Back from Annecy

[david.g.chapman]

I have just returned from a trip from Essex to Annecy in the Alps in my +2 - It was brilliant!

I drove 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon, so it took me 5-6 days to get there with overnight stops, and then another 5 days in Annecy.

Trouble with the car?

1. Driver's door remote control packed up in Calais - retaining clip for rod fell of - found in door bottom and replaced.

2. Alternator stopped charging in Tournus. Just a broken lead to the ref terminal - fixed in 5 mins.

3. Fan stops working coming out of Arras on the way back in 30 degree heat and a traffic jam! I just caught it in time with the temperature at 100 and rising. Used bypass wire to connect fan directly to battery - working - phew! It turned out to be a corroded in-line torpedo fuse I fitted earlier - the one with the cone shaped connection ends. Now cleaned and coated with Vaseline.

There was what looked like loads of gearbox oil over the rear of the car around the offside wishbone (not on the brakes), and the body. I was concerned, but the gearbox only lost 0.25 litres of oil over the 1600 mile trip - that's better than I expected.

The engine ran perfectly - I used Redex petrol additive which seems to keep the inlet valves clean.

So I'm a happy bunny and will do something similar before long.

Dave Chapman

[gherlt]

Hi,
I made a round trip Spain to Germany to Spain, participating in a regularity rallye and passing T?V (MOT) with my Elan S3.

Similar to you the ingnition light came on after 1000 km, but not "full on", just "half on".
Bosch service said that the alternator only charges with 8amp, may be the "diode ring" is partly damaged. So with a fully charged battery, with a second battery on board and thoughtfull use of electrics, I no problems driving with this fault.

But then, to bring the car through the T?V I had to adjust the handbreak pads, passed - although the left light stopped working just in their station. Then I forgot to loose the pads and the rear discs got hot and deformed (vibration on braking).

But I think the car did well doing 4.000 km, doing two times a full 1700 km trip in 16h at 120-130 kph steady.

Were did you stay in Annecy ? We will go there 13 to 17th July, now for our 7th year !
Until now we went to the Mercure centre, Ibis centre and Novotel. We prefered the ercure but now they seem not to allow a third bed in their rooms.

Regards

Guillermo

[david.g.chapman]

Guillermo,

My wife and I stayed in the Allobruges Hotel. It was quiet (how I like it) and the rooms were air-conditioned (also how I like it). You can book a covered parking space in advance (recommended). We arrived on the first day of summer - and all the streets were packed with people listening to street bands. What an atmostphere! There is plenty to do as you know, bike hire around the lake, mountain drives with scary hairpins, walking, chateau visits, the whole bag.

Sorry this thread is veering towards Free Parking - I will try to inject something technical - my tyre pressures were 22psi front and 26psi rear for 130kph driving. I have a 4 speed box, and my rev counter showed 4700 at that speed. I use an extra silencer box in my exhaust and this makes for bearable noise levels at that speed. In fact it seems louder at 90kph in 4th.

I was also running with a 3 core narrow rad and a Citroen BX19 12 inch fan, with 20% antifreeze and water-wetter added. At 130kph with no significant wind (which makes a difference), my fan started to run continuously at 30 degrees C ambient, to give me 85 degrees C coolant temp.

Although the system had lost control at that point (fan always on), everything was stable, so you could run under the same conditions in 35 degrees heat with 90 degree coolant. I can live with that.

I am getting carried away - time to stop!

Dave.