So what have you done to your car today?

[VXL V6]

Washed the project and had attempt two at cleaning and freeing off the EGR on the Astra... should it fail again I 'should' have a brand new, genuine BNIB one arriving next week for £60 thanks to no one else bidding on it (RRP is £265.00 from VX), also cleaned the MAP sensor..... Bloody filthy diesels 

If it's the 150 1.9 I have a clean spare you can have, plus probably some gaskets

Thanks for the offer Mark, however, this is the Isuzu 1.7 - Z17DTJ (1.7 Cdti ecoflex) engine.

So far so good, diags show EGR operating with throttle with no codes raised yet. 

[Keith ABS]

 I am sure I have two boxes of tappet shims for the Isuzu diesel engine. Varying thicknesses as well

[Kevin Wood]

Use mine yesterday for the first time in a bit, and in true Jag style when the battery is less than perfect, the dash was like a Christmas tree.

So took it for a 30 mile spin to get some electricity in it. And all warnings now disappeared. Bloody Indians

It is the original battery, so getting towards tired, plus for some reason that I cant explain, I set the alarm last time I parked it up, which probably adds a tiny bit to the drain.

When I turned up to test drive mine they ushered me off for a cup of coffee while they got the jump start pack out. Throughout the test drive it was moaning about a low battery, so I insisted that they change it, given that the thing's a giant, immobile paperweight without volts, with an electric hand brake, electric auto box selector, etc.

[TheBoy]

Coming back from the theatre last night, and a few electrical warnings started popping up.  So this morning, I charged it again. It seemed to charge very quickly.

As it was also out of lorry juice, and I had a 10ppl off for Tesco, I drove down there to fill it up. Most of the way back, instead of a dashboard, I had the Jaguar Leaper logo instead, before it all went dark, then came back on normally, albeit it with airbag and TPMS warnings - presumably it detected all wasn't well and rebooted itself

So when I got it home, connected my spare battery (old one off the Zaffy) to the jump points, and disconnected the Jag's battery, and drop tested it, which proved it was not performing to spec - not bad, but not good either. And it seems JLR products are sensitive to tired batteries.

Recharged it again, and reconnected it, and removed the spare battery...   ...which I then drop tested, as I had it out, and discovered that battery is toast .  It has a date on it of 2010, which ironically is the age of the Jag battery


So this evening, been to Hellfrauds, as they were cheapest for known brands, and I have it in my hands .  Also, additionally, they offer cashback, and due to cashback sites and my bank, I have loads of Hellfrauds eVouchers. So I didn't have to hand over any cash, which is always a bonus.

[TheBoy]

Oh, and I changed the bloody time on it.  I notice the Battlebus and the Omega changed the time themselves.

[aaronjb]

They are pretty tricky to set up the vanos on them

Luckily I don't have to worry about that as the cams aren't coming out - the timing tool (far end of the head in that picture) holds the cams in time, and the crank sprocket is a friction fit so free to move around the crank axis until you tighten the main bolt to farking tight (50Nm .. plus 180º - the 180º is tricky with access through the wheel arch necessitating a breaker bar on two 10" extensions )

In the middle of doing all the stem seals now - using the BMW N62 seal tool so that the cams don't have to come out..


[edit] Note the "TDC indicators" .. otherwise known as the old pushrods from one of the big block V8s I figured the nice ball end on both ends meant no chance of damage..
Fiddly, but not too bad once I fixed my cheap compressor (the non-return valve leaks like a sieve, must buy a new one) and moved it from one garage to the other. 11 seals down, 5 to go!

[VXL V6]

Used the Astra yesterday to get some confidence in it before handing it back to Mrs VXL. No more EGR issues yet.

Gave it a good thrashing using the cross country route back as the M5 and M42 are maintained by NCP at rush hour  , it's not actually too bad when the turbo is spinning!
The seats are totally shite though compared to an Omega Elite but the automatic lights are a neat touch and the rain sensitive wipers are not as sensitive as the Omega which is a good thing, another silly observation is the indirect lighting in the rear view mirror is much brighter

Oh and I put a new courtesy light bulb and air filter in it. That's Mrs VXL's Christmas presents all sorted 

[Auto Addict]

Coming back from the theatre last night, and a few electrical warnings started popping up.  So this morning, I charged it again. It seemed to charge very quickly.

As it was also out of lorry juice, and I had a 10ppl off for Tesco, I drove down there to fill it up. Most of the way back, instead of a dashboard, I had the Jaguar Leaper logo instead, before it all went dark, then came back on normally, albeit it with airbag and TPMS warnings - presumably it detected all wasn't well and rebooted itself

So when I got it home, connected my spare battery (old one off the Zaffy) to the jump points, and disconnected the Jag's battery, and drop tested it, which proved it was not performing to spec - not bad, but not good either. And it seems JLR products are sensitive to tired batteries.

Recharged it again, and reconnected it, and removed the spare battery...   ...which I then drop tested, as I had it out, and discovered that battery is toast .  It has a date on it of 2010, which ironically is the age of the Jag battery


So this evening, been to Hellfrauds, as they were cheapest for known brands, and I have it in my hands .  Also, additionally, they offer cashback, and due to cashback sites and my bank, I have loads of Hellfrauds eVouchers. So I didn't have to hand over any cash, which is always a bonus.

Halfords appear to sell only 'own brand' AGM stop/start batteries.

[Doctor Gollum]

Used the Astra yesterday to get some confidence in it before handing it back to Mrs VXL. No more EGR issues yet.

