Your fleet running reports

[DeskJockey]

Zoe charging fun still continues, and I'm none the wiser.

Swapped cars/chargers with a friend. He charged his Audi here, I charged the Zoe at his. Logic being if the Zoe charges fine at his, and his doesn't here, it is the charger. If his is fine, and the Zoe isn't, it is the car.

Both cars charged to 100% without issue. Both chargers are 7kW/32A, so apart from the manufacturer (which shouldn't be a factor) it is an apples for apples test.

Now what?

[Matty]

This with a Zappi charger?

Asked on the owners forums if anyone else has issues with Zappi and Zoe? (Sounds like a Saturday morning puppet duo). Any software or firmware upgrades needed?

[DeskJockey]

Zappi, yes.

Nothing has changed in terms of software with either (both permanently offline), and I've not seen anything mentioned.

They're both running the latest firmware that was available before the end of 3G (Zoe), and the Zappi Hub deciding it didn't want to talk to anything anymore.

It was fine until the charging port on the car broke, then fine again for a good while. We've had the car and charger for over five years, and only had issues in the last of them.

My initial thought was that it overheated, as the charger sits on the SE wall of the house. With the change in temperature, that shouldn't be the case. If it happens again I might just bite the bullet and buy the replacement plug/lead and see if that fixes it.

Edit: looked again and have found others with the same issue. Changing the cable fixed it (at least temporarily, for one). I guess that's what we're doing then.

[Sundayjumper]

I took the M5 to run a short errand last night and a couple of miles down the road got a warning the engine temperature was too high. Cooling fan was running at full pelt. Even though the gauge on the dash had not even moved yet. The “secret” menu revealed:

IMG_0129.jpeg (86.76 KiB) Viewed 322 times

Yeah. No. I don’t think it’s really running at -128°

Turned it off & back on, and it was all fine. Weird.

[Jobbo]

Too high? I guess any cooling system which gets within 150K of absolute zero is pretty effective.

[V8Granite]

I took the M5 to run a short errand last night and a couple of miles down the road got a warning the engine temperature was too high. Cooling fan was running at full pelt. Even though the gauge on the dash had not even moved yet. The “secret” menu revealed:


IMG_0129.jpeg


Yeah. No. I don’t think it’s really running at -128°

Turned it off & back on, and it was all fine. Weird.

Have you ever just left it on a trickle charger for a few days ?

As time goes on and more electrical connections age and get connected, disconnected it must cause havoc with all the delicate systems.

We have similar at work when the charge circuit for the batteries has had issues even though we only take power direct from the batteries.

Dave!

[V8Granite]

The Clio has had a gearbox oil leak for a year, it's from the selector and needs to be stripped down to fix.

I naively thought it hadn't lost a lot but I added 900ml into the box yesterday and it takes 3.0 litres. I can't feel any difference in the box but am happy it has been topped up. I'll have a look around and get the gearbox rebuilt next year and maybe add a diff if it's worthwhile. It's a keeper.

The ML now has an MOT but it needs replacing and it needs to be interesting, I was so close in my annoyed state to getting a C5 RS6 and it's still top of the list but sensible it is not.

Dave!

[Beany]

Yeah. No. I don’t think it’s really running at -128°

Turned it off & back on, and it was all fine. Weird.

Buffer overflow (the -128 - it'll probably be a signed 8bit integer, -128 to 127) caused by a short most likely.

Could be when you were elbow deep in it that a loom got pinched near something that moves with the engine, might be worth casting an eye around if it comes back and a sensor swap doesn't fix it.

Low voltage in BMWs usually results in a full on christmas tree light display of warnings rather than one sensor temporarily baulking - that smells like the ECU got a weird, completely out of scope value causing the buffer overflow and went into 'oh shit' cooling mode just in case.

[Mito Man]

They grow up so fast…

A simpler world 7 years ago.

[Sundayjumper]

Too high?

Bafflingly, yes:

IMG_0127.jpeg (98.36 KiB) Viewed 245 times

[Sundayjumper]

Have you ever just left it on a trickle charger for a few days ?

