My Latest Project

I presume the coolant level hasnt changed? (obvious first thing to check)

vilguy said:

I presume the coolant level hasnt changed? (obvious first thing to check)

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The expansion tank was empty on arrival home.

But since topping it up, there doesn't seem to be any drop.

It was sat in my yard for several months during some pretty wet weather, i wonder if this stuff was in the rest of the engine from sitting and when you have changed the oil and started it, its transported it around the engine into the sump where it has collected?

This morning dropped the oil pick up pipe, the O ring looks to be intact and the pipe is free of debris.

Removed one of the bearing caps to allow inspection of the bearing









I have also dropped all the coolant from the engine and it looks as good as the day it was put in, no discolouration or traces of oil at all.

Those bearing shells look very good to my untrained eye!!

It could just be condensation accumulated and dragged into the box, it doesn't take much water to make mayonnaise.

Forging ahead with the front cover but the crankshaft bolt is proving difficult now

good news on the bearing shells then

Saturday Update

Removed the radiator, to give me some room.

Stripped out the alternator and Belt adjuster.

Removed the water pump.

On the oil pump housing the top arrow shows a bolt that was just sitting in the hole not even caught on the thread.
The 2nd arrow (bottom one, the bolt was only hand tight.

Now trying to remove the crank bolt, so far without success

Crankshaft bolt finally off.

Tried wedging from beneath, all that happened was that the whole motor lifted.

Tried Air Impact wrench, compressor not up to the job!

Had an old belt from the Disco, wrapped it twice round the pulley and wedged in a bit of pipe to the engine block and held it in place with a block of wood to the chassis rail, 24mm socket and bar with a 4ft metal pole on the end of it and off she popped.



Gave up for the night and will remove the front cover in the morning.
Happy days, was determined that the pulley was coming off today.

Nice bit of improv.....

Das proper engunering. Hnnng.

Been a busy Bee this morning.

Front Cover/Oil Pump removed

After clean up

Stripped out the Pressure Relief Valve

RAVE listed the spring size should be 60mm long



Found mine to be 65mm (camera angle shows different but is deffo 65mm)



Any thoughts, is this affecting oil pressure?

Whilst I've got the cover off, I was thinking of running a new wire from the Oil Pressure Sensor, just to cover all the bases, have been trawling through RAVE but other than find that the wire runs to the BECM, cant really trace it particularly well. The original wire itself runs through trunking and is well covered with tape.
Any ideas?

Also whilst off, how easy is it to replace the Crankshaft seal in the front cover.

The rebuild procedure also specifies that all O rings should be replaced on PRV, Oil pick up pipe etc but I can't seem to locate these on their own.

Any ideas?

Plot thickens

Seems there are two set-ups on the front casing.

What I thought was a Pressure Relief Valve - coming off just above the oil filter would appear just to be some sort of blank, it consists of 4 parts, circlip, cap, spring and tube.

After cleaning the casing I also found, just below the oil pick up to the gears

another Pressure Relief Valve? which consists of a circlip, cap and spring.

Plot thickens

Seems there are two set-ups on the front casing.

What I thought was a Pressure Relief Valve - coming off just above the oil filter would appear just to be some sort of blank, it consists of 4 parts, circlip, cap, spring and tube.

After cleaning the casing I also found, just below the oil pick up to the gears

another Pressure Relief Valve? which consists of a circlip, cap and spring.



Both springs measure 65mm both set ups are the same measurements only difference is the tube at the oil filter end

biggeeeee said:

Also whilst off, how easy is it to replace the Crankshaft seal in the front cover.

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Hi, just replaced my oil seal, 4.6 Thor, done mine whilst cover was still attached to engine so will be apiece of cake with front cover off. Gently remove old seal being mindful not to score where seal sits, give area a good clean then apply small amount of grease an gently tap new seal into place with large socket or the like.
HTH Paul.

PPP38vouge said:

Hi, just replaced my oil seal, 4.6 Thor, done mine whilst cover was still attached to engine so will be apiece of cake with front cover off. Gently remove old seal being mindful not to score where seal sits, give area a good clean then apply small amount of grease an gently tap new seal into place with large socket or the like.
HTH Paul.

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Good stuff, cheers, seal ordered, seems silly not to change it with the cover off.