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task

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task last won the day on September 13 2023

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    Derbyshire

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    Travelling

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  1. I've always used some sort of tablet for our various trips Started with a cheap (free because it was left over from work) 7" Samsung Tablet running OsmAnd, TomTom Go and Gmaps Now replaced with an iPad pro because it was also a good deal, still running OsmAnd along with a few other apps we use. No added functionality but the larger screen and much faster cpu has made it a far better experience. Both have/had "torque pro" installed to connect to a ODB scanner and they both connect to the batteries and other electronics in the van for monitoring. The Samsung tablet had an advantage if you replaced the homescreen with one of the custom ones designed for overland bikes, it made it look very similar to the garmin unit. Handy having a web browser too so you can load up TW2 when in the UK.
  2. Amazing, thanks for sharing šŸ˜€ Giving me itchy feet again!
  3. No reason a car of any age shouldn't make it if maintained well! Sounds like a good trip. We took a pair of Triumph Stags down the the Swiss border last year for a week, I had zero issues, not bad really since I'd only pulled it out a barn and got it back on the road 6 months prior to the trip. (pictured here at Reims motor circuit which is well worth looking at). https://maps.app.goo.gl/htYdP9PhMrweD5vE9 If you're going to be in the area then Colle Sommeiller might be worth a look, I've got it marked on a map for future exploration. https://maps.app.goo.gl/3Ez1egrhzS4qzkiC7 Also this if you're passing... https://maps.app.goo.gl/promndpjuRD2t7Tp8
  4. Thanks, having looked through your build I feel thatā€™s some high praise I wanted to keep the van relatively simple and have redundant systems for a lot of functions. Iā€™d love to have a play with the Hassio for the van though, Iā€™d considered a smart stat on the eberspacher for remote control, maybe on the next van šŸ˜† Itā€™s a interesting line to skate between 4x4, overlander and campervan. I tend to be fairly risk-adverse when we are travelling but a little more ability would be nice. That said I donā€™t think Iā€™d have managed 6 days of 8 odd hours behind the wheel in a row eating up miles in a Land Rover or similar and thereā€™s very few places that the van hasnā€™t got us.
  5. What a build! Some seriously clever ideas gone into this that actually work. The thermotop controller is a very good idea. epic stuff šŸ˜€
  6. Not strictly ā€œbuildā€ more ā€œuse after the buildā€ but thought some might appreciate it. We got back from our summer trip a week ago and thought Iā€™d do a update on how the van got on and post a few trip photos. Our route was : France, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, (accidentally Azerbaijan in an exclave), Georgia, Turkey through the south, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, France. This trip has been quite some time in the planning, having eyed up Georgia as a destination after 2019 but world events conspired against us for a while. Van went fine, almost zero re-occurrence of the injector/rough running when cold issues we had last year other than a slight grumble one morning in Georgia that wasnā€™t repeated. I think some dodgy fuel from the Balkans last year caused the issue and with a combination of new filter, injector recalibration and some injector cleaner itā€™s hopefully been put to bed. I do need a new DMF and clutch now I think, bit of shuddering on slow speed manoeuvres when slipping the clutch, to be expected though. We did a little over 8000 miles in 6 weeks on a mixture of roads. The first 6 days were spent on cruise control at 65mph in 40+ degrees followed by a lot of slower dirt roads and crawling up rock strewn mountain passes. The return journey was broken up by a 4 day visit into Romania to relax a little closer to home. A small selection of the 1000s of photos I took, thereā€™s loads on our instagram though for anyone whoā€™s wants to see more.
  7. Try popping it onto the CSK FB group and the other RRC FB groups once you've decided a price and have a brief description with photos. I sold my CSK through Ebay and have sold a couple of vehicles since, always sold quickly and with zero hassle using a "advert" rather than an auction, the most recent being my MGB V8.
