Might be possible, but very difficult. It might be necessary to go in from the wheel arch. The water pipe which runs along the side of the head has to come off to get the hose out, and thats very tricky with the engine in.

Started stripping the engine today. The knock sensors are so disintegrated that half the plug stayed in the socket.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1619968020

The exhaust manifold bolts were just rusty stumps so an F125 would not have been fun on this one! I hammered an 11mm socket on to them and just snapped them off since they'll be replaced anyway.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1619968020

On to the starter motor - the braided cable from the solenoid to the motor is normally covered in silicone sleeve, but this is completely burned off! Mark mentioned that the car once failed to start and emitted some smoke from the driver's side wheel well. I had thought that was the starter junction, but thats still intact so it must have been this cable overheating for some reason

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1619968020

The silicone has just crumbled away - never seen this before

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1619968020

Never seen this before either! :eek3: I'm guessing this would be why it didn't start on that occasion, and this loose chunk of starter has been rattling about in the bellhousing. This might also explain the rattle on startup :rolleyes:

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1619968020

Little bits of the starter in the bellhousing

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1619968020

A fair few chunks knocked out of the flywheel teeth too

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1619968020

There they are stuck to the speed sensor

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1619968020

The bank 2 exhaust manifold did a wee on the floor. The SAI valve on this side was also full of water. This unfortunately suggests a cracked head :-(

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1619968020

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1619968020

Engine on the stand

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1619968020

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1619968020

Noticed this little time-bomb after taking the timing gear off - this pin is quite loose and eventually would have fallen off and in to the timing belt! Really it needs some blue loctite like all the other bolts inside the timing covers

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1619968020

I dropped the sump with the engine the right way up, rather than flipping it over, since I didn't want any of this gunge to drain in to the engine any more than it already had.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1619968020

Short day today because of the F1 and family stuff. I'll dismantle the rest tomorrow, including the exhaust manifolds and upper sump and then make a start on pressure testing.

blimey trust a car of mine to fail in new and unseen ways:ROFL:

I'm really not sure if i should feel unlucky.............

or lucky that none of the things you've found so far killed anything:Confused:

Yes, it happens to us all too.....:ROFL:

The swelling around the middle, that's partly Covid related rather than age! :ROFL:

Back to the car though... is there anything in the service history to suggest these problems? I service mine fairly regularly even though I don't do many miles.

Every time I look at it, I find it astounding that the broken piece of starter didn't get jammed up in the flywheel and punch a hole through the gearbox casing.

I can't fathom how it happened in the first place, let along how it didn't take anything much larger out with it. Possibly it was dropped when the gearbox was changed, but based on the exhaust manifold bolts that must have been well over a decade ago. Possibly a crack started which very slowly propagated until the day it failed completely?

The water from the exhaust manifold is somewhat less lucky though.

Is it possible something jammed up making it so hard to start that the starter pulled a huge amount of juice, thus frying the insulation and fracturing the starter motor?

Are you expecting bearing carnage when the cam covers come off, or does it appear to have been lubricating OK despite the emulsion in the sump?!

You could stall the starter on the gear without putting a fracturing load on the casing though. Even if the bearing in the nose seized and stalled it, that wouldn't break the end off.

I think that day it wouldn't start was when the crack finally let go, the nose broke off, and it twisted the bearing such that the spindle couldn't turn. The stalled starter took enough current to fry the insulation, but when you let off the key it un-jammed itself. Possibly the broken piece fell off at that point and then it was able to start. The bearing does still turn now, although it is slightly distorted.

The starter came out without that piece attached at all - it was just sitting in the gearbox bellhousing, so it fell off through action of the starter at some point. Its pretty hard to tell where anything started though as its been bashed around by the flywheel.

Cautiously optimistic the bearings have survived as its only done a couple of hundred miles like this and it still turns over by hand just fine with no unpleasant noises.