After working hard in the garden I thought it would be good to take a short drive up the coast in the late afternoon to sit by the sea and have a cuppa. Parked in Walcott and watched the quite big waves whilst we sat round the table inside the van. A good flock of oyster catchers seemed happy to be on the pavement nearby.
One reason for the drive out was to get a feel for the new van and work out what we wish to do to it. Added to the list is to remove the weird slightly purpley shading from the rear glass so we can actually see out properly. With a bit of luck it will peel off with help from a hair drier.
The wonderful 80-90 group has come up trumps with a set of standard front springs although they are in Birmingham. No huge rush but an 80-90 Express service should get them a bit nearer in the next week or two and then I'll probably get Repps Garage to swap them over. Hopefully that will soften the suspension a bit as many of our minor roads round here are very bumpy.
Picked the camper up from Broadland Leisure along with a hefty bill. It went in for a habitation check and a look over but there were major problems. The wiring for the LPG switch had worn and was shorting causing the engine to run on both petrol and gas at the same time. This could have caused the head gasket problems. The following pictures are not for the faint hearted!
The wiring for the gas switch was totally replaced along with fuel lines, clutch slave cylinder, a few other bits and....
.... the engine, no way to save the original. Many thanks to Jason for the quick turn around and the good explanations of it all.
It would be good if the next entry is about getting out there and enjoying it!
Bother!!
Call from Broadland Leisure and there wasn't much good news. First off my suspicion that the van was using petrol and gas at the same time was confirmed. The wiring from the dash switch to the rear had been routed in the most peculiar way. In parts it was strapped to a metal ring which had worn it through causing shorting across the various wires. It was also partly wrapped around the gear linkage so wear was happening there every time I changed gear! The shorting had caused problems with the switch and the solenoid, While it was up on the ramp I could see the new fuel filter which had been attached either side to horrendous old piping so there was a little seepage of petrol in parts. The intermittent brake warning light was caused by low brake fluid caused by a cylinder failure. There were a few other niggly things that should have been noted by the very recent service and MOT including two very illegal tyres. All that can be relatively easily fixed, new wiring from the dash switch, replacement solenoid, new fuel pipes and tyres etc however....
.....there was one more thing, a blown head gasket. This had obviously been seeping water for quite a while looking at the amount of deposits all around the area and considering that it had just had a service in the month of February it was a surprise to find absolutely no antifreeze in the system, not even a trace. The guess is that continual replenishing of the leaking coolant was done with plain water. So, a new head gasket. Except getting the head off from one of these engines could result in a broken stud and that's the engine kaput so it might need a replacement engine.
There was some good news, they thought that the overall condition of the van was excellent so once this work is done it should be OK for a while.
Drive out today to get tyre with slow puncture changed. The tyre was the only advisory on last week's MOT due to wear so was a known expense.
Booked it in to Broadland Leisure for a good look over, habitation check and investigation of intermittent brake warning light. Have asked them to check fuel pipes and also to let me know how easy it is to restore the front suspension to normal. Will go in tomorrow but they might not be able to do it until Wednesday.
It was a short drive of about 30 miles in total but very pleasant.
Day 2 of ownership.
Haven't been out driving, just checked a few things. Driving home yesterday a red light came on and I was concerned that the alternator had decided to pack up. If it was the alternator then would the battery manage to keep giving a spark enough to get me home? This morning I confirm that it is the handbrake warning, something I wondered about yesterday although previous vans did not have one. I had played around with the handbrake a few times yesterday to make sure it was fully off and still the light shone but this morning it worked as it should. If the light returns when driving then I might have to investigate more but for the moment it's OK.
I was wandering around the van while checking the various lights, full, dipped, fog etc. and noticed the rear near side tyre was low. Not completely flat and I know it was fine when I picked up the van yesterday so maybe a slow puncture. Looking for a positive side this tyre was the only advisory mentioned on the MOT that was done three days ago so would have been changed anyway. Pumped it up and after a couple of hours it still seems to be reasonable so hopefully it will get me to the tyre dealers on Monday without having to change a wheel.
A little more information about it. The engine is a 1.9 petrol which is nowhere near as economical as the diesels however it does have a Gasure LPG conversion and gas is almost half the price of petrol. Time will tell what that means to the running costs. The van has done just over 100,000 miles but had a new engine fitted at about 70,000 miles so should be good for a while if properly looked after.
It's the 28th February 2014 and I have just acquired my latest T25 campervan. With a little bit of money added in I swapped my very first campervan, The Turkey, for a 1984 Devon Moonraker. Overall it is in much better condition compared with the Westfalia but there are still a few areas that will need some attention however it comes with 12 months MOT and six months tax so we are up and running straight away.
My first two were both diesels but this has a 1.9 petrol engine with an LPG conversion which will hopefully help the economy, that's my economy not Britain's. The 70 mile drive home showed that the performance was a little better and I especially liked the way it didn't slow down when it saw a hill as the diesels were inclined to do.
As can be seen from the photo of it on our drive, it is lowered at the front. I was told it was 60mm lower but it seemed more, it could be that the Turkey had actually been raised a bit. Here's a view of them together during the swap over.
I wasn't too sure about this low front look to begin with however it does make getting in and out a lot easier and as we get older these things begin to matter more!
Once home I cleared out all the various camping bits that came with it like awnings, levellers and thermal window covers then removed the Fiamma bike rack from the back. That rack could be useful but it's a relatively easy fit so can be attached when needed.
Maybe tomorrow I will start to list the areas that will need some work.
