Nuevo EK new owner help

Well just picked up my ex-demo 2011 Nuevo EK and just trying to get my head round all the controls! There is a light at the side of the footwell which was not lit but it came on at some point and I can only switch it off by turning the main control panel off. Is there a hidden switch somewhere?
Also I cannot find any reference or stickers to say what the tyre pressures should be. Can anyone with a late model advise me what the recommended pressures are please. I did think the ride was a bit harsh so perhaps they are too high.
Lastly in the future I want to change the TV aerial input plug to a combined TV and satellite input and wondered if anyone knows how to remove the microwave to get access to feed the cable down the back?
I am sure I will have more questions when I start fiddling about!

[quote="moggyminor1966"]Well just picked up my ex-demo 2011 Nuevo EK and just trying to get my head round all the controls! There is a light at the side of the footwell which was not lit but it came on at some point and I can only switch it off by turning the main control panel off. Is there a hidden switch somewhere?
quote]

Congratulations on the new van. Is this one of the usual "swivel" lights? Push either side of the lamp itself and it switches on/off. It's a courtesy light for entering the van, but a bit of a B to switch off once you're in. I usually use my foot...

Tyre pressures are usually written on the driver's door pillar, visible when the door's open.

Can't help with the other issue.

HTH

Tony

[quote="Tony F"]

moggyminor1966 wrote:Well just picked up my ex-demo 2011 Nuevo EK and just trying to get my head round all the controls! There is a light at the side of the footwell which was not lit but it came on at some point and I can only switch it off by turning the main control panel off. Is there a hidden switch somewhere?
quote]

Congratulations on the new van. Is this one of the usual "swivel" lights? Push either side of the lamp itself and it switches on/off. It's a courtesy light for entering the van, but a bit of a B to switch off once you're in. I usually use my foot...

Tyre pressures are usually written on the driver's door pillar, visible when the door's open.

Can't help with the other issue.

HTH

Tony

Thanks for your reply-yes I have found the push bit on the step light-must have knocked it on with my foot! Cannot see any tyre pressure details on the pillar but will have another look when it's daylight-hate this winter darkness!

regarding Tyre pressures, when we took delivery of our Neuvo they were set a 80psi and the vehicle bounced all over the place, I reduced them to 65 and since then have come down to 55psi which gives a smooth ride. I would suggest that you come down to 60psi and see how it what that is like.

I understand that the suggestion that they be set at 80psi relates to a van with the total maximum load carrying being used, whilst a Neuvo comes nowhere near this even when fully loaded.

mikedepledge wrote:regarding Tyre pressures, when we took delivery of our Neuvo they were set a 80psi and the vehicle bounced all over the place, I reduced them to 65 and since then have come down to 55psi which gives a smooth ride. I would suggest that you come down to 60psi and see how it what that is like.

I understand that the suggestion that they be set at 80psi relates to a van with the total maximum load carrying being used, whilst a Neuvo comes nowhere near this even when fully loaded.

Thanks for your reply.
Just found a sticker on the passenger door pillar which says 72.3 front and 79.5 rear! As you say that will be for the original cab chassis fully loaded. I will give 60 a try-do you have the front and back the same pressure? Would be interested what other owners set theirs at?

I think that you will find that between 50 and 60psi is normal - I made a few enquirers after I got my van last August and the advice I received was in this area.

Worked out how to remove the microwave. There are 2 screws screwed from underneath the shelf and the screw heads are covered by those round wood effect circles. If you shine a torch underneath the microwave you can see where the screws are.

tires are 57 front 60 psi rear but this is all open to how you like your ride .spent a lot of time trying to find correct pressures and everyone says has a slightly different opinion
dave
('')

dash wrote:tires are 57 front 60 psi rear but this is all open to how you like your ride .spent a lot of time trying to find correct pressures and everyone says has a slightly different opinion
dave
('')

Thanks for that I will give those pressures a try and see if it gives a better ride.

With 2 bikes onboard half tank of water and half tank of diesel and loaded with all we needed for our 1st trip to France we grossed 3270kgs on our local weighbridge 30 kgs under the permitted 3300kgs . Since then I have had the gross weight uplifted to 3500kgs which is a paper exercise costing £240 + vat which makes the vehicle more legal and you get an amended VRD and a new vin weight plate to fix alongside the existing one., and for that reason we always have our tyre pressures at the reccomended setting.

