1st Service - Nomadless

[Mr G]

Short version of my trip to Ariel:

On Friday last I had taken the Nomad to Ariel for its first service. The drive down the night before was 300 miles. I met with Steve and he asked if I had any issues, squeaking brakes was my only response.

A couple of hours later Steve called me to say there was a serious issue, apparently they couldn't turn the wheels as the Diff was at fault. He explained how a Diff works (I am not so technical, but I knew the basics).

I walked back to Ariel and the car was being stripped, Steve had found fragments of metal in the drained oil.

IMG_5175.JPG (2.35 MiB) Viewed 778 times

I then rented a car and drove home, so now for the foreseeable, I am Nomadless...

[Karl V]

That picture confused me for a bit with two greens parked next to each other.

Hope you get it sorted soon.

[phil4]

Wow, that's not good.

So a few oddities:

1) Why did the diff explode in a stationary car?

2) Metal in the transmission fluid I'd get if it had... but not the engine oil. Perhaps the term "oil" was being used interchangeably.

As s very low mileage car that made its way to the factory under it's own steam, I'd both hope and expect you get it fixed promptly. Fingers crossed!

[Mr G]

Wow, that's not good.

So a few oddities:

1) Why did the diff explode in a stationary car?

2) Metal in the transmission fluid I'd get if it had... but not the engine oil. Perhaps the term "oil" was being used interchangeably.

As s very low mileage car that made its way to the factory under it's own steam, I'd both hope and expect you get it fixed promptly. Fingers crossed!

Looking back I think I was stunned and possibly concussed by the news. The drive down was faultless and I regularly push the Nomad around the drive in all directions. Steve was obviously very apologetic and even embarrassed.

In answer to your questions:

1) No idea, I had simply just driven from my previous nights accommodation which was 300 yards away, and driven it slowly so as not to heat the engine too much (they were to adjust the valves).

2) I'm not sure where the oil was from but assume it was the transmission, Steve said it was unusually dark and dirty oil.

I know Ariel say there is no warranty, however, Steve said of course the costs will be covered by them. I believe that Gentlemanly they know what is an obvious 'not fit for purpose' issue, which in Law (as a Temple Barrister member), they see as akin to England's unwritten Constitution.

Only a few weeks ago, I was feeling content that I had bought a brand new car that would be years free of issues. The Nomad replaced a Bentley Continental GT which had numerous gremlins. Often I would look out at the Bentley on the driveway and for no reason I would see the dashboard light up, and stay lit for hours. Sometimes when I entered the car the Breitling clock would be spinning round, and only stopped when I opened the centre air vent...!

Best

[phil4]

Wowzers, I didn't know Conti's behaved like possessed cars... I've never owned one (and was in one for 30 seconds, as I got rather claustrophobic in the rear seats), but thought they were reasonably well built.

I think Ariel will cover you regardless of the warranty aspect. Their main reason for dodging that I feel is that people take Atom's on trackdays, and Nomad owners on mud and rocks... and in the same way Bentley wouldn't give you a new wheel if you'd repeatedly smashed it over a pothole... Ariel are much the same.

Glad you report that this time they're covering the costs.

While I'm sure this is an engine out job, I doubt it'll take them too long to get it back and ready for you.

[Mr G]

Wowzers, I didn't know Conti's behaved like possessed cars... I've never owned one (and was in one for 30 seconds, as I got rather claustrophobic in the rear seats), but thought they were reasonably well built.

I think Ariel will cover you regardless of the warranty aspect. Their main reason for dodging that I feel is that people take Atom's on trackdays, and Nomad owners on mud and rocks... and in the same way Bentley wouldn't give you a new wheel if you'd repeatedly smashed it over a pothole... Ariel are much the same.

Glad you report that this time they're covering the costs.

While I'm sure this is an engine out job, I doubt it'll take them too long to get it back and ready for you.

Steve said, it won't take them long, although I said there is no rush, as it is a nightmare arranging a free day to travel 300 miles. They may be kind enough to deliver it back to me.

Bentleys certainly do. When reversing, I would wait 5-10 seconds for the gear to select, and a further few seconds for the reversing camera to switch on, so embarrassing when other drivers were waiting for you to move.

