Re: Zel's Fleet Blog...Jag, Citroens, Mercedes, Sinclair & AC Model 70
Posted: Sun Oct 24, 2021 8:32 pm
Cleaned up the area immediately around the SLS hydraulic reservoir, hopefully now the hose isn't sweating it will stay dry now.
Somewhere that *wasn't* dry I spotted while walking past the car when taking the dog out for a walk earlier was the offside rear corner.
I was initially slightly concerned that might be fuel (I know the tank does leak when absolutely full), but it turned out to be water.
Looking down into the area where the jack etc is stowed showed the source.
There was about 4" of standing water down there. Not screenwash either, so the rear washer bottle isn't to blame.
A bit of flailing around blindly I found what felt like a drain hole, and after fishing out some pond scum several pints (I'm not kidding, there was quite a lot) of water came pouring out.
Not entirely sure where that water had come from, but I'll definitely keep an eye on that. There's enough rust on this car as it is without it actively trying to dissolve from the inside out.
I'd hoped to get an oil change done today but just ran out of time, it'll be done tomorrow. Fluid check revealed everything still seems to be where I'd left it, despite the weep from the radiator.
I really do need to look at wiring in an override for the thermoswitch for the cooling fan, getting this far up the gauge before it cuts in just makes me way too anxious.
The van was the other recipient of some attention. The leisure battery has been showing signs of having died a sudden death recently. Dropping like a stone to around 10V pretty much as soon as any load is applied.
Before consigning it to the recycling bin I figured it made sense to at least check the electrolyte level, as a visual inspection can often reveal signs of damage too.
The label helpfully said to remove the sticker for maintenance...so I honestly expected to find cell plugs under it.
Yeah...about that.
Strikes me as an odd decision to render this sort of battery unserviceable given by its very nature as a leisure battery it's likely to spend a lot of time on float charge when the vehicle is in use or in standby ready for use.
In this case all it told me was that yes it's toast. The electrolyte in all but one cell is the colour or strong black coffee and on closer inspection the one end of the battery has bulged out by about 1/4"
That lip below the lid is recessed on the opposite end. Something has gone quite badly awry in this battery.
New one is about £100, not the end of the world but a cost I could have done without.
I think I'll probably look to make a bit of a change to the charging/DC supply in the near future too. The current onboard charger is a pretty old school one, and just supplies the DC circuits in parallel with the battery. Given that I'm in and out of the van quite a bit and like to leave the heater powered on in frost guard mode in the winter that means it spends quite a lot more time on charge than is ideal.
I think I'll set things up so instead I have a separate mains to 12V DC supply to run the onboard services when mains is hooked up and a separate proper intelligent charger to look after the battery. It's a pretty trivial matter to use a few relays to switch automatically between the battery or mains DC supply depending on whether mains is present. That will mean I can leave the van plugged in indefinitely without having to worry about it frying the leisure battery - but equally know that it's always ready to go if and when I go to use it.
To be fair kits probably already exist to do exactly what I'm suggesting off the shelf...be curious to see how horrifically overpriced they are as generally seems to be the case for most things aimed at campers or caravans!
DC supply shouldn't be difficult. By far the heaviest load is the heater during startup/shutdown, but even that's fused at 15A, though the highest draw I recall seeing during testing was around 10A...so doesn't need to be anything too specialised.
Somewhere that *wasn't* dry I spotted while walking past the car when taking the dog out for a walk earlier was the offside rear corner.
I was initially slightly concerned that might be fuel (I know the tank does leak when absolutely full), but it turned out to be water.
Looking down into the area where the jack etc is stowed showed the source.
There was about 4" of standing water down there. Not screenwash either, so the rear washer bottle isn't to blame.
A bit of flailing around blindly I found what felt like a drain hole, and after fishing out some pond scum several pints (I'm not kidding, there was quite a lot) of water came pouring out.
Not entirely sure where that water had come from, but I'll definitely keep an eye on that. There's enough rust on this car as it is without it actively trying to dissolve from the inside out.
I'd hoped to get an oil change done today but just ran out of time, it'll be done tomorrow. Fluid check revealed everything still seems to be where I'd left it, despite the weep from the radiator.
I really do need to look at wiring in an override for the thermoswitch for the cooling fan, getting this far up the gauge before it cuts in just makes me way too anxious.
The van was the other recipient of some attention. The leisure battery has been showing signs of having died a sudden death recently. Dropping like a stone to around 10V pretty much as soon as any load is applied.
Before consigning it to the recycling bin I figured it made sense to at least check the electrolyte level, as a visual inspection can often reveal signs of damage too.
The label helpfully said to remove the sticker for maintenance...so I honestly expected to find cell plugs under it.
Yeah...about that.
Strikes me as an odd decision to render this sort of battery unserviceable given by its very nature as a leisure battery it's likely to spend a lot of time on float charge when the vehicle is in use or in standby ready for use.
In this case all it told me was that yes it's toast. The electrolyte in all but one cell is the colour or strong black coffee and on closer inspection the one end of the battery has bulged out by about 1/4"
That lip below the lid is recessed on the opposite end. Something has gone quite badly awry in this battery.
New one is about £100, not the end of the world but a cost I could have done without.
I think I'll probably look to make a bit of a change to the charging/DC supply in the near future too. The current onboard charger is a pretty old school one, and just supplies the DC circuits in parallel with the battery. Given that I'm in and out of the van quite a bit and like to leave the heater powered on in frost guard mode in the winter that means it spends quite a lot more time on charge than is ideal.
I think I'll set things up so instead I have a separate mains to 12V DC supply to run the onboard services when mains is hooked up and a separate proper intelligent charger to look after the battery. It's a pretty trivial matter to use a few relays to switch automatically between the battery or mains DC supply depending on whether mains is present. That will mean I can leave the van plugged in indefinitely without having to worry about it frying the leisure battery - but equally know that it's always ready to go if and when I go to use it.
To be fair kits probably already exist to do exactly what I'm suggesting off the shelf...be curious to see how horrifically overpriced they are as generally seems to be the case for most things aimed at campers or caravans!
DC supply shouldn't be difficult. By far the heaviest load is the heater during startup/shutdown, but even that's fused at 15A, though the highest draw I recall seeing during testing was around 10A...so doesn't need to be anything too specialised.