I said i'll be back!

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by deeman940

Nice car...your n/s headlight wiper has a mind of it's own like mine!

Thanks - so does the other headlight wiper! Both blades and at least one arm need replacing, another of the "silly jobs" to do on it.

EDIT - just noticed your location, surprised you've not seen it before as it came from Rickmansworth so not far from you?

[deeman940]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Thanks - so does the other headlight wiper! Both blades and at least one arm need replacing, another of the "silly jobs" to do on it.

EDIT - just noticed your location, surprised you've not seen it before as it came from Rickmansworth so not far from you?

Yea, I did notice that! No, I have never seen it before...probably tucked up in a garage!

Only my NS headlight wiper seems to have a mind of its own! It seems to be in a different position every time I come out in the morning. I have checked and it is not constantly going when the engine is running....weird!

[855 tdi]

Hard to stay away from old Volvo's isn't it, looks nice, don't these have a prv engine? That could be interesting lol. I thought LED headlights were illegal for the same reason as HID kits as the reflector is designed for a filament bulb to create the correct beam pattern, maybe im wrong, got nightbreakers in my 940 and they were £11 off amazon ill see how long they last though. I saw something on youtube about LED brake lights and how they weren't as clear in showing the brake lights on at night so id be careful if you fit some. I presume you considering lpg is due to abysmal fuel economy lol?

[TonyS9]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

They're expensive at £69 but will last a long time (50000 hours expected life time, equates to 2m miles at 40mph) and with Nightbreakers coming in about £30 a pair and having to be changed regularly (according to the local Police, their Nightbreakers are changed every 2-3 months, usually through failure but they do have their lights on a lot) the cost of Nightbreakers soon mounts up and those LED H4s outperform them.

Well just be careful, I am in favour of LED technology but retro fitting successfully is difficult. This level of power really requires a dedicated housing to manage heat, never mind affect of mechanical shock etc

Watch out for guarantees that don't cover the PSU or don't cover the life time. If it fails after a year you may not be covered, althought the consumer act will help, you have to prove the design was faulty. I see this add is only for the Rover P38, any other use may not be guaranteed.

In any case, according to the VOSA /MOT link you need the nivomats at least, but I think that unless the bulbs have an E marking they will be illegal and fail mot, contrary to the add.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by deeman940

Yea, I did notice that! No, I have never seen it before...probably tucked up in a garage!

Only my NS headlight wiper seems to have a mind of its own! It seems to be in a different position every time I come out in the morning. I have checked and it is not constantly going when the engine is running....weird!

Maybe that explains the condition although the guy led me to believe he parked it on the road. I remember my last 740 would sometimes give the headlamp wipers half a sweep for no apparent reason although when i changed one headlamp wiper motor it cured it - dodgy park switch i think!

Originally Posted by 855 tdi

Hard to stay away from old Volvo's isn't it, looks nice, don't these have a prv engine? That could be interesting lol. I thought LED headlights were illegal for the same reason as HID kits as the reflector is designed for a filament bulb to create the correct beam pattern, maybe im wrong, got nightbreakers in my 940 and they were £11 off amazon ill see how long they last though. I saw something on youtube about LED brake lights and how they weren't as clear in showing the brake lights on at night so id be careful if you fit some. I presume you considering lpg is due to abysmal fuel economy lol?

It is - i think they get in your blood or something - i know i've got my blood in many Volvos over the years, skinned knuckles etc!
It is the PRV/Douvrin engine but the later, improved version that doesn't eat camshafts and is more powerful and economical.
Some LED headlamp bulbs can be deemed illegal because of the beam pattern not able to achieve the correct pattern and associated light scatter as a result - i have a pair here that cost me £30 and are as much use as a chocolate teapot.
The ones i linked to and fitted to one of my cars that recently passed the MoT (only comment was "Lovely sharp beam pattern!") are designed as a direct replacement for the halogen filament bulbs, hence the LEDs being in two sets of lines in the same place as the filaments in an H4 bulb. Also the light output per "filament" is 2000Lm which is a smidge higher (1800Lm is the limit) than you can have without either self-leveling suspension, headlamp aim adjusters inside or headlamp wash/wipe. Well it already has headlamp wash/wipe so no problem there and the 10% or so that it's over the 1800Lm is going to be very hard to prove or disprove.

