[Car_Overhaul] One Thing Leads To Another..

[Kane 34]

Will do, cheers.

[Kane 34]

After speaking to Paul (mrfirepro) today I think my leak may be originating from the same place that he has just discovered on his own car, the oil gallery plugs located on the block behind the gearbox and cam cover.

 

I did not remove these at any point but the engine was away at a machinists getting aqua blasted so I presume they had them out to ensure no blasting media remained in the oil galleries themselves. Whether they installed them properly I cannot be sure so just as a matter of course I'm going to take the engine out remove the gearbox, cam cover, sump and end caps and reseal everything before putting it back in. This should hopefully solve my problem and I will actually be able to put it on the road, finally!

[welshpug 1,624]

Aqua blasted = water.

 

presumably no media?....

[Kane 34]

To be honest I can't remember if it was aqua blasted or not but I'm getting to the stage that I don't want to have to take the same parts off again and again so I'm going to redo all the sealant as a precaution

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

That's a bummer Kane.

 

But i'll tell you for sure. The hardship is soon forgotten once you've got the car out a few times. I'm gonna have to take mines out again, but having clocked 1500 miles over the last couple of months i know that it's worth it and the effort involved.

 

 

Just a thought but could they have somehow caused a problem by baking it to dry it off quick.

[unariciflocos 49 1 Cars]

Hang in there, I'm also struggling with containing all my oil leaks and having a sump baffle and 2 gaskets is making things twice as hard.

[Kane 34]

I think the likely cause of the leak is due to poor attention to detail on my part as opposed to anything else, I'll find out soon enough I guess.

 

Good news though, after a little sob story to the mot guy about my oil leak woes he passed it when it went in for the partial retest not only does this mean I won't have to faf about organising another test but I also didn't get charged for a second test, result!

 

I'm off down the road this weekend so hopefully will have the problem fixed by Monday.

[Anthony 1,000]

Well that's something now that it's got a fresh 12 months ticket on it, ready to hit the road once you've sorted that tincey issue of the oil leak...

[Kane 34]

Very true Anthony, a full day at it on Sunday and I reckon it'll be ready for tax and insurance first thing Monday morning.

 

I'm not going to lie Iv can't bloody wait, it's been a long time coming

[Kane 34]

Got out to the car yesterday and made a start at removing the engine to source this oil leak. My initial estimate on turnaround time was over ambitious at best so I did not manage to finish. The biggest hold up was taking off the exhaust manifold, numpty here thought it'd be a good idea to remove it from the head as opposed to the join at the downpipe Idiot!

 

Eventually got it all stripped and pulled the engine out onto a make shift bench. Gearbox off, belt cover off and guess what I found.... both oil drain plugs were only hand tight. Thanks to Paul (mrfirepro) for the heads up. Popped them out, gave it a clean, put on some plumbers tape and back in they went. The annoying thing is that when Paul over a Gardias engineering services had the engine I spoke to him on the phone and I recall him saying that obviously I'd need to tighten up something on the engine, I wasn't aware of these plugs at the time so didn't think much of it. Silly twat

 

Moving swiftly along. I'm slightly concerned about the pressed in oil plug on the flywheel end of the block. Is this something that would likely have been removed during cleaning? I've tried to move it by hand to see if it is loose but doesn't feel it and a don't particularly want to try and pop it out with tools in case I either damage it or can't get it to reseal properly again. Can somebody help me out with some advice on the best way forward with this?

 

Although the leak was likely to only be originating from the oil gallery plugs alone I decided to remove the sump, spacer and two end main caps just to be sure. After a thorough cleaning with degreasing cloths, microfibre cloths and a blast with the heat gun we applied some loctite gasket sealant and put it all back together. Unfortunately for me lady luck was not on my side again. Upon tightening one of the sump bolts with a cordless it tightened and instantly went bang. You have got to be kidding me! There was obviously sealant trapped down the base of the hole and when tightening the bolt the compressed sealant must have been exerting some amount of force to crack a chunk off the outside of the block. Absolutely s*itting myself I cleaned back the hole removing all the sealant that was there and luckily it blew out the way only so no damage to the inner section of the block. Has anyone else ever seen this? Do you think that this might weaken the main structure of the block at all?

