Pre 1990 vehicles

[CliveV]

Has anyone seen the content of the speech by Jean-Martin Folz, CEO of PSA Peugeot Citroen, at the DoT's recent conference on "The Environmentally Friendly Vehicles"?

Now bear in mind that new cars are not selling that well with an over capacity certainly in Europe.

So what does this CEO of a large car making firm come up with as his contribution to the environment?

He suggests that cars over 15 years old should be taken off the road- thereby:-

"allowing natural market forces to determine what happens thereafter"

This goes against accepted thinking that whilst old technology can be more polluting (unless you convert an old vehicle to run on CNG or LPG for example - but he neatly declined to mention this point!) the MOST polluting thing about a car is the energy and resources it takes to make it

But of course it would boost the current poor sales of new cars!

Now that'll fix global warming.

 

[DavidW1]

Clive,

This not original thought - back in the early 90's the Greek Gov. were actually giving generous cash payments if you traded your over 15 year old car for a new model, bit like the recent grant here for converting to LPG. A greek work mate of mine was really peeved on returning to Athens on leave to find that his girl friend had traded his beloved classic Alfa for a brand new Honda Civic "why are you upset? it was only an old car darling"

Mind you I have been trying to sell my 67 MGBT for a couple of months and you said yourself that there are an awful lot of old LR's about so maybe it makes sense.

PS. You have almost convinced me I should have another Rangy and am currently considering a nice 97 4.6 HSE with LPG but seriously why has nearly every one I look at had a replacement engine between 60 - 100K, I have heard this is due to o/heating is this true?

 

[mcghee]

Yes I raised this point about the newer Landrover engines recently and was shot down in flames. I'm glad to see someone else has noticed the same phenomenon.

 

[colin(bridgend)]

Going onto the subject of pre 1990 cars, one of the most reliable tow cars I ever had was - wait for it - a 1988 1.6 litre petrol AUSTIN MAESTRO. I used this vehicle for almost 10 years and 90000 miles and towing an ABI 4 berth Globetrotter. On one occassion I towed Bournmouth to Bridgend in just over 3 hours. No trouble with the car at all. Eventually gave the car to my son and bought a 2.0 litre GLI Vauxhall Carlton for towing. Although more power it had the tendancy to go to the red on the temperature scale before the fan came in to cool the engine. Never actually boiled over but very frighteningly close to it.

 

[emmerson2]

Range Rover 4.6 engines have a tendency to eat their cylinder liners, hence new engines at relatively low mileage.Go for a slightly older classic 3.9, or better still, a 4.2 LSE,the best towcar ever invented.

 

[CliveV]

As I understand it - the "Porous block" problem afflicts the 4.6 far more than the 4.0 (or 3.9 as in the Disco) There is a treatment that works if the problem is caught early enough and involves draining all the coolant out and flushing then adding this special stuff that when the engine is up to temp - seals everything back into place. I have only read of this in the specialist mags but the results seem to be good BUT you do need to catch iy early when the cooling system starts to presurise the top hose and the coolant level is droping slightly but no leaks.

The best way to prevent it is to have the ECU remapped as RPI engineering have found that the original mapping allows for some cylinders to run very lean which then causes the localised overheating and the so called "Porous Block"

Have a look on their website - it has a good section on re-mapping the Rover V8

You get better mpg and more power as well as eliminating what can be an expensive problem.

The do a cracking LPG conversion as well!

 

[emmerson2]

As I understand it - the "Porous block" problem afflicts the 4.6 far more than the 4.0 (or 3.9 as in the Disco) There is a treatment that works if the problem is caught early enough and involves draining all the coolant out and flushing then adding this special stuff that when the engine is up to temp - seals everything back into place. I have only read of this in the specialist mags but the results seem to be good BUT you do need to catch iy early when the cooling system starts to presurise the top hose and the coolant level is droping slightly but no leaks.

The best way to prevent it is to have the ECU remapped as RPI engineering have found that the original mapping allows for some cylinders to run very lean which then causes the localised overheating and the so called "Porous Block"

Have a look on their website - it has a good section on re-mapping the Rover V8

You get better mpg and more power as well as eliminating what can be an expensive problem.

The do a cracking LPG conversion as well!

Clive, have you ever phoned RPI? I did the other night.It's an education in itself.I'm going to try one of Chris's ignition amplifiers when I get back from france next week.(If i've got any money left)

 

[DavidW1]

Emmerson and Clive - I have just had a look at the owners reviews on Parkers for the 4.0 & 4.6 RR - phew! worst set of reviews I have ever read, they confirmed that the engine overheating and liner problem is common and revealed many other expensive disaster areas too. Based on what you and Parkers have said I will definately not be pursuing the purchase - as one of the reviewers said "you will need a wallet the size of Wales to run one"

Thanks guys!

 

[CliveV]

Yep - No doubt about it - when you have a good one they tend to be kept by the owner for a long time - They ARE that good!

You have to ask why the one you are looking at is for sale.

And if you do not know what to look for - better to accept this and look at something else.

The P38 is a great vehicle - but even I as a LR fan cannot understand why they went for motors and ecu's to drive even simple things and then select LUCAS to provide the bits!

If you are even relatively technicaly competent you can sort most problems out easily and cheaply but take it to a garage and you need to have a good bank manager!

As emmerson says - a late Classic Range Rover REALLY takes some beeting as a tow truck - looks nicer too in my view. I did well over 100K in my old one and sold it with 177K on the clock.

I could have sold it many times over as well - One week in the local Free Ads and it was sold. Paid