Campervan Capers! - a 900 mile trip -mechanical mayhem

[scooters]

Edinburgh-Egham(Surrey)-Chiddingfold(Surrey)-Edinburgh

Saturday-Sunday-Monday

 

Vehicle: 1975 Leyland (Sherpa) Autosleeper

Fuel Used: 120 ltrs

Distance driven: 960 Miles

 

Well, here was the mission: we would like you to be our son’s Godfather, you live in Edinburgh, we live in Egham, this is 3 weeks notice, England are playing the All Blacks at Twickers on the Saturday so every Kiwi pulling a pint and everything else in Edinburgh will be flying or training to London that weekend and therefore there aren’t any seats on any planes nor are there any on the trains and all the cheap tickets have gone. In addition, we know that you are not travelling to the south for work anymore so this trip will be out of your usual routine. We have no room at the inn and because we live near Heathrow there are no cheap rooms available.

 

Well, challenging indeed. How to get there and what to do when I got there – eureka! That is what a classic camper van is for. Now, a few of you might have read my threads in August when I collected the said vehicle and drove him (he’s called Horace) up to Scotland so it was with some trepidation that I set out on the journey.

 

The army have a saying – piss poor preparation = piss poor fuck up or something like that I forget. Anyway a quick trip to the motor factors – Pentland Auto Parts – 3 branches in Edinburgh huge stock – and I was delighted to be able to buy over the counter spare: sealed beam 7†Lucas Headlight, points, condenser, fan belt, rotor, dizzy cap all for the B series engine. I stocked the van with these parts, a feather king size duvet, arctic sleeping bag, pillows, an 800W halogen heater. Van filled and in pissing rain I was off, A702 via Biggar M74 Carlisle in 2 hours by 1900 I was at the M6 Toll. First signs something was amiss – the engine started to misfire under load – loss of power at the top end of the revs – I pushed on and the van struggled up the hills on the M40 dropping to 40mph in places – I also noticed that the van was running a bit hot. Nevertheless I pushed on and eventually got to Egham around 2100 9 hours after leaving Edinburgh..

 

Sunday morning before church I had a look at the van – sure enough, dizzy contacts were pretty pitted – I changed both. The rotor arm was in a bit of a state and looked like old/new stock. Messing with the dizzy on a Sherpa is a nightmare, the dizzy is towards the rear off side of the engine at the bottom of the block, angled in such a way as to make accessing the components very difficult as there is a bulkhead that gets in the way of all but the smallest screw drivers and grazes all but the smallest of knuckles. Then – guess what, I couldn’t get it started- anyway church and vows and lunch intervened and by 1500 I thought I had better call the AA out. Turned out of course that I had fitted the dizzy 180 degrees out – all was fixed and the van started no porbs – took her out for a spin and seemed to work no problem. So, 1800 I set off to drive the 30 miles to Chiddingfold. 3 miles into the journey and I knew something was amiss – pulling into the middle lane to negotiate the M25/M3 junction the van lost power under load again – and again I noticed it was running hot. I pulled over and due to the dangerous nature of the M25 I called the AA – they towed me to a garage near Heathrow where a contractor and I spent the next hour and a half changing the points and the condenser. Back on the road, the contrator was kind enough to follow me – just as well because by the M4/M25 junction the van lost power again – under load – driving up a hill. This time I noticed how hot the van was running and I also noticed that under load the fan belt was screeching away like billyoh! Anyway, this time I noticed a leak at the top of the radiator so we filled the van with water to the gunwales – let it cool down again and we were back in business – however, I noticed that every time the van hit a hill or I had to pus the revs up 2 things happened – the temp went up and the power dropped. My sister’s house at Chiddingfold has a serious hill on the huge drive (she’s married to a hedge fund manager) – it took 1st gear and full revs and choke to get the van up. It is probably worth pointing out that the 1.8 Sherpa has a hell of a lot of low end torque – you can rip tree stumps out with it – to lack this sort of torqu means something is up.

