Member Since: 10 Dec 2005
Location: West Berkshire.
Posts: 717
How to spend a Bank Holiday Sunday.
SWMBO and I were going to Holland on Sunday so intended to drive to Harwich Saturday and stop the night near Harwich. Set off at Midday Saturday and drove along M4 towards the M25. As we drove onto the interchange a red triangle lit up and a message appeared Restricted Performance (as if I could not tell). Got to the caravan site for the overnight stop but crawled along the M25. 3 hours to cover about 100 miles. No performance at all and 6th,7th and 8th gears as good as useless. Switched off and left car for 2 hours and then switched on again. Still a red triangle. Left it over night and still red triangle at 0700 hours Sunday morning. Phone Green Flag/Caravan Club Mayday and a technician arrived in about 30 minutes. Plugged in some Gizmo beneath steering wheel and said "5 faults showing relating to Turbo" Cannot fix it here and dealer in Colchester dealer shut until Tuesday. Decided to get recovered to home.
About an hour later a flat bed recovery truck arrives, the Disco goes on the truck and the caravan is hooked on behind. At 9.10 hours leave caravan site for journey home. About 16 miles down the A12 there is a rumbling noise from rear of the Renault truck. Driver manages to pull into a slip road. Gets back into cab. "I have a problem The rear wheel offside has lost 5 of the 6 wheel nuts". Some minutes later the original technician arrives on the A12 and positions his small van as a shield for the now disabled recovery truck with our car and caravan. Some fairly intensive conversation between driver and depot as how to solve the problem.
A 2nd low loader recovery truck is needed to recover the 1st truck but a 3rd truck is needed to convey my wife, me, car and caravan homewards. It is suggested that this will take 2 hours. Rather than wait by the side of the busy A12 we were taken to Macdonalds about 4 miles in the wrong direction. After 3 hours and talking to a couple of traffic cops who were "lunching" in Macdonalds my wife and I were somewhat apprehensive as to the whereabouts of our outfit. The police had no knowledge of the incident. About `15 minutes later a new recovery MAN truck arrived with the Disco on the flat bed and caravan behind. We recommenced our journey towards Berkshire.
Got on to M25 and crawled for several miles. 4 Italian motor cyclists involved in some accident/incident and lanes shut. Finally got home after more than 9 hours to do 150+/- miles.
I am now awaiting responses from the Recovery Co and other interested parties. Have to say that everyone involved was really faultless, really did try to resolve the problem and keep us involved. It will be interesting to hear how the wheel nuts came loose, assuming they were ever tightened. As to the thought of the 6th nut coming adrift on the A12 or on the M25 does not bear thinking about!! I wonder how the caravanner we passed (albeit slowly) on Saturday afternoon on the M25 managed with both his nearside caravan wheels detached?
29th May 2017 9:03 pm
Sharpy1980
Member Since: 16 Mar 2017
Location: Kent
Posts: 81
Loose wheel nuts
Sorry to hear of your troubles, I can maybe answer the question about the lorry wheel nuts as I see this all the time as I own a lorry repair workshop, basically the wheels have probably come loose due to not being re checked after the wheels have been removed and refitted probably for tyre replacement or repairs, they should be checked by the driver every day as part of a daily vehicle check before driving commences regardless of wether they have been off or not and if they had been removed then they should always be torqued up and then retorqued after 50km of driving otherwise they will certainly come loose,
I had a customer a few months back who had his tyres replaced on his 32 tonne truck for its annual mot which it had on the 1st of the month and passed it was then used the rest of the day and parked for the weekend, on the 6th of that month mid morning it got stopped by vosa/dvsa for a random roadside check, I dread to think what could of happened if it hadn't been
The driver insisted he had done his daily checks but believe me there are plenty of early visual telltale signs that a wheel isn't as tight as it should be but even if they were missed can you imagine the noise it must have made and it was a steer!! The vehicle had to be full lift towed and completely re mot'd as a result but things could have been a lot worse had it have come off. The driver is always held responsible unless it can be proven that some sort of mechanical failure was the cause although very hard to prove as there is usually some kind of pre warning that should have been picked up on the daily check or by the driver I.e wheel wobble or noise as you said is what made your driver pull over
29th May 2017 9:47 pm
THUB
Member Since: 10 Dec 2005
Location: West Berkshire.
Posts: 717
The driver told me that the lorry had a service of the brakes some time last week and that he had done visual checks twice a day. The other wheels had those yellow/green arrowheads in the correct location. I could not see (was not allowed to see) the wheel in question as it was offside and the driver told me it would be unwise to stand on the A12 looking for something that was not there. Tha seemed a fair comment to me. He also said that he thought he had seen something fly off the wheel as he looked in his rear view mirror!
29th May 2017 9:53 pm
al cope
Member Since: 08 Nov 2005
Location: Oldbury, WM
Posts: 10361
have you checked the front/underside of your 'van for any chips/cracks, just in case any of the nuts hit the 'van.
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30th May 2017 7:10 am
THUB
Member Since: 10 Dec 2005
Location: West Berkshire.
Posts: 717
Al, thanks for suggestion but I did that before the caravan was unhitched from the truck. No marks at all. I suspect width of lorry was sufficient to throw the nuts well clear of the caravan
30th May 2017 1:24 pm
lynalldiscovery
Member Since: 22 Dec 2009
Location: Maidstone
Posts: 7274
As it had 6 wheel nuts it will be be a cute little truck and known in the trade as a puddle jumper
30th May 2017 2:48 pm
THUB
Member Since: 10 Dec 2005
Location: West Berkshire.
Posts: 717
At 08.00 hours on Tuesday after Bank Holiday Monday took the D4 took local dealer where I have been a customer for 20+ years. " Oh hello. Sorry cannot take any repairs until middle of July". I managed to persuade them to read the faults which confirmed what the chap up in Essex said i.e. turbo problems.. Took the D4 to a well respected indie who has had the car for 3 days. Cleared all the faults, lubricated the actuator rod but can find nothing else wrong. Shall be hooking the caravan on over the week end to go to the Midlands. Will be an interesting exercise
1st Jun 2017 8:12 pm
G.W.
Member Since: 20 Jan 2013
Location: Worcestershire
Posts: 92
Sounds like its a similar problem to the one my dealer is battling to fix after I battled with them to take the car in... This doesn't bode well for service; I know that reliability foibles can be a 'feature' of these cars but LR have always taken the trouble to at least attempt to rectify faults."The quality remains long after the price has been forgotten."Henry Royce
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