RichardM

It helps in confirming my worst fears.. The old girls OK at the moment but if something goes wrong then there's no dealer in sight and therefore diagnosing anything other than a flat tyre may prove interesting.....

Just pull the bottom hose & move out of the way (fast).

Sorry forgot to mention this, 9 times out of ten (including cold mornings after two or three days standing idle the old girl starts after maybe 5 seconds. Occasionally, and for no discernable reason she gets the hump and requires multiple attempts of 20-30 seconds of grinding away.... I don't understand why, it's usually when the engine is warm maybe I've travelled 20 miles and parked up for 6 hours or I've driven 8 miles and parked up for 10 minutes.... no logic that I can discern. Still I love the old bus, sometimes car, mostly van but being 6'5" (and a bit) it's the most comfortable PC I've driven .. and yes another inch or two of legroom would be nice and being able to raise the steering wheel a bit mere AND the blxxdy brake pedal is so far to the left that I sometimes run out of brake travel due to my size 11s getting stuck under it! Oh must mention the hernia free seating compared to my old Galaxy, and it gives me more room in my garage (not for the car just freedom from seats, I would love a garage big enough to park the bus but would be lucky to get an (old style) Mini in mine. Regards and joy in these days of self imposed exile!

When you say x431(grey) I assume this is a clone ? If so which clone (please), there are so many and most just glow in the dark. Also, does it run live diagnostics i.e. plug it in, go for a drive & download the data later ? Thanks (in advance)

The time the glow plugs are on varies on mine dependent on (1) the outside temp and (2) if I've just tried to start (they're still hot/warm), assume the magic computer system has something to do with this ? ... No way it'll start without them. Have thought about routing another feed direct from battery via hefty switch but will wait and see. Diesel LP appears OK hand primer is solid, filter is new no water etc. etc.... Glow plugs were replaced by previous owner 4K, 12 months ago, my friendly garage checked the spill rate just after I bought the car, all injectors spot on. No problem with kick down goes like sh*t down a slide, no hesitation so who knows ? Would like to plug in a magic diagnostic (live run) to see if anything turns up but no garage in the area - not even the ex Jeepy have the tools..... I just live (drive) in hope with a set of jump leads.

From Galaxy (2.0 Ghia auto diesel) to CRD extra £135.00 (six months left on policy),.... still pity the poor insurers, both caviar and champers are going up in price every week and I do get an extra 900cc................

I have stuffed the grill with Screwfix lagging and it certainly makes a difference, Have got a Renault 890C thermostat in reserve but my thermostat appears to be working as per spec... if it aint broke.............. I have not done the battery mod, I did have to fit a new battery after buying the car but to date have not been stuck despite many many short (less than 2 miles) journeys. Occasionally she's a pig to start, I have to watch the glow plug light like a hawk, start immediately and keep cranking till she fires which can take a frighteningly long time. The thermistor's readings are also part of the idle revs and emission control systems (God bless software) Placing a 22K resistor in line with the thermistor appears to tell the computer that the engine bay is 20oC less than true. (assuming the thermistor is a NTC 3950 (this is the closest match I can find relative to the small data set in the ws manual) Extrapolating the figures from the workshop manual and then restricting the data set to the relevant range gives the following; (sorry can't find out how to insert the graph) (At 40C the ECU will think it's 2C, at 20/25 around -1C etc. (with 22K resistor inserted)., within this range the thermistor is fairly linear So my thoughts are there is going to be more diesel in the cylinders than is optimum.... Thoughts ????

