1995 Range Rover P38 4.6 HSE - Cool Running

Hmm, frog porridge? Hardly yer Quaker Oats is it? Enjoy your trip!

Just got back from the A/C place. He hooked everything up and pulled a vacuum which appeared to hold. Happy with that, started to fill her up with 1250g of the finest refrigerant. Compressor and fans kicked in once some pressure built up, so the new switches are happy and now, for the first time in weeks, I has air-con. Let's hope that's that sorted.

Next up is to chase the little man in California about some interior bits he's supposed to be sorting and also give the little man who's building my all alloy radiator a nudge. Then it'll be rad/hoses and stat.

Today is now given over to taking the girls shopping for new school shoes, a venture from which I may never return (sane). Wish me luck.

I really need a passport. My only contribution to exotic and unusual foreign food is something made of chicken and salami called a "parmo" on a stag do in Redcar of all places...

Love the girls new favourite dinner!

What are the soups like out there? I adore Tom Yum soup and Pho so you must have something similar?

Now that did make me laugh. Thanks!

Oh, and the good luck obviously paid off as I'm writing this rather than sitting gibbering in a corner. Thanks again!

Yes, you do. Then you can come and eat stuff you don't recognize, like the rest of us.

No comment on Redcar (I'm from Lancashire originally ) but I remember parmo. May have to try that one out on the little bottle openers and see the reaction.

Up until this discovery they loved my roast chicken but I always have to do two as there ain't enough wings, legs and arseholes on one!

Some of the soups are very similar to Thai but not normally as hot as some of the Toms. They tend to be a thin broth with big bits rather than some of the soups we're used to. Soup Number 5 is made from a bulls whatsit and, so far, I've avoided that one, but Madam's prawn soup is a killer.

A lot of Philippine food is, but there are two problems. One is what you are actually eating, as in what bits. There's a great love of fat, gristle and the more extreme ends of the animals which I'm not really a big fan of, and the other is the way they butcher things like chicken. As is the norm in Asia, it's a big cleaver and chop it into bits so you wind up with bone shards and all sorts in there. However, if you cook the stuff at home using known bits, the food is really very good. We normally alternate the cooking so last night was beef tenderloin, tonight will be adobo and, I'm guessing here, Thursday will see a demand for the S,E&C (again). Best of both worlds.

Anyway, I survived the school shoe expedition. God it was hard work. Those two are like herding cats in a shop. Anyway, using a tried strategy, I withheld the six course lunch until retailing was complete, which concentrated their goldfish like minds wonderfully. So now they're all ready for the big day on Monday.

Not too sure on the A/C either. When we set off it was icy cold but coming home, it was noticeably warmer. Now, this could be due to sitting in full sun for three hours and the drive only being a short one. Or maybe I'm just paranoid? Anyway, I'll see how it is this morning. The lines all look good so if there is still a problem I'll be looking at the compressor (although there's no sign of leaks) or evaporator next. The latter is buried behind a very brittle dashboard and I'm loath to go poking around there if I don't need to.

Sounds like it's one of the best tools you have!

Parmos are quite possibly the densest food known to man; I can normally polish off a 12-14" pizza by myself after a night out but struggle to finish a parmo... Perhaps it's time for your little gannets to meet their (delicious, breadcrumbed, sauce-covered and cheesy) match?

Also, finally adding this thread to my bookmarks - it's usually at the top of Reader's Rides so I don't miss much but I don't want to risk it

*n

It actually made me miss a healthy alternative, such as a donner kebab topped with lard. Yeah Redcar was interesting, I didn't finish my cheese covered salami chicken thing due to one of said locals trying to rob my mates phone off the table and coming up against 14 drunk lads. Great fun!

You may have to wait for the next gen scan tools, but a mechanic friend of mine said recently that Toyota lost a court decision, because their using proprietary protocols was preventing private workshops checking diagnostic codes, which was seen as anti-competition.

You still have to go to the manufacturer if you need a key/immobiliser coded (you don't want everyone having access to that...) but as far as checking codes, they should be coming out soon.

This sounds reasonable, thanks. My understanding is that Toymota use something called MOBD (Multiplex OBD) rather than OBD2.



I'm getting information that some scanners can read certain areas but some cannot communicate at all and none can be used to make changes to settings. So, depending on what you have, you may be able to pull an engine fault code for example, but can do nothing to clear or re-set it afterwards. Although I'd be interested to hear if your mate has a different experience.

To be honest, I've no idea why anyone buys a Toyota at all given the 'quality' of service you get. Talk about a company that doesn't care. When I bought my D-max in KL I called into Toyota to look at the Hi-lux. Firstly it took them two days to supply a vehicle for a test drive and then nobody ever called me back on availability of the thing anyway. I always wondered then if that was the level of sales service, what would the workshop be like. Now I know!

Problem here is that Madam, unknown to me, arranged herself a bank loan. Fair enough, her money. But the way it works is that her bank only offer loans on Toyota Fortuners (I assume other banks offer different makes - so no scam there then) and so you get little say and now we're stuck with the bloody thing. She loves it but having only recently passed her test, she has little to compare it with and therefore her opinion is invalid. It's curse word I tell you!

Thanks again guys.

Just putting that out there...

*n