 

After that scare I fitted a few more things and threw the towel in for the night. I'm hopefully going to take a holiday day from work next week to get the rest fitted back in the car then all being well I'll be able to get it insured and actually be able to drive it. I feel a bit of deja vu, seems I've been this close for months but still not made the finish line yet

[Anthony 1,000]

The torque on the sump bolts is very little - you really shouldn't be banging them in with an electric gun!

 

The core plug(s) would have unlikely been removed if that's what you're talking about, so if there's no evidence of leakage around them then they can be left. Obviously if there's evidence of weeping then you'll need to address that.

[Kane 34]

I was only using a 12v cordless on slow speed to tighten them down, then I was finishing them by hand. The problem I had was that the block instantly cracked as soon as it began to tighten so I didn't have a chance to back off. I didn't realise they capable of that much torque.

 

I couldn't see any sign of weeping so hopefully they haven't been touched.

[unariciflocos 49 1 Cars]

One of the holes has also cracked on the back of my block just like yours. No damage to the inside however. I've drilled and retapped all of the holes to M8 however after stripping some of the threads.

 

Do you have a picture of where your leak was? I'm putting the suspension back on my car today and I'll drive it to have the whole engine bay washed so that i can maybe finally find the source of my leak.

[Kane 34]

I don't have a picture to hand but it was coming from the oil drain plugs. These are large Allen-key plugs located behind the flywheel on the gearbox end and also behind one of the belt tensioners on the cambelt end. Once you have the various parts off the engine to gain access you can't miss them.

[unariciflocos 49 1 Cars]

Ah, definitely not coming from there on mine. Seems to weep from the bolts ... Anyway, put the motor back in and take it on the road before winter is here.

[Kane 34]

Finally managed to get out to the car this evening although only for a few hours as I never got back down the road from work until about 8pm. Nonetheless I managed to get the engine back in the car, exhaust fitted, gear linkage back on and various hoses fitted.

 

Managed to take a holiday day from work tomorrow so should get out to refit the remaining bits, not really that much to do so hopefully it shouldn't take up all of my day.

 

Here's a couple of snaps prior to fitting the engine again

 

 

 

All being well the car should be up and running tomorrow afternoon so I'll be sure to report back when that time comes.

 

Cheers

 

Kane

[Kane 34]

So after yet another unsuccessful day at the car today my patience with this project is well and truly diminished.

 

I made an early start as I didn't have the full day available to spend on the car. Only real tasks to complete were to refit inlet manifold, afm gubbins, battery and the various hoses and cables. Managed to get all these tasks complete in fairly quick time then was the moment to fire it up.

 

First turn of the key and it burst into life, not a healthy sounding one though. Initially it seemed to be running on 3 cylinders. Then came the smoke! It was coming from around the exhaust manifold which was followed by a bit of a bang up front.

 

Absolutely s*itting myself I cut the engine and began the search for what was wrong. I began by taking the cam cover off as my first thought was that I incorrectly fitted the belt and had bent All my valves. Got the cover off, lined up all the timing holes and everything looked as it should. Checked the belt for tension all ok there too. Ok what's next?

 

Thought because it was running on 3 it must have been electrical So started checking each plug for spark and all Checked out ok. Hmmm strange..

 

Moved onto a compression check with cheapo tester my old man has. First cylinder and the value was way below expected, my heart sunk! Then Moved onto the next and it showed a similar figure, and the next two were roughly the same. All readings were within 10psi of each other so I ruled that the tester must be giving lower than correct values but consistency is key so a little relief.

 

After going over everything again and again I was a little stumped then decided to check all the loom plugs to make sure all the terminals were still where they should be. What did I find.. Yep one if the iacv. wires had snapped at the terminal. Replaced that popped it back in and fired her up. It works, we'll almost.

 

It has now developed a terrible idle, sort of sits around 900-1000 rpm and almost hunts every now and then. When revved it sounds sweet so I'm guessing that it's running as it should only the idle has been affected by something. What could it be? Air leak, worn throttle body, worn afm, the devil himself up to old tricks or a combination of All of the above.

