What did you do to your van today?

Hope to collect van tomorrow
Had work done in shower ,kitchen drawer issue ,and few other items
Knowepark have been great Grant knew we had issues over the last few months and knew we had a funeral Tuesday so dropped van in Monday called today to come and collect ,brilliant service again in times when all companies get bad reviews
Maybe we've been very lucky apart from eng failing
 
Well as you mention Marseilles I would say something that surprised me. I was in France and my Mercedes Sprinter AutoSleeper developed a problem. It was 4 yrs old. I took it to a Mercedes Commercial garage. Cutting what could be a long story., they quoted 750 euros. 6 hours labour and three ?150 Euro servos later the bill was 630 euros. Turns out that in France each skill is charged at a different rate. At the Mercedes dealer labour ranged from 65 euros/ hr to the most expensive rate of 110 euros an hour. Item 1 on the bill was ‘take the vehicle into the workshop and put it on the ramp. 0.1 Hr @ 65 euros. The most expensive job was diagnose and replace 3 servos at 110 euros /hr. Most time was dismantle the dashboard and refit. There were posters in the waiting room which surprised me. Tyres, brakes, calipers, discs and servicing which looked so cheap to me that if my wagon wanted anything other than refill the screen washer I would take it there and pay them.
 
The laird said:
Hope to collect van tomorrow
Had work done in shower ,kitchen drawer issue ,and few other items
Knowepark have been great Grant knew we had issues over the last few months and knew we had a funeral Tuesday so dropped van in Monday called today to come and collect ,brilliant service again in times when all companies get bad reviews
Maybe we've been very lucky apart from eng failing
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You’ll be back in the land of Ruby soon, Gordon. Hope all went well on Tuesday 👍
 
Yeah seems ages terry but really 3 months but had plenty of family activities to keep us occupied tbh
Van back and we've been shampooing carpets,windows next
Stripped the dash and sorted a rattle that's been there for ages( too lazy I was to sort) but found air vent and trunk to heater box was the problem.looks like it's from the alarm install as wires are all about the area
 
Overhauled my leaky Carver Cascade 2 water heater. As well as leaking seals I found the aluminium rod that runs up the centre was corroded so that had to change as well as the hose connecting whatdoyoucallits . Bit of a job as of course everything screwed into the aluminium casting was corroded so I had to snap off the plastic hose connectors and then drill and carefully scrape the remaining plastic off the threads. IMG_8438.jpegIMG_8437.jpeg
 
gasgas said:
Overhauled my leaky Carver Cascade 2 water heater. As well as leaking seals I found the aluminium rod that runs up the centre was corroded so that had to change as well as the hose connecting whatdoyoucallits . Bit of a job as of course everything screwed into the aluminium casting was corroded so I had to snap off the plastic hose connectors and then drill and carefully scrape the remaining plastic off the threads. View attachment 78159View attachment 78160
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I did the same a while ago ( used a length of threaded stainless bar from Screwfix) then made a heat exchanger to go in the tank and power it from a hydronic diesel heater..so now LPG,diesel 240v ..diesel does full tank to 65c under 15 mins...also added digital thermostat for diesel and gas control
 
Vanterrier said:
I have been putting it off since I bought the van in November but today decided that the towbar just HAD to come off. I will never tow with the van and have no intention of adding a bike rack, so... Off it came!
Was not a bad job and the bolts and nuts all unscrewed easily. I have left the 7 pin connector still wired up and tucked away behind the bumper for now. I might keep the towbar as it might be of interest to a prospective buyer at some point in the future? But I might offer it for sale on the bay...
The whole lot came to around 32kg which is a useful addition to my available payload.

So, what did YOU do to your van today?

K ;)
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Hi Vanterrier,
I would n. ever take my towbar off, even though I never tow anything with it. Why? Protection! It saved my rear bumper more than once. It's a full van width steel box section, and I once reversed into a horrible concrete upstand on a site on Loire Valley. The impact caused a very slight bend in the square steel tube, if it has been the big plastic Humber, on a Hymer, that would have cost quite a few bob ££££ AND Totally ruined the holiday, as all the rear lights, are in the bumper. So I was a happy chappie that I have a decent bumper, I mean tow-bar🙂
TJC
 
According to the 'You Tube' [Scottish term of lack of endearment] for the 2016 Burstner Ixeo 590IT - our model - the bathroom sink tap just has a small grub screw at the the rear of the base, which you unscrew and then slide the tap body upwards to reach the microswitch., and then remove the old version, and then connect the new microswitch wires and job done. I beg to differ!

