Having wasted more time on the phone today, a friend from Luxembourg called in at the recovery truck place at Houffalize. Haad a lengthy chat with matey there who explained that the fan belt had lost about a third of its width at one point and was likely to fail and potentially cause a lot of...

After more hours hanging on the phone to the UK breakdown people, we've all tried various LR garages in the area. Most have closed down for the summer holidays, they won't re-open for another 2 weeks! There's an offer to repatriate the car in about 3 weeks time! My idea is to get the car back...

Thanks for all the advice. Whichever way it's a dilemma! The simple answer is to get it recovered home. But even that is hassle. When I hd the oil cooler replaced just after I got the car I was advised then that the big turbo pipes were rather clogged up, they said the big turbo only comes into...

If that main belt is "sealed for life" as they say, the car's done about 148,000 miles (235,000km I remember) that I suspect is the usual "life" for these cars. Those who can afford a new one do so.

OK thanks for that help. Come to think of it, there's been a ticking noise for quite while. the recovery truck driver saw a bit peeling off the belt, the big, huge fiddly one. What concerned me was the red triangle light coming on along with the yellow one. The message was something like...

It would help if there was someone local with the box of bits to read the fault codes.

Quite, my other half has this thing about "tidying up" and not knowing where she's put my stuff, most annoying. I doubt it's brakes binding, the rears have only been on the car a couple of weeks, the fronts were serviced and freed off at the same time. What I was hoping was that the recovery...

Sadly I don't have the handbook with me, it's at home "somewhere" tidy! I reckon it could well have been gearbox overheat, there was a bit of burning smell at the top of the hill, but that's normal for everything on that road. Maybe low on gearbox oil? How can I check on that? Maybe with the...

I've not come across that, I'm used to the normal V belts and multi-groove belts used on buses! It seems to me that to replace the belt the whole front end has to come off. What else is driven off that belt, and I wonder what cause the red and yellow warning signs on the dash? Possible turbo...

As you may have read in another thread, I'm currently stuck in the Wallonie part of Belgium with the 4.4TDV showing with what I suspect is the fan belt about to fall apart . does anyone have any contact detail or recommendation for garage in the area who can help? The recovery firm say they...

It's just over a year since my trusty 08 reg engine blew up, a couple of weeks having spent a fortune getting the brakes and suspension joints done. te next 2, 1 was disastrous, the next a Sport was ok but cracked wheels were costing a fortune and the body trim was loose everywhere. As I...

It's a common design which I see a lot on bus air brake components. It'll be a thin O ring. If you ccn slacken the 2 halves and get in there with a sliding vernier it should be possible to get the internal diameter. But without that measurement I can't help.

It would be unusual to have 2 O rings facing each other. It you can find the size I've got hundreds here and will happily send you one. Bemble might know if he's still around.

My l add to my little bottomless money pit? Booked in with my local indie garage for new brake pads and front suspension arms etc, the usual clapped=out at over 140,000 miles syndrome. It also needs 2 rear caliper replacing, in is so badly siezed it won't move at all, and the nsf tyre has a huge...

Out and about for a couple of short motorway trips, Ashford to Broadstairs (sounds a bit posher than Margate) and before that Ashord to Folkestone and back. On the way back from Marstairs approaching folkeston the "brake worn" light came on. Got home and checked things out, offside rear very...

Windscreen? No it's still greasy inside, I really must find the white vinegar.

Thankfully mine's been behaving for the last few weeks, busy going to and from night work, a couple of social events, mostly motorway work. I tend to get though about £100-worth of diesel a week, car says 27.8mpg. But that depends on whether me or the other half uses the car. i use cruise...

There's a lot of loose chippings round here at the moment, usually from stones getting flung up from pot holes. The bus-grade cleaner has a mix of alcohol and other stuff, but I'll give white vinegar a try. I've got some acetone, used for making model railway plastic kits but it's quite...

My TDV8 has been running ok, but since I bought the car last November we've been battling to clean the windscreen. Whoever had the car before seems to have sprayed the inside with some sort of wax that's impossible to move with whatever we try. Tried the usual Tesco type glass cleaner; heavy...

Re air supply for suspension, there's usually a Schraeder valve in the boot under the compressor cover which hides under the spare wheel. Got my car back from Bexhill, the old starter was jammed with the armature out so would never have worked anyway. They fitted a new starter and replaced a...