 

Either way it runs and although its not been a great day I have managed to fix the oil leak I think I'll get it taxed and insured and drive it. Hopefully I'll be able to source and replace suspect parts over the coming weeks and finally have a car that runs hassle free, I'm a dreamer I know

 

Any comments/suggestions are welcome.

 

Cheers

 

Kane

[jackherer 543]

Is the throttle position switch adjusted correctly and does it work when you check it with a multimeter?

[Kane 34]

I didn't realise the TPS could be manually adjusted, I thought it was only the afm that had a screw you can adjust. How do you go about adjusting the TPS Kieran?

 

Haven't checked with a multimeter yet either, what should it be reading and how would I test it to check if it's faulty?

 

Thanks again for your help

[jackherer 543]

It's held on with two screws and it can be rotated a few degrees before you tighten it down.

 

It needs to be rotated so it just clicks on when the throttle returns to idle but not rotated too far or it will prevent the throttle closing fully.

 

To check it with a meter you should see a complete circuit between the middle pin and one of the side pins when the throttle is closed that goes open circuit as soon as you open the throttle (when you hear the click). Then check for a circuit between the middle pin and the other side pin when the throttle is almost fully open, the only difference is there is no audible click for full throttle enrichment. It's the same as the 8v TPS which is described here - http://www.205gtidrivers.com/articles/e3-injection.html

[Kane 34]

Ah ok Kieran thanks for the info. I'll hopefully manage a few hours at the car over the next week or so so will try what you have suggested and see how I get on.

 

Cheers

[Kane 34]

Ok quickly went out and checked the car today. Used some easy start stuff to check for air leaks and it doesn't seem to have any, only time the revs picked up was when the spray was sprayed at the air filter itself.

 

Had a look at the tps and I'm not exactly sure how you're supposed to hear the click over the engine noise. Checking it with the multimeter returned odd figures not similar to what they should be according to that link. I'm guessing the readings will be out when the tps is in the incorrect position?

 

Also one more peculiar symptom that I've noticed. When you hit WOT the car begins to pick up then instantly bogs down as if losing all power then picks up again, this bogging down and picking up repeats with the throttle fully open. Is this a typical symptom of the tps issue or another issue entirely?

[jackherer 543]

Check it with the ignition off and the TPS unplugged.

[Kane 34]

Looks like fanny baws strikes again After a lot of head scratching at the weekend and trying a few things I decided to strip down all of the intake system, check everything and reassemble.

 

I thought that as the engine was running perfectly fine prior to the strip down there must have been an error on my part during the assembly and right enough there was.

 

Step by step I removed all the air intake components checking them as I went; no cracks in the pipework, throttle body doesn't have too much play but will likely need renewed in the near future, tps was adjusted but don't think that was causing any issues, afm flap returns as it should.

 

Last piece of the puzzle.. the inlet manifold itself. Pulled that off and began cleaning the gasket off and hit something solid around the only stud in the head. Oh dear looks like I left the washer between the inlet and the head (face-palm)!

 

After reapplying some loctite gasket sealant and putting the whole intake system back on I started it up. First turn of the key and it kicked into life, no throttle required! Idling like a normal car again, few blips of the throttle and everything seems to be operating as should.

 

Let's just say I feel like a right prat but at least it is fixed now. Should be able to get out and get it taxed/insured at the end of the week and all things being Well take it for a proper run

 

Thanks again for everyone's input

 

Kane

[Kane 34]

Everything on the car seems to be going ok apart from one thing, the fan. I think the the thermoswitch must be goosed but it someone could clarify for me that'd be good.

 

I've tested the coolant fan by bridging the live pin on the thermoswitch with both of the other two pins (low and high speed) and the fans are operating at they should. But when running the car stationary the temperatures keep climbing up towards the red without the fans kicking in.

 

Does this sound like a dodgy thermoswitch? If so should it be replaced with a genuine unit or would a generic one from somewhere like ecp be ok?