Well its been a while since I've updated, so here goes...
A few weeks ago I changed the rather tired looking radiator for the shiny new one, see if you can work out which one is which....
At the same time as changing the rad, I also changed the thermostat too. So the car now has a new rad, thermostat and water pump, lets see the bugger overheat now!!!
Also on the agenda a few weeks ago was a full transmission fluid and filter change. Was straightforward enough to do, except I realised that a previous owner had bodged the filler plug on the large sump with chemical metal. There was also evidence that the sump wasn't quite flat on that corner. When I finally removed the chemical metal, the filler plug was a bit rounded off. So I guess someone had made a very poor attempt at removing the plug previously. Top that off with two of the large sump pan bolts stripping their threads (both next to each other too), and I was not having a good day. But the need for a working car and a lack of a spare sump pan or helicoil kit meant that I had to throw it back together and hope for the best.
Final job of the day was another oil and filter change, with an engine flush additive before I dropped the old oil. I did this a few weeks ago, but I did it again just to give the engine every chance to be clean internally. I managed to acquire a dipstick tube o-ring from the local BMW main stealers. So now I have a dipstick tube that doesn't flop about!
Initial test drives showed a bit of progress, especially on the overheating front. Not, the viscous fan only kicks in after the engine has been stood idling in traffic for a while, and soon stops again after getting back on the move. Weirdly, the temp gauge still reads exactly the same as before, i.e. normal running temp is just over 90 degrees. It still gets hot fairly quickly if you floor it for long periods, but cools down just as quickly if you ease off. But for me, I know I've made an improvement as that bloody noisy fan isn't deafening me all of the time. I reckon that I could get it to run even cooler if I got a new rad the same thickness as the original one was, the one in it now is not much morethan half as thick.
Next on the list of jobs is to replace the auxiliary belt tensioner damper thingy. When cold, the engine does sometimes stall if you wind too much steering lock on without any revs. This then throws the tensioner off the belt. It's easy enough to reach under and flick the tensioner back into place, just annoying to have to keep doing it. After spending over £500 on a £250 car, I'm trying to eek as many miles out of it as I can before I spend anymore. But I will get a new tensioner damper next time I'm paid.
Other than the above, the car has been faultlessly reliable. Done a couple of longer journeys in it, and getting over 40mpg too. There's such a massive gap between the mpg around town and on the open road. I really struggle toget more than 25mpg around town, I'd like to meet the idiot that decided that a super-slippy torque converter was a good idea, the punch him hard in the face. I'm not interested in accelerating quickly, I just want to waft about on the cheap!!!
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Topic: "The Shed" - My Omega 2.5 TD CDX Auto Estate (Read 11357 times)