Major Coolant Loss

[steamship]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

PS pipes ... an M10 bolt with a plain shank and a couple of hose clamps. It'll dribble everywhere which is normal so have lots of blue roll / rags to hand.

I was wondering if I could do something like that as it was all I could think of.

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

Trans cooler just let it drip out. You'll lose about 250ml which can be put back in to the top cooler line socket with a tube and small funnel.

Fair enough. I remember you mentioned topping it up in one of the WITW threads.

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

Don't disconnect the AC as that's under pressure (and utterly seized). With the condenser unbolted from the rad you can swing it round so it lies flat on the left side under the abs block etc. I'd recommend taping some cardboard over both sides to protect it.

That saves me the time even trying it. Cardboard it is, and I've already sprayed every bolt at the front so hopefully they come out without a fight.

This should be interesting.

[MikkiJayne]

Oh, make sure to order new Oetiker clamps for the PS lines 2x N10255501 as worm-drive clamps don't work for some reason - they always leak.

Also new o-rings for the trans cooler lines 2x N90666001 as they will be pretty crusty and squished. Make sure to thoroughly clean the cooler line sockets on the rad with scotchbrite or similar and lube the o-rings with ATF so they don't get pinched when going back in.

I keep both in stock if you don't have easy access to TPS or a dealership parts counter

[steamship]

Great to know about these little bits (and their part numbers). Problem at the moment is I don't know if I have them or not. I've been buying bits and pieces for years now, so have lots of little boxes with lots of little jiffy envelopes in them... which I never bothered to write on them what they were for.

Have a lot more to do before I get back to reconstructing that area, so I can do some rummaging today as the promised sun today has turned to rain. It'll also give my neck a rest, as I stuffed that up again.

[steamship]

Rubbish photo, but it's a start, which I finished around 6pm last night.

Only issues I ran across were a wrecked connector to the horn, one rusted bolt at the bottom of the radiator, a half missing plastic air guide down the right hand side of the radiator (which I've ordered from A8parts) and the small air guide to the gear oil cooler being pushed out of the way, so not even doing its job. The plastic bags in the photo are to protect the electrical connectors, the red rag wrapped around the plugged power steering pipes, and the green plastic bag contains the aircon radiator, wrapped in cardboard and supported by blocks underneath so there's no pressure on the pipes. The thick black pipe running across the front is all the gubbings for the LPG system. Not doing anything today as had to tie the bonnet down to a car ramp because of the wind.

Also managed to find my o-rings MJ referenced (N90666001), although mine are the superseded N90666003 ones. Just as well I double checked ETKA, as I was about to order them. Still hunting for the Oetiker clamps as I'm sure I bought ones like that.

[steamship]

A bit more work done in between other stuff around the house, and decided to try and do a few other things whilst the front of the car is off.

With the fans and covers off I noticed that the 3.7 only has the one idler pulley, unlike the 4.2s you see in MJs threads. The kit came with two and I initially thought that the previous 'mechanic' hadn't fitted the second one (in position 1 in the photo) or had broken the old bolt and just left it. Not shown in this photo, but whilst removing the bolts for the water pump, the one shown in position 2 snapped off as soon as I tried turning it. After removing the pump, there is a combination of old gasket and black sealant, so it was never sealed properly, with it rusting through the bolt.



In terms of the two belts, the poly v-belt is in a far worse state than the timing belt, with them allegedly replaced at the same time (I had supplied all the parts) and having done 50,000 miles.





Since it was handy, I also decided to remove the washer bottle and give it a good clean as there's some muck stuck to some of the sides. There appears to be a very small leak from the pump, so will replace those seals as well.

I also decided to try and do the oil cooler pipe, having bought one back at the 2017 annual meet, and in theory a good time to do it with the front end of. Since the engine is still in situ, I'm trying to follow the instructions on the audipages site:

http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articl...reinstall.html

In point 2 of the section starting "E. Remove Oil Cooler." it states to use a bottle jack to raise the engine slightly to give better access to the top bolts of the oil cooler, after having removing the bottom bolts securing the engine mount to the subframe. Unfortunately, it just starts to raise the car for me as well. Has anyone ever done this with the engine in situ, or can offer a suggestion?

The dark blue pipe is the vacuum pipe which I replaced when I got the car as the originals were either brittle or totally gone. The light blue pipe sitting on top of the wheel is the LPG pipe.

[Ronin]

Respect for doing all this work outside man, this stuff is not for the weak

[steamship]

Been some time since I've posted about this, as I'd hoped to get it all up and running, and then post.

...However, a big question to ask, and it's either a headache or heartbreak.

Everything bar the bumper cover and lights fitted. All the fluids done (water, oil, transmission and steering) and decided to throw in a can of radiator flush. Ran engine up to temperature at idle, switched off, left to cool and then drained the water.

Possible problem. Water was cloudy and felt slightly oily. Assumed this was from the radiator flush, and proceeded to fill again with water (as instructed) to flush out any remaining radiator flush.

This time I took it for a short drive up and down the lane, about 1/4 mile to clean the brakes, let it cool and proceeded to drain.

Big problem! This can be summed up as either 'oh s**t' or 'oh f**k!' A lot of oil in the coolant. Pulled off every pipe and every bung to get coolant out, and then proceeded to just put a hose in the coolant tank and run it until clean.

So it's either the oil cooler pipe (or oil cooler itself) or worse, a head gasket.

I've Googled the living daylights out of this and the majority of results are 'coolant in the oil'. Here's what I know for sure.

1. Engine was running fine, both on petrol and LPG
2. No smoke from exhaust
3. Lots of oil in the coolant
4. NO coolant in the oil (I drained the oil)
5. Substantial amount of oil has gone AWOL
6. No signs of oil/coolant coming from oil cooler area

If it's the oil cooler, I can work on that and still get to the annual meet. If it's head gasket(s), it's doubtful if I could get that done in time (I haven't read up on what's involved with that), and I still need to MOT it before the meet as well.

Is there an easy way to check for head gasket damage?