The grub 'screw' is a 1.7mm torx screw [had to buy a precision tool kit [recommended by David @wildebus from Amazon to remove the screw - 10 seconds work and £28 for the toolkit - only to discover that the tap body will not slide off - there are 2 more torx T15 bolts inside the body that need a thin Torx screwdriver to reach, and then removal of the water supply pipes and tension bands before snipping the microswitch wires to free the tap; lastly, the tap has angled pipe connectors, rather than the straight fittings that the You Tube video describes. Way over the top work and access problems, so I will look for a new tap that has removal and installation options that are a close match to the Video. 1/2 bathroom dismantled to reach pipework, screws and bolts galore and about 6-7 hours of fannying about trying to see what's blocking the removal and then overcoming the barrier to progress in a tight space - utter nonsense. Vorsprung durch Technic it certainly was not - more Berlin Wall construction to stop/deter Owners from doing repairs

Tomorrow is another day, and will be Day 3 of the 'project' if I can get a new tap locally ...

Steve
 
You can be proud of yourself Steve. Well done!

I dont much like working on taps in the van or at home, 'cos I know I'll end up on my back looking up and wondering which tool I haven't got could bodge to suit. I hate bodging anything.
 
marchie said:
According to the 'You Tube' [Scottish term of lack of endearment] for the 2016 Burstner Ixeo 590IT - our model - the bathroom sink tap just has a small grub screw at the the rear of the base, which you unscrew and then slide the tap body upwards to reach the microswitch., and then remove the old version, and then connect the new microswitch wires and job done. I beg to differ!

The grub 'screw' is a 1.7mm torx screw [had to buy a precision tool kit [recommended by David @wildebus from Amazon to remove the screw - 10 seconds work and £28 for the toolkit - only to discover that the tap body will not slide off - there are 2 more torx T15 bolts inside the body that need a thin Torx screwdriver to reach, and then removal of the water supply pipes and tension bands before snipping the microswitch wires to free the tap; lastly, the tap has angled pipe connectors, rather than the straight fittings that the You Tube video describes. Way over the top work and access problems, so I will look for a new tap that has removal and installation options that are a close match to the Video. 1/2 bathroom dismantled to reach pipework, screws and bolts galore and about 6-7 hours of fannying about trying to see what's blocking the removal and then overcoming the barrier to progress in a tight space - utter nonsense. Vorsprung durch Technic it certainly was not - more Berlin Wall construction to stop/deter Owners from doing repairs

Tomorrow is another day, and will be Day 3 of the 'project' if I can get a new tap locally ...

Steve
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I still have that tap I bought and we never used ;)
 
HurricaneSmith said:
You can be proud of yourself Steve. Well done!
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The biggest problem with plumbing is mopping up all water from the leaks from a bad connection. I've got two three plumbing jobs in the house but working around them ;)
At least with electrics, the electrons that leak out of a bad connection evaporate into the air :D

HurricaneSmith said:
I don't much like working on taps in the van or at home, 'cos I know I'll end up on my back looking up and wondering which tool I haven't got could bodge to suit. I hate bodging anything.
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There is a phrase that I use to justify my tools and does make sense, even if sometimes it takes a while to be proved the case ....
"haben ist besser als brauchen", which means it is better to have than need, and when it comes to doing a job, having a tool with you and not needing it is a lot better than needing a tool and not having it.
 
TeamRienza said:
Or, as we say here in N. Ireland, " you're better looking at it than looking for it".
It can be applied to many and varied situations.

Davy
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If you are referring to the past, and a time before I married, then I couldn't agree more. 👍

My father had a superb outlook on life, he told me that there is no such thing as an unattractive lady, it's just that some are even more attractive than others. 😁
 
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