Sorting out gremlins in a '52 diesel automatic Tourer 75

[madeupname]

Your oily spots sound like the ones I see under Kim's bonnet.
I took the vanity cover off and the engine area is fine. There is no oily film in the coolant. I'm wondering if it was caused by spillages when topping up by the previous owner?
Keep us informed cos I want to know the cause too

[MarkS]

Most of the gremlins have now been successfully evicted.
The Friday afternoon lemon is now officially a white gold Rover that has passed it's MOT.



Thanks to all that helped & listened. (with the possible exception of the OBAC and SHMBO. )

[MarkS]

One of the gremlins is refusing to leave. The parking sensors have never worked.

I have repaired the connection under the bumper. Now the left corner & left middle sensors are ticking. The right middle & right corner sensors are not ticking.

1) I have removed all the sensors and mountings from the bumper. The bumper has been previously drilled to take the mountings, with the holes being oversized. This allows any mounting to potentially fit in any hole.

2) The mountings are labelled DPD000010, DPD000020, DPD000030 & DPD000040.
They are also labelled RCL, RCR, RML & RMR.
I believe this means Rear Corner Left, Rear Corner Right, Rear Middle Left & Rear Middle Right.

Can somebody please confirm (as a matter of urgency) that this assumption is correct.

I also have 4 silver sensors that I can swap around to get everything working.

I just hope that the OBAC doesn't figure out why HER rear parking sensors have stopped working.

[madeupname]

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

[berkshirelad]

Originally Posted by MarkS

The wing mirrors were initially not working. After much button pressing, gradually they improved, and are now working. I put this down to a lack of use of the buttons.

Easy fix.

Carefully remove the switch panel from the driver's door, open it up and clean the contacts with an eraser. Can be tested with the switch hanging loose on the loom.

[MarkS]

Some good news:

Another of the gremlins have now been successfully evicted.

The parking sensors are now working.

(After 3 bad joints, 2 bad sensors and a 2 foot length of completely rotten wire.)
(One of the bad joints was inside the waterproof sensor connector. Repairing that was a real female dog !)




The bad news:

If the OBAC figures out why her parking sensors packed up at the same time as mine started working......

The icing on the cake:

Mr Postman just delivered my brand new ZTand75Club owners sticker, which looks very swish on the back window (and is not being used (as is normal) to cover up as many rust holes as possible!)

[MarkS]

If I reset the mpg figure, what reasons are there for the computer saying the vehicle is doing ~20mpg all the while the engine has not reached normal working temperature ?
When the car reaches normal temperature (temperature needle is horizontal) the mpg figure increases. The thermostat seems to be working ok.

[marinabrian]

Originally Posted by MarkS

If I reset the mpg figure, what reasons are there for the computer saying the vehicle is doing ~20mpg all the while the engine has not reached normal working temperature ?
When the car reaches normal temperature (temperature needle is horizontal) the mpg figure increases. The thermostat seems to be working ok.

Because the instantaneous calculation is made using the metered fuel in microlitres against the distance travelled since reset.

Try driving on a motorway, take your foot off the throttle, reset the figure and gently apply throttle to maintain speed..........you should get around 650MPG shown which will slowly reduce as you drive

The long and the short of it is simple, the less times you reset the figure, the more accurate it will become, as it is working out an average over many more miles

Brian

[MarkS]

Thanks for your reply Brian.
I appreciate what you are saying about the calculation being sometimes unrealistic for short periods.

However I have 2 cars, one a diesel saloon manual '53 90k miles (with a jammed open thermostat); and one a diesel tourer automatic '52 160k miles (with a working thermostat).

When they are both warming up, the saloon gives a consistent 32-35 mpg, whereas the tourer consistently gives ~20mpg until it warms up. The effect is noticeably and repeatable.
I have tried a 2nd hand replacement MAF in the tourer, without any improvements in MPG.

Something is definitely different !

I have checked the temperature of all wheel hubs for brakes that are jammed on.

Any other ideas ?

[marinabrian]

Originally Posted by MarkS

Thanks for your reply Brian.
I appreciate what you are saying about the calculation being sometimes unrealistic for short periods.

However I have 2 cars, one a diesel saloon manual '53 90k miles (with a jammed open thermostat); and one a diesel tourer automatic '52 160k miles (with a working thermostat).

When they are both warming up, the saloon gives a consistent 32-35 mpg, whereas the tourer consistently gives ~20mpg until it warms up. The effect is noticeably and repeatable.
I have tried a 2nd hand replacement MAF in the tourer, without any improvements in MPG.

Something is definitely different !

I have checked the temperature of all wheel hubs for brakes that are jammed on.

Any other ideas ?

Yes, the automatic is noticeably heavier on fuel than a manual Mark, the average consumption will improve as the mileage store increases however, but you will never achieve better fuel economy from an automatic versus a manual, especially as the auto is a tourer which in itself is a heavier car

Brian