maxcaddy

No chance of that, the IAM say "there are over 100 sensors fitted to an average car today to regulate everything for engine oil pressure to acoustic parking aids. With the rise of autonomous vehicles, the average car could require 200 sensors by 2030".

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203431332674?fits=Model%3AVoyager&hash=item2f5d73cb42%3Ag%3AmwsAAOSwo%7ERgdAad&LH_ItemCondition=3000

If it's been stood for a long time without being used, it can build up condensation within the engine which may show in the oil. If you're convinced that the head gasket is OK, then an engine flush and oil change could improve matters.

The guy who seemed to have 'chapter and verse' on all these sort of issues went be the username 'QinteQ', and was a mine of information. Unfortunately he's not been on here for some time. My Fusebox cover has been off and on more times than a Tarts Knickers, without ever disconnecting the Battery, with no ill effects at all.

Aircon pumps cutting in even from cold even though the Aircon is off isn't a fault, it's what some system do. I don't know why and can't be asked to find out, but when you least expect it, the compressor cutting in/spinning up is OK, it certainly happened all the time on my Explorer, which I had for 10 years with excellent Aircon that never had to be topped up. "the voyager range seem to have a 15 year maximum shelf life thereafter drop it as soon as soon as you can to some poor unsuspecting soul." Maybe 15 year max, but I would say 12 - 15 years typical, and maybe some of those 'poor unsuspecting souls' are now posting on here .

Excellent photos , and amazing that a Stainless Pipe could deteriorate that much, I'll check mine for comparison. If mine is cracked but not that badly and looks like it'll hold together, it could be that an exhaust paste/bandage might suffice.

There's no belt adjustment as the 'proper' belt is elasticated, that said it's still bloody tight when getting it on. If you buy an aftermarket copy that isn't from the same material, the length will be OK, but getting on will be a game. I usually (only) buy genuine GATES belts and managed to do mine and keep me fingers

Thanks for that, sorry been stuck under the bonnet of an old FIAT for a few days. Anyway, yes please if you have a picture of where the pipe is fractured I can check and see if it's the same as what I have. Must say that as I have a working solution in terms of thrashing it before the MoT, I'm not keen on stripping the engine/bay to fix it unless I really have to, unless its very straightforward.

The key information you've missed is how many miles it has done, and by what you say, it sounds like it might be a lot. If that's the case obviously everything is worn, and a few things more worn than others. So once you've found what's the main offender is (certainly suspect Cooling or Head) you'll have the decision to repair or not, and my advice is that if you can't fix it yourself you'll just be going down a long road of hurt. In my case my 57 plate GV which I've had for 7 years has now 126K on the clock and only just scrapes through the MoT. As and when it fails on something significant, or the Head goes, or the Autobox, it will unfortunately go to the big recycler in the sky. Sorry to piss on your chips, but if you rely on it for work, I suspect you'll need something which repairers recognise and can easily fix.

poo appens, I did a similar thing to mine 3 years ago whereby the reversing sensors were pinging away as I was reversing near to a telegraph pole, to then discover that they were actually warning me about a dwarf bollard that I did reverse into . Whilst the Bumper is spilt and cracked, the local MoT man just makes a comment under 'advisory', and I've lived with it ever since. To be honest it actually acts as an 'aid' when parking in car parks and inner-city, especially France, where others give it a bit of a wide berth . For me, the car is in effect worthless, it survives from MoT to MoT, and I wouldn't expend much cash on it for a cosmetic repair/exchange.

Yep, if it's the same YouTube as was there a couple of years ago, then it's a good representation, it's in effect the same engine turned 90 deg. I did manage to download a pic or 2 when I did mine, but that was a laptop or so ago. It's very straightforward by locking both cams and the crank, once the starter is out. There's a few hoses and things in the way which make it a bit awkward, but nothing too onerous. When I did mine, the Water Pump was OK so I didn't change it even though I'd already bought a new one as part of a full kit. However, if it's still running in another 4 yrs/40K, I will change it then .