I've just replaced the antifreeze in my wagon... well not really me, had my friendly garage do it thank heaven. They had to flush it five times before it ran clear, apparently the first time it didn't so much run as glooped out. I knew it was bad as it looked like red mud in the reservoir (it's still stained reddish brown). Anyway the reason I'm posting this is that I bought the HOAT antifreeze from a company called AGM - Polygard MIS16523 Green H-Oat Antifreeze. at £13.19 per five litres. It seems to have comply with all the specs and It's made in the UK (Rule Britannia ) I must state I have no association with the distributor or the manufacturer (in fact I had never heard of them before searching the internet for HOAT antifreeze. I bought 2 x 5L and delivery was free! This is just for info - no endorsement yet but unless the temp drops below -39 or the radiator corrodes thru there's very little to validate it against. But it's the cheapest I could find that had all the specs and as I mentioned its UK made. (Oh and Graham, my friendly mechanic said, it looks like antifreeze, smells like antifreeze therefore it must be antifreeze.) On the short runs I've made since everything appears tickety-boo, heater's good, warms up in a couple of miles, keeps a constant temperature just below half way on the gauge (don't know how many degrees this corresponds to - intend to try and calibrate it when the weather gets better.) Specification Information: Exceeds the requirements of: ASTM D3306, ASTM D 4985, AFNOR 15-601, VAG TL774-C, TMC RP329, MYU 5038, MAN 324NF, CaterpillarSEBU6250-12, Detroit Diesel 7SE 298, Mercedes Benz DBL 7700.20(325), Saab 690 1599, Scania TB1451, Cummins 14603, MTU: MTL 5048, BMW N 600 69.0, Volvo Car 1286083 Issue 002.

If everything else fails see if you can get a 'new' one made via a 3D printer. There are people - and companies that offer this service ~ I have made some cams for my electric gate motors when the manufacturer wanted £25.00 each for them. If I costed my time out for producing them (2 off) would probably be around the 150 mark but times free on a Sunday - better than mowing the grass anyway.

From the manual (basically as above but the Yanks are quite verbose ; MESSAGE CENTERREMOVAL(1) Disconnect and isolate the battery negative cable.(2) Using a trim stick (special tool #C-4755) or equivalent, gently pry up on the front side of the message center and lift out of instrument panel opening.(3) Disconnect the wire connector from the back of message center.(4) Remove message center from vehicle. NOTE: If the message center lamp needs replacing, twist out defective bulb socket and replace with a known good bulb and socket.INSTALLATION(1) Connect the wiring connector to message center.(2) Place message center in position on instrument panel and firmly snap into place.(3) Connect battery negative cable.Ta Da !

Thanks for the replies guys. The function list covers the GV inc 2007 (what the functions mean is double Dutch or Chinese to me...but it's good to know (1) it's a reputable piece of kit and (2) it knows (or can be taught) what a GV is (Chrysler module) I have had a reply from the manufacturers (surprise, surprise. They appear unaware of the CRD engine. I understand there are other software house that provide modules for various readers so will carry on investigation. The main reason (excuse to her who rules), is that my friendly garage can't run a live pressure test on the engine with their (very expensive) reader and I would like to confirm whether there is any problem with pressure drops. Since fitting new Red Top and a service she appears great EXCEPT sometimes (rarely) and for no discernable reason she takes the hump and takes a long time on the starter before she kicks in. It wouldn't be a problem (and so far it hasn't been for me) except my job sometimes has me driving a mile to a site, six miles to the electrical wholesaler, back to site etc etc which gives the battery no chance to fully recharge. Thanks to you both for the info, will keep you informed of progress (If any)...

Morning all. Has anyone any experience with this tool (Dodge-Jeep-Chrysler FULL-SYSTEM DIAGNOSTIC SCANNER CODE READER ILINK400 ABS SRS SAS CKP TPMS ECU SIR BI-DIRECTIONAL OE-LEVEL SCAN TOOL) I read about it on the US Chrysler site and it appears to be a very useful tool, BUT I don't know if it works with the 2.8 CRD i.e. diagnostics relating to the diesel engine. ​One member of this site (LEW306RED) had some correspondence on the US site but don't know if he's still active here, and too new to know how to contact him. Have sent an email to the manufacturers - they're Chinese and its Gong Hei Fat Choy 恭喜发财 at the moment so don't know when / if they will reply . Have no known faults on the old girl at present but belt and braces.. ( the reader's only a tad over a ton so will be worth a punt if....

The member map shows a lot of us being totally isolated, lonely soles owning strange vehicles. However, did a quick scan for active members (around 180 that have posted in the last six months. So where are you ? Whether it would be useful or not I don't know but hows about encouraging more members to stick their location on the map. In the future .. maybe a meet could be organised somewhere if more people exist ... bring your [FOR SALE] spare parts & a six pack (alcohol not strange muscles)... Any thoughts or shall I gfam now ?