 

Anyway, it was by now pissing with rain – the Saturday storm was hitting Surrey big time. No room at their house – at the moment their house is a small barn conversion whilst the big house is gutted and rebuilt. So, after a carbonara and a bottle of claret I hooked up the mains power and settled down to have a kip. The Sherpa Autosleeper in 1975 came in 2 formats – you could have: 2 roller bunks in the roof and 2 bench seats facing each other which convert into a double bed. Or, you can have the roller bunks and 2 bench seats that convert into 2 forward facing seats and 2 single beds. Now I’m no stranger to pastry so the bunk beds are probably out – 80 kilos is the stated limit and although they could probably support me I decided not to test it out. So a single bed was the option. Halogen heater on, wooden pop top up, curtains drawn, sleeping bag in, duvet deployed land of not awaits – however, the storm had now taken hold and the wind howled and the rain came down – oh yes! Plastic roof, claret took effect but I moved the cushions onto the van floor to sleep before I went to sleep I did notice that the leisure battery was playing up – hardly any charge in it – odd as it charges off a split circuit off the alternator. A fitful nights sleep but eventually woke around 6 as those of us with young kids tend to you know- back to sleep and by about 0900 I thought I had better get up – still pissing with rain.

 

Coffee with my sister where she tried to talk me out of driving the van home and instead to catch the express train. Tempting indeed but us autoshitters don’t give up so easily! So at 1100 I hit the road. The poor performance under load is still causing issues so I pull into the service station on the A3 – the one just south of the M25, a bottle of Rad Weld and a fill up and an oil check and off I went into the storm. The van started to behave but there was still the power issue under load – 40 mph over the M40 Hills – I thought about the M6 summit of Shap and the even nastier M74 summit at Beattock with trepidation! By Channock Chase on the M6 Toll I was 160 miles into the journey and the van was still going. I filled up and noted the racket the timing belt was making as I pulled away. M6 delight followed stop start 40 mph – traffic jams, accidents – the storm persisted and I slogged up to Charnock Richard. I was by now exhausted- I had been on the road since 11 and it was now 1700. A top up and a KFC 3 bit meal, 2 x 30/500 Cocodamol and I felt a lot better (might be worth mentioning that due to an issue with my gall bladder and a rather long NHS waiting list I am effectively addicted to prescription painkillers – fortunately, the codine has no effect on my reactions so inured am I to it now and I have had my reactions verified by my insurance company). The hills awaited and sure enough the van had a hell of a time in the lakes getting over the mountains. I stopped at Tebay and checked the tyre pressures and topped up again. The van did get over the rest of the hills and I crossed the border at 2000hrs at this rate I would be home by 2200. The summit of Beattock loomed and 40mph – low power under revs we got there eventually through a snow blizzard. As I approached Abingdon and the turn off for the 702 the stereo stopped working, and then the components one by one started to fail the indicators, the wipers and finally the lights – Hamilton services on the M74 I pulled in and had a look – the battery was dead – yes a charge enough to keep the ignition going but no juice to crank the engine.

 

The AA were called again – 30 mins later a contractor turns up with a recovery vehicle – its now 2130 – I explained the problem and stressed that I didn’t want recovery – I also pointed out the fan belt squeak – we had a quick tinkle with the alternator and then had jumped the van – it burst into life (new battery afterall) we ran it on idle for 15 mins and I pulled off with a freshly charged battery. Then, within 8 miles the components die, one at a time, again – this time I am on the M8 – in a blizzard in the cold – an hour wait for the AA when another contractor turned up and we flat bedded the van the last 30 miles to Edinburgh. We dumped the van half a mile from my house as the flat bet would toil to get down my street. I got to bed at 0100 wondering why the hell I do these things.

