Police BMW engine issues
Discussion
surveyor_101 said:
Southerner said:
To be fair to Royal Mail, for all their many faults around our way they're a shining example of how to get value out of a fleet; they're still running a very sizeable fleet of mostly 11-plate Vauxhall Combos. Getting them to survive over a decade of relentless daily abuse is pretty impressive IMHO, most of them are in a pretty passable state too, you only see the occasional one with the side stoved in etc. It does make you wonder at the wisdom of the typical fleet mentality of replacing stuff after 4 years or so.
In Somerset you still see some RM Corsa combos on an 04 plate and the fact they generally look ok is mega impressive!They must get some abuse however blue light vehicles get it as well. My experience of the nhs is they waste half the cash they get and clinical care is no longer the primary goal of the organisation!
There is a ambulance officer senior guy who has a fully loaded vrs petrol with the pano roof bigger wheels it might even be a premium challenge edition and he likes showing it off on YouTube, not sure what trust thought a car with 3k options. Was value for money , whilst I appreciate they get discount I can’t imagine a standard spec car would have been more, also for an unmarked car with a glass roof has made his temp light bar and issue and having one myself the 18s are much cheaper and more compliant for daily duties
Edited by surveyor_101 on Tuesday 28th June 13:36
There is a degree of standardisation and regional purchasing for Police vehicles and an approved "framework" for example the use of Peugeotts as beat cars BUT even in small geographical areas the requirements can vary albeit for the same role.
For example West Yorks use Peugeot as beat cars - its predominantly an urban area, response cars generally double crewed and a Cell complex in the major towns
But the neighbouring force - N Yorks mainly rural , lots of hills and dales, country lanes, farm tracks worse winter road conditions, far wider area to cover and further away from assistance / further distance to a cell area - hence the use of vans with a cell cage in the rear
ARVs - whilst there is a degree of standardisation in the kit carried - vehicles in areas like the MET may carry additional equipment in line with the threat assessment when compared to say an ARV in Cambridgeshire
Similarly internal layout can have a lot to do with it - some Mercedes PSU carriers were found to be overweight on the front axles when fully loaded so the layout had to be changed to put more of the weight over the back wheels and again the requirements of the MET TSG and support groups who spend all day in the tean van are different to say Devon and Cornwall whose PSU vans are generally rarely fully laden.
When the BMW 530 was first utilised as an ARV there were real issues as when fully loaded by some urban forces they were right at the limit of what the suspension could cope with
The accountants sat at home counting pennies will favour national standardisation - those who actually do the job at the sharp end and who know the pitfalls are rarely consulted
For example West Yorks use Peugeot as beat cars - its predominantly an urban area, response cars generally double crewed and a Cell complex in the major towns
But the neighbouring force - N Yorks mainly rural , lots of hills and dales, country lanes, farm tracks worse winter road conditions, far wider area to cover and further away from assistance / further distance to a cell area - hence the use of vans with a cell cage in the rear
ARVs - whilst there is a degree of standardisation in the kit carried - vehicles in areas like the MET may carry additional equipment in line with the threat assessment when compared to say an ARV in Cambridgeshire
Similarly internal layout can have a lot to do with it - some Mercedes PSU carriers were found to be overweight on the front axles when fully loaded so the layout had to be changed to put more of the weight over the back wheels and again the requirements of the MET TSG and support groups who spend all day in the tean van are different to say Devon and Cornwall whose PSU vans are generally rarely fully laden.
When the BMW 530 was first utilised as an ARV there were real issues as when fully loaded by some urban forces they were right at the limit of what the suspension could cope with
The accountants sat at home counting pennies will favour national standardisation - those who actually do the job at the sharp end and who know the pitfalls are rarely consulted
Edited by edthefed on Tuesday 28th June 15:24
edthefed said:
The accountants sat at home counting pennies will favour national standardisation - those who actually do the job at the sharp end and who know the pitfalls are rarely consulted
I am in commercial management, so I am a sort of bean counterEdited by edthefed on Tuesday 28th June 15:24
surveyor_101 said:
In Somerset you still see some RM Corsa combos on an 04 plate and the fact they generally look ok is mega impressive!
They must get some abuse however blue light vehicles get it as well. My experience of the nhs is they waste half the cash they get and clinical care is no longer the primary goal of the organisation!
There is a ambulance officer senior guy who has a fully loaded vrs petrol with the pano roof bigger wheels it might even be a premium challenge edition and he likes showing it off on YouTube, not sure what trust thought a car with 3k options. Was value for money , whilst I appreciate they get discount I can’t imagine a standard spec car would have been more, also for an unmarked car with a glass roof has made his temp light bar and issue and having one myself the 18s are much cheaper and more compliant for daily duties
I’ve seen this guy, pretty sure he shows as a “Consultant Paramedic” which is banded as a senior manager.They must get some abuse however blue light vehicles get it as well. My experience of the nhs is they waste half the cash they get and clinical care is no longer the primary goal of the organisation!
