laimeduck

A few years ago I took the camera off my Benimar because it was misted. Need watchmakers screwdrivers to disassemble. Cleaned it, and sealed it back up with silicone especially where the wires exit. No further problems with it and it's now 20 years old... Jeremy

This came up today on another forum and may be of use? Jeremy

I am on Romney Marsh on the eastern side of Dungeness, but the coast runs N/S in the bay, so there is a lot of the marsh to the SW of me. Unless you literally have the wind blowing off the sea towards you, I wouldn't be too worried about it at 800 metres. Jeremy

I am 400metres from the sea on a N/S coastline. The prevailing wind is SW which arrives at us over land. Thus we get very little salt problem. Where are you in relation to the coast/prevailing wind? Jeremy

The taps in my 2005 Benimar are Aravon units. The photo shows the bathroom tap. The kitchen tap is similar but with a large u shaped spout Jeremy

I think there are too many variables in insurance to be able to compare. It all depends on the parameters you set eg Age, mileage limit, trip length, medical conditions, value of vehicle and a whole host of other specifics. So a fairly pointless exercise to even try and see who might have the best deal unless we are all equal ... which hopefully we "aint"! Jeremy

Cautionary Tale Part 3 ..... and finally..... I am pleased to report that the problem has finally been resolved. The garage were running all sorts of tests today and obviously had to get engine up to temperature and while "idling" at 2000 rpm there was a bang followed by a cloud of smoke from engine. Turns out an air conditioning pipe had burst .... and then the cooling fan was operating properly as it should. The theory is that the pressure in the Aircon system rose, and the CPU thought that the van was overheating so switched on the elctric fan which stayed on. The pipe rupturing reduced the pressure so CPU said not overheating and I don't need to turn fan on. Maybe a blockage in the AirCon system somewhere? The Garage (who run and maintain a fleet of coaches and minibuses) have never seen the like before. I told them not to bother repairing the AirCon .... we never use it anyway .... except for me running it briefly each time I drive just to keep the coolant cycling. So Colin you guessed right in your last post ... thanks! (We will never know if the belts breaking up caused this .... two of the AirCon pipes run very close to the belts under the battery tray and may have been hit dislodging some crud in the pipes, but there are no obvious signs that they were?) Thank heavens the AirCon pipe burst otherwise we would still be looking at the fan. Now to find and pull the fuse for the AirCon so I don't accidentally put it on ........ Jeremy

Colin & Bruce thanks for your comments. My engine did not overheat, it stopped about 20-30 seconds after the belt broke and the temperature gauge was "in the middle" ...quite normal after it stopped. As I understand it there are two fans ..... one works off the temperature gauge, the other off the temperature sensor via the CPU. I would imagine these are activated by relays, so I will get the garage to check those. The most logical answer I think is that a wire was damaged when the belt was flailing, so it will be a case of finding that? So at the moment I am going to ask the garage to check the : wire connections for breaks/shorts/continuity Relays Water system for blockages See what temperature the CPU is reading If they have no luck finding the cause, as a last resort I will probably install or suggest that they install a manual switch so that I can turn the fan off or on. I am happy to monitor the temperature gauge and flick the switch if it is needed. (I know that the instrument temperature gauge worked .... when going down long hills I usually slip into neutral and drift down at around 60-65mph on tickover. Sometimes for a few minutes. The gauge drops one or two needle widths when I do this. I know this may be frowned upon by some but I have always done it whether in car or motorhome ... a hangover from student days when I had no money for petrol!) Jeremy

Cautionary tale part 2 ......... We survived the belts (Aux and Cambelt) breaking on our 2.8JTD 2005 Benimar but since then have an additional problem. The electric radiator fan is running more or less continuously sometime from a cold start, other times from when the engine gets up to temperature. On stopping the engine the fan runs on for up to 30 secs before turning off. It never did this before the belts breaking. For the 14 years we have owed the van ... the fan used to only cut in after a long climb in the Alps. On a normal journey the engine temperature never went past half way. Now the engine temperature doesn't even get up to halfway (on the instrument cluster gauge). So my thoughts are that the belts breaking have caused this problem. I returned the van back to the garage who did the belts .... they have checked the fan connectors and replaced the coolant temp sensor that feeds the CPU but that has not solved the problem. They are going to recheck various things on Thursday. I have asked them to check if the broken belts flailing around have damaged the wiring? Does anyone have any suggestions or experience as to why this is happening and/or what I should ask them to look at? Thanks Jeremy

Similar thing happened to us on a cruise to the Caribbean in January. That nice Mr Trump designated Cuba as a terrorist state just before he left office. That means that if you go to Cuba you can't go to the USA on a ESTA ... you have to get a full visa from the US Embassy and go for an interview etc. The Cubans know this so do not stamp or even look at your passport, so there is no record that you have entered Cuba. They simply look at your Ship ID card. They still want your cash! I think it probable that the EU border chaps would have great difficulty scanning the passports of 1000 - 4000 people from a Cruise liner on a day trip, so simply don't bother. Jeremy

I agree with Basil - get yourself to a locksmith ... they will have it open in minutes. Doesn't necessarily need to be an auto-locksmith so phone first to check. I know of a good one in Canterbury if that helps? Jeremy

OneCal ... I am sorry ... you have not answered my query and now you are being rude. I have said it before on here but I don't do rude. Goodbye.

OneCal ... sorry but I don't need to re- read it? I am wary of sweeping statements which you make. They may check the paperwork to see what the individual and/or garage has claimed to have used, and they could send a sample of oil for analysis to a specialist laboratory, BUT as far as I can determine the analysis will simply give contaminants and viscosity, NOT who made the oil. Unless of course you can provide proof that this is possible?

