Useful day out

[Mandrake]

I see. I just felt that the fans were going to high speed a lot more readily and for longer than the old Xantia despite the coolant gauge staying between 80-90 degrees the whole time.

However because the weather has been so hot (27-28 degrees on Thursday and Friday) I was forced to leave the air con running the whole time, and there was massive heat soak in the engine bay to the point where even the plastic top cover on the engine was far too hot to touch...

Might just be the unusually hot weather, maybe it will be fine when the weather settles down. It certainly did the job - I was too cold with it running on an otherwise unbearably hot day, its just the percentage of time the fans were on high speed that bothered me a bit...

[DickieG]

On my new Xantia V6 the air con works extremely well (read: very cold on the 28 degree days this week) but the fans often switch to high speed when its in use and the engine bay is hot. Could this be a sign that the air con is actually over charged ? When the fans are on high the air con is still working.

Difficult one to answer accurately without attaching gauges and noting the readings, what I would say is that if the system works as well as you say but does not cut out where the compressor cuts in and out very briefly with the fans running at full speed then simply enjoy the cooling effect. FYI V6 Xantia's have a lower charge than other engined models namely 725gms.

[Northern_Mike]

Richard, could you possibly regas the Berlingo, in exchange for a donation to a charity of your choice? I'd like to get it done soon before we go off to France in it..

[DickieG]

Richard, could you possibly regas the Berlingo, in exchange for a donation to a charity of your choice? I'd like to get it done soon before we go off to France in it..

I've just sent you a pm Mike.

[Hell Razor5543]

Not so much useful, as opposed to interesting/exciting day out.

On Saturday (4/10) I went up to the Birmingham area to see family. On the way there Gracie had her ABS fail (fortunately not during a period of braking), and it hasn't cleared (so time to dig out the Lexia!). Later on my Mum, brother Alex and I headed off (in her Volvo V70 estate, known as 'The Galloping Greenhouse') to Worcester to have a look at a narrow boat Alex's girlfriend was interested in. Not a bad looking boat, but it needs work. Once we had finished, we headed on back home, only to have a hectic few moments that ended like this;



What happened was that, as we were passing the Worcestershire Royal Hospital, Mum exclaimed something, and slammed on the brakes. In front of us a BMW had crossed the centre lines, clipped a Rover 400, lost control (as his O/S/F tyre deflated very rapidly, and the wheel then jammed pointing right), and hit us full head on (and the Volvo has such good brakes we were now stationary at this point). Fortunately nobody was seriously hurt (bruises and shook up, but we are all going to visit our doctors tomorrow), and all cars/drivers were legal. It took time for the cars to be recovered and we learned something new; if you have an accident as opposed to a breakdown, and you have breakdown cover, they still won't recover you! but, as the road was partially blocked, the police arranged recovery.

I have to admit that, if it wasn't for that Volvo, we would have probably been more seriously injured. Much as I like Gracie, I feel that neither she or the Fiat Stilo would have done as well as 'The Galloping Greenhouse' (Fiat Stilo being owned by Alex's girlfriend). Say what you like about them, Volvo do build their cars for military service!

EDIT; I was looking through my photo album, and (of four I had taken) found an acceptable one of Fluffball!;

[Ben82]

Yikes, glad everyone is ok.
Volvos aren't built for military service, it's those big heavy moose on the loose that they build them for, or used to at least

[Hell Razor5543]

I don't know if you know, Ben, but one of the nicknames over here for Volvos is 'Swedish Tanks'!

[myglaren]

Ben is British James

[Hell Razor5543]

Drat, I forgot that!

[DickieG]

A couple of things to remember about Volvo's is that because they advertise them as being strong/good in collisions doesn't necessarily mean that they actually are.

Further to that Volvo won't submit their cars to Euro Ncap testing as they claim the tests aren't as relevant to everyday "real collisions", make of that whatever you wish,,,,,

[Ben82]

Further to that Volvo won't submit their cars to Euro Ncap testing as they claim the tests aren't as relevant to everyday "real collisions", make of that whatever you wish,,,,,

uh what? http://www.euroncap.com/results/volvo/v40/485.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; which is the last new car that Volvo put out.

[CitroJim]

Gosh James

Glad everyone is OK and it was only cars hurt..

Good to see a picture of Fluffball... When she was with me she was a terribly difficult cat to take a picture of!

[Hell Razor5543]

Thanks everybody (from all of us), for your concern. The Volvo is getting checked over today by a Volvo specialist, and (all being well) she will then be going to a Volvo dealership or specialist for repairs.

[addo]

I'm sure they will want to scratch it. It needs a bunch of stuff fixing now including a splice to the OSF rail; much of the underbonnet structural and supporting elements will have deformed in the sudden stop. A good £3500 to repair, at a guess.

[Northern_Mike]

Thanks everybody (from all of us), for your concern. The Volvo is getting checked over today by a Volvo specialist, and (all being well) she will then be going to a Volvo dealership or specialist for repairs.

What reg is it James? I suspect they will wish to write it off, that's quite a bump it's had there.