Sometimes I dream of Old school, the old girl covered 300,00 miles + in my 12 years of owning her (she had 60K on her when bought, only scrapped her due to corrosion, something I regret - £1K for repairs and may have got another 2- 3 000ks, but now I've got the bus which I like a lot (not love yet, but growing on me - will see how the service goes tomorrow. Cheers

Bought a CGV 2.8CRD December 22nd.. fitted new Redtop 10/01/2020 RTU 4.2 .. also bought 8 amp smart charger just in case... but what I'm writing about is the parasitic drain - how can 25 milliamps kill a good battery in 21 days; 21 x 24 (504 hours) x .025 = 12.6 amps. The C/20 rate is 50 therefore over 20 hours pulling 2.5 amp will drain the battery; over 100 hours 0.5 amps drains it; over 500 hours 0.1 (100 milliamps); I would therefore assume the drain will result in the battery being 1/4 discharged.. Don't know... but When I was in the merchant navy left my 20 year old W124 Merc Estate (petrol) at the docks for 12 weeks (was supposed to be 8 but poo happens). Fired up straight away (Winter). Pulling the fuse sounds like a must BUT I assume the radio will demand it's security code which I don't have and obviously don't want to lose the radio. I must admit the Chrysler frightens me with its electrics, more like an IBM 360 on wheels. Everything appears to be computer controlled including the radio.. Why for heaven's sake - other than the Yanks love of complexity. - Having said that like the car, it's really the first vehicle that I'm comfortable driving (6' 5"), other than the brake pedal that's so far over to the left that it hits my left boot and provides some challenging breaking at times; am thinking of moving it over by an inch or so but not sure about the legalities.

@andyb2000 : Re the video you made on the thermostat mod; I noticed you had the temperature displayed in the speedo - how do you do this - cant find anything in the owners manual .....would be great to see the actual temperature and therefore be able to associate real vs the gauge guesstimate. (tried to paste the image file - but failed - sorry ! Have been through the workshop manual and there is no indication I can find of the gauges indicated value other than Cold (pointy down, normal somewhere near 9 o'clock to o sh*t (pointy up. I will be carrying out this mod next week with a 89oC thermostat (hopefully the weather will be kind, otherwise it may be next month or ... maybe June). My temperature gauge doesn't show anything adverse. Have just 'bunged up' the grill with pipe insulation as per the other winterising mod (not quite as pretty as the image on the forum but seems quite effective, as before 'stuffing the grille' the temp. gauge dropped down whilst driving.

There are a few on ebay.co.uk

Greetings one and all. Have owned a Chrysler (Grand Voyager 2.8 CRD 2007) for just under a month. Thought I'd bought a lemon however am hopeful it's turning into a peach, but it's a bit too soon to be over confident yet (or confident at all). Got it home, next morning .. no chance of starting, churned over and over, fired but died when key (starter) released...... Finally got it started with a jump start, got it down to the friendly garage (been with them 10 years - Ford, Merc,Merc,Ford). They didn't laugh so I assumed there was hope. Left it with them and picked it up two days later with a new (Red Top) battery,. Started well and is still doing so. Asked them what else they replaced and the answer was 'Nothing. They took off the fuel filter, it was new so they refitted, bled the lp system, removed, cleaned and greased the bleed nipple and nothing else. They did check the injectors (spill test?) all perfect. The van has 83,000 miles on the clock with the glow plugs, being replaced last year. The timing belt was changed 10,000 ~ miles ago and an inline fuel pump was fitted around the same time. I have a feeling that this vehicle has suffered from poor starting for some time, perhaps that accounts for the low mileage? I was dreading the ongoing swop out and replace with little or no results that others on the website appear to have suffered. I now have a new and unfitted relief valve in the glovebox. I have bought a charger that I used every night for around a week but decided to see how it went if I left off charging it for a couple of days.. result (1oC). Not a problem. Never had a Chrysler before let alone a beast this size, it's replaced a Ford Galaxy that surrendered it's reverse gear one cold and stormy night. Why change? The ability to drop the seats into the floor rather than have to chance a hernia taking the seats out plus sliding doors, plus the size. I tend to use it as a van for 90% of the time so sliding side doors make it easy to access tools in tight spaces. The size means I can throw everything in the back. Hopefully it's going to be a long and rewarding relationship.