 

Anyway, I had a long think about this – symptoms – lack of power under load, overheating under load, poor charge but only under load – fine round town. Fan belt this morning I jumped the van off the 240 and drove it round to my house – bonnet up – fan belt not very loose but I took it off to check it – the underside was very badly worn – missing teeth but even worse the V was less than 1/3rd what it should be. Even though the tension was ok at high revs the belt wasn’t gripping at all. I suspect that the route of all these issues has been the fan belt slipping at high revs – it explains the inefficient cooling – the water pump hasn’t been activating and the lack of power – overheating and the lack of charge – this only manifests itself after dark when you put the battery under load and also explains the lack of juice in the leisure battery which will only charge after the main battery reaches full charge.

 

A new fan belt is on now at the correct tension – we will see if this has solved the problem!

[CreepingJesus]

Epic! You have my sympathies on the M6/M74 route, those long drags are pretty daunting when you know you're going to struggle.

Does sound like lack of electrickeries could have been the issue there. Hopefully a nice new fanbelt will sort it out.

To the continent next time, maybe?

[catsinthewelder]

Top effort Scooters

 

Old campervans are great fun and an utter headache all rolled into one, reminds me of horrid noises on the Devon banks last summer

[Station]

Well written stuff, everyone can share your pain, well done at keeping at it.

[AXrescuer]

Great story, thanks for sharing!

 

As an aside, me and the wife spent some time in Chiddingfold back in 91/92. We used to sit outside the Chiddingfold working man's club where Genesis were rehearsing for their We Can't Dance tour.

[gtd2000]

The army have a saying – piss poor preparation = piss poor fuck up or something like that I forget.

 

=Piss poor performance from what I remember- which applies in 99.9% of British Army situations anyway

[gtd2000]

Could it be that the alternator is seizing up?

[mk1_4dr]

The army have a saying – piss poor preparation = piss poor fuck up or something like that I forget.

 

=Piss poor performance from what I remember- which applies in 99.9% of British Army situations anyway

 

Its the six P's

 

Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance

[nigel bickle]

Sounds like the alternator is dying - knackering the fanbelt.

Check it spins freely - and is charging properly - before ruining a new belt.

[garethj]

Good story, have a medal for bravery too.

 

Just one thing, why not put the points, condenser, dizzy cap etc on before you started the journey? The advantage of an old snotter like this is you can replace all the ignition parts for a tenner, might as well do plugs, leads and everything.

 

For the diagnosis, is it possible the water pump is siezing up? I'd suspect the alternator first though

[HillmanImp]

I would give you full maks for effort but on 930/960 for actual performance.

 

Hopefully it will be something simple like you say. I cant help but admire your persiverance.

[scooters]

thanks all,

 

in response to the above -

 

Alternator - yes, it may well be on the way out I will keep a close eye on it. It does seem to provide a strong charge under 4000 revs though which is why I think a degraded fan belt may be the issue.

 

The fan belt I removed was clearly pretty old - looked at least 5 years past it's best. It had lost any elasticity it once had and was misshapen - probably caused by the van sitting for over a year 2 years ago. The teeth were in poor shape with at least 30% missing and the remaining ones were very thin in profile - the V was becomming an I with many of them. Before shelling 60 quid on a new alternator i will try it out with the new belt - 4 quid and see if there is any tangible difference. No high speed long distance trips planned but my daily 30 mile round trip commute factors in 70 mph parts so it will be a controlled environment to try it out.

 

the to do list mechanically is now:

 

New Radiator, Pipes, hoses and expansion tank

 

New alternator, water pump and thermostat

 

new HT Leads and plug

 

Carb service

 

Electronic Ignition

 

Grease the King Pins - a very important job in a Sherpa and one which requires a powerful grease gun which I will need to buy

 

The van is going into the coachworks on Monday to have the nearside left quarter fixed following the accident in August - as the culprit's insurance company, saga, have messed me around so much they have agreed to the full repair including the rustproofing of the rear of the van and the welding and lead loading of the damaged part.

