Broke down already

I have only owned her for 10 days and she has broken down already, but I did manage to limp home.

The steering went solid and heavy, the rev counter went dead and the battery light came on, so I guessed the drive belt had gone and when i lifted the bonnet I was right.



I went slowly through a ford half an hour before the drivebelt went, did this cause it as it was only a foot deep?

The engine bay is very wet on the O/S inner wing in what I think is fuel ( a job to tell as I am running it on bio and i am not used to the smell but it is oily)



There is a black part on the side of the engine that looks loose when the engine is running is this to do with the fuel system? (the arrow points to it) The screws look loose, this is all what i have noticed as i took the photos then came straight here for help



Andy

horse62 said:

I have only owned her for 10 days and she has broken down already, but I did manage to limp home.

The steering went solid and heavy, the rev counter went dead and the battery light came on, so I guessed the drive belt had gone and when i lifted the bonnet I was right.



I went slowly through a ford half an hour before the drivebelt went, did this cause it as it was only a foot deep?

The engine bay is very wet on the O/S inner wing in what I think is fuel ( a job to tell as I am running it on bio and i am not used to the smell but it is oily)



There is a black part on the side of the engine that looks loose when the engine is running is this to do with the fuel system? (the arrow points to it) The screws look loose, this is all what i have noticed as i took the photos then came straight here for help



Andy

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Hi Andy, can't answer the question about os being wet, but the black part you arrowed is the vacuum pump.

Cheers
Dave

thebiglad said:

Hi Andy, can't answer the question about os being wet, but the black part you arrowed is the vacuum pump.

Cheers
Dave

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And it being lose would explain engine oil, not fuel oil all over the place. You might also find you brakes don't work too well.

Re the auxilliary drive belt. Did it snap or just come off? If it just came off then it might be a sign that one of the following is going to fail soon, the bearing in the tensioner, the coolant pump, the power steering pump or the alternator. Your Disco should cope quite happily with a foot deep ford

Cheers for the replies guys. It had a new tensioner when I bought it and the water pump was replaced not long ago looking at the service history.

The belt looks to be in one piece as I cant pull it out, but its shredded. I am stripping it this morning as I have just bought a complete set of replacement belts, and I will have a good look.

I will check and fix the loose vacum pump as its definatley moving on the outer cover, good job i noticed it when i was taking the pic of the belt. It does have an oil leak in that area around the oil filter. But the oily film on the inner wing is not like engine oil its thinner and much lighter in colour and I noticed its even on the front wheel, so I do suspect that is fuel or another fluid

Its great being a Disco owner and i guess this is just part of running a 13 year old car, my wife has not stopped grinning all night and giving me stick as she said it would always give me trouble and was against me buying it.

Andy

When the same happened to mine it was the coolant pump and the belt tensioner. I thought it was the bearings on the belt tensioner so bought spare bearings only to find out that the bearings were fine but the inner part of the roller where the bearing sits (teflon coating??) have eroded. So just swapped out the water pump and belt tensioner and all was ok.

When my vacuum pump went my brakes went too, so I got a recon unit from Long Ranger 4x4 (was just down the road from me)

Home

I think it was £30 if I gave them my old one, job fixed!

The belt had snapped looking at it, as it was only connected by a bit of cord that had pulled through.

It was far easier to change than i thought it would be, it only took me all of 20 min’s. I used a ring spanner and a bit of rope tied to the corner of the front panel to keep the tensioner out of the way.

There is a tiny bit of play in the alternator pulley but its hardly anything. I am carrying a spare belt and tool kit with me just in case now.

The cover on the vacum pump had 4 screws that we almost falling out, these have been tightened so hopefully that’s that bit sorted as well.

Thanks once again for all the help and advice guys as I am no mechanic!!

Andy

horse62 said:

There is a tiny bit of play in the alternator pulley but its hardly anything. I am carrying a spare belt and tool kit with me just in case now.

The cover on the vacum pump had 4 screws that we almost falling out, these have been tightened so hopefully that’s that bit sorted as well.

Thanks once again for all the help and advice guys as I am no mechanic!!

