Tam & co the great winter escape

Ok panic over ...fastest breakdown response ever ...well down flux rescue i had my doubts but 15 minutes response is impressive.

So the young lad ( looked 15 )turned up and looked under bonet and said that aint diesel its coolant ( admittedly i hadnt tasted it i just looked and saw liquid all over the diesel filter , battery and the bonnet ) ....had a squeeze of all the hoses and sure enough the bottom radiator hose Clip had not been tightened up .... obviously when the garage dod the cambelt as they removed the radiator 🤦‍♂️

They will be getting a call in the morning as they are really peeing me off between last years broken belt , the clutch on my car and now this ...they wont be getting any work from me again thats for sure.


Anyway the lad refitted the hose tightened the clip and refilled with water ...id fortunately only lost a few litres which is good going considering .

Hopefully thats the only problem.

Took ages to start at the services early so i partly hoped it was diesel and the issue was resolved but hey ho .

Staying here for tonight as its quiet and out the way .

Steak for dinner tonight so just putting that on now
 
Northernraider said:
Took ages to start at the services early so i partly hoped it was diesel and the issue was resolved but hey ho .
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Might get better when you’ve got some more miles on it but I’d be sticking some expensive Shell V Power in and giving it some on the M20😊
 
Ok so i didnt have steak ....i discovered the fridge does sod all when switched to 12v so the chicken and pork i had in the freezer has defrosted on the drive down today. So as the steak was in the fridge and fresh yesterday ive saved that for another day and cooked the pork and the chicken ...im having pork and veg and the pups are having a nice chicken dinner as a reward for all the driving.

Ill have to see if i can just keep my fridge on gas all the time


This van is a nightmare lol ....house that jack built springs to mind


Still ....nice bit of pork 😁
20211101_195104.jpg



Looks like a decent wee walk here for dogs in morning ... hope its not raining
 
Northernraider said:
Ok so i didnt have steak ....i discovered the fridge does sod all when switched to 12v so the chicken and pork i had in the freezer has defrosted on the drive down today. So as the steak was in the fridge and fresh yesterday ive saved that for another day and cooked the pork and the chicken ...im having pork and veg and the pups are having a nice chicken dinner as a reward for all the driving.

Ill have to see if i can just keep my fridge on gas all the time


This van is a nightmare lol ....house that jack built springs to mind


Still ....nice bit of pork 😁View attachment 553421


Looks like a decent wee walk here for dogs in morning ... hope its not raining
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Can you plan your trip so you can 'accidentally' bump into Uncle Lenny HB to sort the electrics out for you? :giggle:
 
Keep an eye on that temp gauge tomorrow just to be safe.

Would hate for something else to be up before

you realised it.

Cheers James
 
Thats the thing ...the temp guage never moved

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Until recently we had the same problem with our 3 way fridge since last January. It wouldn't work on 12v so we ran it on gas most of the time and would keep frozen blocks of ice in tuperware in the freezer which we transferred to the fridge if doing a longer drive. It was a pain remembering to turn the fridge off before a drive and on again on arrival but we got used to the routine eventually.
 
Flipping Tam, been awake part of the night thinking about your starting problem.
What we were all suggesting about it being an air leak in the fuel line would cause staring problems with the vehicle left standing.
Now you have been driving it all day and then it won't start its unlikely to be that.

More likely to be a slight leak on one of the air intake pipes or a faulty MAF.
I had a Omega with the BMW 6 pot engine used to do similar, the hotter it was the worse the starting was a right pig in 35"° in Italy if the engine was hot. Traced it to the inlet pipe from the air filter, jubilee clip screw needed ½ a turn to cure it, caused the MAF to give incorrect readings & ECU gave wrong fuel mix.

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Methinks you should have spent a night or two in the van and run the fridge on all powers to check it all works, and sorted the starting problem beforehand!
Fridge is poss a fuse somewhere.
Hope it all settles down for you now.
 
Northernraider said:
Ok so i didnt have steak ....i discovered the fridge does sod all when switched to 12v so the chicken and pork i had in the freezer has defrosted on the drive down today. So as the steak was in the fridge and fresh yesterday ive saved that for another day and cooked the pork and the chicken ...im having pork and veg and the pups are having a nice chicken dinner as a reward for all the driving.

Ill have to see if i can just keep my fridge on gas all the time


This van is a nightmare lol ....house that jack built springs to mind


Still ....nice bit of pork 😁View attachment 553421


Looks like a decent wee walk here for dogs in morning ... hope its not raining
Click to expand...
Nice plate!!!!! ;););););););)
 
Northernraider is the van only hard to start in the mornings when it has stood all night? Or is it whenever? Colin said if starting problems are when the engine is cold it might be the glow plug is cooked.

Sorry if you have already checked this, I have not read all of your conversion thread.

Also let us know what fridge you have and he will look up where the fuse and relay might be. It would be too simple but you never know. It's a shame you have gone past Peterborough already, we might have been able to help.
 
Lenny HB said:
Flipping Tam, been awake part of the night thinking about your starting problem.
What we were all suggesting about it being an air leak in the fuel line would cause staring problems with the vehicle left standing.
Now you have been driving it all day and then it won't start its unlikely to be that.