Nuevo II EK wrote:With 2 bikes onboard half tank of water and half tank of diesel and loaded with all we needed for our 1st trip to France we grossed 3270kgs on our local weighbridge 30 kgs under the permitted 3300kgs . Since then I have had the gross weight uplifted to 3500kgs which is a paper exercise costing £240 + vat which makes the vehicle more legal and you get an amended VRD and a new vin weight plate to fix alongside the existing one., and for that reason we always have our tyre pressures at the reccomended setting.

Well what is the recommended setting? I have just rung the service workshop at West Country Motorhomes where I bought my Nuevo and was told they always set the tyres at 55psi all round.

moggyminor1966 wrote:Well what is the recommended setting? I have just rung the service workshop at West Country Motorhomes where I bought my Nuevo and was told they always set the tyres at 55psi all round.

When we first drove ours it was extremely harsh and the tyres were "well over inflated"
The Boxer / Ducato base vehicle is well regarded as a firm ride... the sticker on the pillar states 59 front - 65 rear..... this was way too hard for us, dropped the pressures to 55 front - 60 rear but think you could go a tad lower than this TBH as it's still a firm ride even at these pressures, not sure it's wise having 55psi all round as I always understood the rears should carry more pressure than the fronts, think you have to find whats right for you without comprising road holding and safety

moggyminor1966 wrote:There is a light at the side of the footwell which was not lit but it came on at some point and I can only switch it off by turning the main control panel off. Is there a hidden switch somewhere?

Think this is designed just to be tapped with your foot to operate, either on or off or left in the center position to not light up, that's what we do anyway.. but you are correct it all depends on the control panel setting whether or not it comes on or not, we find for most functions you have to tap the control panel first before things operate as they should, seems rather stupid to me but we are slowly getting used to ours

Well had our first small trip out to Devon although we did not sleep in the Nuevo but all went smoothly with tyres all round at 55psi and not too many rattles!

Hi Moggy

Our front tyres are now on 55 psi (still 60 in rears) but they look under-deflated to me, how did yours drive on 55 all round ?

CruizingComet wrote:Hi Moggy

Our front tyres are now on 55 psi (still 60 in rears) but they look under-deflated to me, how did yours drive on 55 all round ?

Hi CC seemed to drive OK but was not really fully loaded. We are going up to Yorkshire to visit family on Thursday so will have more weight on so will see how it goes. May get some snow so taking our warm weather gear!

Seems like I have got the dreaded reverse gear judder so will be booking it into the main daeler after Xmas to get that sorted under warranty!

moggyminor1966 wrote:

Seems like I have got the dreaded reverse gear judder so will be booking it into the main daeler after Xmas to get that sorted under warranty!

Ours judders a little but is barely noticeable if the revs are kept low, is yours 6 or 5 speed? (either can be effected from what I've read) but understand they can do a software update to reduce it?

It's a shame about these niggles which spoil an otherwise perfect vehicle, despite everything we are so far very happy with our choice

CruizingComet wrote:

moggyminor1966 wrote:

Seems like I have got the dreaded reverse gear judder so will be booking it into the main daeler after Xmas to get that sorted under warranty!

Ours judders a little but is barely noticeable if the revs are kept low, is yours 6 or 5 speed? (either can be effected from what I've read) but understand they can do a software update to reduce it?

It's a shame about these niggles which spoil an otherwise perfect vehicle, despite everything we are so far very happy with our choice

Hi CC ours is a 6 speed and whilst it was registered end of June 2011 according to the Autosleepers paperwork was in fact made in 2010! We are very pleased so far but early days yet but hopefully any niggles will get sorted.

Hello Moggy

I hope you are enjoying your Nuevo as much as we are; ours is a 2010 Classic (the slimline version) and the first few trips were a nightmare, rattles from everything and bouncing around all over the road. The tyre pressures were set to the ones on the door-pillar (70 and 80 I think) - far too hard. The dealer and Autosleeper weren't much help seeming to fall back onto the Peugeot 'van pressures, so I loaded her up and took her to a local weighbridge (cost £5).

I recommend that you look here for excellnt information on motorhome tyres and pressures, http://www.tyresafe.org/tyre-safety/tyre-safety-information/240-tyre-safety-information-motor-homes

However you will find that 215 width are not listed, but you can extrapolate from the nearby numbers. I took the easy way out and contacted Continental Tyres Technical Dept who were extremely helpful.