When I first got the car there was a strange loud whooshing sound that took me a few journeys to work out. It was the cool seats that were switched on, when switched off the noise stopped. Today I used my S Class, pure perfection, immediate reversing camera and gears, and silent cool seats too.

Best

[autobackup]

Could it be that the diff simply wasn't working properly as a (LSD) diff?

- i.e. when the rear got jacked up rotating one wheel didn't have the correct effect on the other side?

- to my understanding of the mechanics involved there is probably no reason why it should not appear to drive OK as it might simply have effectively been operating as a 'locked' diff?

[hamtt]

Wowzers, I didn't know Conti's behaved like possessed cars... I've never owned one (and was in one for 30 seconds, as I got rather claustrophobic in the rear seats), but thought they were reasonably well built.

I think Ariel will cover you regardless of the warranty aspect. Their main reason for dodging that I feel is that people take Atom's on trackdays, and Nomad owners on mud and rocks... and in the same way Bentley wouldn't give you a new wheel if you'd repeatedly smashed it over a pothole... Ariel are much the same.

Glad you report that this time they're covering the costs.

While I'm sure this is an engine out job, I doubt it'll take them too long to get it back and ready for you.

The Continental GT's were/are superbly built cars. You can do 160mph in them and feel as if you're cruising at 70. The cabin I believe was one of the quietest available and the deep rumble of the W12 is unmatchable.

HOWEVER, they had one major design flow. The cars were designed primarily for California weather, not the rainy weather here in the UK. The scuttle in front of the windscreen used to get full up of water and wouldn't drain off. This happened to be right next to the firewall and the point at which the main wiring loom of the car went from the engine bay to the interior of the car. Over time the water would work it's way in to the wiring loom and start causing allsorts of electrical issues. Bentley were fully aware of this and on each service or whenever the car was in with them they would empty the scuttle. However in most instances this involved using a pressurised air through a hose to blow out the water and all this did was move the water off in to other areas. As the cars got older and people started getting them serviced elsewhere or neglecting the service, this became more and more of an issue.

It was pretty much taken for granted that most Continentals in the UK for suffer this failure sooner or later. If you were lucky, the loom would fail or short in the engine compartment in which case some Bentley specialists could repair it. If it failed behind the firewall it was a HUGE job to fix. I've seen repair quotes for £10k+. If you went to Bentley for a fix, the solution was replacement of the main harness at a cost of £11k+VAT + labour, total close £20k.

As a standard, all Continentals came with keyless entry and keyless start. If you look on Autotrader at the first gen cars you'd be surprised by how many are listed as keyless start only, and not keyless entry. Reason being the keyless entry module wiring was usually one of the first to go when things started to fail, and then gradually got worse. Some owners don't even know their car is supposed to have keyless entry.

Also don't forget the electronics etc were all designed in the early 2000's, so the technology is quite dated now. The facelift of the first W12 only updated the electronics slightly (adding Bluetooth etc). So unless you get one of the newer models then yes the electronics can be a bit embarassing in todays time.

All in all one of the best GT cars IMO, shame about the wiring issue.

[Mr G]

It was a 2012 new shape Bentley, and I forgot to mention the massage seats.

If one was in the car talking to the latest piece without the radio/music on, one couldn’t possibly quietly turn on the massage seat to cure the pain. No, one had to sit and suffer as if one did, it would grunt and groan as loud as a Massey Ferguson and the moment would be lost...

At least in the Nomad they probably know what they are going to get!

[Mr G]

Could it be that the diff simply wasn't working properly as a (LSD) diff?

- i.e. when the rear got jacked up rotating one wheel didn't have the correct effect on the other side?

- to my understanding of the mechanics involved there is probably no reason why it should not appear to drive OK as it might simply have effectively been operating as a 'locked' diff?

Possibly, Steve asked if I experienced slight juddering/chaffing (possibly using other words but I understood what he meant) when driving around corners, but no I didn’t.

Not knowing it was at fault, will it drive differently/better when fixed?

In another topic today/yesterday, someone was talking about there not being many pictures of Ariel cars on here, so, here is I believe, a cool pic of the Nomad the night before the 1st Service.

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[phil4]

If one was in the car talking to the latest piece without the radio/music on, one couldn’t possibly quietly turn on the massage seat to cure the pain. No, one had to sit and suffer as if one did, it would grunt and groan as loud as a Massey Ferguson and the moment would be lost...