Following up from my previous posts (here and here), a bit of feedback:
I replaced the bottom hose, refilled the cooling system, found that the bottom hose rubbed on the alternator causing a nice groove (fortunately above the jubille clip) so had to refashion the metal stay for the steel downpipe to give more clearance. There is an 82deg thermostat in place.
Bought a second hand interia switch from Ebay (new one not being available; I got one listed for a Jaguar but it has the same part number as the Stag one) and wired it in with the Lumenition piggy-backed off the switched live (white/light green) wire.
The PDWA switch is missing (a PO has put a bleed nipple in its place) so I'll replace that at some stage.
Gave myself an oil bath, taking off the old oil filter housing! New spin-on filter installed.
Topped up the auto gearbox oil, it was well below the tip of the dipstick and needed 1L of oil.
Now the bad news; two weeks into ownership and I think I have head gasket failure
I noticed that the expansion bottle was pressurised when cold after I went to top it up after the coolant change. Today I left the bung off the radiator and ran the engine and coolant quickly frothed up and spilled over. Then replaced the bung and took off the expansion bottle cap and the bottle quickly filled with very frothy water. Replaced cap and will check the pressure tomorrow, but it doesn't look good. Temperature remained steady. I'll get a block tester just to be sure. Damn. I assume the overheating with the coolant loss on my first drive home has caused some damage.
I doubt it's relevent but I did find that the heater valve was stuck in the cold position, managed to turn it to hot but I don't think there is any airlock, I refilled with the car on a good slope.
None of the heater or ventilation controls work, cracked outer cable sheaths I think and as far as I can see the left hand control (fresh air) has no cable on it at all. Should have checked that when I looked at the car, took the PO's word for it! D'oh.
Now I find the full beam and flasher is not working, main beam is fine. Fuses OK, so I assume it's the switch. Something for another day.
Fortunately there is a wealth of info on this forum and I have spent hours already searching the archive.
Something tells me you will be hearing a lot more from me!!
I replaced the bottom hose, refilled the cooling system, found that the bottom hose rubbed on the alternator causing a nice groove (fortunately above the jubille clip) so had to refashion the metal stay for the steel downpipe to give more clearance. There is an 82deg thermostat in place.
Bought a second hand interia switch from Ebay (new one not being available; I got one listed for a Jaguar but it has the same part number as the Stag one) and wired it in with the Lumenition piggy-backed off the switched live (white/light green) wire.
The PDWA switch is missing (a PO has put a bleed nipple in its place) so I'll replace that at some stage.
Gave myself an oil bath, taking off the old oil filter housing! New spin-on filter installed.
Topped up the auto gearbox oil, it was well below the tip of the dipstick and needed 1L of oil.
Now the bad news; two weeks into ownership and I think I have head gasket failure
I noticed that the expansion bottle was pressurised when cold after I went to top it up after the coolant change. Today I left the bung off the radiator and ran the engine and coolant quickly frothed up and spilled over. Then replaced the bung and took off the expansion bottle cap and the bottle quickly filled with very frothy water. Replaced cap and will check the pressure tomorrow, but it doesn't look good. Temperature remained steady. I'll get a block tester just to be sure. Damn. I assume the overheating with the coolant loss on my first drive home has caused some damage.I doubt it's relevent but I did find that the heater valve was stuck in the cold position, managed to turn it to hot but I don't think there is any airlock, I refilled with the car on a good slope.
None of the heater or ventilation controls work, cracked outer cable sheaths I think and as far as I can see the left hand control (fresh air) has no cable on it at all. Should have checked that when I looked at the car, took the PO's word for it! D'oh.
Now I find the full beam and flasher is not working, main beam is fine. Fuses OK, so I assume it's the switch. Something for another day.
Fortunately there is a wealth of info on this forum and I have spent hours already searching the archive.
Something tells me you will be hearing a lot more from me!!
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