  8. I wondered how much the cyclone filter on top of the raised intake was actually doing so when we got back from our summer travels I emptied it out and measured it, 4 grams of fine dust and a few larger bits so I'd say that was better in the cyclone than the air filter! I didn't do much van related from September until New Year, a few trips to Wales with mates was it, most of my time was taken fixing the Range Rover and preparing the Triumph Stag for the trip down to Switzerland. We usually head away for NYE and this year decided to head up to Scotland, van had other plans though. First issue, the turbo wastegate actuator parted company with the turbo-pack, tied it back on with some wire and limped it home. Mercedes only list that part as coming with a whole new turbo pack which I was keen to avoid, quick job on the lathe saw a thread tapped and a bolt added to hold it on. Re-fitted and we tried again. This time we got about 20 miles before getting a warning on the dash Limped it home again, bettery wasn't looking very healthy as we pulled onto the drive and the headlights were like candles Exchange alternator from Mertrux New alternator fitted we managed 800 trouble free miles around Aviemore and managed to enjoy a good dose of snow and -7 overnight on NYE
  9. Tablet is mounted with 1.5" balls, I don't think the smaller ones would have been sufficient! I'm using a Samsung tablet which seems to hold the GPS okay, interesting about the GPS issues on the iPad as I'd been considering upgrading to one. I really like OsmAND, they have a online map feature now too which is pretty useful for route planning and allows you to import GPX from places like Wikilocs and manipulate them
  10. @muddy is right, the Crafter uses the 2.0 VW TDI, it's a good engine, had one in my previous Transporter of the same vintage. What are the plans for it?
  11. I've been running Trucklite LEDs in the classic since 2015, bought for Ā£250 I'd sort of echo what Reb has said however I've been very happy with mine, I still think they're a lot better than many modern vehicle lights I've had in hire cars and in my own vehicles. They're 1000x better than the VW Transporter or Sprinter lights for instance.
  12. no fault codes now or when it was acting up. My main reason for suspecting injectors was the massive improvement when they were recalibrated, I'm not sure what else it could be?
  13. I'm not getting the tell-tale rattle on startup that comes with the chain issues so I think that's okay. It's an odd issue as it's sparodic, for instance it's running fine currently and has been for a few weeks. I'm on the fence about replacing the injectors however I think it's worthwhile with the only downside being the cost. I'll have the injector seals done at the same time.
  14. There's a strong chance it was, I've had issues ever since then though. Rough order of events: Odd idle issue where it would hunt, sound a bit "boomy" and smell of diesel fumes from the exhaust on idle even when warmed up A knocky/clattery diesel noise on mid-range RPM under load Rough running in the morning when first started, this got so bad one morning that it was difficult to drive, usually cleared up a bit when warm. This was sparodic as the following morning it would have zero issues. I thought it might be a blocked DPF from a lot of very slow driving coupled with poor quality fuel, however, even after several days driving on fast roads through Austria/Germany/France running "ultra diesel" the issue persisted. I took it to a local guy once home who ran an injector re-calibration and that fixed the clattery noise issues pretty much, however, I think the injectors are now on the end of their calibration parameters. At least that's my understanding. Since doing that I had a couple of morning where's it's taken a few goes to start and it ran lumpy until it had been driven and I still get the unusual exhaust noise/smell when it's been driven for a few hours slowly around lanes etc. Although the vehicle itself has only done 130k miles a lot of the systems SPEN had wired in required the engine to be running for them to use, inverter/hand wash basin and even the interior lights turned off after 30 mins of not running the engine, so I imagine the engine has been sat idling for quite some time. I know the DPF wasn't blocked prior to the trip as I had it checked, I didn't get a warning from the vehicle to clear the DPF at any point either. So I think it's likely to be injector related, possibly excarbated by the high sulphur fuel as I know at least one fill-up that was the low quality, the guy had filled it before I realised what grade he picked. Any suggestions of how to mitigate this going forwards? We're off to Turkey/Georgia/Armenia this year so imagine the same problems might come up.
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