A Nice Little Tale Of Woe For All Those Who Are Struggling

[kyepan 291]

So my issues with the pug, Its female and hates me. Imagine if you had ignored your other half for a couple of months, then bumped into her and expected a session, she would probably try and set fire to you wouldn't she.....

 

Desptie being lavished with lots of new bits recently, she really has tried to kick me in the teeth awfully hard at every given opportunity. For example i changed the sump, oil pump and put on an extended pickup.. The new sump would not seal (my fault) but it leaked worse than before. It also had a hot start issue which I think is fuel pump related ( need a phase one pump with square connector).. anyhow.

 

also just to coincide with putting it back together the weeping water leak in the front of the block reappeared with avengance, and proceeded to piss water everywhere.. it would not start reliabley, hold water or oil.. so it was shelved.

 

all of this combined with a reliable, fun and cool looking mx5 has led to her being parked, where she has recieved several angry notes from some bonkers neighbour who has yet to be revealed and a dented rear quarter (which was the only straight panel on the car).

 

After a few months not thinking about it, i finally resolved to fix it before it's mot, otherwise fitting the new engine would be more complex... after all the block could be fixed with some jb weld, the starter was in the same area, and the sump just needed the correct length bolts and some careful fitting.

 

Take yesterday for instance, the day to move the car to dads from mine, the car will not start, and has not been able to start for some time (read months), I've already rewired the solonoid wire to solve previous hot start issues, and was fairly sure that the starter could not be at fault, as it was nearly new, and really did look nearly new, the copper plating on the main terminal was very fresh. Chances are the battery was low too.

 

We'd previously been able to bump it with me pushing and dad doing the clutch when it was last driven, after a few goes it popped into life, so i hopped in and drove to dads to investigate the starter issues, it was as fruity as ever, and when warm gave it a bootfull, lovely. Half a mile later was bumbling along and it started to misbehave, then die, with the accompanied very strong smell of fuel. OH dear thinks me, Pulls over.

 

Opens the bonnet, and for some completly inexplicable reason the fuel hose (which i have not touched for a very very very long time) had come loose and was sending fuel all over the engine bay. Luckily due to the shortness of the drive, and the low speed at the time, it did not ignite. Completly random and very worrying, i almost throught someone might have popped the bonnet whilst it was sat and loosened the clip off. Tightened the clip, waited for the rest to evaporate and called dad to help me bump it again.

 

This time it would not bump. despite me pushing it about 400m and probably 15 attempts. Off dad went to get the tow rope.

 

On top the cg lock locked and I could not undo it, it was so tight i could not control the pedals, whilst being towed with no servo on the brakes ... bloody thing was just dying to take me and my dads new volvo with it. Que driving past 2 police cars with no on tow sign

 

Finally got to dads, he was furious that it had taken so long, i was stressed and the car very nearly got put up to be broken. The car then decided that it's battery was so dead (despite a solar trickle charger) that would not lock, unlock, or wind the window up. After some more swearing, I disconnected it, and hey presto after fifteen minutes later it was ok.

 

 

 

Anyway on to today, after putting the +ve clip of the multimeter on the starter solonoid wire (disconnected), and the -ve to earth, i got full voltage (adimitildy the battery was one from the lawn mower, but every volt got to the end of the wire. Also took a live to the starter solonoid, with 11.5 volts and that didn't even get the solonoid to click. So the starter is indeed dead as a dodo.... It's a recon purchased from a forum member and was very good to begin with, however it started to slow recently and then one day it did nothing. clearly it's burnt out.

 

Subsequent removal and testing of the battery shows that when connected it has 1v... if disconnected, this quickly rises to about 11v. Completly bonkers, but there you go. New battery added to the list.

 

removed the inlet manifold to look at the water leak, cleaned up the entire block and sanded the area to get down to the metal to reveal it was a crack in the block, only a hairline, but a crack none the less, that extended along a flat section and around one of the webs mid height on the far right of the front of the block. More furious cleaning back to bare metal, and scraping the crack a bit deeper to give the jb weld something to grab onto. And then a big old wodge of jb weld all over the place, even if it only lasts another year like it did last time. Job jobbed.

 

So all i have to do is source the correct length M7 bolts for the sump and we have water and oil tight car, then a new slimline starter (if anyone has the gsf part number that would be handy) and a replacement phase one pump and we're back in business until the engine is build.

 

If you think your car hates you, think of mine, jason (the previous owner) actually gave me the car because it had so many small niggles. (like the fuel gauge reading very little with a full tank) i think it's a lemon.

