Plod's HDi 140

[plod]

Done some work today

Took the engine cover off, and took the fuel pipes off the filter housing and upon twisting the lid, one of the pipes broke off
Upon closer inspection, there was evidence of superglue around where it broke off, so someone has bodged it before
Bonded back on with some of that sh*t hot bonding stuff, and no leaks, but will be looking for a replacement lid just to play safe
Had a quick look on the bay and the complete housing is between £50 and £70
Bottom of the filter had some metal particles in it, so guess that means the lift pump will need changing in the future
Used one of those magnet things to take all the metal out of the housing

Took the air filter top off, only had 3 screws in it
The bottom of the housing had a number of small stones in there, so removed and cleaned out

As part of the trip computer installation, I couldn't remember whether someone had said they found the 1368 wire under the airbox, or the battery
Had a good look round, but couldn't see nothing, so guess it's under the battery
Fitted the K&N air filter I bought off ebay a while back, and refitted the housing, and don't know whether filtration was compromised with only having 3 screws holding the airbox top down, but found a fourth and fitted that

On the drivers seat, when I fitted the leather, the front of the seat never went down
I believe the favourite for non operation is the seat switch itself
I bought a replacement a while back off Ade, the coupe breaker, so set about swapping the seat switches around
Whilst there, I tidied up some of the wiring as well to make it neater
Unfortunately, after reconnecting the battery, it hasn't solved the issue, so guess it's either the motor or the wiring to it
However, the switch now stays in place as opposed to keep popping out, so something gained I guess

Had planned on changing the oil and filter as well, but will save for another day prior to my holiday in two weeks

[BigGav75]

Really Nice Car

[plod]

Thanks

[plod]

On way home I bought two QH Droplinks for the rear, and 5litres of red antifreeze

So tomorrow will be changing the oil, the droplinks and having fun with the cooling system

Before you ask why 5litres, in the motor factors it was £4.99 a litre, but my mate said I could have 5litres for £12 ( normally £16.99 ) so thought why not

Only need one droplink doing, but for the price. I thought i'd play safe and do them in pairs

[Gary406]

dave put all 5 litres in and rest water. is it around 6.5 litres in total.

wont do any harm using 5 litres of red and reat in water....

[Gary406]

ive been away for a while and not had time to cath up on everything.

did you ever get the heated seats working ?

[plod]

They are all wired in, just not tested them - silly I know, but.............................

[plod]

I take it the rear toplinks are as easy as they look?

My current antifreeze doesn't seem to have a colouring, so maybe it's been mixed at some point
Didn't have any issues over that bad spell last winter and had it tested and it showed It was good for -30 odd
Got no issues with temperature, but thought it give it a treat

As for putting all 5 litres in, well, if it will be ok, then fair enough, was going to put 50% in regardless, but hey, why not

[Gary406]

rear toplinks are easy. i used tipex to mark it up but when undoing the bolt it may scrape the tipex off so be carefull

i marked up the nut top end. and when undoing the bolt it turned the topend side and scraped the tipex off.

it might be worth your while taking a photo of the bolt head so if the tipex does get scraped off u can see photo and put it back same way..

[plod]

Sorry Gary, I was on about the vertical plastic ones
I think you're referring to the metal horizontals aren't you?


Better finish the 2l bottle of lemonade on the side, so I can use it for bleeding the system
Hope there ain't too much to drink as I have some Carlsberg Export with my name on it

[plod]

I've just read two interesting articles on antifreeze concentration

Both were on about over concentration - the first gives that after 70% concentration, the cooling isn't improved any further, and if concentration hits 90% then cooling is reduced and it can freeze at -20c
The second says that over concentration can lead to water pump failure, and in one study 54% of water pump failures could be attributed to over concentration

I think that i'll play safe and put between 3.5 and 4 litres into the sytem

[Bailes1992]

I buy already mixed stuff from Mocal. Inugel or something like that. it's expensive (£23 for 5 litres).
Also chuck a bottle of Forte cooling system conditioner in the system too.
Maybe if I'm feeling flush I run through some Forte Cooling system flush through the system too.
And when I change my Oil i put some seal conditioner in with it too, seems to be helping my worn oil stems...

Can you tell I like Forte stuff?

[plod]

I buy already mixed stuff from Mocal. Inugel or something like that. it's expensive (£23 for 5 litres).
Also chuck a bottle of Forte cooling system conditioner in the system too.
Maybe if I'm feeling flush I run through some Forte Cooling system flush through the system too.
And when I change my Oil i put some seal conditioner in with it too, seems to be helping my worn oil stems...

Can you tell I like Forte stuff?

Strewth, just checked out the conditioner, how much!!!!

[Bailes1992]

I buy already mixed stuff from Mocal. Inugel or something like that. it's expensive (£23 for 5 litres).
Also chuck a bottle of Forte cooling system conditioner in the system too.
Maybe if I'm feeling flush I run through some Forte Cooling system flush through the system too.
And when I change my Oil i put some seal conditioner in with it too, seems to be helping my worn oil stems...

Can you tell I like Forte stuff?

Strewth, just checked out the conditioner, how much!!!!

I don't mind paying for decent gear!
The 406 had a brand new radiator on it when I got it, lovelhy nice nissens radiator.
But as soon as I started tuning it after any form of boost for a long period of time the temps were getting a little high.
So drains the coolant and filled it with the Mocal stuff, was better but still not great.

Drained the coolant and filled it up with water and forte cooling system flush, bled the system and took it for a thrash.
Got home and drained it and the coolant was thick and black.
Had to run another flush through it, and took it for another thrash.
Come out black but was nice and thin.

Run some plain water through the system a few times to clean out all the chemicals and then filled up the coolat with mocal inugel coolant and the forte coolant system conditioner and it made a massive difference!

I think the old radiator must have sprung a leak and the old owner chucked some rad weld in. I can only assume this got stuck on everythign narrowing the water ways.
After a flush and with some decent coolant in there the only time the temps got high was sitting at 115mph on the rev limiter for about 5/10 mins but even then it was just under 100 degrees.

Really worth having a nice clean and well protected cooling system in my opinion.

[plod]

I kinda agree Sam but I don't currently have any issues with the coolant system so maybe overkill in my situation
Ok with high boost pressures then having a more efficient system would be welcomed

I guess if I'd not been on basic wages it wouldn't be a bad idea but with limited disposable income I'm going to have to make do