As for LED brake lights, this is standard 21/5W on the outboard lenses and 5W on the inners :



This is red LEDs, intensity matched between the 21/5W and 5W replacements :



That's with the brakes on by the way. At night they are even more intensely red but i know what you're saying - i'll lay bets whoever put that on youtube used white LEDs and caused themselves a problem that way. Red light transmits best through red lenses and if white light is ised, it can find any imperfections in the lens and appear pink or even white at night because LEDs are a pure colour, tungsten bulbs give out almost all the colours of the spectrum to obtain a white looking light. That's why H4 halogen headlamps can look yellow against LED or HID lights. This is because LED and HID lights produce a colour temperature closer to natural daylight than even halogen bulbs - that's why they make night driving more relaxing as there is less glare, even with brighter lights.

I've done a lot of research into LED lighting over the past year or two, what works, what doesn't, what's legal and what isn't and why.
As for the LPG conversion, it's partly down to the thirst and partly because living in the middle of nowhere, even a basic shopping trip costs a lot in petrol.
Besides at 50p/L Vs 125p/L for Ultimate, much cleaner emissions (CO and water from LPG), cleaner engine internally and oil lasting much longer which increases engine longevity for me it's a no-brainer really.

Originally Posted by TonyS9

Well just be careful, I am in favour of LED technology but retro fitting successfully is difficult. This level of power really requires a dedicated housing to manage heat, never mind affect of mechanical shock etc

Watch out for guarantees that don't cover the PSU or don't cover the life time. If it fails after a year you may not be covered, althought the consumer act will help, you have to prove the design was faulty. I see this add is only for the Rover P38, any other use may not be guaranteed.

In any case, according to the VOSA /MOT link you need the nivomats at least, but I think that unless the bulbs have an E marking they will be illegal and fail mot, contrary to the add.

Well i've had at least one car pass the MoT with them fitted (see above) and the other option besides self-leveling suspension is either headlamp adjusters in the cabin or headlamp wash/wipe. There is a bit of a loophole in the MoT regs (can't remember where i found it now) that gives dispensation for older vehicles as long as the beam pattern is correct and no obvious light scatter, self-leveling or the other options don't necessarily have to be fitted - this is with the codecile that they are 1800Lm or under though. As mentioned above, it would be hard to prove or disprove the output of these bulbs - basically as long as they don't dazzle anyone and cause an accident as a result it's not going to be a problem.
As for the guarantee, that firm lists these bulbs for other use besides the P38 Range Rover which they just happen to specialise in, hence they added it as an accessory for the P38 so their customers would find them by searching for P38 accessories.

[Paul240480]

Welcome back Laird. Nice motor

[TonyS9]

I've replaced my front side DRLs and happy enough with the result, colour + spread matches the dim dip lights (after a couple of goes), and managed the rear fogs and rear nights (not brake+night) on the 360 using red, basically you can cut the power to 1/3 approximately if you use red than white behind a red filter, so easier to get cheap ones that are bright enough. So much crap out there making false claims.

Brake/night lights I failed to find anything reasonable but I'm OCD and tight fisted (a result of being an Engineer). The main problem was difference level aswell as total brightness. Some people thought that the very expensive ones worked, but I just went back to standard after having used ones far too dim (NI Gov't MOT didn't notice).

As to the headlights, you seem to have done your research, but I just would not spend that sort of money at this stage of the market development. I do look forward to your results

I also looked at different halogens and didn't like the life/brightness trade. The 940 has 2 sets of lights so I thought that was enough, yours looks the same as a 940 (identical to 1995 anyway).

[Laird Scooby]

Thanks Paul!

Subtle upgrade time :



Clear repeaters and silicon COB LED bulbs :





As they were :



and are now :



Currently diagnosing a non-moving sunroof, i suspect the contacts in the relays inside the motor assembly have burned out but time will tell.

[AndysR]

Great to see another 765 GLE V6 on the board and in the hands of an enthusiast, remember seeing this for sale and thinking great plate. I must confess the B280E does seem to be a fair bit more lively than the B28E and also better on fuel too, I'm actually quite impressed with how mine picks up its skirt and runs when required
What's the mileage on yours? Funny how you say the Italian tune up improved the car, I found the same, I now only run mine on V-Power and I can achieve 29 mpg with a light right foot, drops a bit if your foot gets heavier though.

