Turbocharger

My Mum's got a 2.5CRD. I find the performance lacklustre, the interior horribly cheap and the car is big on the outside, small on the inside. Mother, however, loves it and bought another when the first disintegrated after someone drove into it. However, it's back in the dealership AGAIN at the moment after I (foolishly) used it in 4WD to do some towing in a field; it won't disengage now. At least while its there they can fix the squeaking rear brakes. And the buzzy rattle at 55mph. And the loose trim on the n/s passenger door. And ... As I said though, it was bought for Mum and she loves it. Nuff said, really.

Wouldn't a brushless alternator need a position transducer so it can 'commutate' electronically? I suppose that's why it'd be the clever (and therefore expensive) type.

From my own investigations I've got a 300Tdi water pump you can borrow to try if it'll help? Someone mentioned that the impeller can begin to turn on the shaft (internally) so I tried another one, before I fitted the gauge. Interestingly, 6 months down the line I'm having trouble getting my engine up to temperature now - maybe I've still got an underlying problem, maybe it's just winter... The 60degree guide is for the hottest pipe you can actually hold your hand on continuously, ie for 30secs or more. Above that it starts to really hurt...

Lead weights around the circumference?

Are there excessive bubbles in the header tank when you rev the engine, or a smell of diesel exhaust? Are the pipes rock-hard when you rev the engine gently? Lots of little bubbles will come from the normal action of the pump but big bubbles or excess gas could mean the head gasket's gone. Hopefully it's just an instrumentation problem - I had nearly identical symptoms to you and fixed it all with a Racetech gauge and sender.

If you can hold your hand on the top hose it's not above about 60°C - if so the engine's not hot or the thermostat's not open.

True - I've just used a model which gives a linear and quadratic coefficient to model it all. I'm not fussed what % is what, I just need to know that at 20mph it's 50/50 and at 40mph it's 20/80, for example. The difference between the coast and the powered run is the engine, regardless of how much is, say, rolling resistance against tyre scrub. As you say, it's still ideal for "before and after" (can I say that?) comparisons.

Ooh - now that I do like The response times look better to me too, gives more confidence in the readings you're getting. Is your peak temp any higher now? With a 6mm t/c I find I run out of road/hill/bottle before the readings level out, but I'm not sure if that shows the t/c hasn't reached the gas temp, or the gas temp hasn't stabilised (intercooler heatsoaking or similar).

It's not hard at all to estimate the c.d. using a coastdown, surely? That's what I've done. Neglecting any wind speed (2 runs in opposite directions?) you'd not be far out although the numbers I'm getting seem on the high side to me. As you say, it's good for quantifying "better/worse" instead of subjective guesswork though. You'd be very lucky to have the kind of emissions equipment the Uni operate - that's what really earns them the money on their road.

[Threadjack] I've got headlights with a sidelight bulb option - can I get hold of LED bulbs for these?

I'd no idea anyone had used it for this application before - it's just a piece of software I've written to produce a power curve from some accelerations so I can get rough percentage power/torque guesses for adding a snorkel, altering the fuelling etc. I'd be interested in seeing how it compares to a real road actually - yours sounds pretty well specced Lara, the University one I've played with is used for emissions testing rather than performance measurements and they charge £3000 a day - on contract! JB

I chased a similar problem round and round, it got so bad I couldn't drive over 30mph without the gauge shooting up. Thermostats, bleeding, new water pump - no help. I fitted an aftermarket Racetech water temp gauge and sender unit, problem gone.

I'm pretty certain I can add Turbocharger and TroddenMasses to the list (with bitches).... although I haven't told him yet.

No prob - I'm sure I'll find some way to guesstimate the converter slip. So long as you don't lift off until full revs (4500rpm??) then it's not to hard to evaluate, although it will give some considerable margin for error. The before/after %age improvements should be comparable though. PM me if you want more specific instructions, cheers.

S'easy - I work in Weston-Sur-le-Merde every day, live in Bath and travel regularly to see my girlfriend in Cambridge. I'm going this Friday/back Sunday (which is no help) but can get them there for free by 2nd Jan?

