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sorcerer

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Posts posted by sorcerer

  1. Does it run correctly on petrol only or does it put the EML light on?

    If you've never had LPG before you may not know how it works. The car's ECU still sends signals to the petrol injectors and the car still thinks it's running on petrol, but in reality, the gas ECU intercepts those signals, modifies them and sends them to the gas injectors instead, so it has to be running perfectly on petrol first before you can even begin to look at the gas system.

    If you've got an MOT to pass soon, I would suggest that now, when the EML is already on, is perhaps not the best time to start learning something new. Take it to a professional with a good reputation to get this immediate problem sorted and then you can learn at your leisure when it's not critical and you have more time.

    One thing you perhaps could do is that when it goes for MOT you can choose to present it on petrol or gas, so if you took the fuse out of the gas system and presented it on petrol alone (as long as the EML doesn't come on on petrol) you may get it through.

  2. 2 hours ago, dendonc said:

    But how do I, or can I, 'know' for sure it's the aircon thats bust as opposed to the system is not just short of gas?

    Well you can't. That's why you take it to an aircon specialist - for them to run a full diagnostic test on it.

    The one thing that you can do yourself to give you an indication of gas level, is that they have a sight glass in the system. Here's a guide on using the sight glass but there are also plenty of videos around too - just Google "check car aircon refrigerant level" (without the quotes) to see how to do it.

  3. 5 hours ago, dendonc said:

    Well hardly, the windows mist up when driving to high heaven without that on. 

    But, if my AC is not working my point is that it should not work  to keep the keep the windows clear >as well as< not working to keep it cool, they have duel function, de-misting and cold

    No, it doesn't have a dual function, it doesn't work like that.

    Ignoring the air 'conditioning' side (drying, pollen removal etc) for the moment, the aircon makes the air cool (cold) - that's all it does.

    A motorised flap somewhere in the vent system directs the airflow onto the windscreen or otherwise. The flap itself is not part of the aircon system and does nothing to the temperature of the air that passes over it, it's purely for direction of airflow.

    Your screen will clear at a higher temperature (for the sake of argument let's say 17C) than what the aircon will be set at when you want to cool down on a hot day (say, 13C) hence why you think your aircon is 'working' on your screen but 'not working' to cool the cabin down.

    Like I said above, you should be able to get the cabin down to uncomfortably low temperatures. If it's not doing that then it isn't working.

  4. 2 hours ago, dendonc said:

    , but, no cold air whatsoever now the weather has warmed up & external air is drier

    Well it's obviously not working then.

    Demisting the windscreen is almost a secondary use of AC, the primary goal being to provide cool (cold) air when the weather is hot and also to condition the air. If it was working properly you should be able to get the cabin very cold, in fact, too cold for comfort really - I seem to remember reading that it should go down to about 5C. My old Granada used to form frost on the AC pipes in the engine bay but I've never looked to see if this car is the same.

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  5. I had a similar experience but a bit of experimentation showed that I hadn't closed the pouch properly and I'm sure yours will be the same. Unless the mesh has been physically torn or damaged then it's impossible for it to just 'give up' working.

    Although you can't see them, radio waves at this wavelength act like physical things and as long as the mesh bag isn't damaged then it still physically keeps the radio waves trapped in there.

     

  6. 4 hours ago, acer54 said:

    It was painted without masking and the sensors were painted, does this mean I need to replace them or can something be done with them?

    I would think you'll need to replace them - I can't think of anything you could use to get the new paint off without also removing the original colour. Plus, if you didn't get rid of every last drop of paint you may get incorrect and inconsistent range-finding, possibly resulting in dings. They work by emitting ultrasonic sound waves and measuring the time for the wave to be reflected back, so a clear surface, not blocked with paint, is an absolute must.

    Who paints over ultrasonic transducers? Bloody numpties!

    • Like 1
  7. What's wrong with you people?

    Garages aren't for keeping cars in anyway, they are mainly used as storage sheds and workshops as far as I'm aware. Open the front doors of our garage and starting on the left you'll see a beer fridge, some garden tools and then shelving/racking and workbenches follow the walls in a U shape all the way back up to the front.

    The car lives on the driveway, not in the garage :yes:

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  8. Take it back to the trader/dealer you bought it from and get them to put it right because I think I'm right in saying that, by law, they have to give you a minimum of three months warranty.

    Also, would this not cast doubt on the validity of that new MOT performed just a month ago?

  9. 54 minutes ago, black400 said:

    There is a GS 450h , 130 miles on the clock fsh for sale near me , are they a good second hand buy , the Batteries  worry me, owner say they are cheap on eBay but I would not trust a cheap battery  for fire or exploding issues . You advice very welcome .

    It would be highly unlikely that the traction (hybrid) Battery would fail as a complete unit. The batteries are made up of cells and individual cells can be replaced, like this one, for instance.

    Repair places like this one also exist.

    • Like 1
  10. Well he did say that it was a 2007 car and if you look closely you can see that the rest of the plate is blocked out, plus the two numbers aren't central on the plate, so as they say on that 'Through the keyhole', "the clues were there" although why people bother doing that I'll never know.

  11. Quite simply, things age and the chemistry changes.

    You obviously had to drive to Halfords so the charging circuit has been doing its job and the Battery was well charged at the time of the test. The age and altered chemistry mean that it no longer holds charge as well as it used to. Maybe if it had been stood outside Halfords for four hours before testing then it wouldn't have looked so good.

    The trouble now is, do you just change the Battery anyway in the hope that it is the age that's causing the problem, or do you spend some money for an auto-electrician* to do some diagnostics first in case something else is causing the Battery drain?

    If you've got a clamp ammeter and a decent multimeter and know how to use them properly you could do some initial diagnostics yourself.

    * And I do mean a proper auto-electrician/auto-electrical specialist who has done a proper apprenticeship to the job, not a Halfords guy or a 'normal' garage.

    EDIT:

    Just to add to the above. When I was an apprentice electrician I worked in a factory that had a mechanic's workshop for maintenance and servicing of their own trucks and other vehicles. I don't know why but they decided it would be good for the apprentice electricians to spend a month in the garage learning about auto electrics, which I must admit, was quite interesting.

    I remember using a vehicle Battery 'heavy discharge tester' and, although I'm going back to about 1976/77, a lead-acid Battery is still a lead-acid Battery so this should still hold good. My memory is a bit hazy but I seem to remember that the tester used a load to draw about 300A from the Battery and if left on for about 30 seconds, the Battery voltage shouldn't drop below 10V. If there were any duff cells, they would usually show themselves by bubbling and gassing quite rapidly whilst the good cells were 'quiet'.

    Now, it's been a long time since those days so don't take that as gospel, but I'm just thinking that maybe Halfords didn't do such a test?

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  12. The RX300 is already a very thirsty beast, so I think sticking a spare wheel up on the roof would drop your fuel economy even further.

    I've driven LPG for about 10, 12 or perhaps even more years and all I did was to carry a can of Holts Tyre Weld goo and a small 12V compressor. They would take care of any small punctures and the breakdown cover would take care of anything bigger, and that's even doing round trips to Poland, Czech Republic and most of eastern Europe - never carried a spare wheel anywhere.

    As an aside, 60L is a bit small, so it may be worth changing for a bigger one if possible. Our RX300 had an 85L tank and I could get up to 74L in it.

    Anyway, welcome to the club Antonio and let's see some pictures of your new beast over in the dedicated RX forum. There's a lot of very knowledgeable folks here so someone should be able to help if you ever have problems.

    Cheers,

    John

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