There is a ambulance officer senior guy who has a fully loaded vrs petrol with the pano roof bigger wheels it might even be a premium challenge edition and he likes showing it off on YouTube, not sure what trust thought a car with 3k options. Was value for money , whilst I appreciate they get discount I can’t imagine a standard spec car would have been more, also for an unmarked car with a glass roof has made his temp light bar and issue and having one myself the 18s are much cheaper and more compliant for daily duties
Edited by surveyor_101 on Tuesday 28th June 13:36
I’m not clued up on NHS job benefits but at senior manager grade, there’s a chance he gets a “company car” of sorts which would allow him to spec a work/personal use car, and then throw some blue lights on it. This was a big thing a few years ago, as this would have created a BIK tax exemption.
A local fire service guy lives in the next street over from me and he has a similar setup in a Q5 s-line 45 TFSi.
Tax rules changed several years ago to include these cars in the BIK rules from HMRC.
If it’s utilised - or even just available - to the driver outside of working hours, the driver is getting taxed. BIK would be a sizeable chunk of change for a Q5. Less so for a Skoda if this was a company car, but still personal expense, but possibly explains why a higher spec car is used in such a way.
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'Truly brilliant' police officer Nicholas Dumphreys killed on M6 after BMW engine fault that was known about for four years
I drove past this after it happened, it was below the overpass I drive almost every day.
'Truly brilliant' police officer Nicholas Dumphreys killed on M6 after BMW engine fault that was known about for four years
I drove past this after it happened, it was below the overpass I drive almost every day.
Pflanzgarten said:
https://e.lancs.live/interface/external_view_email...
'Truly brilliant' police officer Nicholas Dumphreys killed on M6 after BMW engine fault that was known about for four years
I drove past this after it happened, it was below the overpass I drive almost every day.
Was discussing this with a champ who has a ex police x5 30d n57 badged as 35d!'Truly brilliant' police officer Nicholas Dumphreys killed on M6 after BMW engine fault that was known about for four years
I drove past this after it happened, it was below the overpass I drive almost every day.
He claims the police ran them without oil and didn't look after the engines but I think this clearly shows its wasn't servicing the caused the faliure.
They were NOT run without oil.
There has been some suggestion that LL04 oil might not been used by some forces. But service intervals were commonly every 6-8 weeks.
BMW even suggested the "run lock" system was at fault until it was pointed out BMW authorities supplied the cars with "run lock" already fitted.
Seems to be a combination of things
Excessive idling at incidents..could be idling for hours.
Driven hard when cold
Regularly driven hard and at high speed
Generic oil not LL04
There has been some suggestion that LL04 oil might not been used by some forces. But service intervals were commonly every 6-8 weeks.
BMW even suggested the "run lock" system was at fault until it was pointed out BMW authorities supplied the cars with "run lock" already fitted.
Seems to be a combination of things
Excessive idling at incidents..could be idling for hours.
Driven hard when cold
Regularly driven hard and at high speed
Generic oil not LL04
pavarotti1980 said:
BMW no longer taking orders for authority vehicles apparently. Any prior to 1st Dec not in production cancelled
I forgot to come an update. Heard last Tuesday that BMW had officially pulled out of the police market. One of the upsides is that because of this some orders were therefore cancelled by forces which meant that we bagged 2x 340i's for a good price, one saloon, one tourer in police spec (I'm now driver training rather than RPU).But, this should now make the police market quite interesting. There'll be a few forces looking outside the current choices for some new cars, we certainly will be. Skoda may pick up some business, both the Octavia and Superb's will (and already do) make great RPU cars.
As for the Volvo's, they're not great cars, but the RPU lot now compare them to the BMW's they drive, I compare them to the last Volvo V70 D5 that I drove for years, the new models are a MASSIVE improvement over those, much quicker, handle better. These RPU youngsters don't know how good they have it
nordboy said:
I forgot to come an update. Heard last Tuesday that BMW had officially pulled out of the police market. One of the upsides is that because of this some orders were therefore cancelled by forces which meant that we bagged 2x 340i's for a good price, one saloon, one tourer in police spec (I'm now driver training rather than RPU).
But, this should now make the police market quite interesting. There'll be a few forces looking outside the current choices for some new cars, we certainly will be. Skoda may pick up some business, both the Octavia and Superb's will (and already do) make great RPU cars.
As for the Volvo's, they're not great cars, but the RPU lot now compare them to the BMW's they drive, I compare them to the last Volvo V70 D5 that I drove for years, the new models are a MASSIVE improvement over those, much quicker, handle better. These RPU youngsters don't know how good they have it
Have you tried the V90s? Father is retired Black Rat and can’t see how it would be suitable to the roleBut, this should now make the police market quite interesting. There'll be a few forces looking outside the current choices for some new cars, we certainly will be. Skoda may pick up some business, both the Octavia and Superb's will (and already do) make great RPU cars.
As for the Volvo's, they're not great cars, but the RPU lot now compare them to the BMW's they drive, I compare them to the last Volvo V70 D5 that I drove for years, the new models are a MASSIVE improvement over those, much quicker, handle better. These RPU youngsters don't know how good they have it
Stedman said:
surveyor_101 said:
Was discussing this with a champ who has a ex police x5 30d n57 badged as 35d!
He claims the police ran them without oil and didn't look after the engines but I think this clearly shows its wasn't servicing the caused the faliure.
That’ll be a load of rubbish.He claims the police ran them without oil and didn't look after the engines but I think this clearly shows its wasn't servicing the caused the faliure.
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