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35101

General Discussion Area / Re: Ive just found out im wasting money!

« on: 08 April 2007, 11:25:06 »

The other aspect to be taken under consideration is the number of cold starts versus the number of times the oil gets up to full working temperature for a few hours at a time. Every cold start dilutes the oil with fuel, combustion products (acids) and water. The oil needs to get very hot for a period of time to boil off these contaminants. So an engine that's done 5 hours on the motorway is much more healthy than an engine that's done 5 hours of school run!

Cars with service indicators apparently take this sort of thing into consideration - but are still biased to please the fleet manager.

Kevin

35102

General Discussion Area / Re: Ive just found out im wasting money!

« on: 07 April 2007, 22:33:23 »

Manufacturers recommendations are a toss up between giving the vehicle a reasonable lifetime and keeping fleet managers happy with regard to running costs. Fleet managers and manufacturers don't give a damn what happens to a car after 3 years or so, so you can draw your own conclusions from that.

For the cost of a DIY oil change I'd never leave oil in an engine for 20k. This is the stuff that blocked breathers and leaky cam covers are made of.

When they changed the interval to 20k did they redesign the engine range? No. They just decided to sacrifice some longevity under pressure from fleet managers to reduce servicing cost.

Kevin

35103

General Discussion Area / Re: BMW tow bar-advice requested

« on: 09 April 2007, 00:18:41 »

Having read the thread again I suspect 500 miles might be pushing it but who's to say how far it is "reasonable" to travel to an MOT?

Looks a nice tidy car and getting pretty rare on the road these days. Have fun!

Kevin

35104

General Discussion Area / Re: BMW tow bar-advice requested

« on: 08 April 2007, 20:07:37 »

... Or book an MOT half way between the car and home. You are allowed to drive it to and from a pre-booked MOT after all.  

Kevin

35105

General Discussion Area / Re: BMW tow bar-advice requested

« on: 07 April 2007, 22:48:18 »

I think they must be available because if you're towing with one of the newer hitches which stabilises the combination by gripping the ball, the ball is a wear item and the assembly must be replaced when the ball wears below a specified diameter.

As to the cost ....  :-?

I'd check that you're within the max towing weight if you're putting the car on a trailer.

Kevin

35106

General Discussion Area / Re: Project Elite - more progress

« on: 08 April 2007, 23:03:18 »

When I stripped mine (turns out you can't change just the bearings, and new drum required), I was very, very drunk when I put it all back together. So thats my advice....

I'm on it ;-)

Last time I did one was when I was at university. Got given an old machine with knackered bearings. Didn't have one in our student dive so whacked in some new bearings and job's a good'un. The machine had a bearing carrier at the back of the drum which just unbolted, drift out old bearings, install new, bolt on carrier.

This one's got a nasty plastic outer drum with the bearings drifted into a metal insert moulded into the drum, larger bearing on the inside, so it's never going to happen without removing the drum and splitting the two halves. It'll probably leak like a knackered HBV once it's back together  

Kevin

35107

General Discussion Area / Re: Project Elite - more progress

« on: 08 April 2007, 22:35:19 »

I've just spent 2 hours trying to get to the drum bearings on SWMBOs washing machine... and I've made nowhere near as much progress as James. Looks like a total stripdown and I've got that horrible feeling that it's never going to work again creeping up on me.

That'll either be because I can't remember how it all went together or because sammy sledgehammer is embedded in it!

Kevin

35108

General Discussion Area / Re: Project TB2 - Update 4

« on: 07 April 2007, 23:06:47 »

Whats your view on my viscous? Donald D'd?

I don't think you'd get the symptoms you are with a bad viscous fan. Once the car is moving you should have plenty of airflow through the radiator to cool the engine. Failure of the fan would give you overheating in traffic only. With the electric fans running there'd be no issue at all.

My Westfield has a radiator from a 1 litre Polo and this cools a tuned 2 litre 16v engine quite happily above an average speed of 30 MPH or so without the fan running.

I reckon you're not getting enough coolant flow for some reason.

However, I take it the bubbles in the expansion tank have been proven not to be exhaust gases?

Kevin

35109

General Discussion Area / Re: Project TB2 - Update 3

« on: 07 April 2007, 00:50:27 »

Regarding fan temperatures the coolant in an engine has a higher boiling point than normal due to the pressure it is under and the antifreeze, which raises the boiling point. It's not unusual for fan switches to be over boiling point. Generally the system needs to reach 110-120 deg c before it'll boil over IME.

Also, thinking about coolant temperature sensors I'm not sure what tractors do during warm up. They don't have throttles, and ingest air at the maximum rate under all load conditions, so the mixture is inherently variable. Put more fuel in and it just runs faster. The coolant temperature sensor probably just controls the duration of the glow plug warm-up, unless the air intake has a choke valve to allow it to enrich the mixture?

Kevin

35110

General Discussion Area / Re: Effing petrol station clown!

« on: 05 April 2007, 14:29:19 »

What an archaic way to run a business!  Roll Eyes

Ahh, but if you could pay at the pumps, you wouldn't walk into the shop and be tempted by all the other overpriced toot that they're trying to sell!

I like the French petrol stations. Little kiosk with a bloke smoking Gitanes in, and a row of pumps. Except that the bloke doesn't work on Sundays or 2 hours either side of any meal time. Oh, and the pumps are programmed to give a gallic shrug to any credit card that's not French. Other than that, they're great.  

Kevin

35111

General Discussion Area / Re: Parts List for Cam Change

« on: 05 April 2007, 12:28:40 »

D'oh! Beat me to it!
 

35112

General Discussion Area / Re: Parts List for Cam Change

« on: 05 April 2007, 12:27:58 »

Hi Chris,

You might need some sealant to seal under the front set of cam bearing caps. Probably different to the rocker cover sealant.
You will also need a set of camshaft oil seals.

Cam belt kit if it's close to renewal time.

That's about all I can think of. I'll happily lend a hand if I'm around.

Cheers,

Kevin

35113

General Discussion Area / Re: Reducing a car to a shell....eventually!

« on: 03 April 2007, 11:51:27 »

I quite fancy those cams, although I would need help putting them in..

Really? It's just a cam cover gasket change plus a little  

I could probably lend a pair of hands and I've changed cams on other engines without damage..

A timing belt locking kit would be required, of course.

Kevin

35114

General Discussion Area / Re: Another scared car in front

« on: 04 April 2007, 00:00:26 »

I noticed this when I picked mine up (dark blue). Had to travel over to Kent immediately after collecting the car. It was foul weather and the car was unfamiliar so I just sat at 70 around the M25 and down the M20. Saw quite a few exotics creep past me with blued brake disks only to cane it off when they saw me at the wheel. Thought to myself that some white shirts and black tank tops would be fun.

Kevin

35115

General Discussion Area / Re: Omega is top Vauxhall - official

« on: 04 April 2007, 15:07:36 »

I have found my MV6 to be one of the cheaper cars I've had to run, fuel aside. And the fuel economy isn't that bad, I had a 1.6 Honda engined car that averaged the same economy...

My mates scoff at me for driving a "Guzzler" when they're paying silly monthly payments for a dull modern Turbo Diesel eurobox bought on HP and getting royally shafted by the main dealer a couple of times a year. I'm driving something much quicker, much more comfortable, bought with cash and, whilst the fuel costs may be higher, the difference wouldn't go anywhere near paying their monthly payments.

The cost of fuel is the most obvious expense of running a car because it's depressing to see the figures whizzing round on the fuel pump every time you fill up, but it's the other costs that everyone forgets.

Kevin