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lt35 camper

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tellytubby View Drop Down
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    Posted: 09 Apr 16 at 17:18
Just thought I'd share some problems I've had and have been fixing with my 04 plate LT35 camper I bought in January.

I picked it up as a trade in off a trader knowing there were some problems to fix but that it was basically solid and driving well ( which was true ).  Was told at the time it had had a recent timing belt (true and a decent kit as well), a new radiator and that the pump timing had been done (of more later)

Drove it the 300 miles up the road quite uneventfully getting up to 70 ish and doing about 30 mpg so quite impressed but found it a bit sluggish on the hills. I also noticed that the temperature never got much above the bottom mark of the guage so figured there were a few little things to sort out.

After a few weeks playing with the new van decided to make a start on the faults.  Replaced the thermostat first making no difference to the low temperature problem.  Couldn't get my head round the cooling system just by looking at it - just looks like pipes go everywhere :) - so got a hold of the workshop manual and figured the likely candidates were the vacuum valve or the auxiliary pump sensor.  After a good root about under the bonnet turns out that someone had disconnected the vacuum pipe to the valve leaving it wide open.  reconnecting the pipes did the trick.

I'd noticed the van was smoking a bit on startup and there was a bit of an unburnt diesel smell at the exhaust and this was confirmed when it barely passed the smoke test at the MOT.  I'd done a bit of reading about pump timing and smoking on this forum and in other places and decided to start by checking this particularly as it seemed this couldn't have been done properly before as the temperature would have been too low.

Ebay got me a lead and vagcom so I took the van for a drive and plugged in to check.  Sure enough it was far advanced off the scale.  Took me half an hour to get the centre console and access panel out of the way and about an hour of trial and error with the idlers to get the timing in the slightly advanced area and the tension correct.  Another drive and a successful recheck and the exhaust now smelt more normal though still some smoke visible when revved.

Since I had vagcom decided to check error codes.  Found 1 expected - glow plug relay which I knew wasn't working as it had been bypassed with a switch the other I didn't expect - MAP sensor short circuit intermittently.  A look under the bonnet and I found that the wiring to the sensor had been chopped and the 4pin sensor plug "replaced" with 2 2 pin plugs.  I'm currently waiting on a new  prewired plug from ebay and a new sensor, hopefully this will do the trick.

Slightly annoyed to find several "user generated" faults rather than finding actual broken bits but on the whole I'm still quite happy so far. On the down side it's not the easiest engine to get your head round and some of the jobs seem unnecessarily complicated down to the way everything is packaged.  On the plus side it only needed a balljoint for MOT which was an advisory on the previous one.  A few other advisories I got done at the same time (brake pipes and drop links) so I still think I got what should be a good camper. 

Just need some good weather now...
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twinklerims

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jason k Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Apr 16 at 22:50
Nice! Get some pictures up!
Bcs shallowest surf award winner 2006
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aberdare. south wales
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote traversd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Apr 16 at 10:43
Tidy. FairPlay on the fault finding. I outsource that bit :) 
Vanfest 2011 - Skittles Vodka
Camperjam 2011 tug n chug team
Camperjam 2013 - Lost to the Bodybuilders, but delivered in a Syncro
Tough Mudder - Fried Piggy For - Charity

So, Rae is a girl then yeah.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tellytubby Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 May 16 at 20:32
A little update on the last few weeks fiddling.

Picked up and F45 awning cheap on Gumtree and a mate of mine helped me bolt it on the van. Took a couple of hours, most of that getting access to the side of the van.

Also replaced the MAP sensor and nearly shat it when I booted the throttle and discovered the turbo had suddenly sprung into life! It was like driving a new van - I could accelerate up hills without dropping gears - brilliant!

UNTIL

A couple of days later I took a couple hundred mile round trip with an overnight and all was well for the first 60 miles then it started dropping into limp mode when under load, stopping and restarting brought it back to life but very annoying, then about five miles from campsite I blew the charge air hose off the turbo.  Couldn't be bothered waiting till the engine cooled so just coasted into camp and settled down for the night.

Popped the hose back on in the morning and set about looking for the other problem.  Found the bracket on the intake charge pipe was broken so the whole thing was moving a bit too freely also the mount for the MAP sensor had split from the pipe at one side and was letting air pass out so I added a replacement pipe to my list of things to get.

I'd actually taken the trip to pick up an awning room found on Gumtree for the F45 I'd picked up the week before but found I couldnt fit it up to try as I was short the plastic brackets fitted to the cassette to hold the poles for the sides (more orders...)  The overnight also settled a few things, like the TV I'd got being too big, not having enough lighting inside and the table being completely useless.  Definetely a few things to change in the layout for the future.

Replaced the charge pipe last week then took the van for another run and a couple nights away.  Ran sweet so no more oily bits for a while (fingers crossed)  Got the awning up just to see if all was well -



Of course having arrived in the sun it proceeded to piss down for the next day and a half but we still managed to stay warm and dry inside.  Even the dog seemed to like it.

Won't be doing much more for a few weeks as works going to get in the way plus I need to get the bike for an MOT but I'll update again after I've done some more chores.

TT




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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jason k Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 May 16 at 21:06
Nice work! The safari room looks good
Bcs shallowest surf award winner 2006
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aberdare. south wales
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tellytubby Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Sep 16 at 22:25
Ok, a short update after living with the van over several summer weekends plus a week away. 

Living accomodations are just not laid out quite right for us.  The conversion was done by someone shorter than me and there just isn't anywhere for me to stretch out full length.  Over winter I'll be doing a bit of woodwork to change the rear seat layout and also remove a wooden bulkhead behind the drivers seat which will let me move the seat back another inch or so.  I'll also be changing the front seats probably to Saab leather ones when we get rid of our old saab next MOT time.

Other than that everything else living wise has worked well.  The solar panel on the roof meant we could go the week without any mains power and still use the TV of an evening and keep phones charged.  Water tank lasts us about 3 days if we don't go mad.  Fridge works brilliantly on gas and keeps the beers nice and chilled.  Slightly annoying not having a vehicle mounted waste water tank but I can sort that over winter. Also I still haven't figured out how to cook breakfast without setting off the smoke alarm.  Dog has fully settled in as well and now looks accusingly at me when I open the side door of the work van and all he sees is tools and junk and not his nice comfy seat.

Only niggle has been a return of intermittent limp mode.  Replaced various vacuum pipes after finding a crack in on and a few wear spots in some others.  Thought that was it cracked after making it all the way from Glasgow to Banbury with no issues and then a few days later on the return leg had five or six instances.  Have now changed the N75 valve as well and so far so good, I guess if it returns after this its turbo cleaning time...

On that subject - anyone have any ideas on blanking the EGR on ANJ engine.  The pipe has a clamp at either end rather than a bolt down flange so I can't use the usual plate.  Do I just take the pipe off and weld it up inside?

All in all it's been a great first camper van for me, having not really known what we needed we've ended up with a van which does 90% of what we need and with a bit of fettling should be good for most of the other 10%.


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