 

although saying that there is a mint 205 junior in miami blue parked in my car park that is just aching to be a reshell... then some pug hub caps for the steelies and we're fully stealthed up...

 

J

Edited July 5, 2009 by kyepan

[steve@cornwall 100]

Have yppou cleaned up all of the battery negative connections to gearbox and shell? This may improve a lot of the "niggles"?

[kyepan 291]

Have yppou cleaned up all of the battery negative connections to gearbox and shell? This may improve a lot of the "niggles"?

yep, but thanks for the idea, did them very very recently, really cleaned them with sand paper, copperslipped them and then put a dab of grease over them once nipped up.

 

[The Arch Bishop 0]

Glad to hear it's not just me then! About a month ago, I replaced the weeping bottom hoses, topped up the coolant, started her and it held well. The next day, she pi$$ed all the coolant over the drive way. Cue one new hose from the block to the expansion tank and a long wait whilst Peugeot messed me about for a block to bulkhead hose (autofive had them in the end) and triumphantly turned the key yesterday. Nothing.

 

So new battery this morning (two attempts for the local motor factors to get the right one) and turned the key. turns but doesn't start. Eventually traced it to the brown multiplug that had come loose. Turned the key..... she finally started and held coolant.

 

So, on a roll now, I decided to sort out the windscreen wipers on my neighbours Ford Galaxy (how complex are they to dismantle). After two hours of freeing the spindles on that and putting it back together, I went back to the pug to give it a check over before it goes off for welding and an attempt at an MOT. Spooky to find that the windscreen wipers had packed up... Fitted a spare wiper motor and got that running.

 

A final check round everything and found that the passenger front indicator had packed up. By this point, my temper was starting to fray so I did a Fonz and smacked the lens nice and hard.. That got it going...

 

Nothing as bad as your problems kyepan, but I agree that sometimes you can't help but think they've got it in for you.

[GLPoomobile 958]

Mine is the opposite

 

 

I took the battery up the road and re-installed it after it being run flat back around last November. Think it was around October that I last used the car. She started fine first time (cranked it over with the relays out first of all to get the oil moving, then took about a second or two to fire once I had reconnected them). Running a little lumpy, but that could be the old fuel, and still got an annoying tap, which I guess must be a stuck hydraulic lifter. It was doing it before, so it's not just a case of needing time to refill.

 

The only frustrating thing I can say about it really, is that the bugger never did the annoying cutting out and refusing to re-start problem the whole time I had her running. So I just know that she's going to wait until I try and drive down the road to park nearer my flat, and leave me stranded in the bus lane with a traffic warden on the way

Edited July 5, 2009 by GLPoomobile

[Greg205 0]

Ha ha, I just got my idle problems sorted out, running smooth!! Then my wife asks me to take her c4 in for it's mot, which fails! So, she's got the 205 whilst i change all disks and pads on her car (also had to take a headlight unit out which her dad broke! not easy!) Anyway she comes in from work and say's "the brakes are rubbish on your car, the pedal goes all the way to the floor and nothing happens!" I reply "what they're fine" She says "They were ok when I first borrowed it, but they've got worse every day......." One quick cylinder change and she's back in my wife's evil clutches, Anyway my wife returns from work today and says "I hate your car, everytime I put the clutch down the car cuts out, it's been doing it all week, at traffic lights, junctions everywhere" I take the 205 out and it runs perfectly.. Moral of the story, my 205 is jealous and wants my wife dead.....

[James_m 0]

If your going to replace the starter, try and get the smaller one off an XU10 engined car, much better than the originals!

[C_W 3 1 Cars]

The battery thing sounds like a short circuit?

[BusEngineer 7]

"Moral of the story, my 205 is jealous and wants my wife dead....."

 

That has just made me laugh out loud!!

[hexhamstu 9]

Ha ha, I just got my idle problems sorted out, running smooth!! Then my wife asks me to take her c4 in for it's mot, which fails! So, she's got the 205 whilst i change all disks and pads on her car (also had to take a headlight unit out which her dad broke! not easy!) Anyway she comes in from work and say's "the brakes are rubbish on your car, the pedal goes all the way to the floor and nothing happens!" I reply "what they're fine" She says "They were ok when I first borrowed it, but they've got worse every day......." One quick cylinder change and she's back in my wife's evil clutches, Anyway my wife returns from work today and says "I hate your car, everytime I put the clutch down the car cuts out, it's been doing it all week, at traffic lights, junctions everywhere" I take the 205 out and it runs perfectly.. Moral of the story, my 205 is jealous and wants my wife dead.....

