The Dispatch | Expert | Scudo Hub

I too have had a sticky caliper on van that needed some lube ............
However a couple years ago now ... I fitted along with discs and pads a new caliper
I tend now to file the mount parts of new pads to smooth them off a bit and also makes them slightly smaller along with some copperslip before fitting ..............

I did this once to the rear brakes on a Vectra I had at time and was informed that there was something seriously wrong with my car because of the noise it made .............
I hadn't refitted the Anti Rattle Shims and this was the noise that was heard while moving...........
My thoughts on discovery of this ... If their rattling their not seized..............

I always thought that amber K shape light was to do with ignition chip immobilizer thing...............
IIRC ... it wasn't yesterday ............As my grand daughter had been playing with a magnet that stuck to our bunch of keys and then the bit where you put key in ignition ... it wouldn't sart and that K light was on.................
It baffled us for what seemed ages ..............

The Name "Buster Crabbe" Rings a bell with me................

"IIRC" He was something of a legend type figure in the Royal Navy ............
I'm sure I read something about him in Spycatcher [A book that my Aunt brought me from the U.S. along with a ZZ TOP  key ring ... many many years ago 1987 ?] and he apparently disappeared [presumed drowned] when working for MI6 on a diving job around a soviet boat  but never found......................................

My van was already converted when we got it..............
Apart from I'm sure rear ride height has dropped with what sh** we've put in or done .............
As our kitchen/work space is not massive....................
Also it looks to be same height all the way .....................
I'd measure same height from floor as Casper says ................

You could use a spirit level and then put a bed in your holiday stuff and yourself in the back and render all levelness academic ..............

The speedo on my van is intermittent and works when it feels like it...............
I'm informed that after changing another set of clocks and giving away what turned out to be a working set of clocks, The likely cause is the gearbox pick up sensor is most likely faulty............
I've had 3 MOTs now showing no mileage I haven't bothered to correct mileage if it's not showing when it needs to or look at gearbox speed sensor...................

To remove heater slide............. you have to remove the knobs obviously  ..... Theres screws hidden by the lid of ashtray and gear leaver gaitor IIRC

P.S. the speedo and other gauges are garbage I'm told ... Also told replace with a good working set [when you can find them] rather than that near impossible repair ...............

And Welcome aboard ...........................................

Before I forget ....................

I had same thing I ran van for long enough and knackered  horn via water etc ingress ... My van is a MK1 facelift and wing liners are listed as slightly different to non facelift versions which are easier found and as a consequence facelift versions end up more expensive ........................
No idea if 1 fits the other ..................................

Try a breakers and see what they've got .............................

Only taking on the prognosis and not looking at the car I actually bought discs and pads many moons ago for my then missus car. As It was thought the grinding noise was brake pads down to metal on her car it turned out to be a piece of gravel off the drive had found its way into and lodged in the disc area. Needless to say the discs and pads went on the shelf for the next year or so as there was plenty meat on her brakes ..................

It's the old adage of how can I fleece you ? I know, if you can't afford a new vehicle and are probably greener by keeping an older vehicle running and not wasting resources [i.e. energy to produce and materials for the troublesome new one] We'll charge you a daily fine you can't afford either and you'll nerver own a new vehicle but the one you have will no longer polute and we'll rake it in ... It's all a SCAM!! It doesn't matter what colour of rosette they wear or wheather you have the money or not it's a win win for the government you either pay the daily fine or they get the tax off you via the new vehicle ....and it will never stop just keep on evolving......Politicians are an absolute disaster ! Unless it makes them look good or can be done in their term usually 5 years their not interested.....................

Thaks for that.....As I said things will probably change by the time we decide or have ability to go down to Spain.............
It gives us a little insight if nothing else as what to expect and as we have done next to Bug*** all for the last 2 years almost I thought to make a meal of it and really take our time and social distance fairly easily in van.........................
But that lateral flow test did both ways ? or did you need 2 ? ..................................

Those figures of yours reminds me of why I bought my van amoung other reasons and it also brings things into perspective .............
Obviously to buy it's cheaper than a VW and as we had the DW8 in the 306 I figured reasonable MPG............
I must admit to being a little disapointed at the MPG results [I put that down to in the end the gearing, over all weight and it being brick shaped ] as the 306 has never given me less than 43 MPG and normally higher than that.............
On a run at roughly 60 to 70MPH it's around 49-50 MPG the best I ever got with it was 57 MPG and I wasn't even trying at the time and shocked me .................

But as I said to my Partner it's all relative at the time of searching out a van as we both fancied although a good bit older for roughly the same money as van [Our budget roughly] a converted coach .........................
As I then said to her apart from needing an hgv to drive it [and well in my 60's now, Medicals coming round are getting dubious] at 15 to 18 MPG and usage every 6 weeks or so, At the very least we'll have no money left to go any where at holiday time................

I based my figures on things like [Very scientific method] I at one time had a 16 ton gross Ford Cargo with the Perkins V8 in it and fully freighted it did about 15-17 MPG and averaged over all about 20 MPG in the time we had it....................
My first lorry an 1988 earlyish EPS Mercedes 1635  artic 350hp non intercooled twin turbo with a converted ZF to become the 16 speed EPS box which made life in usage a little easier I guess but over all a real PITA, Hense why I said it was built on friday 13th at 5 to 5pm, I did manage about 500,000kms in 4 years with it [And costly to repair, But every thing on a Merc is expensive] ... When empty it did about 7-8 MPG and fully freighted was 6.5MPG in those days I could burn close to £4000 in diesel on a good month and I spent £1705 for 6 months road tax [The dearest then available later I was able to restrict a couple of units to weight spread over 6 axles and keep road tax to under £700 a year], Changed days now but I'm still fuel cost conscious though, Later on the very best I got was from my and back to a 4x2 at this point,A Scania 164 530hp single turbo intercooled V8 with 10 speed box[All the Scania's I drove had ten speed boxes, In the mid to late 80's I had a 92 then a 93 wendy house Scania they were split 6 range change 4 to get the 10] and it [164 =16ltr  & 4 series] was up to 11MPG at 38 tons gross it was usually about 9MPG for it normally.....................
Now a days I'm told Artics are mostly Automatics and return as good if not better MPG than a Manual equivalent.................
Although I've used a couple Automatics, Back in the day they were not efficient and quite fragile ................

I discovered that if your Clarion radio had a barcode sticker, there was a number on it you could use and you could generate a code ..............
But if it didn't you were snookered ..............
Our local Scrapie could usually decode radios for a fee ... Otherwise ...............
There is more than one version [age probably] of the type of Clarion fitted to the mk1 van, although they look the same.............

My 306, saxo, IIRC The 106 company car I used and 206. every thing PSA in that ERA probably optioned them ................
It's been a while since I've had an issue plus I've writen down codes on post it notes for them and got rid of a couple that were rendered usless .................

I Have a 65 plate car with thes tyre monitor things and if a tyre gets low in pressure, the light goes off again If I pump tyre up to the correct pressure ..............................
Also I've had where the battery has gone flat and had to take tyre off and renew battery as it wasn't sending a signal and ended up with same result when it needed a new battery............................................................

I believe Americans have needed them from around 2007 and we've now followed suit ..................

Don't know if this is of any use it's a smart charger I tend to use an XTAR VC4 USB charger either on my PC or a 3pin usb 5V output plug...I never use more than 5V with it and seems to do OK and takes many types of battery 1.5V and the 3 .7V ..... Lion & Nimh types