QinteQ

Thoughts would be (1) an auto & manual can never be compared, (2) winter and summer can never be compared (3) diesel & petrol can never be compared, only like with like can be compared. My 2.8 auto [with Webasto] returns 33.0 MPG in the winter and 33.9 MPG in the summer. I would expect a 2.8 CRD to average about 5 MPG more than a 2.5 CRD. Most, other than eejits would never buy a people carrier unless its a necessity - I did, its not a necessity - and love it. My 4 gear 41TE average MPG on +5PSI tyres & 'winterised' seems to be a little higher than most I encounter on the forums for which I'm grateful, I have to add I'm not slow but neither do I drive like a headbanger on 'red bull', I'm always at the legal limits and all above 30 MPH is on 'cruise'. Best of luck.

The Themotop C looks like this under the car, the exhaust & flexi pipe comes from item 6 on Fig. 101 in the *.pdf. best of luck.

What people often think as a vibrating exhaust is most times that the top thin alloy 'heat shield' has rotted out at the bolt point. The aluminium reacts with the steel bolt, the holes enlarge till they are so big the shield sits directly on top of the exhaust and vibrates like hell.

The whole design of the suspension & braking system is still in the 50's and inadequate for today's needs, that includes their current new models. My advice is every time shocks -disks - pads - struts - and particularly what we call handbrake parts need replacing, and they will - uprate as well as replace with aftermarket non OEM parts. That said its a gorgeous car for the money and a pleasure to drive if its looked after right..

Most cars here are 2005+, the Voyagers went CAN from a manufacture date of May 2004, so if your car is a 2005 registration you will need a CAN capable code reader to see anything useful. Older Chrysler used the CCD-BUS [or PCi-BUS] up to 05/04. So be careful what you waste your money on, learn and understand the difference between a reader and a scanner and the usefulness of P B C & U codes each of which have a binary 0 & 1 derivative to differentiate twixt the '0' for Generic and the '1' for Enhanced / manufacturer specific which can not be read with the types of scanner being discussed here. Best of luck.

5 key movements on/off on/off then on and leave it. The ODO says donE, then reads back the 'P' codes like this

You're welcome - in our winter every little help ........... helps.

The first important tool in the engineers diagnostic tool-chest is the 4 fingered snap-on test-tool. Its use applies anywhere in a car regardless of 12v or earth or data-lines. Grab and shake with the fingers - what changes ? Congratulations, glad you are sorted.

Look & read here for starters.

Chrysler & most other makers use a thermostat type that never restricts flow to the heater core, in other words they are design to fail in an open position. That way you might get cold but should never steam-boil a head as was the case in years gone by. Pleased you are sorted.

You can if you know how, test the sensor before buying a new one. The info for that [how to] and all your Voyager needs including the elusive diesel info is in the Chrysler Workshop Manuals here. Best of luck.

There's no way to make the code disappear without a scanner, I've got a scanner but if I wiped the code for you it would reappear very quickly, the solution is to test & replace the wheel sensor if needed and it almost always is .... needed.

Yes, the trans or top cooling hose. I did mine in the middle with 2 jubilee clips as described above, but you can do the same job by pulling the same hose off the RHS of the engine. Here you insert the same stat the same way [QTH210K] deep enough into the hose and jubilee it, then put the hose back on and jubilee that, then burp it. Its the same exact thing just a~n~other way of doing it. The stat flange lip [the one you drill] is just a frac too large which is a good thing and makes a good interference or friction fit.

The stat - opening heat is @ 82°C Quinton Hazell 210 ThermostatOpening Heat --- 82 deg CSize A = Across ring --- 48mm.Size B = Below ring --- 32.5mm.Size C = Bottom ring --- 28.5mm http://www.micksgarage.com/img/td/57/l/qth210k-1.jpg The inline stat is really just a stat [above] mounted the correct way round [water flow] with two pass through holes drilled into the stat rim. Cut a piece out of the transverse top pipe smear the stat with 'fairy liquid' force it in the top hose and jubilee clip tight. I'm lucky to have my own lathe and made a bespoke fitting : http://i.imgur.com/fWzORGm.jpg but just the stat on its own [see above] will do. Its not rocket science. To ensure you avoid an air lock make sure you drill one 1.5mm hole in the rim and that the wax bulb faces the engine / bulkhead, don't go 'safe mode' and drill three holes, it will work but will really slow down the warm up time and defeat the objective. REM to turn the heater full belt [to open the matrix] and remove the plastic water cap to 'burp' any air when you top up and bleed. The [winterizing] Lagging I used these lengths of lagging. I cut enough lengths [they expanded to 35mm when on] to obscure 2/3 of the radiator grill. It worked very well, they needed no 'fixing' and never came off, were not worth stealing by toe-rags and were cheap enough to throw away and put new ones on next year. Worked for me, with a built in reverse - if for any reason you need to - just pull them off and you are back to standard in less than 3 seconds. You will notice in the pic I deliberately pulled the previously tight 'V shaped joint cuts' slightly apart on the top piece of lagging to show you on the other two lower strips how, once fitted, they look almost unnoticeable. £3 quid well spent. http://i.imgur.com/9SgNcwx.jpg

You are welcome my friend, the car is a gud-n but the interior volume of only just short of 200 cu.ft takes some heat maintenance after xmas in the UK. Best of luck

Workshop manuals including the never to be found diesels are here the manuals for all the years are here. Best of luck.

