With the door latch out, are the switches easily replaceable (plug and play) or is there soldering involved?

This all sounds like it makes sense.

It looks as though there are two different part numbers for the latch itself. FQJ103220 up until 1999 and FQJ103260 after 1999. The wiring and connectors are different but I don't know about the microswitches/mechanical elements.

I'll take a look at the contacts inside the fob first then. I'll need to get a new battery cover in first though. Mine is almost destroyed now. Whoever thought cheese was a good material for them wants shooting.

Gilbertd (as well as myself, previously) tried the thing mentioned in that link of holding the lock button while locking the car manually but it didn't work.

I've not tried the replacement antenna thing yet - I'm not sure how.

Do I just stick the wire in the socket on the receiver or do I need to do something else with it first? Just sticking the wire doesn't sound right to me lol

Ever since my BECM went in to meltdown last year and needed to be unlocked by Marty my remote locking hasn't worked. Prior to this, the remote locking worked perfectly. Since I got the BECM back I've been unable to enter the EKA code that Marty programmed in for me.

Last night Gilbertd used his Nanocom to enter it for me but the fob still didn't work. He also used the Nanocom to test my door latch and found that the key switch is dead - which explains why I couldn't enter the EKA manually.

With the EKA code entered we looked elsewhere. Another rather fancy handheld gadget determined that the fob was transmitting on the right frequency but the transmission was very weak. The LED on the fob has always flashed when the buttons are pressed.

Today, I've prised off the battery cover and changed the batteries for brand new Panasonic ones. There is still no reaction from the car when the buttons are pressed.

The antenna in the rear window is showing signs of deterioration but it still doesn't work when I put the fob right next to the receiver in the rear wing.

Gilbertd suggested making a replacement antenna from a bit of wire about 8 inches or so long. Is there any more to this than unplugging the actual antenna and jamming the wire in the socket?

If that doesn't work, does any one else have any suggestions? Is it possible to test if the receiver itself works?

Spent a bit of time looking around Gilbertd's LPG installations yesterday. I think I've ruled out fitting any kind of LPG now.

I'd only be interested in a spare wheel well tank but I don't like the pipe work coming through the bottom of the well. It's too vulnerable for the offroading we do.

Heard the noise. Headed to Google. Wished I hadn't.

It's like looking up your symptoms when you're not feeling well - look long enough and you'll be convinced you'll die tomorrow of advanced cancer.

On the plus side, looks like you live in a very nice place.

That makes sense. For some reason my mind assumed that vehicles without TC also lacked ABS.

Gilbertd wrote:

Early ones have two wheel traction control (rear wheels only), later ones have 4 wheel traction control but I wasn't aware of any that didn't have it at all. Ones with 2 wheel TC can be upgraded to 4 wheel by swapping the ABS modulator and ECU.

Are the front hubs etc the same then? I'd have thought that the hubs would be different on 4 wheel TC vehicles to accommodate the sensors and exciter rings.

Ok...so we have a winner. Something in the fan.

I played with the fan speed last night. Cranked it right up to see if I could coax it in to happening again.

Now I have it on both sides at high fan speed - and it won't stop on the passenger side when I slow it back down.

At least it's nothing serious :)

Ah, OK. I assumed it only had one motor to supply air to all the vents that was fitted in the centre. I've not seen inside a P38 dashboard - only a couple of Ford Focus' and a Sierra.

Where does the blower motor sit in the dash? Is it central (behind the radio etc) or off towards the side?

If the noise comes back it would help confirm or rule out that as the source of the noise depending on where the noise is coming from.

There might be something to the stick idea. I swapped the pollen filters on Friday too. They looked like they'd been there since it left the factory:

I tried to pull out as much detritus as I could but some could have fallen in. I picked up some new plenum foam to stop so much crap getting in but didn't have time to fit it over the weekend..

I'll just sit back and monitor it for a while I suppose.

Just been out to check on it. The cruise control button wasn't pressed. Started it up and drove up and down the road and it's not making unusual noises.

I'll check again in the morning. It was quite a bit colder than it is now.

Hmm, that will need some investigation then.

I changed the rear brake pads last Friday. Took the cap off to allow the fluid to move while pushing the caliper pistons back in. That shouldn't have allowed air in to the system though - the fluid level would have gone up, not down.

I could also have managed to damage a brake hose that is now letting air but not letting fluid leak out...

Ok, great. Thanks for all the info everyone!

Time to go home and discuss.

Oh, yeah - I realised the calibration was your place, not at my house :)

You're only an hour and a half away so it's not a problem.

The runs great on petrol at the moment so that shouldn't be a problem.

Is the software for DIY diagnostic in the future kit specific and supplied with the kit or is it a universal type thing available elsewhere?

Not that I'm aware of.

The cruise control stopped working a few weeks ago - the pipe that runs from the T-piece to behind the engine has disintegrated - so I've stopped using it. I didn't press the button for it when I got in the car but I guess it's possible I've left it pressed since the last time I tried it.

I'll check when I go out to the car at lunch.

Yeah, we've ruled out a used kit. Doesn't sound worth it in any way. I figured that would be to the case to start with.

That the calibration is included with your DIY kits is brilliant. I really didn't expect that. What's involved in the calibration?

Can you do the certification too? How much does that cost?

What kind of on-going maintenance is involved with an LPG set up? Looking at Marty's ECU thread. it looks like investing in some kind of diagnostics could be useful too.

I'm not against paying a bit more to cover good service :) With most things, you get what you pay for and if you know literally nothing about a subject, someone else's knowledge and experience is a valuable thing.

Got in the car to head to work this morning and found a rather concerning and very loud ticking/clicking sound. It sounded like it was coming from behind the dials or steering wheel/column. It didn't seem to change with revs or speed. It sounded the same while parked at idle as it did while travelling at 15-20mph.

It didn't start straight away. It started about 30 seconds after I started moving. I pulled over, took my phone out and attempted to take a video of it - but it stopped. The noise lasted about 30 seconds and went away.

It didn't come back for the rest of the journey and the car seems to be driving fine.

It must have heard about my plans to spend some money on it to swap the radio system and fit LPG and decided that it either doesn't want to be used as a daily or doesn't like my plans and wants money spent on something else instead :(

Anyone come across anything like this?