Okay, for any other folk on here with the same issue, the answer is as above. I took the old girl for a re-test after giving it a good 25 mile thrash, and got it nice and hot with no smoke coming out at all. Fortunately with the new Control Arm Bush fitted, and the smoke cured, it passed, and lives for another year

From memory you only need to undo the Sprockets' if you're getting access to undoing the Water Pump. If you're not changing the pump it's then very straightforward as long as you mark the positions etc. Everyone will tell you to change the Pump as it's stripped down, but at 50 K I would be inclined to leave it alone assuming it was not leaking and that there was no pay on the end shaft. Allegedly the Belts are good for 80 - 100 K, but you're now into aging issues (>10 years) than actual wear, so a change is a safe bet.

I also think the EGR is the main contender, but obviously will check cam covers etc for weeping. If yours is doing the same, what do you do re MoT time ?, take it for a 20 mile thrash first ? Do you know where the EGR actually is, i.e. do I get to it from the top, the bottom, or go around the side once the Battery is out ? In the good old days you could clean things like that with Caustic Soda, but I guess that's all now banned in 2021 .

Yep, a good place to start. It's just that to get a good look you have to strip out the Wipers, Battery etc just to get yer head in to see

Okay, carried on and prised out the Bush, it had to come out one way or another, and with that out the sub frame was lowered and the Arm came out. Old Bush off, new one on, well on once I spent a long time cleaning the inside of it out of over-rubberisation (note to self - do not but cheap eBay replacement parts), and now all back together . Now to address the other thing it failed on, smoky engine bay .

When I start the car especially after leaving it unused for a while, there's a load of billowing smoke in the engine bay coming up from underneath/around the Battery area. Smells like burning diesel or oil, and not exhaust gas, and certainly not water/coolant. Has anybody else had this issue ?. Is it to do with the EGR valve which is usually stuck in some place that's nigh on impossible to get to ?. Thoughts ?

Wow well done, clearly a lot of work/effort there. Hopefully you'll now be able to do enough miles to warrant the outlay .

Unless yours is special, the rear lights are one piece units and fairly easily obtainable off of eBay, bought a couple myself a few years ago and fitting was fairly straightforward. Even new they're not too dear https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FOR-CHRYSLER-GRAND-VOYAGER-2001-2008-REAR-TAIL-LAMPS-LIGHT-LEFT-N-S-EUROPEAN/152544676316?_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item23845f09dc:g:lgQAAOSwpP9Y6N~y&amdata=enc%3AAQAFAAACgBaobrjLl8XobRIiIML1V4Imu%252Fn%252BzU5L90Z278x5ickkxGz2ccqatkEnoeekHqhLkZiIkIiSYAAtZZAkZ2ghQ5qae3C9P5dJKw09cilfJkDZKn210nCr3vjCFxudYlwjPkfkkzoKRv%252FEUgIE7Eqx25KVsz1E%252BfRixtbeWF7%252BSr%252FBFdCM17Gj4laofmQnq3kh5w6mdTNi%252B0dCEAoT5allWRivK0fxzWSHLBjwWASk%252F%252F%252F93OQWzjLKf1%252BVvbDlqUtNEClRQs%252B7kV%252BhcJCeXRxSly7W4V8GvQTq9FNCsFmWXWxR0xvZ1h5vZPsBFx6yjBVqVxPtFXzwPbcTmUAfgfrhn2Vy1G78WfxHOP2D8RbUIq0%252B8XzuYHtam%252B5ZzcyoWUuVfhiMge6mKWTwfS4gnzIRj1Qse4BqTVlDk994sBBc1BJLrlBZKcSqUwNR%252FSDWDcFbp8ghY0oeUOmwADWepvnETtFIjC6jiPaJtP0VQgUSnXn8R9y23O60w6pi7L%252FXsU4rexXn3KMnWaN%252BjaNW02mjr8ryjtE2EZSNTJcAwTNfZerLBRmbXrg7Ou%252FrFMm%252BYes3B4qsKqrQ%252FQfUvbcwVN9EFlULEmBmublydpyBVzQWHjBHpWc7CByaORN8NQ41KXZOnKrTjEFtJUqek2JYK1%252Fn0e8BcpyS1YTA9iuwFcrSxbtY5OQeMhI6GN5V1P8lHTFlHdoIHjsUPzlNzpo%252Fz1T5uLdcVvLHTpTm13ikmmpJB0lIWa83cWxNG8TeZjerP8OGX3vnn3BlojDeODg89JmzLLDtVulgVqwBL9GHp7WoqZPB0vuougF4f5h4CM2jutrSQO3FH3Oqr3OIcTKC6%252BAGtGM%253D%7Ccksum%3A152544676316986b8fe48f4f4916a482c0cb620202ca%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A2334524