I might have missed something but as far as I can find out analysis will not tell the make of the oil, only the viscosity and presence of contaminants.

Brian In the past I have used two separate garages to replace the timing belts and if I remember correctly both commented that the Aux belt was OK on inspection. They are both trustworthy individuals with good knowledge. But for a few extra £'s that point is now made! Mabel may not do huge annual mileages but I do run her up regularly as I have to move her to mow the lawn, so maybe weekly during the summer months, less so in winter. Whenever I start her I always get her up to working temperature. But yes it could have been so much worse! I still simply do not understand how nothing got bent or broken? Jeremy

Mabel, our 2005 2.8JTD Benimar was due for her MOT on Monday last week, so was duly booked in with our Garage. I had done an oil and filter change a few days before and checked all fluids and lights etc. About a mile short of the garage I got a large loud noise from underneath (I thought I had lost the exhaust) and all lights came on on dash and power lost. Power came back a bit, then intermittent noise for a few seconds, then she died. Called breakdown and waited for 2.5 hours and finally AA van arrived. Excellent chap, went through it with him and we found Auxiliary belt gone, then removed oil filler cap and turned over engine, no movement of camshaft, so Cam belt also gone. Much sucking of teeth! (Cam belt just 2 years old). He (illegally) towed me to the garage (Gross train weight exceeded) and we left it with them expecting a £1000's bill. Phone call on Thursday to say that unbelievably, there was no damage, new belts fitted, and she was ready to go! £690. It appears that the Aux belt broke, which then snarled up on the Cam belt graunching that off. How the valves etc did not get damaged no one is quite sure, but I have had a lucky escape it would seem. The van has about 58,000 miles on it and the base vehicle is about 2003. Apparently it is not a Fiat engine but an Iveco? I am religious at changing the Cambelt in good time, but have never really checked the Aux belt ... if it breaks it's an inconvenience rather than a thing that will cause damage ...or so I thought! So the moral of this story is change the Aux belt when you change the Cam belt! I am still perplexed about how the valves etc were not damaged? Jeremy

Ahem! - in my case it could be quite useful to show the 3500Kg plate on the body work to an official eg Gendarme if I strayed into a 3500 zone. Perish the thought! More honestly though, I do have the certificate from SVTEC showing 3850kg Jeremy

Probably not relevant .... but my Benimar was upgraded to 3850 by SVTEC and the uprated plate is a plastic stick on one in the lower passenger footwell.It is white writing on a black background, so is not immediately obvious omn the black plastic footwell. (I have 3 plates in total, one rivrted in the engine compartment, one riveted on the bodywork near the habitation door and the plastic one in the footwell). Jeremy

Rich ....by and large boats don't use gas for heating because it is an explosion risk. Gas is heavier than air and in a boat if there was a leak would sink into the bilges ... (hopefully the hull is air and watertight!). Very easy then to get an explosive mixture or gas and air. Same reason most boats are diesel powered, petrol vapour is explosive. My father had a friend who was a submariner in WW1 in petrol powered submarines. Their biggest worry was explosion, not any enemy! Jeremy

Just sent - was doing some edits!

Brian ... I have a couple of queries on this subject so rather than bore everyone I've sent you a PM Jeremy

Brian ..... Came through in an e-mail on 17th Feb. It relates to some upgrades we have for my age at 74 years and for extending the time away from 30 to 45 days. There are no pre-existing Medical Conditions. The opening line is:- On 28 August 2024, when your current travel upgrade expires with U K Insurance Limited, the provider of your FlexPlus Travel Insurance will change from U K Insurance Limited to Aviva Insurance Limited (Aviva). The rest of the blurb then goes on to say...... Your standard travel cover will be replaced with your new Aviva policy. Aviva will contact you before your upgrade expires inviting you to purchase a new upgrade with them. For any future pre-existing conditions upgrades, you will need to complete their medical screening. This is so Aviva can offer you the right level of cover. The details of the new Aviva policy coming in are in these 2 links https://documents.nationwide.co.uk/2024/02/c5c19d8a0abef09701d330a234bc4472.pdf https://documents.nationwide.co.uk/2024/02/dd18466fb82af7f407aa0669ad3a1084.pdf We are going to change to National Federation of Pensioners NFOP after 1st March anyway as I will be able to get Travel insurance with them after I am 75 next year. You have to take out the policy while you are 74 or before. We have read about the eyewatering amounts people are being asked to pay and the difficulty they have in obtaining cover, so this seems the most sensible thing to do for us. Jeremy

I am also going to go with NFOP ... I phoned them and their age limit is under 75 ...ie you can still join if you are 74. Also worth noting that the membership runs for 12 months from 1st March ...so that is the time to join to get full benefit. Jeremy

Derek - it is happening on various threads eg The following posts are LHS justified "Breakdown" DavyS post at 10.44 on 21/02/24 Laimeduck post 13.38 21/02/24 "Electric Bike Insurance" The Bishbus 10 hrs ago ~08.41ish 22/02/24 Laimeduck 5hrs ~13.41ish 22/02/24 On these two topics all other posts are normal justified Jeremy UPDATE And just checked another topic, "Fiat Ducato Alternator" Mtravel is LHS and Keithl is LHS ... all others normal. Jeremy

Just to clarify a big error I made on this page ..... I meant NFOP ( National Federation of Pensioners) not PIC who are a Pension provider! Apologies for the error Jeremy