colin

Gf got her renewal letter today, a big fat 0% increase, well it is the last year of her 3 year fixed price deal. 😉

I have to get 300bar 'surface' air cylinders inspected and tested every 10 years(although I see some places saying this is now 5), for SCUBA air cylinders it's every five years, without that nobody will fill them. I appreciate there is no flammable gases involved but the testing pressures are considerably higher, the last time it cost £40. Here's a interesting link. Cylinder Testing - BCGA

I renewed my motorhome insurance 3 weeks ago, after some haggling it was settled at around the inflation increase. I note the figures from Statistica show average comprehensive car insurance in France is considerably higher than UK.

Fiat doesn't say that, it only applies to upgrades of the vehicle battery, not supplementary batteries

It took a while to register that we have a similar problem on one of our Suzi's.

The basic van has A/C, the 'extra' is the auto part.

The other thing which causes fan to switch on is A/C, and it is usually as you describe, i.e. from a low engine temp, and with a overrun after engine is switched off.

Very long shot, but Bruce said his engine overheated, if yours did the same maybe this dislodged some dirt in the cooling system and this is now restricting and/or redirecting flow, maybe it needs a flush.

First we have to guess at what van you are referring to from the width of 2050mm, then we have to guess at which convertor might have made that van, as they will have different methods of wall construction, or you could look up the van online and find the details.

Not sure of the construction of your model van, but the later x250/290 panel van has a roof made of up to a dozen panels with the joints sealed with a seam of 'mastic', I have wondered before it these ever spring leaks.

There are several things to consider. Would putting 10-40 in instead of 0-30, cause a engine failure, very unlikely, in fact there may well be conditions where it is recommended such as operations in a hot climate. Could putting any type of wrong oil in cause an engine failure, possibly. I've seen the results of SAE100 axle oil being put in a Tranny engine, it broke the oil pump drive. Also putting a oil in that wasn't suitable for a turbo engine has been the cause of many turbo failures. There is also a remote chance a totally unsuitable oil was put in such as hydraulic oil, unlikely but sometimes these things happen. Lastly why would the French mechanics say the wrong oil was used. I can think of two reasons, firstly it was a tottaly unsuitable oil and obviuosly so, or was something 'lost in tranlation', did he actually say the wrong amount of oil had been used.

I haven't had cause to buy a 'car' radio in years as our cars come with them fitted, but here are my observations. I have a couple of cars with Blaupunkt radios, and these have been very good, they have relatively few and large buttons which make them easy to use whilst on the road, my van however has a Japanese radio with loads of tiny buttons and isn't as easy to use whilst travelling.

If the reception is poor changing the radio might not improve matters, this is more likely to be a problem with the aerial. Saying that, in my experience a DAB might in some areas give better reception.

The wrong engine oil could certainly destroy an engine, but the OP has very little details, so it would be pure speculation as to what oil was put in and what damage the engine sustained.

I have dealt with three different Fiat (un) Professional workshops, all have subsequently lost their dealerships and good job too! Last year the 'local' Northern Commercials branch, which is a Iveco dealer helped me out.

The Tyresafe calculator has become a joke, input 215/70-15 CP 109, with 2000kg front and 1500kg rear, and it returns 69psi front with a warning it is approaching max, and 80psi rear.

The rules and practices around registering motorhomes have varied over the last few years, in the main it seems to ensure the lowest tax is paid.

Thanks, I'll have a look at it later. We've had a couple of aborted trips to Scandinavia in previous years and it seems each time different schemes for tolls and ferries come up.

What toll tag have you got? we are planning Scandinavian trip of 2 to 3 months and are looking at options.

I don't know about UK, but for the French Crit-Air they use the date on V5c, this meant our Euro4 van got a sticker for Euro5 van.

It's very unlikely to have been weighed at the factory, and even if it was there may well be dealer fitted options. It's best regarded as a guide.

The plate shows it isn't a Maxi chassis, my only guess is that Fiat have decided the auto box needs bigger brakes so have fitted the hubs from the Maxi chassis.

You saw a mild steel can being made and assumed however it was made applied to all similar objects no matter what they are made from, then you have assumed that an object which is not of the same design can be easily made by some similar method with any material, sorry but that's to much assumption. Also you have used bleach in a stainless mug and because you have not noticed any corrosion have assumed there is none, once again an assumption too far. It is a fact that all stainless steels corrode when exposed to bleach, some more than others, but if the exposure is limited there will be limited corrosion to the point where it might be minuscule. It is a fact that certain stainless steels are more suited to certain processes or uses, I don't know for certain what stainless some manufactures might use for sinks, and why they are used, but I wouldn't be calling them 'poor quality stainless', without knowing the facts.

I very much doubt your mug is stamped, it will have been deep drawn.

I would note that stainless is made in many different forms, it may be that to form a deep drawn sink requires a stainless that is more ductile and has less corrosion resistance, this doesn't mean that it is 'poor quality'.