153 replies to this topic

[rob963]

So I'm feeling a bit like an idiot...

Had a closer look at the car today.

Checked the oil level. Max.

Checked underneath to see how much had leaked overnight. One spot.

Got it on stands, looked underneath. No different to normal.

Started it and let it all warm up. no massive leaks anywhere, oil pressure good.

Then I noticed that there was some water on the thermostat housing and it dawned on me. The hose wasn't tightened up enough.
I must have left it slightly loose after flushing the system on wednesday. Silly me.

Anyway, I think the leaking water (which would explain where all the water was going) was running down the engine, taking oil with it and dripping onto the floor and giving the impression of a large oil leak.
Either way, glad it's not a massive problem in the end, even if I do feel silly

So obviously I flushed through the coolant on wednesday (leaving the ground an almost scary brown colour) but it doesn't seem to have had much of an effect on the 'overheating' problem which I think is more that the gauge is old and the ealrier cars had a lower operating temperature. so what would have been 'cool' on my old gauges is now 'N' or 'Normal' on this new gauge. I'm going to get a capillary gauge when I can, that way I know the actual temperatre of the engine is. Rather than some gauges interpretation of the temperature.

I also bled the front brakes and found some air still in there (oops) still it was a tiny amount and doesn't seem to have made much difference to the braking.

That's all for now

Rob

Edit: Oh yeah, and I finally got two more tyres fitted...



Edit 2:

I also got some tools which should help with the 1098:

A compression tester:


Bore Gauges:


And a DTI:


Now that really is the end of this update...

I think....

Rob

Edited by rob963, 09 March 2013 - 11:17 PM.

[rob963]

so a few things have happened since the last update.

however, the most pressing of these is this:



pulled off from a set of lights, then I couldn't engage any gears and there was some sort of rattling comeing from the clutch end of the engine. called the AA, they arrived within 10 minutes (very nice)
he got it started and into gear, but then there was no drive, or rather there would be nothing and then it would 'jump'.
obviously not going anywhere by itself.
now the AA guy happened to be a fan of minis and said that he had this on one of his before and it turned out to be the main (or 1st motion) shaft bearing in the transfer housing.

anyway, after an hour and a half of being towed to my local mini garage, the disassembly began,first by removing the engine which took me most of the day (I'm still learning)

that was saturday.

yesterday I got round to taking bits off the engine.

first of all, drained the oil out, which was like this:


and the sump plug looked like this:


really not a good sign seeing as the oil hadn't been in there long at all!

before all of this I had the wok off. tried turning it by hand, would turn to a point then stick. turning it back and forth would slowly allow it to turn over. took the clutch assembly off and it turned over perfectly which means it had to be something to do with the clutch/gearbox.

So I took the transfer housing off. as i started to separate it from the block, I heard something solid drop into the oil. really not good.
got the housing all the way off to find:


and:


Blurry I know but there was nothing left of the old bearing, it had completely shredded itself and taken the transfer housing with it.

this doesn't however, explain the lack of gear selection. which I am pretty certain is down to a dying slave cylinder so I'm gonna relpace that whilst I am at it.

I won't have the part till thursday, which is a shame, but at least it isn't a whole new gearbox that's needed. Which I am glad about.

that's all for now.

Rob

[BrAd2012]

Lucky for you that u don't need a new gearbox, shame I cant say that LOL. its kind of nice t see that ur car like to eat itself too, not just mine XD

[rob963]

Lucky for you that u don't need a new gearbox, shame I cant say that LOL. its kind of nice t see that ur car like to eat itself too, not just mine XD

 

Yeah I know, but at least you can still drive yours...

 

so another update.

 

I fixed the bearing, put it all back together and got it in the car.

however, as I was putting the engine in, this happened:

hello new servo

 

still, the more I replace, the less there is to go wrong very soon.

 

got the engine in with another clutch slave as I thought this was the problem with the lack of disengagement of the clutch.

but no. engine started up perfectly, no funny noises or leaks to see, but it wouldn't go into gear. again.

 

still got the clutch cover and clutch assembly off, couldn't see anything wrong. went back to end of the crank and found this:

 

it's all bent out of shape and has some wear marks on it. I think that this has meant that the clutch/flywheel has been pressed up against it, crushing it into the primary gear and locking them together,

which would mean that the primary gear, and supsequently the gearbox could never be disconnected from the crank. there is also quite a lot of endfloat on the crank. not a huge amount, but enough to make me want to fix it.

