David Sparkes

Gareth, Have you tried the Forum on the Series 2 Club website? I'm pretty sure you can still post without joining the Club. http://www.s2cforum.com/forum/index.php HTH

I see that, some 4 .5 hours later, the chance of editing my earlier post has gone. Some (most?) of it is rubbish. If the winch was set up as described, there would be no 'double strength, half speed' pull from the rope leaving the rear of the mid winch. This rope leaves the winch, goes round a pulley attached to the imoveable object, then goes to the stuck vehicle. The fact that this last run takes it though a couple of guide points on the mid-winch vehicle is of no consequence (unless the mid-winch vehicle is to one side of the direct line). All you have is a single pull via a pulley. Good job I only do this from an armchair, eh! I am still interested in the occasions when a dual winch equipped vehicle uses both front and rear winches at the same time, but I'll sit quietly and wait to be educated :-))

"oftern seen instances when both the front and rear winch need to be pulling in at the same time. so a centre winch wouldn't be any good in those cases. " From an armchair observer, but, it surely it depends on exactly what you are trying to do, and where your fixed point / imovable object was. Example. If your single mid-winched vehicle was being used as a mid point recovery, you could attach the 'rear' rope to the imovable object, and the 'front' rope to the vehicle to be recovered. Lets assume initially that the stuck vehicle is too heavy for the single line pull. The mid-winch winds in only the 'rear' rope, due to the double pull advantage. This would cause the mid-winch AND the stuck vehicle to be drawn towards the imovable object. At some stage the stuck vehicle will become less stuck, and the single pull can also become effective. At this point it becomes uncertain what happens first, the mid-winch meeting the imovable object, at which point the mid-winch carries on pulling the stuck vehicle free, OR the stuck vehicle becomes totally unstuck, and the winching operation halts to a round of applause, with promises of drinks later. Yes?

I had another look at your site where you say "Carmichaels also produced the 'Firefly' range of vehicles which was their attempt to produce a lighter version of the larger fire appliances and were produced on Land Rover Series II and Series III chassis". I'm not certain if this is your information, or information taken from the book you acknowledge - Carmichel "The Family Years". I note this page contains thumbnails and links to brochures advertising 'Firefly' models made by HCB-Angus Ltd, and 'Redwing' models made by Carmichael, which leads me to think the attribution of the 'Firefly' name to Carmichael on your site is incorrect. http://www.landrover.vlothuizen.nl/show/model-all.html Cheers

There was (is?) a Criminal Injuries Compensation Board. I had a feeling the principal had been extended to cover financial losses as well. Try a Citzens Advice Bureau, the on-line presence is http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

The Series2Club.co.uk have a web forum which I believe is still open to 'all', that is, you don't have to be a member to post. To bulk out your coverage of these models you might get suitable responses if you post there, as they do have one member with a Series 2 Forward Control version which has never been 'mucked about with'. It has been given the name Bollington, or Bolly for short. From your site, I think you are calling these 'Firefly', but might be mistaken. In Land Rover literature Series II fire engines are known under the generic title 'Redwing'. http://www.landrover.vlothuizen.nl/show/list/7035-1.html shows a brochure of the FC version (designated FT6). Also check out FT 1 to 5 on the same site, although I don't know which were Carmichael versions. Cheers.