Well as expected it failed the MoT on the rear bush, so I followed the guide above and it went well until I tried to separate the bottom plate from the Aluminium chassis section. With all the bolts removed including the long one which goes through the big rubber spacer and holds the whole lot onto the car that rubber spacer/bush won't come apart !!!. With the main bolt out you can lever a 70mm square top-hat plate out leaving a 70mm square rubber spacer/bush, but the bottom plate won't pull over it, and it doesn't seem to let me separate it off the Alloy sub chassis. I could perhaps pry/cut the bush off, but without stripping the whole front suspension out, I can't see how a new bush could be fitted in its place ? Anyone else been stuck with this

Wow, you've got a few bizarre issues going on which may/may not be related. Certainly if the Battery is not good then crazy things do happen, so I would ensure you've a 'known good battery' in there and then see what (if any) things have improved. Not sure if a Code Reader could tell you anything ?, and unfortunately failing having some good soul on here experiencing something similar, you're other alternative to seek a knowledgeable 'auto Electrician' could end up a very expensive fruitless exercise. Finding a fault on a newish car with few miles means you're looking for something bad against the rest of the car that is good. On a 16 year old car with 'n'000 miles, it's all worn and you're trying to find what's worn a bit more that the rest, plus there's an 'ageing' factor there as well. My limited auto electrical knowledge stops me offering further insight, but if it were mine, I would try to isolate what works and what doesn't, and hopefully limit functionality to having it do the minimum, but still be useable, if you follow what I mean. Where's Mr Qinetiq when you need him ???

So here we go, LED's ordered and delivered. The first issue is that the head of the bulb was big, so much so it was a bit of a fight to get it in, and because I've had issues in the past where if one light was brighter than the other it failed, I decided to change both of them. With both bulbs in I rested the lights on the front grill and turned the switch. Nothing at all . Took one bulb out, well took it out after the connector pulled off the back and I had to fish it out via the Headlight bulb hole . Tried it both ways in the connector, nothing. Was going to sent them back but thought I'd try it across a 12V battery. I did that and wow it lit up. Checked the connectors power and yes 12V was there, so put the bulb into the connector and put it back in the light and yes it worked . Had to do exactly the same with the other side . Okay, whether it was me or whether there's some bizarre issue going on whereby it seems that the bulbs need initialising before they'll work is unknown, but after all that faffing about I now have 2 working sidelights, which is all I wanted in the first place.

Many thanks for that Nev, yep it came out of the back with a twist and pull. Now ordered LED W5W's simply because I didn't have any filament types to hand. If that's all it needs for another year I'll be amazed .

Yep, I've got the whole light unit out, the cover plate off the back of it, and it's how that side light bulb comes out which is the question

On getting the old girl ready for its MoT I spotted one of the side lights not working. An easy job thought I, headlight out, bulb changed, job done, but how the hell does the bulb come out ?. From the back of the light its easy enough to get to the main beam bulb, but the side light bulb is difficult to get to, and I'm not certain it comes out of the back anyway. The alternative is to take the bulb out of the front, but that means taking the glass off, and to do that it seems to be held on by plastic clips all around the body itself which I suspect will snap off as soon as I try. So, anyone else changed a sidelight bulb ?