WITW - Mark's poorly Dolphin

[Markiii]

yep tis mine, I'm crossing my fingers is nothing terminal

[Markiii]

I really wasn't sure on the blue interior as I ha da 911 with blue leather and swore never again. But in the flesh I rather like it

And that particular wood trim really lifts it

[MikkiJayne]

Engine out today. It didn't start well as the main bumper bolts refused to come out so I had to take it off with the supports. I'm getting quite good at this now though since the last four I've done have been like this! I am running out of new bumper bolts though



The power steering fluid is past it's best so I'll change that.



After the bumper, everything else came off just fine - no other seized bolts and it all went really well Front panel off:



Oh, well apart from this



At some point in the past there has been an issue with two of the connectors in the electronics box and someone has made a really nice job of splicing the body harness to the engine harness. Unfortunately, the engine harness must come out with the engine - its nigh impossible to get it off with the engine in and completely impossible to refit it like that, so I had to cut these apart



I'll fix this later with some original connectors.



Everything on top disconnected, so on to the underside



Strap the suspension up so it doesn't destroy the upper arms when the lower arms are removed from the subframe



The spring on this exhaust bracket is awol for some reason. I have spares though.



I could tell the gearbox had been out in the past as this heat shield is loose. For some reason, every single 8 I work on which has had the gearbox out has this particular stud broken off. I've never taken the gearbox out with the engine in place so I haven't discovered why this is so.



This is interesting on the gearbox. New OE replacement perhaps rather than a rebuild?



All the coolant hoses are distended so will need to be replaced. This one is especially bad



A pile of tools, as is tradition



Which allowed me to assemble this pile of bits



Engine out. 6 hours in total which is pretty good. Apart from the bumper and the wiring harness, everything behaved itself which is a pleasant departure from recent projects!



Before I removed the engine I opened the sump plug again, and was rewarded with 3/4 of a litre of clean coolant, then a cupful of the brown slime, so the coolant is leaking in while it is just sitting there. That means whatever is causing it should be relatively straightforward to find.

I'll split the engine and box tomorrow and then strip the engine.

[Markiii]

blimey never seen a coolant line like that before, what causes that?

[MikkiJayne]

Just age I think. Its getting to be an increasingly common problem.

[spannerrash]

Is it possible to change that particular line whilst the engine is still in the car?

[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.

[David's8]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

Just age I think. Its getting to be an increasingly common problem.

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

[pete-p]

Originally Posted by David's8

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

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

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.