As Mark says, an ideal test really - it'll be interesting to see if I get the same %age improvement as the rolling road... then it's up to you to decide which is really true! Have you got a PC/PocketPC based GPS unit?

At this point, I'll plug my GPS-based technique again. The more I play with it, the more interesting the results are. I've just got to find a quiet road and some time to start messing with some variables on the engine. Will (Warne) - would you like to "GPS" your engine before and after the tuning?

I wholly agree with Iain, cars should be charged on a 'by journey' basis. Then I could have the expensive LR for offroading, an economical Smart or diesel supermini for commuting, and use the bus for town journeys. Instead I'm forced to pay ££ for tax, insurance etc which makes it cheaper to shovel fuel into the Ninety for a year. You can't kick the government by overloading public transport though, the vast majority of bus and rail services are operated by private companies without public subsidy. It's deemed 'poor value for money' by the taxpayer and so falls down the priority list. From January though, free bus travel for OAPs. Maybe that'll drag the Fiesta-grannies off the road?

There's no reason you couldn't use both I suppose. The M10 won't screw in all the way, it 'jams' against the thread but mine doesn't leak. The gauge is streets ahead of LR's gauge, you can see the thermostat working - very impressed.

M10 screws in and jams (but is watertight) - beware there are two parts for the 300Tdi water temp sender (three, if you count the ECU-Disco ones which are back in the head, rather than in the thermostat housing). One has a parallel thread and a black ring around the contact, the other is a taper thread and has a green ring. I have the Racetech part and really rate it - As Si said, their M10 sender fits and doesn't appear to leak. JB

[Controversial/devil's advocate] I rather like the idea of congestion charging. Sure, it might drive the council estate TV-dinner brigade and the ASBO seekers deeper into the cities, but that leaves the countryside for those who use it to eke a living, and those who can make enough money in the city to live outside it. The former can offset the charge against tax and the latter pay enough tax to return a workable public transport infrastructure to rural areas, probably based on a demand-responsive model. The result is an attractive, scenic area without the poor cluttering it up with their lowered boom-box Fiestas, white UPVC conservatories and names for greasy cafes that use Ks and Zs in their neon signs. John (Some of the above may not represent my opinion and is merely here to promote discussion)

I'm sure the spare wheel hole cover is the material from a baby's high-chair. < > I do actually quite like the front doors though, for novelty value </ >

I made a "quick disembark" from a bus at work, but the phone was indecisive about leaving the vehicle. A bus door is just in front of the front wheel, and... For unbreakable phones, you really can't beat a 5110 They're not posh or fancy but, even with half the plastic missing and the screen completely defunct, it'll still make a call. Texting's harder, mind.

It could simply be a tired synchro. LR haven't made a decent synchro gearbox yet and, treading carefully, I'd suggest it's your double-declutch technique. Have you ever driven anything with a full crash box? You could test the synchro in the following way (although 5th's not a great gear to try this in) Choose a long hill such that you neither gain speed nor lose it when coasting in neutral (or try on the flat but it won't work so well). Get going, 1,2,3,4, drop it into 5th (CRUNCH) then establish a steady speed, 35mph should be ok. If you back off the pedal so that there's no load on the gearbox (neither drive nor overrun) the stick should easily slide out of gear. If the engine and road-speed don't change, it'll just slot back into gear again. If it does, synchro problem. If it doesn't, your selectors aren't set up right, there's nasty gack in the box or similar. If it's a synchro problem, you may benefit from changing the oil (if indeed it's been filled with the right grade), using more/less revs when you double declutch, or not 'hurrying' the change with excessive lever force but putting on the pressure to give the synchro time to work.

Bear in mind that, as Si says, the geometry of the bracket can load some bolts more than others. Also, a given bolt is about half as strong in shear. [THREADJACK!] Do I need high-tensile bolts holding my winch in? It's pushed towards the bumper under load, and the bolt holes are only tapped into the (aluminium?) casing of the Milemarker.