Looking forward to seeing how the headlight conversion goes, interested in improving mine you see. I'm guessing you'd have to delete the dim/dip lighting feature as the lower wattage when on DLR setting probably wouldn't be enough to power the LED without flickering as the LED won't draw the same level of current as the original H4's?

What are you doing with your original side repeaters, my originals have deteriorated a little and I'd like to renew with a set of chrome ones rather than the later black plastic ones..

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by TonyS9

I've replaced my front side DRLs and happy enough with the result, colour + spread matches the dim dip lights (after a couple of goes), and managed the rear fogs and rear nights (not brake+night) on the 360 using red, basically you can cut the power to 1/3 approximately if you use red than white behind a red filter, so easier to get cheap ones that are bright enough. So much crap out there making false claims.

Brake/night lights I failed to find anything reasonable but I'm OCD and tight fisted (a result of being an Engineer). The main problem was difference level aswell as total brightness. Some people thought that the very expensive ones worked, but I just went back to standard after having used ones far too dim (NI Gov't MOT didn't notice).

As to the headlights, you seem to have done your research, but I just would not spend that sort of money at this stage of the market development. I do look forward to your results

I also looked at different halogens and didn't like the life/brightness trade. The 940 has 2 sets of lights so I thought that was enough, yours looks the same as a 940 (identical to 1995 anyway).

Some expensive ones don't work - again a lot of research until i found Classic Car LEDs as linked to for the H4 LED bulb upgrade. They actually know what they're on about and although not the cheapest - (a pain for you and me being tight-wads for the same reason)they supply good kit that seems to last and does what it says on the tin.

You're right about the trade off in life expectancy Vs brightness, i don't know the figures but for every extra watt of power from a halogen you decrease life expectancy of that bulb by x amount.
The headlights are indeed similar to the 940, possibly the same but they were fitted to 760s from about 88 onwards and i think the 740 gained them from about 1990 as well.

Originally Posted by AndysR

Great to see another 765 GLE V6 on the board and in the hands of an enthusiast, remember seeing this for sale and thinking great plate. I must confess the B280E does seem to be a fair bit more lively than the B28E and also better on fuel too, I'm actually quite impressed with how mine picks up its skirt and runs when required
What's the mileage on yours? Funny how you say the Italian tune up improved the car, I found the same, I now only run mine on V-Power and I can achieve 29 mpg with a light right foot, drops a bit if your foot gets heavier though.

Looking forward to seeing how the headlight conversion goes, interested in improving mine you see. I'm guessing you'd have to delete the dim/dip lighting feature as the lower wattage when on DLR setting probably wouldn't be enough to power the LED without flickering as the LED won't draw the same level of current as the original H4's?

What are you doing with your original side repeaters, my originals have deteriorated a little and I'd like to renew with a set of chrome ones rather than the later black plastic ones..

The mileage is 215k although nothing about the car except the odometer says this - it all looks, feels and performs like a car with less than half that.
It came with nearly a full tank of fuel (plus the standard issue errant Volvo gauge that lives on empty until it wakes up, shows the true contents for a random amount of time then sleeps again!) and i have to confess to deliberately hooning it a bit, just to give it a "shake-down".
I will of course be running it on BP Ultimate or maybe V-Power or the Esso version.

You're right about the dim-dip, i pulled the dim-dip fuse on my ROvers to disable it as the working voltage of the LED bulbs is listed as 9-32V if memory serves correctly. The dim-dip resistor is 1 ohm and the LED H4s draw just under 2A so there's only a voltage drop across it of less than 2V - with the alternator output being a regulated 14.0 - 14.4V, this means there is more than enough to light the H4 LEDs at full power.

At present i'm probably going to hang on to the original side repeaters, at least until i'm more certain about those LED bulbs i fitted to the clear ones. As yet they are an unknown quantity and may fail in short order - i've had too many LEDs do this so i'm treading carefully so to speak. Once i know they're going to be ok then they may well be available.

Must admit, i'm surprised there were only 2 bidders on the car, myself and A N Other who i suspect may have been a shill bidder as i don't think he wanted to let it go for £150 so bumped it a bit.


Had a play with the sunroof and bridged out the switch to prove the motor or not as the case was. It doesn't seem to want to even try to move in one direction and only tries a little in the other direction so i think it needs a replacement motor, possibly switch as well as i think that may be past its sell-by date thanks to repeated operation of a motor drawing more power than it should.
The hunt for those bits will begin tomorrow!