More likely to be a slight leak on one of the air intake pipes or a faulty MAF.
I had a Omega with the BMW 6 pot engine used to do similar, the hotter it was the worse the starting was a right pig in 35"° in Italy if the engine was hot. Traced it to the inlet pipe from the air filter, jubilee clip screw needed ½ a turn to cure it, caused the MAF to give incorrect readings & ECU gave wrong fuel mix.
Click to expand...
When it wouldn't start yesterday the injector light was flashing ...it turns over but makes no attempt to start but if you pump the pedal it will then cough splutter make attempts and then eventually fire up. It does it at random whether its hot or cold. Yesterday was the worst ...normally i just turn ignition on let pump prime turn off , repeat 3 times and it will then fire up straight away. If you dont do that and just try to start it then it cranks over for ages but wont start. Like i said its weird and the old fella who had it before said he's tried various things but found nowt.

Ill see how it starts first thing today
 
Shrimp said:
Methinks you should have spent a night or two in the van and run the fridge on all powers to check it all works, and sorted the starting problem beforehand!
Fridge is poss a fuse somewhere.
Hope it all settles down for you now.
Click to expand...
The fridge is the same one thats in the caravan ....never checked on 240v as i won't have it ....when turned to 12v the internal light comes on so its definitely got a 12v feed it just doesnt cool the fridge. The gas only works if turned on to max and the knob is jammed in otherwise it just keeps going out. But if jammed on it works . Like i said when i bought the van it looks ok in pics but really its just a pile of poo lol . Once im down in greece and have time on my hands i might have a poke about with it and see if i can find whats up with it. As yet im not even sure how you access the burner as there's only one vent outside and thats the exhaust one ...no lower vent

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Armytwowheels said:
Northernraider is the van only hard to start in the mornings when it has stood all night? Or is it whenever? Colin said if starting problems are when the engine is cold it might be the glow plug is cooked.

Sorry if you have already checked this, I have not read all of your conversion thread.

Also let us know what fridge you have and he will look up where the fuse and relay might be. It would be too simple but you never know. It's a shame you have gone past Peterborough already, we might have been able to help.
Click to expand...
It does it at random to be honest ... previous owner was convinced it was diesel running back to the tank ...but im not sure ...you have to perform this wee ritual to get it to start lol.


At least it wont get stolen


As for the fridge its getting a 12v supply as the light comes on inside ....it just doesn't cool on 12v .

The gas is a bit iffy too as i explained to shrimp above.



This van is what you call roughing it ....one step up from a tent 🤣
 
Would the light in the fridge be a different 12 volt supply to the one the fridge uses when running on 12volt.
Probably do with the jet clean when you get somewhere to check it.
 
Just about to leave here ...dogs not allowed in the nature reserve so just had a tramp around the meadow in ma wellies. Van took a few attenpts to start again this morning but fired up eventually.

Ive done a little video of the fridge which ill upload later as signal here isn't great ... can't even upload photos. Lovely sunny morning though but cold .

Hoping this m25 and Dartford arent a nightmare.
 
Not sure what fridge it is but my Thetford has a 12v supply from the leisure battery for the control side and then a Separate 12v supply via the engine battery/alternator for the heater. Do you have a clamp on DC ammeter to see if the heater is drawing any current when the engine is running?
If yours is similar I have a spare Thetford 190w heater element I swapped out unnecessarily if its of any use.
 
Northernraider said:
Just about to leave here ...dogs not allowed in the nature reserve so just had a tramp around the meadow in ma wellies. Van took a few attenpts to start again this morning but fired up eventually.

Ive done a little video of the fridge which ill upload later as signal here isn't great ... can't even upload photos. Lovely sunny morning though but cold .

Hoping this m25 and Dartford arent a nightmare.
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What iain26 said..
Bet the thick wire 12v feed is either missing or aint been connected properly

As for the poor starting, that is a real oddball as pumping the accelerator pedal on a diesel should not really do anything.. The only thing I can think is the control rail in the pump is sticking in the stop position and the pumping frees it up.. really odd

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Northernraider said:
When it wouldn't start yesterday the injector light was flashing ...it turns over but makes no attempt to start but if you pump the pedal it will then cough splutter make attempts and then eventually fire up. It does it at random whether its hot or cold. Yesterday was the worst ...normally i just turn ignition on let pump prime turn off , repeat 3 times and it will then fire up straight away. If you dont do that and just try to start it then it cranks over for ages but wont start. Like i said its weird and the old fella who had it before said he's tried various things but found nowt.

Ill see how it starts first thing today
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Leaking injector? Getting to much fuel in cylinder whilst not running?
 
the problem with using it with the knob jammed in is if the flame goes out the gas will continue to come out, fill the van up,then ......BOOM.
if it was me I'd have a look at that first.......might just be the thermo coupling not in the flame enough
 
zedman said:
the problem with using it with the knob jammed in is if the flame goes out the gas will continue to come out, fill the van up,then ......BOOM.
if it was me I'd have a look at that first.......might just be the thermo coupling not in the flame enough
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It wouldn't though as the flame is outside. (y)
 
if theres no access through a vent the fridge has probably never been out and the burner will be full of crud ,12 v for lights is different supply to the 12v to the element will be fused usually close to the battery and run via a relay

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