- get some lagging from Screwfix 99p a length - cut to fit in the grill - throw away come summer if you need to - do the same next year. - putting a new stat in is a pigs job - fit an inline stat - 20 minutes - £20 - GATES Part Number TH01489 from rockauto uk - temp should be just under 1/2, any less than that and you will never get heat regardless - any less than 1/2 on the gauge in winter and fuel costs rise by 5p per gallon - quick school runs only and you will never get heat from the big engine lump The Webasto light should come on at will or at all only if the heater is switched on and on auto digital temp. Example it will never come on even @ -20 °C if the heating is switched off. Best of luck.

The 1st check is to put a good fully charged and off the charger for 2 hours battery on, that battery needs to be close to 80/800 ish and see what happens, I make the following obs : Means nothing, 20 miles per day every day means about 15 to 20 minutes of charge rate, not nearly sufficient to replace the start amps cost I tried a Maplins 13W charger in the window all year and it gives a quoted 743mA, don't believe it - I made it closer to 200mA on the brightest stonking summer day. Convert your 150W into amps then divide it by four over a whole years facing the sun then you might have some idea of the real value - it - the solar is however a good idea for those who can not connect a 5 or 7 stage conditioner changer for an 80Ah need. When the world was proclaiming the new Jesus battery, I was already warning people off them. Nevertheless it is a straight swap size for those who don't want to make a mod on the battery tray / FCM / shroud and cables. This is not complicated they are totally different animals, they are all AGM but the red is the one you want and is for a high enough for long enough belt to start an engine, blue is marine multi and yellow is just the size of the stud as in the blue has a 5/16ths and the yellow a 3/8ths stud. The marine is designed for slow release - running lights radio converters etc and the red is for CCA giving it all now to start a car.

.1.a. Well you need to decide first whether you want to dismantle and cut parts of both the new battery and the cars battery tray, or just put in a known to fit new battery. .2. Then there are many other issues you might take into account, for example : - there are 6 different RedTops ranging from the 25 that will give you 720CCA's @ °F all the way to the 34/78 that will give you 800CCA's @ °F - never choose to put your REG or car type into any site, it will sell you the exact useless performing battery you already have - is it fuel pressure / air in / IOD excess / parasympathetic draw / bad wiring / the notorious radio bodge / and not weak battery - have you eliminated these ? - etc If you open the bonnet and the plunger on the hand primer is rock hard then you can assume [leak test if needed later] you have enough fuel pressure. I've come across several that have slack fuel filters and / or plastic water traps as a result of bad servicing standards allowing air in - check they are tight. IOS should be 0.015 to 0.025 ampere with the IGN switch off, running the clock & radio which are always-on can draw up to 0.025 which is why Chrysler tell you to pull the stepped IOD fuse if you are away from it for 10 days or more. Lifestyle is critical you could have a brand new fork lift battery and still won't start if you only drive it 15 minutes each way now and then per week. My battery reads a steady 14.1v charge in the winter, two 15 minute periods @ 13.2V is 2 x 15 minute @ 21Ah, compared to two 15 minute periods @ 14.4V is 2 x 15 minute @ 60Ah, is an improvement of about 300%, so you see its worth deciding what you can check & eliminate first.I changed my big Bosch for a 4 year old scrap 80/800 Varta F21 AGM which is what BMW fit as their own BMW 7 series brand [they are not - they are Varta manufactured and are Length (MM) Top 315 Width (MM) Top 175 Height (MM) inc Terminals 190] and I'm certainly confident it fits in my car and has already perform in one winter - Its important to tell you I use the car once a week only on x2 15 minute trips each way. Best of luck Nigel. .