 

It will look a bit odd with a new chrome bumper as the off side one has been painted black and new ones are very difficult to source

[barrett]

Once again, a really enjoyable read. Although I've never been stuck on the hard shoulder of an M-way in the pissing rain wondering WTF has gone wrong, I could definitely feel your pain.

I think your whole Sherpa Saga should be condensed down and featured in the next Original Tin, whatever form that may take.

 

also - be good to see some pictures off the repairs when they get done!

[jaycey001]

HA hA must be a sherpa thing, I compleatly understand your determination... takes me back tp the 150 mile trip with the engine hanging out the bottom, lol!!

 

Well just to let you know the electric fuel pump was not exactly a success, went to skeggy at the weekend and broke down 4 times, each time requireing the pump to be manually primed by pissing about with relays and wires in the rain!! Least to say it is back in the garage today!!

 

At least you will never forget the trip, is your other haf still talking to you? i known mine wasnt after our weekend adventure

 

j,

[scooters]

HA hA must be a sherpa thing, I compleatly understand your determination... takes me back tp the 150 mile trip with the engine hanging out the bottom, lol!!

 

Well just to let you know the electric fuel pump was not exactly a success, went to skeggy at the weekend and broke down 4 times, each time requireing the pump to be manually primed by pissing about with relays and wires in the rain!! Least to say it is back in the garage today!!

 

At least you will never forget the trip, is your other haf still talking to you? i known mine wasnt after our weekend adventure

 

j,

 

bad luck about the pump!

 

fortunately my other half wasnt' with me - had she been then there is no way we would have gone by Sherpa!

 

Tough old beasts and even though I hated it with a vengence on Monday night he is back in my good books now!

[scooters]

Good story, have a medal for bravery too.

 

Just one thing, why not put the points, condenser, dizzy cap etc on before you started the journey? The advantage of an old snotter like this is you can replace all the ignition parts for a tenner, might as well do plugs, leads and everything.

 

For the diagnosis, is it possible the water pump is siezing up? I'd suspect the alternator first though

 

I used to take that approach but have moved towards the - if it ain't broke leave it theory

 

here's why - the problem with many old skool remanufactured ignition components is that they don't work on leaving the factory - I recall fitting 3 brand new condensors to my Moggy ansd each one was a dud - my factor trys to get me the best quality he can find but many factors stock nasty chinese generic knock offs and the quality can be pisspoor - you only find out you have fitted a dodgey one at midnight on the M6 in a blizzard.

 

I will be changing the lot to a fit and forget electronic ignition system soon - early Sherpas were well known for their appetitie for points!

[garethj]

the problem with many old skool remanufactured ignition components is that they don't work on leaving the factory - I recall fitting 3 brand new condensors to my Moggy ansd each one was a dud

Very true, but isn't there a known good source somewhere? I think Holden used to stock good parts.

 

It's the same with lots of cars unfortunately, but I reckon if you can get good parts it'll be more reliable than electronic ignition.

[scooters]

the problem with many old skool remanufactured ignition components is that they don't work on leaving the factory - I recall fitting 3 brand new condensors to my Moggy ansd each one was a dud

Very true, but isn't there a known good source somewhere? I think Holden used to stock good parts.

 

It's the same with lots of cars unfortunately, but I reckon if you can get good parts it'll be more reliable than electronic ignition.

 

after i fit electronic ignition i usually keep the points, condensor etc just in case it fails and I have to retro fit

 

I've found the luminition ignition that fits in the dizzy pretty solid - put it on my moggy and had no problems starting ever

[gtd2000]

I used to take that approach but have moved towards the - if it ain't broke leave it theory

 

here's why - the problem with many old skool remanufactured ignition components is that they don't work on leaving the factory - I recall fitting 3 brand new condensors to my Moggy ansd each one was a dud - my factor trys to get me the best quality he can find but many factors stock nasty chinese generic knock offs and the quality can be pisspoor - you only find out you have fitted a dodgey one at midnight on the M6 in a blizzard.

 

Surely no lesser quality than the British produced crap it replaces...no?