Funnily enough, yes, I have. I've mostly been using the 1-Series for work so it's been sat quite a lot and I've been making a point of putting it on trickle charge overnight once every couple of weeks to be on the safe side. It's not done this before so I'm not going to worry unless it becomes a regular thing.

[Sundayjumper]

Yeah. No. I don’t think it’s really running at -128°

Turned it off & back on, and it was all fine. Weird.

Buffer overflow (the -128 - it'll probably be a signed 8bit integer, -128 to 127) caused by a short most likely.

Could be when you were elbow deep in it that a loom got pinched near something that moves with the engine, might be worth casting an eye around if it comes back and a sensor swap doesn't fix it.

Low voltage in BMWs usually results in a full on christmas tree light display of warnings rather than one sensor temporarily baulking - that smells like the ECU got a weird, completely out of scope value causing the buffer overflow and went into 'oh shit' cooling mode just in case.

Hmm, yeah. The -128 was clearly an "out of range" value. Curious that both oil & coolant measures spazzed out at the same time though. And the oil returned a * instead of -128. Whatevs though, unless it keeps doing it I'm not going to worry too much.

[Delphi]

Found a small puddle of power steering fluid on my garage floor. I assumed it was one of the hoses going to the reservoir that needed nipping up, but no - it's leaking from the rack. Looking at £400 for a refurb and 4 hours labour.

[Jimexpl]

The Caddy was delivered about a week ago to replace the dead Berlingo.

It seemed too decent to immediately hand over to our mid-engineer, so I drove it for a couple of days.
Nice place to be. VW interface is better than the last time I tried it, but still more of a hassle than it needs to be for some functions.
Lack of storage in the cab compared to the Berlingo - have ordered an aftermarket centre armrest/cubby.

Does 65-70 miles on electric before the petrol engine takes over. Grey massively better than white!

[Delphi]

The Caddy was delivered about a week ago to replace the dead Berlingo.

It seemed too decent to immediately hand over to our mid-engineer, so I drove it for a couple of days.
Nice place to be. VW interface is better than the last time I tried it, but still more of a hassle than it needs to be for some functions.
Lack of storage in the cab compared to the Berlingo - have ordered an aftermarket centre armrest/cubby.

Does 65-70 miles on electric before the petrol engine takes over. Grey massively better than white!

When I saw that photo initially, I was wondering what option you had on the roof before I realised it was a gazebo in the church grounds!

[Jimexpl]

The Caddy was delivered about a week ago to replace the dead Berlingo.

When I saw that photo initially, I was wondering what option you had on the roof before I realised it was a gazebo in the church grounds!

Custom roof tent...

Actually, it's a church in Notting Hill half way between Portobello Rd and Holland Park that's realised selling half decent coffee to all of the construction workers in the area is quite lucrative!

[Jimmy Choo]

The Caddy was delivered about a week ago to replace the dead Berlingo.

It seemed too decent to immediately hand over to our mid-engineer, so I drove it for a couple of days.
Nice place to be. VW interface is better than the last time I tried it, but still more of a hassle than it needs to be for some functions.
Lack of storage in the cab compared to the Berlingo - have ordered an aftermarket centre armrest/cubby.

Does 65-70 miles on electric before the petrol engine takes over. Grey massively better than white!

When I saw that photo initially, I was wondering what option you had on the roof before I realised it was a gazebo in the church grounds!

Jewish van, innit. That's its yarmulke

[Jobbo]

M5 Touring update. Passed 10,000 miles on my journey to Cardiff yesterday. Average fuel economy over that is 43.2mpg.

It's been to most corners of the western half of the UK (from the most northerly point on the Isle of Lewis to Looe in Cornwall via Anglesey and pretty much all of mid-Wales, it's been on a heck of a lot of small ferries and a couple of larger ones, it has attracted more attention than I would necessarily like, but less negativity than I might have expected. It's still much more of an event to drive than my previous series of big estates over the last 20 years but it's still fitting into daily life as a big practical estate car should.

