peterjl

I must admit to doing nothing. i fill the water tank and check the taps work to fill water heater. Switch on water and space heater, yep they work as well. Load up and off I go I have never, in 25 years cleaned my water system ( I do drain down after every trip). I might tip some bleach does the sink for the waste tank. I always leave toilet with fresh blue in it so it’s ready to go. I might wash the van but they usually wash it after service so one wash a year is fine unless it gets very dirty ( I had to wash after driving the dirt roads of Iceland and the deserts of Morocco ). I admit to dusting occasionally and sweeping the floor. Just check everything works and you will be fine. peter.

Hi the tunnel plus other ferries, eg calmac, never recognise my vehicle from the rego. I put in Fiat ducato and size manually.

Hi. I have been using these for 12+ years. They work for me. I use them as an early warning that the cylinder is nearly empty so I can be ready to change. Cheap and cheerful.

Thank you Derek. I have watched the YouTube videos which has helped.

Hi everybody. thankyou for your very helpful advice. having read it all through, and having another look at my vehicle I feel a bit of a fool. It has the start/stop facility, it appears to be on ( ie led light is off) but to my recollection it has never stopped then restarted. Where i sit when driving I cannot easily see the switch so have never investigated, I just get in and drive, 22000 miles so far! Derek, thankyou for your very full response, without that I would never have looked for the stop/start switch. i imagine that may alter the position a bit. I must have a smart alternator although I have no idea what that means. anyway, I followed Dereks advise, in vehicle with doors closed for 10 minutes, then tested at battery terminals. With multimeter set at 20dc it read 1 so I switched to 200dc and it read 219. i then checked at jump point, getting 1 again although if I didn’t press contacts too hard getting 14 to 19v depending on pressure I put on probes. tried starting, no problem. Checking at jump points whist idling = 16 - 18v Thinking about what has changed, it’s been a lovely sunny day and I wondered if solar panel had had an effect? I am feeling a bit more comfortable about condition now. I will continue to check voltage every 48 hrs and also, will look into getting battery tested albeit one Fiat professional I spoke to couldn’t fit me in until Feb next year! If you think I need more, or different action please let me know and apologies that I led you astray about stopstart. if nothing else I have learnt a lot about my vehicle over the last few days. peter

Thank you Alan.

Thank you Keith

Thank you Derek the two battery readings, from jump point and battery terminals, were taken sequentially, maybe a minute or two between. peter

AN UPDATE AND MORE QUESTIONS. i feel as though i am struggling here and have been looking at YouTube’s on changing a Ducato battery! any way first latest on condition albeit I think I have been using the multimeter incorrectly. took Moho for 50 mile run on motorway yesterday and two hours after returning checked voltage as 12.47 v HOWEVER I have been checking voltage across the jump stat points under the bonnet so I didn’t have to lift carpet. this afternoon I did same and voltage dropped to 12.32v however I then decided to look at battery to measure size and checked voltage which was lower at 12.23v being unsure why it would be lower ( I assumed if anything that I would have lost voltage between battery and jump point, I consulted the handbook and note that whilst the charger only charges leisure battery it also provides a FLOAT charge to vehicle, so I assume the solar panel also provides 5his float charge. soooooo, was I wrong using jump points to measure voltage with the lower voltage across battery is this indicative of a problem. lnrxtmeasured battery in case I have to change and it seems to be about 390mm long by 270mm wide. I can’t get a height as not enough space. Do these sizes influence battery I can get? Lastly the battery seems to be AGM as the writing on top says suitable for start/ stop even though my Moho doesn’t have 5hat. Do I have to replace like with like? sorry to be a pain guys but I am well out of my comfort zone here so I am trying to gather info and Google has me more confused than when I started! peter

Thank you Tracker. My leisure battery is buried under the drivers seat and I think I would have to remove seat to access. I will keep an eye on battery and take the charger away with me over New Year. peter

