Ran down to Somerset in the New V6 on Sunday to see the folks. The girls came with me and we had a great day. V6 ran like a dream.
Monday I'd planned to do a little light spannering on Old V6 to sort out the starter motor; it was a little reluctant to disengage on the first start of the day.
Before getting to Old V6, I gave New V6 a quick check over after her run and was shocked to find a puddle of oil under her. Closer inspection showed it to be transmission fluid
the cause was a leak at the Banjo union on the end of the gearbox where the pipe from the cooler terminates. It was a tad loose and a tighten has almost stopped the flow but not completely. I need to replace the copper washers eiter side of the banjo.
Here's the guilty party:
In 300 miles the gearbox lost a litre and a half of fluid. Good job I spotted it. A leak like that could have pumped the 'box dry...
Then I got the starter off Old V6 and gave it a check. Again, as is par for a V6, the motor comes off easily enough but space is a bit tight and the 10mm studs holding its heatshield on are a bit of a game, being in very close proximity to the front bank exhaust downpipe.
On the bench, the problem turned out to be a sticky pinion shaft. My fault. I lubricated it sparingly when I did the rebuild and only later did I learn that shaft should be clean and dry. The lubricant had gone very tacky and was enough to hold the pinion in engagement with the ring gear for a moment after the engine started.
A good clean up and all is now very good indeed.
Xac came round in the afternoon and we set about replacing his damaged auxiliary belt tensioner. Lots of fun as reported in Xac's blog
I did hope to take the Activa out for a spin, it being a nice day. It's too wet and dirty again now so an Activa run is now postponed until another dry day is upon us...