Good to meet up with you today Ian

Thanks for the loan of the diagnostic thingy, I will get one myself at the end of the month.

Now my painstaking love affair with the new rangie begins in earnest.. 2003 V8 Vogue in Silver

No problem John, and thanks for the biccies! You're welcome to come over if you need. Sometimes it's good to work on these things with someone else just for confidence and to compare cars!

So, today's fun...

I stripped and painted the rear console trim. It was fun getting the lighter socket out, but got there eventually. Of course the plastic bushes broke, so I'll replace those (maybe) when I take it off again to paint the inside of the console lid. I also noticed I missed painting a bit...

I also got some way to working out what's going on with my rear o/s window. Sometimes it drops part or all the way and won't come up from the drivers' door switch - unless I disable the rear switch! I wonder if the rear switch is on the way out, or one of the door connectors is dodgy.

Off to Aylmer again tomorrow to sort the exhaust and maybe change the suspension strut. We have builders starting on site tomorrow so I'll lose use of the flat part of our drive for a while.

Apart from the saga of multiple skip delivery attempts (6 so far, they finally got it right)...

Aylmer tell me that one of the exhaust hangers has broken off the exhaust, so the rubber mount is gone and the twisting has split the exhaust somewhere as well as the cats being split. No wonder it was a bit growly!

I hope to get it back today or tomorrow!

Well it's ready. And I'm now told the BRC LPG reducer is peeing water, which it wasn't doing at the weekend. Great.

They probably moved one of the pipes and it's old and hard and now cracked, if it's the vaporiser itself then pretty sure they still do an overhaul kit with the "O" rings needed...  Pete

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2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand, Jet Interior. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green, Ivory over Aspen Interior (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

They only did the exhaust and front strut, so I can't see why they'd have been around the vapouriser. I tightened up the allen bolts holding it together, let's see if that helps. I'll have a look later.

I've seen the diaphragm kits, and this video of one being opened (in Russian, I think):



Doesn't look too hard. Famous last words...

That's a brand new one, yours will be full of heavy ends, a black tar like substance that comes from the impurities in LPG, it will also be corroded and probably difficult to get apart...

I was talking about "O" rings for the water inlet pipes, if it's leaking from the body to the outside then it is usually beyond help even with a rebuild kit...

You may be lucky, I'd strip it first before buying a kit as you may be buying a new one...  Pete

__________________________________________________
2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand, Jet Interior. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green, Ivory over Aspen Interior (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

I ordered a kit from lpgshop.co.uk. They were cheaper from eBay, but lpgshop allows returns within 30 days of unused stuff, so playing the odds, it may get me on the road faster. I'll open it up today/tomorrow and see how it looks.

Inspired by your post I whipped the vapouriser off. The split in the seal was obvious even before I opened it up. The good news is that it's as clean as a whistle inside, no gunk or, well, anything. Just waiting for the seal kit now.

Wow... little use then, the one on mine was about 4 years old (it had a date on it) and was so corroded and gummed up I had to use a chisel to get it apart... It then got worse inside so it went in the bin...

Sounds like something at last will be an easy fix...  Pete

__________________________________________________
2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand, Jet Interior. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green, Ivory over Aspen Interior (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

It turned out to be easy to fix the vaporiser. Bolts out, hit gently with a hide mallet to split it, replaced the split gasket and left everything else the heck alone! There's a second gasket with a metal part attached but I couldn't for the life of me see how it went together, so I left it. The gasket (the red one) was still supple so left it.

I cleaned up the hose connectors and used new hose clamps since there was some evidence of a weeping connection. The BRC clamps don't go tight enough once the hose has been compressed for so long. It's only heater hose, so I could have replaced it but it isn't damaged at all.

I also got the rear window switch fixed. Internally it's like a Roland keyboard, just with fewer contacts! Easy to open and clean.

Next job - LPG filters, spark plugs and some cosmetics. Oh, and I treated myself to some components to upgrade the TV to digital for all those long waits in the school car park! I went to pick my daughter up the other day and told her to look out for the black Range Rover. I counted 7 of various types, plus three non-black ones (if you count a Freelander2). It's nice to look down on Q7 owners Although the guy with the Dodge Ram dually wins the car park size war

Going well Ian..

Mine will be back from the garage after the ATF incident, turns out a nipped seal when they did the rebuild, more fresh ATF for free  2003 V8 Vogue in Silver

Glad it was something simple! Did it take out the O2 sensors too?

Not sure, but the EML hasn't illuminated since.. However further info gleaned from previous owner suggested that when he had it Mot'd the garage cleared the faults and it passed emissions with now issues at all, they sai if it failed them then they would change the sensors.. I will see what happens if the EML comes back on again.

I need to sort the heating issue out first, going to investigate the water valves make sure they are not corroded. 2003 V8 Vogue in Silver

ECP have a nice 25% discount this weekend, so ordered spark plugs and wipers. They were cheaper than GSF with their 45% discount!

Meanwhile, I removed the bonnet vent, stripped and painted it in the later silver/grey (since I had it). For anyone searching, here's how to remove the vent and washer jets:

1. Remove the water pipes connecting to the jets and disconnect the wiring for the jet heaters. The plugs just pull off. Removing the pipes can be a challenge due to the stretch to reach them (for me anyway), but persevere and don't break the washer jet!
2. Remove the electrical connector from the mounts. As you look at the open end of the connector you need to get a small flat screwdriver inside the right edge. The mount is two rails, the connector has one central barbed rail and two outer ones. You need to push the screwdriver just enough while wiggling to free up the connector.
3. The front of the jet (towards the front of the car) has a clip underneath. Just push it in a bit and the jet can be levered up. Only the bonnet is in the way - so either wiggle it about, or take the panel off first.
4. Remove the panel - there are the white clips you can see, each has 4 barbs. Helpfully, two are longer than the other two. Unhelpfully, you can't tall which is which when fitted! So, compress 2 with some needle nosed pliers and push up at the same time. If you got the long ones, the clip will move up just a little, enough to keep them in place, then squeeze the others and the clip will pop up. Free up all the white ones
5. Close the bonnet, then get a lever or your fingers under the front of the panel and pull up. There are two clips like trim clips which will just pop out.

And I've just removed the rear trim above the number plate to paint that too. The old paint was flaking off too, and sands off nicely with 400 wet and dry used wet.

Ian