If Audi had launched the new Allroad a few months earlier I'd probably have ended up getting one of those instead, but then I'd always have wondered about the M5 so I'm very glad I've got it. I'll probably swap it for an Allroad next time though; the performance is utterly unnecessary. I remember in my first 545i Touring accelerating up a long dual carriageway and being surprised when I looked down and was doing 150. On my journey to Cardiff I pressed the accelerator pedal a bit harder from 70 when something moved over and saw 130 in seconds; I don't think I was flat to the floor either, and I was only in the normal hybrid mode not sports settings. But you wouldn't do silly speeds and not notice; it's very refined crusing at the legal limit but it does make more noise if you prod it.

Oh, and the seats are utterly brilliant, incredibly comfortable but hold you in perfectly due to the adjustable side bolsters. All of the stuff which being a hybrid gets you - like pre-conditioning the cabin and driving around town silently and efficiently - is so useful and doesn't really compromise the car at all. Yes it's heavy but so is a petrol Cayenne. The steering has a really quick rack so it's alert and has very little understeer, while only needing a roll of the wrists for corners - clearly Alfa were right all along because I am really enjoying that.

Downsides: the adaptive cruise control is a step back from my Audi which was a step back from my 2018 Volvo (!) - it is very quick to drop the steering assistance and a bit slow to react to the car in front braking or accelerating. The boot roller cover is a bit flimsy and needed a warranty repair - but it can be stored under the boot floor which is not something any of my previous cars have done, so swings and roundabouts. I think the front P-zeroes are in need of replacement fairly soon so it's not as easy on tyres as my Audi was.

Still very much enjoying it anyway

[DeskJockey]

Zoe due the eight year/80k miles service. According to the Renault booking service it "includes cabin air filter, brake fluid change", for which they would like £809.something.

I'm going with, no.

Had the brake fluid changed two years ago (not by them), so going with a more reasonably priced option elsewhere.

[Jimexpl]

M5 Touring update. Passed 10,000 miles on my journey to Cardiff yesterday. Average fuel economy over that is 43.2mpg.

It's been to most corners of the western half of the UK (from the most northerly point on the Isle of Lewis to Looe in Cornwall via Anglesey and pretty much all of mid-Wales, it's been on a heck of a lot of small ferries and a couple of larger ones, it has attracted more attention than I would necessarily like, but less negativity than I might have expected. It's still much more of an event to drive than my previous series of big estates over the last 20 years but it's still fitting into daily life as a big practical estate car should.

If Audi had launched the new Allroad a few months earlier I'd probably have ended up getting one of those instead, but then I'd always have wondered about the M5 so I'm very glad I've got it. I'll probably swap it for an Allroad next time though; the performance is utterly unnecessary. I remember in my first 545i Touring accelerating up a long dual carriageway and being surprised when I looked down and was doing 150. On my journey to Cardiff I pressed the accelerator pedal a bit harder from 70 when something moved over and saw 130 in seconds; I don't think I was flat to the floor either, and I was only in the normal hybrid mode not sports settings. But you wouldn't do silly speeds and not notice; it's very refined crusing at the legal limit but it does make more noise if you prod it.

Oh, and the seats are utterly brilliant, incredibly comfortable but hold you in perfectly due to the adjustable side bolsters. All of the stuff which being a hybrid gets you - like pre-conditioning the cabin and driving around town silently and efficiently - is so useful and doesn't really compromise the car at all. Yes it's heavy but so is a petrol Cayenne. The steering has a really quick rack so it's alert and has very little understeer, while only needing a roll of the wrists for corners - clearly Alfa were right all along because I am really enjoying that.

Downsides: the adaptive cruise control is a step back from my Audi which was a step back from my 2018 Volvo (!) - it is very quick to drop the steering assistance and a bit slow to react to the car in front braking or accelerating. The boot roller cover is a bit flimsy and needed a warranty repair - but it can be stored under the boot floor which is not something any of my previous cars have done, so swings and roundabouts. I think the front P-zeroes are in need of replacement fairly soon so it's not as easy on tyres as my Audi was.

Still very much enjoying it anyway

How many times have you used full throttle, and do you ever manually select gears or just let the car decide for you?