Gave it a good thrashing using the cross country route back as the M5 and M42 are maintained by NCP at rush hour  , it's not actually too bad when the turbo is spinning!
The seats are totally shite though compared to an Omega Elite but the automatic lights are a neat touch and the rain sensitive wipers are not as sensitive as the Omega which is a good thing, another silly observation is the indirect lighting in the rear view mirror is much brighter

Oh and I put a new courtesy light bulb and air filter in it. That's Mrs VXL's Christmas presents all sorted 

The Omega Elite indirect lighting is an led shining from behind a small hole, whereas lesser models, and the Astra etc have the led behind a lens which places the led level with the mirror casing, so no natural shading

[Viral_Jim]

In the middle of doing all the stem seals now - using the BMW N62 seal tool so that the cams don't have to come out..

Looks like its going well  . How does the tool work? Looks a bit like a bearing puller, bolted to the cam carrier - but I'm guessing you must be able to use it to press new seals in too? 

[aaronjb]

Looks like its going well  . How does the tool work? Looks a bit like a bearing puller, bolted to the cam carrier - but I'm guessing you must be able to use it to press new seals in too? 

There's a good video by AGA who make the tool - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YacOx2ydMbI - but basically you bolt the two uprights to cam bearing caps and put the rod between them with the gubbins on, then you use it a bit like a bearing puller in this order:

1) Wind the spring (and valve) down so you can release the rocker from on top of the valve/under the cam
2) Wind the spring (and valve) back up to seat
3) Pressurise cylinder
4) Wind the spring down (leaving the valve up) and rescue the keepers
5) Wind the spring up, remove the tool, and rescue the spring & retainer
6) Remove old seal, install new seal
7) Install the spring & retainer, wind them down with the tool to expose the keeper grooves
Install the keepers - there's a special tool for this but the valves on the Mini are too small, so it's back to the old fashioned grease-on-a-screwdriver method to deposit them
9) Wind the spring back up to capture the keepers
10) Release the pressure, wind the spring & valve back down, reinstate the rocker
11) Wind spring & valve back up and move tool to the next valve

Sounds longwinded but it is only five minutes per valve really and quicker than pulling the head off the car. We'll see if that cures the blue smoke after long periods of vacuum! There's crusty oil on the valve guide tops, which implies it has been getting past the stem seals for some time..

A picture is worth a thousand words and all that - here's the business end of the tool:


And a crusty valve guide top:


The tool comes with several 'feet' that snap on - you use all three on the BMW but only one on the Mini (the shortest); likewise it comes with two sets of 'uprights', but you only use one set on the Mini.

[dave the builder]

Used the Astra yesterday to get some confidence in it before handing it back to Mrs VXL. No more EGR issues yet.

Gave it a good thrashing using the cross country route back as the M5 and M42 are maintained by NCP at rush hour  , it's not actually too bad when the turbo is spinning!
The seats are totally shite though compared to an Omega Elite but the automatic lights are a neat touch and the rain sensitive wipers are not as sensitive as the Omega which is a good thing, another silly observation is the indirect lighting in the rear view mirror is much brighter

Oh and I put a new courtesy light bulb and air filter in it. That's Mrs VXL's Christmas presents all sorted 

so you have an Astra H Design ?
quite a good spec, I was skeptical of the toys like auto lights and wipers but they seem robust(18 months ,no issues),I don't have a leather fetish and much prefer the base models all cloth seats to the half leather ,  90s velour would be better though 

[Viral_Jim]

Looks like its going well  . How does the tool work? Looks a bit like a bearing puller, bolted to the cam carrier - but I'm guessing you must be able to use it to press new seals in too? 

There's a good video by AGA who make the tool - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YacOx2ydMbI - but basically you bolt the two uprights to cam bearing caps and put the rod between them with the gubbins on, then you use it a bit like a bearing puller in this order:

Thanks for the explanation, good video too 

Certainly not a cheap fix though, given the cost of the tool! 

[VXL V6]

Used the Astra yesterday to get some confidence in it before handing it back to Mrs VXL. No more EGR issues yet.

Gave it a good thrashing using the cross country route back as the M5 and M42 are maintained by NCP at rush hour  , it's not actually too bad when the turbo is spinning!
The seats are totally shite though compared to an Omega Elite but the automatic lights are a neat touch and the rain sensitive wipers are not as sensitive as the Omega which is a good thing, another silly observation is the indirect lighting in the rear view mirror is much brighter

Oh and I put a new courtesy light bulb and air filter in it. That's Mrs VXL's Christmas presents all sorted 

so you have an Astra H Design ?
quite a good spec, I was skeptical of the toys like auto lights and wipers but they seem robust(18 months ,no issues),I don't have a leather fetish and much prefer the base models all cloth seats to the half leather ,  90s velour would be better though 

Yes, Estate model run by Mrs VXL. £30 a year tax so cut the running costs down from previous cars.

[aaronjb]

Certainly not a cheap fix though, given the cost of the tool! 

Nope, but I'm costing the tool at "free" - we split the cost between a friend and myself a few years back when his 645 started smoking after vacuum and I had a similar age 645; the job on that car is very expensive (it's basically an engine-out job). Not as bad on the MINI as getting the head off isn't as much work.. I didn't fancy wrestling with the exhaust manifold etc though

Ironically my 645 never developed the stem seal problem before it went.. probably cursed my 650 now, though!