 

so the engine is now out again (in my record time of 2&1/2 hours! )

 

and I will be taking it apart to see exactly what needs to be fixed on it and make sure it is all perfect before it goes back in. which is a pain, but I need it to work right.

 

That's all for now, hopefully I will remember to take more pictures this time around...

 

Rob

[The Otter]

Bloody hell, is this engine ever going to stay in for more than a few days?   Best of luck getting it sorted for good - your luck has to change soon!

[rob963]

Bloody hell, is this engine ever going to stay in for more than a few days?   Best of luck getting it sorted for good - your luck has to change soon!

It will do the next time it goes in, gonna have to make sure it is all definitely right!

 

I keep telling myself that too, got to change soon...

[rob963]

So I have been busy with exams since my last update. car is still off the road, but there has been some progress....

 

in the fact that there was a delivery today!:

 

however, not as exciting as the huge bag would suggest

 

some more good news though, called moss on the off chance they had the oversize crank thrust washers I needed, they did! so off to collect them:

 

(you can just about make out the 003 indicating that they are 3 thou oversize)

 

whilst I was there I thought I would chance it and see if they had the offset woodruff key I needed too, my luck held, they did!:

 

so todays haul maybe small but it's a start on collecting bits as well as ordering other parts which are needed:

 

That's all for now

 

Rob

[The Otter]

What's the rev limiter for? To stop the engine wobbling itself out of the workshop and making a bid for freedom? 

[rob963]

What's the rev limiter for? To stop the engine wobbling itself out of the workshop and making a bid for freedom? 

 

Haha maybe...

 

but on a serious note, I don't want to snap my crank during some 'exuberent driving' although I'm sure it's probably fine, it'll just save the engine slightly I guess

[rob963]

Moar parts!

 

 

 

Fresh clutch... mmmm

 

From precision clutches (re-conditioned)

can't fault the service though, next day delivery and a sizable amount cheaper than brand new

 

That's all...

[rob963]

So progress on fixing the engine isn't going as well as I hoped.

 

more parts arrived on monday morning:

 

 

then on tuesday, I installed the new capilliary temperature gauge:

 

and the adapter in the head, I was surprised that the old sender unit came out of the head so easily, took a bit of grunt but gave pretty easily

 

then with the remaining time, I did this:

 

Then I had to leave it there for the day, covered up, obviously

 

And today, all I managed to do was replace half of these:

 

this was due to the oversize replacements that I got (on someones advice as I didn't trust my own maths ) were too big, and so I had to remove material and trial/error to get the right clearence on the crank.

 

tomorrows jobs:

sort out the other two crank thrust washers

time cam in

attempt to get the engine back together ready for fitting on friday.

 

then hopefully it will all start fine, the on to the MOT then rolling road on the 24th.

[rob963]

Number of jobs on the aformentioned list completed: 0

Oh boy what fun.

[rob963]

So yesterday was a pretty good day,

 

it feels like I have 'turned the corner' even though all I managed was to set the crank end float and get the crank in and moving smoothlyin it's full motion

 

but it really does feel like I have gotten a lot closer to being finished now that that is done

happy days

 

left the engine like this:

 

only covered up, obviously

 

Rob

[rob963]

So in the last 3 days there has been 1 day I haven't been able to get down to maks at all (sunday) 1 day where I would only have a couple of hours and 1 day which was a full day (monday) and in that time, I have built the engine up (including timing in the cam and a new clutch), got the engine in the car and it has started and runs beautifully as of last night!

 

it also drives again (finally!)

 

now I just have to get it ready for the MOT which it is booked in for tomorrow with not a hell of a long time to get it ready (a few hours tonight and a couple tomorrow morning)

touchwood it will pass first time...

[rob963]

So it passed!

 

and I made it to the rolling road (2 and a half hours late)

turns out I had tuned it pretty much perfect by myself, just a tiny tweak of the timing sorted it fully

but it has given me confidence that I have built the engine correctly as there are no funny noises, nothing that is worrying me, very pleased!

 

there were however many rust holes which needed sorting before the MOT

 

I think that was the worst one...

 

but in typical Mini style, the fuel gauge stopped working on that way back from the rolling road. typical.

 

that's all for now I think, just happy to have it back

 

Rob