Thanks for the answers supplying background data, although I'm afraid nothing leaps out at me. Mentally, I have reviewed several items, and I can't clearly identify what 'might' be happening to cause the effects reported, of heating falling as road speed falls, and heating rising 'too high' initially after a cold start. Just in case it prompts someone else's train of thought towards a solution, I'll list the items I've reviewed. These are in no particular order. In car thermostat. This tells the HEVAC there is hot coolant available, from which heat can be drawn. If this falls off the pipe on which it is clipped the HEVAC doesn't blow sufficient air through the heater matrix to warm the interior. Internal air temperature sensor. These can become 'insulated' with fluff, which makes the system slow to respond to changes to interior temperature. This insulation might cause the initial overheating after a cold start, but not the sudden temperature drop at roadworks. Rather the interior temperature would rise. External temperature sensor. The early version in the heater air intake suffered from picking up heat from an engine after standing. This was shown by abnormally high temperatures being indicated by the External Temperature reading on the HEVAC display. Not a reported problem here. The later version had the sensor behind the front bumper, if this sensor had fallen off and become more exposed to 'wind chill' the indicated temperature would be unexpectedly low, but we are told the reading was realistic while travelling down the A1. The wind chill effect would drop as the speed falls, and thus the interior heating would fall, as the HEVAC responds, but the exterior reading was not noted as changing. Nor can I see this causing the excessively strong heating performance after the cold start, unless perhaps, the journey immediately went onto high speed roads. But I'd also expect to see unrealisticly low temperatures displayed. Blend motors. After an overnight stand these will go to the 'full hot' position on restart, and if faulty this is the most likely time for the cheque book symbol to be indicated. As Ally indicated in an earlier response, during the A1 journey, if the blend motors failed to respond to the drop in natural (cold) air flow as roadworks were negotiated, the interior temperature would rise rather than fall. Water pump failure (impeller blades breaking, or slipping on the shaft). Blade breaking is a diesel engine habit, I'm not sure about the petrol. Normally water pump failure results in an overheating engine, which isn't the case reported here. Low Coolant. We have already discussed this, and while it fits 'perfectly' the symptoms reported on the A1 trip, it doesn't tie in to the interior overheating after a cold start. Air conditioning. This does run during cold weather, as it dries the cooled air, and the dry air helps the Climate Control system perform better (you don't want hot humid air). I can't see poor AC performance giving the reported problems. If the AC fails it is treated as a HEVAC fault, illuminating the cheque book. That's all I've got for now. Two faults? One unoticed during short local trips but becoming apparent during the long trip, then a second or associated fault occuring. You have had the car for some time, have you identified a local Testbook, Rovacom, Autologic user who can clear the HEVAC fault reports. There will be no indication when these reports were triggered. Ally will know better than me whether 'silent' reports are generated without the cheque book symbol occuring. The point here being that you may need one visit to clear the faults, then a test run and second reading to see what new faults have been recorded (if any). Ally has suggested 'seeing what the HEVAC sensors are seeing'. I think this is referring to a Test Run with the analyzer connected to display the sensor inputs. This data can be captured, my preference is to do this as a CSV file, but it's really down to the operator as to what style he is comfortable with. I only mention this in case you weren't aware of these facilities of Live Data Display and or Live Data Recording. Interesting, as I said.

As no-one else had picked this up ... First I looked in the Manual to find which plug was standard, it specified Beru 0100226129, so then I looked on the Beru site to get the plug details. http://preview.tinyurl.com/2mv228 for future reference, or you want details such as current draw, voltage, etc. Thread Size M 10x1,0 if you can't be bothered with all that :-)) The main Beru site is quite techy, if you like that sort of thing. Cheers.

This gets interesting, although that might not be your description! Let's go back to basics for a moment: Which engine is this? What year is the car? How many miles overall, and while in your ownership? Any recent work on the engine or car, either for you, or reported by the previous owner? Without going into detail, no I don't think a failing alternator will cause the HEVAC to give the symptoms you are reporting. Cheers

If it's intake noise, why not just add a 45 degree bend and a length of 'drain pipe', adjusting the angles with a hot air gun, until the end of the pipe is behind your door, even at the rear of the roof rack? You will find the noise is reduced, on any 'pipe' or snorkle end, if you get rid of the sharp edges that air has to flow past. Aim for a rolled edge of about 1/4" radius. The noise is reduced because the air flow is better. You might find something suitable in a kit car or race car catalogue, as a rounded opening for ducting air from a forward facing panel to the brakes, or an oil cooler. www.carbuildersolutions.co.uk will have something, but there are probably others. CBS page 58, just ignore the 120mm ID, they obviously mean OD, for a 66mm ID, which should about do you. Cheers.

I'd still think low coolant level. How did the heater work first thing this morning, after an overnight stand? If you checked the level while the engine was hot I'd expect it to be over the level mark, so on the mark would be a bit low. I don't run the V8 myself, so cannot quote how much the level varies. Cheers.