On our 'van the loading on each axle was 1460 Kg front and 1520 Kg rear when fully laden. The tyres fitted are Continental Vanco 215/70R x 15 109/107, and Conti. came up with the following, I also asked if there was aalgorithm for estimating tyres pressures with varying loads ... I quote

"The pressures you require are as follows:
>
> Front: 3bar - 44psi
> Rear: 3.25bar - 47psi
>
> The pressures normally noted on the chassis/handbook are typically terminal
> pressures for the maximum load that the chassis is possible of carrying.
> Naturally, these chassis' can end up in a variety of applications so it is rare to find the pressures noted are what you actually require.
>
> There is no algorithm as such. However, as a general rule you will be
> looking at a 0.25bar increase for every 100kg load between the minimum
> (3.0bar @ 1490kg) to the maximum of 4.5bar @ 2060kg"

To change the subject to the "judder" you mentioned - despite being told it did not exist on our 2200 HDi, 5 speed, I can tell you it very much does, and that almost everyone except the owners are in denial about it! Having suffered one particularly bad episode trying to reverse out of a narrow Welsh lane, I contacted Peugeot Customer Care and finally got to speak with an Engineer in the Coventry office who informed me that Peugeot had stopped making any modifications to the Boxer for this alleged problem as none of the measures worked satisfactorally, and any difficulty in reversing was merely a "characteristic" of the vehicle! Needless to say I have still not made any headway on this issue - good luck and if you can find a dealer who will help please post a reply.
Cheers, Axefixer

Thanks for the info Axefixer-very interesting. I will post a reply after I have contacted my Peugeot dealer.

Axefixer wrote:The pressures you require are as follows:
>
> Front: 3bar - 44psi
> Rear: 3.25bar - 47psi

Those pressures seem rather low to me

CruizingComet wrote:

Axefixer wrote:The pressures you require are as follows:
>
> Front: 3bar - 44psi
> Rear: 3.25bar - 47psi

Those pressures seem rather low to me

Those pressures are very similar to those quoted to me by both Michelin and Continental for my van with axle weights of 1450kg each. Michelin added a little to the front pressure to allow for weight transfer under braking.

squip

Yes "CruizingComet" I thought that too, so I experimented a little and can confirm that these pressures give an amazingly confortable ride, but I have always pumped my vehicle tyres up just a little more mainly for economy, as the pressures quoted are always a compromise. I have now settled on 48 psi front and 54 psi rear with a little more in the nearside tyres to help with road camber (optional but helps on large camber roads). We now have minimum rattle, maximum comfort and on a recent fully laden trip to France, through the Alpes and the Route de Grande Alpes and back up the Rhone Valley, we averaged 34.2 mpg!

48 & 54 PSI seems more suitable to me...

As stated previously at 50psi my tyres look under-inflated to me so took this pic this morning, perhaps others don't agree?
this is with absolutely no load inside the vehicle. I think @ 44 psi (especially with a load) I would start worrying about road holding and increased wear but I'm no expert and just experimenting like others to find the best ride quality without compromising on safety



Anyway it's good to get feedback from others as to what works best

CC
I think it would be good for you to get you van to a weighbridge to get the axle weights when loaded in touring trim.
Both under and over inflation produce poor roadholding and increased tyre wear but of the two I think that under inflation is the worst as that brings with it tyre overheating. I tend to use pressures 3-4 psi over the recommended for just that reason.
I do not think the tyre in your pic looks under inflated. I would add a pic of mine but it's dark just now.

squip

Here's my tuppenceworth re. tyre pressures.............................

The max. pressure on the sidewall of my 195/70/15 Conti is 65psi. I started at 50 psi and drove for 15 miles on a motorway, stopped and immediately felt the tyre surface temperature. The centre was significantly cooler than the sides, indicating the pressure was too low. I tried 55 and the difference was less and now I'm at 60 psi with an even temperature across the tread. The van was pretty laden with water, awning etc. on board. I'd consider running 5 psi less when running a lighter load.

This system works well for me and if you've an even temp. across the tyre then something is right IMO

This, by the way, was at the rear. The fronts are at 50 and even though they are snow tyres they are cool over the whole tread so they're staying at 50.