When ever you lend a 205 to someone else it breaks. Its a law!

[welshpug 1,622]

who did you lend your 205 to then Stu?

[kyepan 291]

When ever you lend a 205 to someone else it breaks. Its a law!

so true, lent it to susie, it stalled and refused to restart, had to drive all the way to ealing to persuade it to start.

[Greg205 0]

Hey Bus engineer, you're 28 and from newchapel???? we probably went to the same school, I'm 28 and from kidsgrove originally!

[Batfink 201]

i'm really frightened my 205 has not been driven since 2004

[kyepan 291]

progress... and not progress...

 

with a level of attention to detail that's fairly new to me i set about fixing the leaky sump, it's plagued me for ever and a day...

 

step one was to remove and clean clean clean.. all the old sealant off, all the oil out, gently lifted the old sealant with a stanley knife blade, degreased with brake cleaner, wiped with cleaner and cleaner rags until it shone... or at least could be handled with clean hands. Cleaned the underside of the

 

 

step two, seeing as i had another mi engine on a stand, flip it upside down and measure the depth of each thread, to calculate how long the bolts needed to be. I ran a tap through carefully, noting each depth, most were around 16-18mm. It's worth noting that the new sump is shallower where the bolts sit by about 8mm... hence none of the original mi bolts fitting.

 

thinner

anyone recognise this part number

or this sump

 

 

step four cut the m7 hex bolts from apex fastenings in slough down to the prescribed length and test fit everything onto the engine in the garage, round the ends with a file, and use the die on it to just get the thread neat at the start.

 

 

 

 

apologies for fuzzy photo

 

 

all cut to length in my diagram of a sump.

 

 

step five (here is where i always screw up...) fit the spacer plate and hold it on with some very washer happy bolts, go home and let it go off. (ps rag stuffed up into the crank case to stop that unending dribble down the back of the block that i swear always ruins the seal at the bottom left back corner. This time instead of a bead, used did a smear of sealant across the whole plate, left it to go slightly tacky and then fitted.

 

go buy dad a Chinese for being a legend, go home and come back this morning.

 

Step six for this morning fit the second part of the plate, the new starter (thanks paul) which we tested yesterday, after a bit of wd and some fun on the new battery it was firing and returning nicely. Replace the inlet manifold, put it all back together and wait another 24 hours for the second lot of sealant to go off before filling it with oil and turning the key.

 

Still need to find out how to swap over the internals of my fuel pumps, have one on the car with the connector mounted in the top of the pump, and a replacement with the connector on a lead, apparently these can be exchanged internally.... any one know how?

 

J

[DrSarty 90 1 Cars]

Picture 3 J:

Who's bottom left with the pink shoes? Susie, your dad (!), or the Chinese (person) you went out and bought for your dad? Which was nice of you.

 

Now that's attention to detail, and one is sensing a little bit of paranoia there about avoiding a leaking sump.

[Paul_13 212 1 Cars]

I guess you can swap the internals over as you have to do it with the walbro pumps.

 

Did you still want that fuel pump J?

 

Sorry if the starter was sticking been in storage for nearly a year

[welshpug 1,622]

sump is a later XU10 item, commonly found on gti6.

[kyepan 291]

I guess you can swap the internals over as you have to do it with the walbro pumps.

 

Did you still want that fuel pump J?

 

Sorry if the starter was sticking been in storage for nearly a year

 

am ok no need to get the pump if it is another fly lead one like the last, got a phase 2 pump coming hopefully!

 

Starter was fine after a bit of tlc!! thanks again.

 

 

rich - it was dad.

 

So, carrying on, got the sump on pretty quickly, started about 8:30am and it was on done up and ready by about 9:30, held it up with my noggen and got a couple of bolts in, and bolted up, all the bolts worked a treat - bar 1, which bottomed out earlier than i expected, cut it down by 4 mm and it went in fine. The thread i thought was knackered turned out to be fine, they all nipped up and gradually pulled up the sump nicely.

 

 

This is it with RTV smeared on the sump, note that i've removed the excess from the inner edge to try and reduce the risk of it spewing out the sides once clamped up and getting into the oil pickup.

 

 

Took my time cleaning all the hoses below the inlet manifold, before removing the scuttle panel and seeing to the hoses, i labelled the injector loom but the labels fell off.. i think i've got it right.