Thank Alan. yes, my van had been idle for a month and prior to that had a only a couple of outings of less than 10 minutes. I usually take it out for a run every three weeks or so but we have had builders, roofers, and tradesmen of all sorts over last couple of months and taking Moho out got lost. Also on my last few moho’s the vehicle battery charged when it was plugged in and I hadn’t realised that wasn’t the case with this one even though I have had it for over two years. Very frustrating. I will look into getting a Battery Master fitted then it should charge from the solar panel. I will check the voltage across the terminals daily for a few days to see what it does. I am slightly concerned that draining it may have caused damage requiring a replacement. Off tho the lakes for New Year so need to make sure it’s fine. thankyou for the info, that’s the sort of knowledge I need. peter

Hi. Went to take Moho out yesterday and it barely turned over and didn’t start , now I am not an engineer and knowledge is not strong so after consulting Google I….. checked voltage across battery = 11.7 charged at 8amps ( it’s an 8am charger) starting at 1 pm and it showed full charged 9 hrs later this morning checked voltage = 12.68. ; took for a 12 mile drive, about 30 minutes given traffic jam, and checked again 12.48. Two hours later ran lights for a couple of minutes without starting then voltage 12.28. Then started engine and checked whilst engine running = 13.95.: after engine switched off voltage = 12.6 Not sure if all this means battery is ok or I have a problem. Any guidance, thoughts very welcome. FYI Moho is 2021 Fiat ducato 2.3 ( Possl Roadstar 600 L ) Peter

I suspect it’s everyone’s insurance going up alarmingly. I am early 70’s and my car insurance went up from £207 to £302. I tried go compare and then some other insurers directly and could not get below that £302 price. I am wondering what will happen to Moho insurance.

Hi. You have to do the boring bit of filling out quote forms for a variety of insurers however, make sure you know what each of your tablets is for plus your exact diagnosis for each condition. I had a cardiac arrest during London triathlon a few years back and they put me on standards meds however when it comes to answering questions about number of medications for high blood pressure the answer was not straightforward since I never ever had high blood pressure BUT some of the meds were for high blood pressure. Sooooo you need to know purpose of meds so you can give an accurate answer. If in doubt write to your Gp and ask what they are for and why you are on them. I keep a file of medical issues just so I can get accurate insurance quotes.

I agree with Keith. When using a reel regularly it embeds a twist in the wire. I curl my wire by hand adding adding a slight opposite twist, exactly as you do when curling a double braided rope. I just then drop it into a bag.

Agreed re Haro. I enjoy the Rioja region in general and recommend Ysios winery. peter

For us Picos de Europa is great if you like views and walking. Several campsites to choose from. santander interesting city but the best campsite we could find was a bus ride away. Fine for one or two days. Inland from Santander is Burgos. Campsite is next to river and about 1 1/2 mile walk into old town through park next to the river. Burial place of El CID. We often stop here for a day or two when travelling south. But for me best city in Spain is Santiago de Compostella, the old city is compact but I am happy to spend a few days there. It’s a bit far, some 400 miles from Bilbao. Have a good trip peter

Hi FYI both ABS and airbag bag light come up when I switch on.

Which lights are new. I can check if they come up on my vehicle.

In my 2021 model all my lights come up when I switch on ignition. It seems normal to me.

Sorry but I have no idea. I just stopped using cruise control until I could get to a Fiat garage. As long as I didn’t touch it I had no problem. What it did do when it stopped working was flash up the message “ cruise control off” hence I knew the source of the problem straight away. Not sure that helps!

Another possibility is a cruise control fault. I had problems a year ago when cruise control just kept switching itself off for no reason. A new control switch fitted under warranty solved problem.

For me finding a pump is problematic, I have only ever seen ones for lorries and Google only seems to show where I can buy containers. I top up 10 litres at a time which seems to cover about 4500 miles. Always carry a couple of litres with me especially in remote areas such as Scandinavia. I cover about 12000 miles a year travelling about 12/14 weeks a year.

We had a vet in Belgium give rabies jabs and pet passport for our two labradors, in feb, for about 100 euros. We came home and then had another trip to Europe with no problems. We will need to have them vaccinated again in a couple of years but will tie that in to a trip to the Xmas markets.

I had an auto trail with no spare about 12 years ago. Contacted a garage selling replacement alloy wheels and bought a steel wheel with a used tyre as a spare. Not ideal but it would have got me out of trouble. Never had to use it but it’s peace of mind when travelling across Europe, especially Eastern Europe. Peter.