So what 'appened was...

[swiss]

Right, I'll try the factor round the corner, thanks matey. The forty was a stealership price, natch.

[EDIT] £10.50. Win!

[jasper5]

I thought stuff was more expensive darnnnn sarf?

Nice result, well done.

[swiss]

Now the bad news. Parts supplier didn't get their shipment from the land of beer and sausage, so they won't see the pump 'till Monday and thus I won't get me grubby mitts on it until Tuesday. On the upside, I now get to spend the weekend packing for our house move. Woo and, I would imagine, yay.

[teamster1975]

What a mission Tom! That plastic impeller seemed doomed to break from the drawing board!
Where abouts are you moving to?

[swiss]

Just the other side of the city, house twice the size but slightly less rent. About five minutes as the crow flies but half an hour or more as the car sits in the Southampton traffic admiring the roadworks that seem to spring up everywhere at once but never have any actual people working on them. So finishing this repair job will be a pain in the arse.

[swiss]

And she is done!

Crikey, what a mish. New pump turned out to have a metal impeller of some kind (couldn't identify what, but certainly not plastic fantastic) so that was a bonus. Took me two evenings to get the thing back together. The auto tensioner required my neighbour to stand on a pry bar then the banjo unions for the gearbox oil cooler wouldn't fit. Had to bend the pipes to get them back on. Took the air filter box off to gain better access, and now it's making a whistling noise

Anyway car's in one piece, temperature is holding and the missus is happy (and I didn't have to wake up at seven to take her to work). Next problem is the extra-leaky sump plug. I only just changed the oil and it's bitching about the level already. My neighbour pointed out I can remove the pan then drill and tap out a larger hole, rather than replace the part. Definitely one for the to-do list.

New house is ace, though the lack of furniture is a bit will-sapping. Sofa arrived today, but I'm still sleeping on a mattress on the floor until the end of July. Garden's a disaster zone but the landlord has given me free reign out there. I figure I'm going to deck the nasty concrete bit, half-inch a pub bench and turn it in to a beer garden. Sweet.

Many thanks to everyone for the advice during this long, painful repair job. If you're ever in Southampton, gimme a tinkle and you can stop by for tea and dogs.

Tom

[Doggy]

Well done for sorting that lot, Tom.
Reminds me of my old Omega - leaked oil into one of the plug wells, eventually the MFD, in a strong germanic acent would annouce, 'Oil Lack'

[jasper5]

Well done that man Tom

One temporary thing you can do to fix your oil leak from the sump plug.....get some silicon sealant, clean off around the sump plug as best you can, get a big dollop of silicon sealant and wipe it all around the sump plug and surrounding area.

You could always drain the oil into a clean container, clean off the sump plug threads, put silicon sealer all round the threads, screw it back in and smear silicon sealer all around the plug. Pour the oil back in.

Good luck with that

If I venture down your way, i'll be sure to let you know....I have a friend in Fareham.

[Welly]

Well done fella! I don't think, no - I know, I wouldn't have attempted that.

Might be worth a Jasper-bodge on the oil sump too?

[teamster1975]

Nice work Tom!
Glad to hear you're settling into your new place
When you say pop round for a tea I hope you mean the brew from the Hogs Back brewery!

[STALLED]

If you are going to drill and tap the sump plug thread - Make sure you don't get any metal in the sump!

Congrats on getting it all fixed though - It's a nice feeling when everything goes to plan!

[swiss]

Right... perhaps we all spoke too soon.

So the brakes are fixed, but then I broke the water pump. Water pump now fixed... but I think I've buggered the autobox.

Since the alleged repair, the shifting's been slow and crunchy. In particular, when changing from park to drive it gives an almighty crash and a lurch. When pulling away, eg at a light, it also crunches a bit and sometimes slips badly. The X25 block does sound impressive going from idle to 4k in half a second, mind you.

Now, I lost a good dollop of oil when I d/c the autobox oil cooler and since it's gone back together the unions are leaking like a pair of utter bar stewards. Could this sort of condition be caused by low/non-existent trans oil level? What's worrying me is that the oil leak has seemed to slow right down... is there any left in there at all?

Plan for this weekend is to nip up the unions (and maybe seal them with silicone and/or concrete) and see if I can locate the level plug on the box housing. I'm seriously hoping topping it up with fresh fluid will make it all smooth again and stop the wife complaining.

[Doggy]

Don't know much about autos, but I once had a 3.4 S-type Jag, (the first ones, 1967 ), that leaked just about every fluid known to the motor trade. It would steadily deteriorate as the fuel tanks emptied, till eventually it was fill-up time....
7 gallons of 4-star each side, a quart of 20/50, half a bottle of ATF in the steering & the rest in the 'box - different car

Long winded way of saying the gearchange quality was definetly sensitive to fluid level - I'd try not to use it meantime.

[Welly]

Deffo the fluid.

Can't you, are you allowed too? smear some jointing paste on the union faces before doing them up? sometimes 'murdering' them up makes them leak worserer.

Good time for a fluid change perhaps anyway?

[DaiRees]

I was going to say that, don't just top it up, change the fluid while you're in there.... I mean.... what have you got to loose?