our little family holiday and a few gremlins!

landyprincess · 13th November 2011, 05:31 PM

Hi all,
hope you are doing fabulously well.

We've just returned from our trip interstate (Melb > Mannum) and have a few queries and new things to add to my 'list of to do'...

The main ones though are issues encountered so i've listed them below:

1/

3100RPM - engine power seems to loose power, that is go no where in a hurry... We were towing a 6x4 heavy duty trailer full of stuff one would expect for 2 weeks away with 4 little people, 2 adults and a luggage box on top. So my question is: would the loss of power be because of the extra load or a problem somewhere else engine wise?

2/

The trip meter resets itself after 1000k's... is this normal? We travelled 2200k's and it did it every 1000?

If anyone has anything to add that would be appreciated as to whether these things are normal or not?

Before we left I had major engine work done, aside from these issues Lp ran great.

-----------
On another note, last time I had a 'holiday' was 5 years ago and we've not gone away with the 4 kids ever for this length of time, only having done short weekend trips here and there rarely and I must say the kids were fantastic which is encouraging for us to go away more often now :-D

So my to do list now comprises of :

1. 2nd Battery (specifically to run dvd's, fans, gps, chargers etc)
2. Awning of some sort quickly erected to the boot door so that if it's raining we can change the kids butts without US getting wet (which we did)! (I plan on sewing this myself)
3. Canvas rubbish bag for rear wheel carrier (I plan on sewing this myself)
4. As our youngest is 10 months old, I am looking at designing a bracket of some sort to weld/bolt to the rear wheel carrier to securely hold a small travel pram.
5. As the little ones are only 2years old and 10 months in the middle row, I am thinking about storage boxes on the floor to store stuff in that they can step down onto + hide all the 'crap'.
6. Storage box between seats in cargo area between the 3y/o and 4y/o.
7. Canvas cover with zips & tie downs to cover trailer and it's cage.
8. Additional dc sockets installed at back of console box.
9. fix wiring problems w/ rear dc socket not working.

PICS attached:
1. Work in Progress: mounting a small oscillating 12vDC fan to a front roof panel of sorts... bottom left of photo of controller box will be mounted to the removable panel above, wiring is running under the trim and down the side. This will all get changed and wires hidden once I get a dual battery in.

2. Lp ladden up

I know some of the points above have been covered in other forum posts so just research on my part, however... if anyone has any points to add, they are welcome...

Cheers & thanks, Lp

**slug_burner** · 13th November 2011, 05:45 PM

Is it a Td5 or a V8?

I don't believe either should bog down at 3100 rpm unless it was a Td5 in top gear which would be sitting on 130-140 km/h which could be it if up hill or headwind.

**dswatts** · 13th November 2011, 06:00 PM

It's normal for the trip meter to roll over at 999Km

**Pedro_The_Swift** · 13th November 2011, 06:37 PM

Great to hear you had a great time away after all your work Lp

this is just a graph off the net,,
but may give you some indication why, look at the bottom right box at 3100---
Green Oval Garage. Performance Graphs

**Pedro_The_Swift** · 13th November 2011, 06:41 PM

oh, and as to your DC power supply,,
ciggy lighter installs are quick and easy, but also easy to knock and pull out,, if you get my drift--

**Blknight.aus** · 13th November 2011, 06:58 PM

you only need

a small bit of tarp (I use a hootchie)
some large pegs or quick grip clamps 2 of the clamps/pegs will need to be pre-positioned on the sheet (you'll work out where after the first time you do it)
one short extendable pole
a decent weighted box with some shock cord or a rope tied onto an occy strap (I use my recovery chain box)

it helps if you park with the vehicle facing slightly up hill and leaning to the drivers side so the rear door will hang open naturally when you open it.

the tarp, complete with 3 clamps should be stowed by the drivers seat, the pole, weighted box with the cord should be the first things you can get your hands on when you open the back door.

As you get out of the car and walk towards the back of the vehicle sling the tarp over the vehicle and clamp down the driver side to the gutter, with the weight of the 2 clamps on it it should go all the way over and hang down at the back of the vehicle. Lift up the bit that hangs down reach over to the left side from under the tarp and clamp it to the gutter on the passengers side of the vehicle. Open the door and attach the last clamp to the top back of the door with the door open grab the pole and insert it into the hole of the tarp for the last corner, prop it up with the pole at an angle, if the pole is heavy enough and there is no wind it might stay there by itself but if not simply hook the shock cord/ over it and push the box out with your foot.

takes all of about 20 seconds and you're only exposed to the rain for about as long as it takes to walk down the back and throw it over the roof.

landyprincess · 13th November 2011, 06:59 PM

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

Great to hear you had a great time away after all your work Lp

this is just a graph off the net,,
but may give you some indication why, look at the bottom right box at 3100---
Green Oval Garage. Performance Graphs

thx Pedro, the graph makes sense - however not sure how it translates completely to a V8 2000 model. Having said that though, around 2000RMP is when the 'power' kicked in & pickup of speed was good. So a TD5 and V8 die in the ar$e then around the 3k rev level?.... interesting :-/

re the cig lighter, I think when hubby changed over the trim from the 5 seater to the 7 seater something may have gone askew - so I will look into that one. I recall reading a post on the forum about one of the gents who had installed two additional cigpoints at the rear of the consol which looked neat and tidy & the instructions were good (think it was in the projects/tutorials from memory??).

The rear cig lighter is pretty crapola IMO & quite flimsy fixed to the trim. Is there any other way to properly secure it to the trim ??

thx slug-burner for your reply- it's a V8, just cross wind & alot of it!. No real steep hill, just smallish inclines but when we did need to overtake on hills it was a bit of a joke. Most of the problems with lack of power was attempting to overtake in the overtaking lanes, otherwise sitting on 100/110k's I thought was pretty good. (Unfortunately some people still like to drive 80/90k's in a 110km speed zone

which doesn't help with trying to get the revs up to overtake!)

Thx dswatts for your reply too. Out of 2 cars and 3 motorbikes this is the first one to reset itself after 999 k's...

Cheers,
Lp

**Pedro_The_Swift** · 13th November 2011, 07:14 PM

oooops
gimme a sec--

**Pedro_The_Swift** · 13th November 2011, 07:21 PM

any where around 3 should give you the V8's best driving experience,,,

suspect maf, airfilter,
one session on any tuneup machine will tell you what "normal" parts are wrong, leads plugs etc,,

The 4L will not pull the skin off a rice pudding below 2K---
(however is still better off road than the rattler at idle)

landyprincess · 13th November 2011, 08:21 PM

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

any where around 3 should give you the V8's best driving experience,,,

suspect maf, airfilter,
one session on any tuneup machine will tell you what "normal" parts are wrong, leads plugs etc,,

The 4L will not pull the skin off a rice pudding below 2K---
(however is still better off road than the rattler at idle)

Maf I know is ok as well as leads/plugs etc... the only one perhaps needs doing is the airfilter so will give that a change when I re-do the oil and oil filter... :-D

thanks,
Lp

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