WITW - Mark's poorly Dolphin

[MikkiJayne]

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.



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.



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



The silicone has just crumbled away - never seen this before



Never seen this before either! 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



Little bits of the starter in the bellhousing



A fair few chunks knocked out of the flywheel teeth too



There they are stuck to the speed sensor



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





Engine on the stand





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



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.



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.