just one that I need ? Looking at the passenger side I see that it is quite a big item, but is there another dust cover underneath the main one ?

I have emailed Tom Peers [ Roverviews] but any other contacts for reliable breakers would be appreciated.

Pierre3.

Hi, I would like to ask how difficult, in real life experience, is it to remove the dashboard display unit, in a UK [RHD] vehicle.

I believe that there are 4 Phillips screws holding up a plastic panel under the steering wheel but then there is a metal frame inside the dashboard cavity. Some people have said to remove the metal frame, but it is a real pain both to remove the bolts and to re-locate it when re-assembling. Other people have suggested just loosening the bolts a bit, but don't remove completely.

Again, I believe that the dashboard display is held in by 4 screws, and the unit should pull out over the steering wheel cover. Am I correct in this.

Lastly, do I need to disconnect the battery before doing this, I suppose it makes sense to do so.

Any help/suggestions much appreciated.

Pierre3.

Yes, I have found the details for the different models on the Black Box registered user webpages.

Pierre3.

Thanks for your help, Richard. Hopefully, I will be able to get the warning lights to go off either with looking through the faults with the Nanocom, or else using the up and down method again !!!

I will have a look at the BBS website and see what it says there. Thanks again.

Pierre3.

Richard, I bought the Nanocom for the diesel, my vehicle is a DHSE. I have the EDC licences.

Any idea about the option to turn off the warning lights with Nanocom ?

By the way, I was just reading some old posts by yourself on the opposition forum, 2018, discussing the ABS accumulator failure 😅.

Pierre3.