For the ETM you need the Green Oval site http://green-oval.com/joomla/index.php?opt...3&Itemid=29 Note you, or some mate, needs a few computing skills to turn the Rave CD2 Image file into a working CD. Keep the CD for backup, but once you have established it works, copy all the CD onto your hard drive, as the manuals work a lot faster from the hard drive instead of the CD. The Rave CD is essential, the Microcat Parts file is optional, although in this instance it would give you a part number for the Neutral switch, which you can then Google on, or find on Rimmers site, or 'suggest' to your local Dealer to get the price you want. I have no idea what the price is. Note that parts numbers do change, which is why it's good to only suggest what it is when talking to your Dealer. They can limit parts listing by entering the car VIN, so you might be asked for that. As your reverse lights work it indicates the switches haven't been put in the wrong holes. The wiring may still have been patched across, as I suggested earlier. I looked little further, in the workshop and overhaul manuals, that are also on that Rave CD. The Reverse switch is in the gearbox extension housing. The Neutral switch is in the Remote gear change housing. As the names imply, the extension housing is part of the gearbox, so the reverse switch is operated off the gearbox internals. The gear change housing bolts on top of the gearbox, so the neutral swich operates off the mechanism connecting the gear lever to the gearbox itself. None of this is visible from above. What this means is that , viewed from beneath, the switchs are almost vertically above one another. You will probably need a small torch and a long thin arm to reach up alongside the gearbox. Note that on the 38A all electrical connectors mechanically latch together when properly joined. You need to find out which bit to press to release the latch before pulling them apart. Cheers

Because I'm collecting information like this; for Simonb .. " How to replace the throttle spindle seal on a Tdi Injection pump" is http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=15329&hl= Cheers

Yes. Although in this case, 'Drivers side dumb iron' is ALWAYS the Right Hand Side dumb iron (as viewed from the drivers seat), whether the driver is actually seated on the Right or the Left of the vehicle. Just being pedantic as this is Forum can be read in both Right and Left hand drive countries. I'm told this picture originated from Haynes, if so credit to them, BUT if it isn't there, also look a little lower, on the same plate, below the level of the chassis member. http://www.s2cforum.com/forum/index.php?ac...tach=3689;image This thread contains picture of an actual number, http://preview.tinyurl.com/2l22jl Cheers.

That style of hitch, a 2" receiver, is available as a Land Rover part, you should be able to order via the Dealer. Someone with Microcat installed might be able to give you a number, if you want one before visiting the Dealer.

As you have already expressed a concern, I suggest it's wise to ensure your Recovery Service will accept a '91 vehicle. I wouldn't mention any 'knock' concerns though, either now or in the event of a recovery. Once you know you have a backstop in place just do as DC suggests, plan for minor problems. Good Luck

Thanks Phil, as the Owners Handbook give the Metric Track (centre of tread to centre of tread) as 1486mm, and the wheel inset gives 66mm of that, then the drum face to drum face measurement must be 1420mm. I'll give him that, and the justification. Thanks again.

I'm being asked this question, but don't know the answer, so thought I'd pose it here. I don't know why he wants the information. So far I've established that the track is 58.5", and I'd thought to find the offset of a standard wheel, but the Heritage CD Owners / Workshop Manuals only seem to talk about tyre width, not wheel width or offset. I'd guess that the wheel offset is no more than 1", which 'IF CORRECT' would make the drum face to drum face measurement 60.5". Zero offset would make it 58.5" of course. Cheers.

Low Range via Reverse is interesting, and the solution may be equally interesting. The 'Select Neutral' warning is almost universal, in that it doesn't matter what has gone wrong, you will almost always get the Select Neutral message while stationary. Others while moving can be Slow Down, and 35MPH Max (I think it's 35). The book of words, ETM, or Electrical Troubleshooting Manual, says that on a Manual Transmission car there is either a neutral switch or a clutch switch. However, the Transfer Case diagram only shows the Neutral Switch, so we will go with that. As an aside, I'm sure there is a Clutch Switch on the car, but I can't find the diagram that shows it, which means I could be wrong, but I'm not going to crawl into the footwell to look. Both the Neutral Switch and the Reverse Switch are on the LH side of the gearbox, roughly where the oil cooler pipes join the gearbox, and close enough together to be in the same Location picture in the ETM. I'm pretty sure the view is from underneath. The question here is, do your Reversing lights work? The connectors to the switches are different, the Neutral switch connector being Rectangular, with a Black and a Brown wire. The Reverse switch being Oval, with a Black and a Green wire. Thoughts that occur: Someone's put the switches in the wrong holes, (I don't know if the switches are the same or not). Someone's forced the connectors on the wrong switches. The Neutral switch has failed, so someone's joined the Brown wire to the Green wire, feeding both off the Reverse switch. Over to you.

