Having had a great day out on the Prestatyn rally along with other stag owners last Sunday(although it had refused to start intially as i had knocked the inertia switch when topping up the coolant), i had planned to use the stag the following day to go to swmbo's dads in Lytham....however after jumping onto the motoway we smelt petrol,thinking i may of overchoked the engine by the choke i continued to the next slipway off , but by the time i stopped swmbo had leapt out of the car,screaming, as she had seen big clouds of white smoke emitting from the (exhausts) rear of the stag!!Probably a wise precaution as people that know me will know that last year my van set on fire and closed the M602 motoway for a while......
I quickly realised that the 'fire' stopped when i turned off the ignition,so i thought (hoped!) that i had a carburation problem.The smell of fuel seem to be the banjo bolts on fuel pump seeping,although i renewed the washers when i replaced the fuel pump two years ago so i tightend them up a notch, will replace washers and further investigate.As i was around the corner from Jeffb, i made a quick call and drove to his house.
On inspection we wondered if the thermostat had failed - only been in 2 months, realised the water had gone down, checked the oil which looked like emulsion paint, so definate HGF!!!!
........although TBH i must be the only stag owner to be happy that its HGF as moments before i thought it was on fire!!! I drove home & shut garage door full of despair.
The following evening Jeffb came around and we set to in removing ancillaries etc.I soaked the head bolts & studs with wd40 & also a freezing lubricant.As the bolts were realeased, we left them in place to tackle the much dreaded studs.Jeff did this by putting two nuts on the end of the stud , using one to lock the other.The first stud came out!The heads were last off by the p.o in 2005 and looking at the first stud it looks like he had used copperslip when he had put them in- thank you!! Unbeliavably ALL the studs came out with no probs- result!!
The following evening both Jeffb & Roy (rebelstag) came around.Roy is also having his head gaskets replaced at a local garage so was interested in mine,too!As soon as the bolts were taken out the head moved!Another result! The head looks ok but will have them professionally checked.We celebrated in the pub with a quick drink!
The evening after Jeff came around again and after fighting with the exhaust manifold, the other head was off! The p.o did a cracking job with the copperslip=well done.sir! Just for good measure we removed the water pump cover to make sure that the pump was ok- all seems well.
So now i will be cleaning up the heads & engine bay,sending heads to be checked,& ordering parts!.......i hope all goes back together again as easy as it came apart!
I couldn't of done this on my own and just want to say a BIG thank you to Jeffb for devoting his time this week!
Dale
I quickly realised that the 'fire' stopped when i turned off the ignition,so i thought (hoped!) that i had a carburation problem.The smell of fuel seem to be the banjo bolts on fuel pump seeping,although i renewed the washers when i replaced the fuel pump two years ago so i tightend them up a notch, will replace washers and further investigate.As i was around the corner from Jeffb, i made a quick call and drove to his house.
On inspection we wondered if the thermostat had failed - only been in 2 months, realised the water had gone down, checked the oil which looked like emulsion paint, so definate HGF!!!!
........although TBH i must be the only stag owner to be happy that its HGF as moments before i thought it was on fire!!! I drove home & shut garage door full of despair.The following evening Jeffb came around and we set to in removing ancillaries etc.I soaked the head bolts & studs with wd40 & also a freezing lubricant.As the bolts were realeased, we left them in place to tackle the much dreaded studs.Jeff did this by putting two nuts on the end of the stud , using one to lock the other.The first stud came out!The heads were last off by the p.o in 2005 and looking at the first stud it looks like he had used copperslip when he had put them in- thank you!! Unbeliavably ALL the studs came out with no probs- result!!
The following evening both Jeffb & Roy (rebelstag) came around.Roy is also having his head gaskets replaced at a local garage so was interested in mine,too!As soon as the bolts were taken out the head moved!Another result! The head looks ok but will have them professionally checked.We celebrated in the pub with a quick drink!
The evening after Jeff came around again and after fighting with the exhaust manifold, the other head was off! The p.o did a cracking job with the copperslip=well done.sir! Just for good measure we removed the water pump cover to make sure that the pump was ok- all seems well.
So now i will be cleaning up the heads & engine bay,sending heads to be checked,& ordering parts!.......i hope all goes back together again as easy as it came apart!
I couldn't of done this on my own and just want to say a BIG thank you to Jeffb for devoting his time this week!
Dale
Comment