Diplomats Isle of Wight trip

[melinx]

A bit 'chatty' this but most of it is Carlton related !

About a month ago, after a trip to Halifax, the starter totally refused to operate and then it did !! despite some fairly intensive use, it never failed again so I put it down to the gearbox inhibitor switch throwing a wobbler (it was a hot day)

The morning I was due to set off to the IoW it did it again   and then almost immediately was OK again for a couple of days but gradually became more temperamental until I found a 'very very nice man' in a garage workshop in Ventnor who fitted an exchange starter for £135 total within a day

It now starts reliably and surprisingly quietly !!

In 50 years of motoring, I've never had a starter motor fail (not funny with an automatic) Nice one Mr. Bosch

I also noted a very slight 'thudding' on uneven road surfaces, pointing to the nearside anti roll bar tie rod on its way out again
(the Isle of Wight roads are pretty crap and saw off the last one)

In the meantime -- panic, the engine management fault light came on

I was vastly relieved when I 'paperclipped' the diagnostic plug and the code said that it was just that the carbon cannister vent valve voltage was low (I carry a printout of the fault codes and a piece of shorting wire )

I decided that I didn't give a 'monkeys' about the vent valve and it seems to continue to operate the fault light occasionally when the engine gets really hot

I will sort that one out at my leisure

I reckon that the publication of the fault codes and how to check them was one of the greatest services bstardchild (Ian Marsh) has done for the Carlton/Vauxhall community

The ability to check the fault codes is invaluable and a bloody good reason not to have a post 1999 Vauxhall; I believe that is when Vauxhall decided to force you to pay the dealers £50 just to plug in the diagnostic gear and enable them to (potentially) charge many hundreds more for 'rectification' of the 'fault' (if you're lucky )

Another interesting effect following my rectification of the slight air leak in the inlet manifold; the fuel consumption has increased slightly to the figures bc predicted in one of his posts (35 mpg at 70)whereas previously it was 38 ! and the lambda meter continues to dodge about a bit at 70 (with the slight leak it was a rock solid 14.7 at 70  )

Despite these minor problems it 'purrs' along beautifully, has only used about 30cc of 10/40 in 500 miles and is a real pleasure to drive

[melinx]

Just come back from another Isle of Wight holiday !

The only thing that went wrong with the Diplomat this time was, after a couple of days there, it developed a continuous squeal after a cold start which only went away after covering about 10 miles

I thought it was the fan belt slipping whilst recharging until the alternator load dropped when the battery was fully charged !

I traced it to the water pump and it wasn't the serpentine belt at all

I bought an aerosol spray can of three in one, using that with the straw provided, plus one of those 'bendy' drink straws enabled me to get a squirt of oil onto the waterpump shaft inside the pulley wheel !

Result; squeal immediately stopped, hasn't come back and there is no sign of any water loss

The IoW is not a good place for an automatic other than the effortless and unobtrusive way the gearbox behaves; 22mpg dodging about the island and 35 mpg on the 350 miles on the motorway !

The owner of the garage who replaced the starter motor on my previous visit remarked that he really doesn't like automatics but was well impressed with it (he did a couple of trips down to Ventnor seafront from his garage high above looking for us after fixing it)

There are some very steep roads with hairpin bends which would require some very nifty gear changes in a manual, but the gearbox and control system copes without you noticing it; mind you, he was probably a bit startled to see the trip computer indicating 7 mpg on the way back up

[jonnybear]

Cracking!

7 mph love it!

[melinx]

Yet another Isle of Wight trip; 500 miles with no problems whatsoever

In the past 2000 miles using 20/50 the oil level has dropped by 2mm (89,000 on the clock) I'm pretty happy with that

[melinx]

Yet another trip to the Isle of Wight (500 miles +) and the only problem was that the whistling water pump recurred

This time it varied with engine speed and sounded a bit like a turbo whistle ! but I decided that I much prefer a quiet engine and put a stop to it with the can of 3 in one that has been waiting in the boot for 18 months for this problem to recur

[Dave the Builder]

How does 3 in 1 oil go as far as heat of the engine bay thinning it and running out the bearing ? IIRC it's pretty thin anyway 
it's about time someone invented sprey graphite grease
I know you can get white grease in sprey cans but it melts very easy

[melinx]

How does 3 in 1 oil go as far as heat of the engine bay thinning it and running out the bearing ? IIRC it's pretty thin anyway 

I don't think that it's the bearing that is causing the problem because a few drops stops it squealing instantly and no way would it penetrate into the bearing that fast ?

Is there some sort of seal in that area that dries out ? those few drops cure the problem for several thousand miles