Man who runs Difflock thinks it good enough for him to buy - Review at http://preview.tinyurl.com/22cmq3 Product Detail from Difflock at http://preview.tinyurl.com/yqvjbb Millers shop page http://www.millersoils.net/1s_store.cgi I haven't tried it yet, although a bottle should be included in an order of other oils from Millers. £10.99 incl VAT but plus delivery is the Millers price, so that's the 'match or beat' target if you are looking at a bricks and mortar store!! I suspect a lot depends on the type of diesel engine you are running. I think there is more scope for gains based on improved combustion with an older engine, especially where the injection control is mechanical rather than electronic. I'm not saying it isn't suitable or of benefit with modern engines; it's just that their fuelling control is so much better to begin with. We will see what people find. Mine's a BMW turbocharged Diesel from the early '90s, mechanical injection, with a bit of electronics added on. Cheers

I'm not sure about a 'good' idea, but Helmet Cameras (Bullet Cameras, Lipstick Cameras), as used by Mountain Bikers and Motorcyclists might be a place to start. Say DogCamSport as a taster. http://preview.tinyurl.com/3675mo Review the clips he has on site, and the difference between the DogCamPro versus the cheaper ones. Google any of Helmet Cameras, Bullet Cameras, Lipstick Cameras, for more. I'm sure the Police Spec cameras are good, but suspect they will be the upper end of the price range. I don't know whether the Date Time Speed information on the monitor is part of the camera, or part of the PC. Is your passenger up to the camera work? As driver you won't have a hand free to do anything other than switch it on. There 'will' be a lot of editing afterwards, before you become a star of YouTube. It is a nice idea, one I'd like to adopt, but having 'dipped my toe' I found the results unexciting, thus perhaps not yet a 'good' idea. There was someone in the UK importing an American idea, where the camera ran all the time, saving the preceeding 30 seconds, or similar time scale, always overwriting it. At a significant event, harsh brake application say, the system stored the preceeding 30 seconds permanently, and kept running to film the rest of the accident. I think a 'significant event' could be triggered by the driver pressing a button. There were some interesting shots on the American site, whose url I don't recall at the moment. I don't think the UK importer made a success of the business. Do keep us up to date, your idea might grow legs, as they say. Cheers.

Does Uncle have any experience with 38A's, because there seem to be two questions here: Which is preferred, and is it OK for laning. I'm assuming Laning means just that, Challenge events or 'Pay and Break' sites are something else again. It is SteveG who had a 'prepped' 38A, but I don't think there is a lot of stuff available off the shelf, although I haven't heard of the specific kit you mention. You willl need to investigate tyres, and what style Uncle wants. The easy answer is that 16" wheels have more choice, but 18" wheels are more common, although the traditional evaluation is that the shallower sidewalls give a harder tarmac ride. Consider renewing the suspension air bags, Arnott Gen 3 will enable an addtional inch or two to be engineered into the high setting. Rover Renovations i the address for any EAS bits. If Uncle is laning we can assume it's low box work, and the diesel will be fine, although on the road it will be sluggish. Whether you have a 'good' diesel conversion (Jeremy Fearn) or a sequential LPG (that doesn't backfire) the cost will be about £2k. LPG is probably cheaper than Diesel in terms of fuel cost per mile, but that conclusion needs double checking against current LPG prices. LPG tanks have to take up luggage space (or the spare wheel space, when the wheel takes up luggage space). You can't put decent LPG tanks underneath. Don't assume all 38A's have Traction Control, because they don't. Post '99 I think all do have 4 wheel ETC, but a '95 Diesel or 4.0 won't have any at all, while the 4.6 HSE had 2 wheel ETC at the rear. The extra length isn't too much of a problem, because the car is raised on the Air Suspension (EAS). The Width mainly means the bodywork gets more scratches than a Series, say, and the high gloss paint shows them strongly. Stone walls and stone gate pillars make the driver breath in a bit, but those may not be prevalent in Uncle's neck of the woods. The weight is the biggest Green Lane problem. Think 2.5 tonnes with driver and kit. Fine on a firm surface, but always a negative on mud. What are the lanes like where Uncle goes off tarmac? The electronics are no problem unless Uncle is determined to do the wilder Welsh rivers in Winter. Again, putting the suspension on High makes all the others look a bit sick. That'll do for now, except if Uncle hasn't 38A experience I suggest that's the first hurdle to get over. Not everyone likes them.