 

This is about 10:00 am, all to do,

 

Noticed that where i had fitted the inlet manifold previously id used too much gasket compound, this resulted in it getting on the heads of the injectors, so cleaned all of the injectors up carefully.

 

Also cleaned around then shroud they sit in, and the corresponding area of the head port, covered in black crap.

 

 

and this is at about 11:30 am all done bar afm and a few jubilee clips to fit up..

 

 

Seems that i'm getting faster at working on the car, it being the nth time i've done the sump, 2nd inlet manifold, 3rd starter.... etc etc etc..

 

Leaving the car with no oil or water overnight for the sump to go off, then i'll fill it and run it tomorrow evening.

 

J

[kyepan 291]

sump is a later XU10 item, commonly found on gti6.

interesting, it's a different thickness to the xu9j4 sump...

[Paul_13 212 1 Cars]

Nearly there

 

Is that other MI engine you've got surplus?

[kyepan 291]

Nearly there

 

Is that other MI engine you've got surplus?

It's going in the pug once I've rebuilt it.

 

 

So, filled it back up with oil tonight after nipping up the nuts on the sump, filled and bled the coolant system.

 

Started and went round the block..

 

Got back to put some fuel in and checked underneath, it leaked, drip drip drip... from the back of the sump, clean oil...could not believe it.

 

so... got out the torch, because it was getting dark and just tightened up all the bolts, a fair amount. Certainly much more than the 11lbs in the manual

 

Leak slowed down and nearly stopped, so it got wiped down and a big dawb of sealant slapped on the outside over where it was coming from, back left next to the gearbox.

 

No more leak....

 

Starter was a bit reluctant a first but was good after a couple of turns.

 

 

 

On a slightly lighter note, went up to the motorway junction on a second shakedown, followed a diesel golf round the roundabout, and gave it some beans once he moved over up the dual carriage way to the junction, forgot how unstable the pug is over bumps when compared to the serenity of the mx5, when i got there and pulled up at the lights, he trundled in after and i had to look the other way as i grinned from ear to ear...

 

turned round to find him hanging out the window, "that's one quick motor mate, is it a gti?" so i told him it had an MI in it, Granted it's got a whacking great dent in the door and black steelies, but he loved it.

 

sold.

Edited July 14, 2009 by kyepan

[Paul_13 212 1 Cars]

Glad to hear it's going again mate, i'm going to have a severe case of sh!t-eating grin-itis when I get back in mine

[kyepan 291]

A quick update...

 

so the starter was working ok, but grumbling a bit, and struggling to turn the engine over for the periods needed to get it to fire... new starter (not a recon) ordered and this weekend was the time to fit.

 

So on thursday evening, i set about changing the starter, unfortunatly the clearance between starter and radiator was not great enough, and also my JB weld did not... weld up the water leak in the block.

 

 

Checking the header tank, the level had dropped, so something was not right, looking at the front of the block, again the leak had worked it's way around my first repair... for some reason i was not all that bothered by this, as it would be a simple affair to remove the rad... drain the coolant and get right to it.

 

Off came the radiator, out came the coolant, off came the starter, a quick clean up and more liberal application of jb weld appears to be in order, refitted and replaced new starter, connected, cleaned, torqued, done.

 

The sound of a new starter is indeed a sweet noise.

 

Left it until Sunday morning to allow the jb weld to go off, and fill with coolant.

 

Come sunday the 24mm rear arb went back in the beam, which only took 20 mins (if anyone has a plastic bung for the end of the beam, one is missing, i filled it with grease but would like to get one in there for the long term)

 

Once again the ARB transformed the handling, I take it back if i said stiffer torsion bars are good enough on their own. It's so flat when in the corner and generates so much mechanical grip no lolling about and understeer, just more and more grip. Thankfully

 

Had an evo of some description with two cap wearing young lads following me on the test run, the 205 felt quite composed and planted. I'm fairly sure he ended up following me just for giggles, and wanted to show me some boost. I did oblige but only after checking that the handling was functioning correctly.

 

 

so now, all that is needed is the fuel pump, and me to fit the door, and i believe we are in business. If there is a spare standard rear grille that someone doesn't want, i'd also be interested in that.. the car is becoming more stealthy by the week..

 

 

question is, should i put hubcaps on... too much weight? or make it look even more base model.

[DrSarty 90 1 Cars]

Nice to hear you're running again J.

 

Re: weight - you shall not fit hub cabs, drive naked and go out hungry.