- the Grand Voyager CRD's are a pig for starting in the cold UK- all batteries really have a performance life of only 3 years- the best UK straight swap in a Voyager is the Optima 4.2 at about £160 !- the best we can do for cold starting is a - CCA of 95+ which inevitably comes with an Ah of 95- I did consider the Odyssey 1500 but it was too salty at £350- I bought a big S6 BOSCH and air sawed 4 chunks from the battery tray etc to fit it- the BOSCH I fitted 3 years ago has a starting power of 3,500 watts this has been sufficient even for vehicles with an extreme cycle load since then What we really need seems does not / can never exist, because on a short run the lower the Ah the better. The lower Ah of say 45 / 55 means the battery can [if the alternator can output it] soak up more charge in a shorter period. A fully charged top notch battery outside your house in a UK summer - start the car - no load at all on the charging system, everything turned off - put you headlights, radio, and blower on an at 2000RPM your alternator output will jump from 10+ to 30+ amps. So, in a UK winter, those like me with infrequent short runs really need a CCA of 95+ with an [impossible combination of] Ah of 65. The BTS determines battery temp in order to control the charge rate via the PCM. Put simply colder = high charge, and warmer = lower charge. The 5 volts reduces resistance in ohms value as the temp goes up. Simply moving the sensor or putting a £1 computer 12v 'chipset' mini-fan on it will have the effect of maintaining the highest allowable amp input value. My / our problem as stated is short infrequent trips are not enough to keep the battery fully charged, this hard starting or a no-start condition causes chronic undercharging and a shortening via sulphated plates, low voltage as we all know can play havoc with onboard electronics, and the fuel injection and ignition systems. I always understood there were 2 general rules : - (1) the alternator output should be a minimum of 1/4 of the battery aH, for continuous short runs however - charging the alternator output would need to be 150%[ish] of maximum load - (2) the 1 to 25 ratio [1 horsepower energy from the engine to make 25 peak alternator amps energy] This old Yorkshire-man's view on deep cycle wet-flooded needs to be related to newer tech. New tech such as AGM's and spirals can 'soak up' to 40% their available capacities rather than the 25% of the older tech. And there we have the nub of it .. .. this CRD car designed for spark not compression has a diesel engine with a petrol standard battery which to me appears to be not fit for purpose in that first place, I question whether the alternator and cabling [safety] was upgraded for a diesel spec, subsequent advances in tech leading to recommendations for spiral and AGM fall down because the alternator output now no longer reflects the optimal ratio between alternator and battery capacity. To truly benefit from an AGM or Spiral the alternator output needs to be increased to facilitate the 40% that these battery types are capable of, instead we continue blindly with an alternator output incapable of charging a modern battery unless the car is run daily and for a long run. So in my case an S6 and in your case a RedTop.

Stat I cut a couple of inches from the top transverse hose and put an online stat in, two jubilee clips and it worked ok. I've never pulled a van or a trailer. The vehicle never reached above a 1/4 on temp even with a Webasto running in the cold winter. After the mod it runs where is should be at 1/2, reaches working temp very quickly and has never overheated in the hot summers. Antifreeze Hoat Go5 antfreeze, never mix it, never back flush alloy rads, rem to open the heater matrix full, always burp. I drained from the bottom rad hose, Hosepipe flushed clean tapwater in at the expansion bottle and out at the bottom rad hose. Used a 1/2 & 1/2 G05 & distilled water to refill. Tickover with the matrix open and the top expansion bottle burped it.

The key dance on Voyagers is as probably as good as any cheepo code reader / so called scanner. A £56 USA specific iCarSoft i810 claims to do American cars and CAN [controller area network] BUS vehicles covering all PO, P2 P3 and UO to include P1/3 and U1's on Euro petrol & diesel OBDII. I've never seem one and do not believe it will do any of its claims for £60. I would be happy to be proven wrong. We have as yet no idea what the O/P's car is, but if his purchase was a CAN capable i810 and it does diagnose his problem on his fuel type and year of manufacture for £60 I'd like to hear about it.

Some manufacturers own codes are easier than others, the generic DTC codes you get from cheepo reader tools [diagnostic trouble codes] are totally different from from vehicle / manufacturer / enhanced specific scan tools. TBH even when you compare for example the best rated x10 £1500+ different scanners which all have manufacturer specific info you will get huge variations in the capability of each to read different manufacturers., some diagnose Chrysler well others do not. Apart from main stealers many back street indie garages have scanners that will make a good fist of scanning Chrysler for about £35 a pop - a whole lot less than a main dealer, many of those indies will have a Launch x431 Diagun which was and is a very effective Chrysler scanner compared to many. Best of luck.

Anything under £500, even on a grey import is a waste of time. You will get more information free of charge direct from the [key dance] IGN key.

It does exactly what you said. 19% is 3% more than you needed, the MOT is 16% for a split cable and 25% for a single line cable. The clockspring has a dual function of balancing the dual cable system and pre-tensioning the pull so that the single line cable that connects to the Y piece dual loop does not stretch. I'm surprised the #6 suggestion did not work it works for 99% of all cars of all brands this this kind of braking arrangement. That suggests that the shoes probably need adjusting or replacing at some convenient point. The knurled wheel is always down for more up for less. Many many handbrake shoes look like 'mary rose' 200 year old rusted relics, the top hat is almost never taken off by service people and still manages an MOT pass. At the end of the day is a parking brake folks, not a handbrake. It will never hold a two and a half ton bus on a hill even when its at 60%.