" .. know if the 2.5 straight six diesel engine of a '99 rangie was ever used in any of the BMW car range?" Well, Yes and No. The 2.5 in the 38A was basically the BMW engine used in the saloons, I think the car models were 325 or 525. There were some changes made as it moved into the 38A, mainly to improve the low speed torque, but also (I think) the sump and possibly the oil pump pick up pipe, so that the sump would miss the front axle, and provide enough capacity to pick up oil even when the engine was tilted at Land Rover angles. Whether there was any electronic changes, that will stop the BMW car High Pressure fuel injection pump working to the 38A engine ECU, I don't know. Might be best to allow for moving the 38A pump from the old to the 'new' engine, if you go the car route. Does the 38A have an Auto or Manual gearbox? At '99 probably auto. I'm pretty certain that a '99 38A has EGR as well, and I assume a BMW saloon did, but as well to keep your eyes open. I'd guess a complete car is cheaper, with what you can sell on, than a bare engine, and should mean you can run the engine before paying for it. Good luck, and as a matter of interest, what caused the 38A engine to stop working?

See near the top of the page, where it says 'My Assistant'? Click that, then click 'Moderating Team'. Below the Administrators you will see all the Moderators, click the down arrow against each one until you see the one(s) that Moderate the Classified Forum. There is a PM button on the same line, use that to PM the Moderator and ask him to move your post. Cheers.

I've just looked up the instructions for my Motaproducts 'Easyflare' hand held flaring tool. This was sold as a 'hobby' tool, decades ago. It doesn't show the funnel shaped flare at all (Sealey 4C). It describes the 'olive' shaped flare (Sealey 4D double flare) as a single flare (and so agrees with rtbarton). To make a Double flare it then requires you to use a second punch to put a SMALL funnel flare in the end of the 'olive'. I THINK this is where the 'double flare' term comes from, being a combination of the olive and the funnel. I'm also inclined to think that this small funnel is not an actual sealing face, but more to take the sharp edge off the olive flare, so that fluid flows more easily. This is reinforced, in my view, by the fact that the second flare punch has a pin in the centre to ensure the hole on the pipe is held clear. I thought the device was fool proof, in that the pipe was inserted up to a stop, then clamped in position, then the operator just tightened the die punches down until they stopped. Having to re-learn how to use it the other week I realised I was wrong, in that driving the die punches too hard destroyed the end of the pipe. Using just the second die (tightening until it stopped) one could make 'funnel flares' with a washer around the rim, such that the nut wouldn't pass over it. If attempting a double flare, over-tightening the second punch (with the pin), one could fold the olive back in on itself, so ending up with a double skinned funnel flare. (This appears to be what rtbarton is calling a double flare). It has struck me that this latter design might be useful, but I haven't put any of it to the test. Looking further for reference, I found an Autobook for the BMC Mini which described the differences between Metric and Unified fittings / pipe ends. The pipe ends differed, but both appeared to be variations on the 'olive' flare. The Unified being a full olive, the Metric resembling an olive compressed after tightening into a housing with a shallow V. It was not made clear whether these had the 'second flare / small funnel' refinement, but now I've figured out the benefit (I think) I see no reason NOT to use the second punch, just nipped, to round off the sharp edge. We could do with a definitive site with all the pipe end options pictured, Imperial, Metric, Single, Double, whether a Double is a 'twin walled funnel flare', formed by collapsing an olive (single) flare, OR is it an olive with a small funnel superimposed (as defined above), etc. I found this to show alternative fittings, but not pipe ends. http://www.reedx.net/landrover/maint/brakefittings/index.htm Anyone found any other online resources with good reliable information, rather than conjecture? Edited to add this site, with pictures of yet another 'old flarer', and some pretty clear pictures of pipe ends, defining a single flare as an olive, and a double flare as an olive collapsed into a funnel, but he doesn't use those terms, naturally. http://www.integerspin.co.uk/brakeflare.htm Cheers.