Complacency, fans, bulbs, and clocks.

March Hare · 2021-10-19 21:19:25

Hi all

I thought I might share a recent experience with you, and my hubris!

Last Wednesday, a wet morning, I hop in Fifi (X reg Scudo 1.9D) to go to work. The windscreen is wet with condensation on the inside, not unusual.

Engine fires up just fine, lights on, but no heater fan. Bugger. Reach for the handbook to find which fuse to check, and find three entries for 'passenger compartment fan'.

I pull fuse 5, check it, and reinstall. The fan roars into life. Ok, maybe a poor contact, off we go then, no problem.

Thursday morning, no fan. But this time it's really dead, no amount of fuse pulling can fix it. That evening I come on the forum and find several threads about fan problems, seems like a common issue.

Friday. I service Fifi, then pull the plug off the fan and test for voltage (with engine running). Nothing. So I suspect a switch problem. Pull the dash apart, remove the board with the sliders, clean the contacts, test. Nothing. Luckily I have my old dead Dispatch on hand, so I pull the dash unit out of it, and the fan just in case. Clean contacts, install, test. Nothing. Try the other fan. Nothing. I run out of time and reassemble everything, scratching my head in puzzlement.

Saturday morning. Van fires up fine and behaves normally for two short journeys, without a fan. But in the afternoon she won't start, the battery is flat. What the hell?

Pop in another battery and off she goes. This time I test voltage across the battery and get 12.5 V. Fire up the engine, test voltage again, still 12.5 V. Ooooh. Not charging.
Right, so the alternator has packed up. But why no idiot light on the dash? Surely that's what it's for?

Dispatch to the rescue again. Pull the alternator, fit it to Fifi, test voltage across battery while running and it's all good at 14 V. And, of course, the fan is working perfectly.

So I button everything up to drive home - and then I see it: Ignition on - oil pressure light on, handbrake light on, STOP light on... but NO CHARGE LIGHT!!

Bloody bulb had gone! Gah. Must have been like that for ages - and I never noticed it. No warning of a failing alternator. What's more, I replaced all the bulbs in the dash just a few months ago because so many were dead. Dammit!

Also, thinking about it now, she must have been cranking slower and slower as the battery drained - and I didn't notice that either, till it was too late. Lucky I didn't do any night journeys or I'd have been stranded.

All leaves me feeling a little stupid to be honest, but no harm done (and no expense incurred, thanks to having a parts van).

On another note - has anyone else had their clock get stuck in adjust mode, with the hands whizzing round and round and no way to stop it?
Drove me nuts for few weeks, until I dismantled the binnacle and snipped off the pins supplying power to the clock. Now it is permanently 11:59...

I've been in that binnacle so many times!!

kenbw2 · 2021-10-19 22:29:17

Sounds like a mini adventure, I had strangenesses with my fans when the connections on the alternator were playing up.

As for the spinning clock, yep. Mostly when it was damp, it would spin over and over for a bit then settle at random. Now it just doesn't work at all

Have the same problem on the trip meter, it's constantly pressed in and resetting itself, and I have no idea what my actual mileage is

Pathfinder100 · 2021-10-20 00:32:30

My odometer went shortly after I bought the van. I know from the last MOT it was 165k, it hasn't done massive amounts of miles since. So its all a bit of an estimate at the minute. Do you know if the mileage is stored in the ECU, ie, can you retrieve it from the ECU via OBD?

kenbw2 · 2021-10-20 00:52:22

I heard rumour that the models with an ECU store it in both, and when you replace the binnacle it takes the higher of the two. That's only rumour though.

I've never had an ECU so mine will just be in the binnacle.

vaz2121 · 2021-10-20 10:55:38

I'm going with the rumour that kenbw2 has also heard...........
I put binnacle number 2 in van but sent it off first to somewhere about Stirling to have mileage corrected and it checked over .. It'll be 3 mot's past it showed 98,000 mls or there abouts...........

Then about a month or three [it's hard to remember exactly] before its next Mot speedo would stop working intermittently ............
So replaced binnacle before mot but didn't change mileage and all seemed well.............

I gave old one to a near by neighbour who wanted it for spares but he stuck it in his van and it worked perfect but a diffrent mileage [pre face lift van] ...................
I took mine for mot and unnoticed no mileage showing so ended up with unreadable on mot ticket............

On leaving mot place I noticed speedo had stopped again............
Stopping and then driving off at road works every thing was working again but IIRC still no mileage.............

I've noticed that V-often if you slap dash bulbs in binicle light up [Don't like the slappy bit]
Then this Virus thing hit and 2 yrsish of lockdown and 2 mot's later ... I've never done anything with van or too binnacle ...........

I'm now told my issue is most likely the speedo sender on G/box rather than binnacle even though they are poor ...........
The Vans done very little in that time I recon it's about 102,000 or 103,000 maybe no more and winter is fast approching.............

Most times speedo works and mileage when it does show is about 86,000 ... So diffrent again..............
I've no idea how mine is set up..........

Throbin_Wood · 2021-10-21 05:01:15

Im new here.. I have zero knowledge of your problem.. and zero knowledge of this vehicle. but I have to agree! a parts car is the way to go. The ability to swap components and see the effect is priceless.

@ Pathfinder100

In short... No I don't think mileage is stored in the ecu.

I have pp2000 and diagbox. I don't see anything sophisticated here with our vehicles... no live data.. its a good thing! My recently acquired van in an EXTREAMLY sorry state and all I see is a fault code for a head lamp. My 407 will tell you if the fuel cap isn't on correctly.

Everything I do on a laptop with the 407 (and you need a laptop to do anything) prompts a request for mileage and reminds you that you can only make 50 service entries..

My thinking is..... if its asking for mileage... then it dosnt have it. And the 407 seems way more computerised than this Vehicle. Like 1000%

Throbin_Wood · 2021-10-21 05:41:50

Mileage is nothing to go bye tho... Imagen a car in London stop, start, sitting in traffic all its life. moving meters at a time... vs a car thats whipped runs from London to Scotland.

binicle? whats binicle?

vaz i owned a 406 with 530k miles on the clock. it wouldnt pass an mot coz the dpf was removed.. and the price to replace it... but that thing drove like new! Service it properly... it will keep going...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUR2HMmoIrU

Last edited by Throbin_Wood (2021-10-21 05:42:22)

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#1 2021-10-19 21:19:25

Complacency, fans, bulbs, and clocks.

#2 2021-10-19 22:29:17

Re: Complacency, fans, bulbs, and clocks.

#3 2021-10-20 00:32:30

Re: Complacency, fans, bulbs, and clocks.

#4 2021-10-20 00:52:22

Re: Complacency, fans, bulbs, and clocks.

#5 2021-10-20 10:55:38

Re: Complacency, fans, bulbs, and clocks.

#6 2021-10-21 05:01:15

Re: Complacency, fans, bulbs, and clocks.

#7 2021-10-21 05:41:50

Re: Complacency, fans, bulbs, and clocks.

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