Electric fans

[helen&tony]

Hi
Never tried it, but as you say, suitably wedged, I can't imagine problems, or a mattress in front of the bullbar and wedge it against the garage door ...I always leave the car running in winter to warm the heater for 20 minutes....leaving the steering lock on.
Cheers
Helen

[mikeonb4c]

20 minutes!!! Ye Gods that's what I call cold. Brrrrr.

[roosmith]

I have no idea about that is a good idea, however if you read an auto cars manual (and how it is taught in an auto car lesson) you should always put the car in N or P when stopped (at traffic lights etc) to stop strain on the running gear. Whether that is just being over cautious I don't know but hey!

I always knock mine into N as it saves 50% of the shuddering and shaking!

[mikeonb4c]

I have no idea about that is a good idea, however if you read an auto cars manual (and how it is taught in an auto car lesson) you should always put the car in N or P when stopped (at traffic lights etc) to stop strain on the running gear. Whether that is just being over cautious I don't know but hey!

I always knock mine into N as it saves 50% of the shuddering and shaking!

Yea I've seen that advice and I can recall it being debated on here years back. Opinion seemed split with some saying the repeated strain of putting it in and out of gear could be just as bad. I've no idea either way. What I'm banking on is designers know that the average auto driver just leaves the car in D whatever, so they will have factored that into durable design. I used to leave mine in D if only stopped briefly at lights. Now I'm more inclined to slip it into N.

[roosmith]

You are probably right. There is that age old debate of using engine braking to save the brakes, however brakes are cheap compared to a new gearbox. Who knows!!!! The debate will occupy us till our dying day.

All of this is said and done I'm sure my loading the Bongo with 2.5 tonnes of equipment and caravan and then driving it over mountains does far more damage than just leaving it it D!!!!! It's all relative.

[rita]

Hi
I got my kit (a cooler and some pipe) off Allans...Easy fit, and regarding the thermostat, I am thinking for my purposes...it is often below minus 25 Celcius , and it REALLY takes a time for the transmission to change gear...and that was before fitting the cooler, but as Alacrity says, it's probably an un-necessary item in the UK...I just know the time it takes to warm is very different here.
Transmission aside, in winter, the bottom of the radiator won't get above minus temperatures in 55 Kilometers...I have an i-Alert gauge on the bottom hose, and I switch it off because of the alarm....it takes 10 minutes in traffic before it reads...so that's in temperatures of minus 8 C or thereabouts, and running at 50-55 MPH. All the cooling is limited to the top half of the radiator in a cold winter.
Cheers
Helen

Rightly or wrongly, I've been known to chock the wheels and put the Bongo in D whilst it warms up for a few minutes on really cold mornings. Seems to warm the autobox quicker so it's ready to change up sooner when I hit the road. My drive slopes upwards also, so overall no chance of Bongo moving off

This is one of the times that the "Engine Exhaust Warm up Valve "(if fitted)comes into its own,I cant understand why some peeps decommission perfectly good serviceable systems.