Andy

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Hi Andy, it sounds to me like you are doing just fine. Keep up the good work.

Cheers
Dave

Bad news The new belt started squeeling and i could smell burning rubber and its started to shread the new belt already so looks like something else is worn and causing it.

So now I am looking for a worn pulley here on something?

Andy

look at the pulleys "inline", especially the pas pump one, see if any are out of line. take off the belt & turn all pulleys by hand, you may have one that feels rough?.

horse62 said:

Bad news The new belt started squeeling and i could smell burning rubber and its started to shread the new belt already so looks like something else is worn and causing it.

So now I am looking for a worn pulley here on something?

Andy

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Hi Andy, my guess would be that one or more of the pulleys has seized. Take the belt off and check each pulley by hand-turning it a few turns. I had this and it was my pas pump that has seized and it caused the belt to shred.

Cheers
Dave

Cheers guys I will get the belt off in the morning and check each pully carefully.

I knew i fixed it too dam easily :doh:

It is the PAS pump, the pulley moves in and out a good 8mm so I have found the problem.

Now its time to ring the dealer who sold me it 2 weeks ago to see if he will fix it, have a funny feeling its going to be a battle.

Andy

I got hold of the dealer who said he would fix it if i return the vehicle but its a 60 mile trip to him and the way the pump is I dont want to risk driving it, so hopefully we are coming to an arrangement where he pays for the parts and I do the labour.

The steering pump turned up really quick from "Island 4X4" at a cost of £49 for a Britpart pump.

I also ordered a kit to get rid of the EGR, that was a very simple 20 min job to do.

The Steering pump however is giving me problems as I need to remove the viscous fan and can I buy a special 32mm spanner to fit it NO I tried everwhere this morning, Halfords do one but you have to buy it on line.

So it looks like I am stuffed until a spanner turns up in the post next week sometime :doh: Unless some one local to Maidstone out there has one I can borrow for 5 mins

Andy

Thats strange, I bought my viscous spanner from Halfrauds in store £9.99

rollin danny said:

Thats strange, I bought my viscous spanner from Halfrauds in store £9.99

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Same here, may you could try another branch if there is one not too far away

horse62 said:

Halfords do one but you have to buy it on line.
Andy

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No you dont.

Ring 01622 715333 tomorrow after 9:00 (and before 17:00) and ask if they have a 694653-0 in stock. If they dont; ask if they can check if any other local stores have one in stock. If they say there is one available ask them to phone the store and get one put aside for you.

Sometimes you can undo the viscous using a hammer & chisel or big flat screwdriver, just dont forget it's reverse thread, you need to "tighten" it to undo it.

Cheers guys I will give them a ring tomorrow, I did just look on their website and it said not avaliable in store web order only? But its worth a call, failing that out comes my hammer and big screwdriver

I did read its a left hand thread so was ready for that one. I may well try leaving it off for the winter and then replace it with an electric fan next summer.

I paid a visit to Halfords and they had the spanner on the shelf (no one answered the phone)

So off came the fan followed by the pump etc and all was going well, I say was!!! because one of the pipes dont fit the new pump

The thread on the union is the correct thread size but twice the length it needs to be so it wont tighten to the seal, the hole is a lot shallower??



Has anyone else come across this problem? Do I need a different pump? or new pipe that goes to the steering box with a different union?

Andy

(stuck once again, much to his "told you so" wifes pleasure who was against him buying the car)

horse62 said:

I paid a visit to Halfords and they had the spanner on the shelf (no one answered the phone)

So off came the fan followed by the pump etc and all was going well, I say was!!! because one of the pipes dont fit the new pump

The thread on the union is the correct thread size but twice the length it needs to be so it wont tighten to the seal, the hole is a lot shallower??



Has anyone else come across this problem? Do I need a different pump? or new pipe that goes to the steering box with a different union?

Andy

(stuck once again, much to his "told you so" wifes pleasure who was against him buying the car)

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On the new pump, it looks to me like there is a 'spacer' of some sort (the six-sided nut affair) - have you tried removing that, to fit the existing pipe?