Xac's adventures with Cassy (and friends + wife)

Xaccers · Unread post by **Xaccers** » 22 Sep 2010, 21:12

Heading home from the station tonight the throttle pedal went *phdunk* and fell to the floor, so I quickly pulled into the old Hockey stadium carpark and took a look under the bonnet.
The cable had snapped in the plunger unit again, although this time the cable had lasted 3 years.
Removed the plunger, and cut the outer sheath back to expose the remaining cable and re-routed it.
I'll swing by the cycle shop tomorrow afternoon and pick up a new cable nad ditch the plunger completely.

In other news no black oil dripping from the engine anymore, but the reg is still dripping.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 22 Sep 2010, 21:58

Xac wrote: In other news no black oil dripping from the engine anymore, but the reg is still dripping.

Good on the first bit and not so good on the second.

I'll dig you out a regulator. I'm not about this weekend but will be next. I'll most likely be preoccupied with my impossible cruise control though

Xaccers · Unread post by **Xaccers** » 22 Sep 2010, 22:33

Well if you fancy some company while you're working on your cruise control I'd love to come over

Xaccers · Unread post by **Xaccers** » 28 Sep 2010, 21:33

Popped over to Jim's quickly on the way home this evening to drop off some automotive kitchen roll and showed him the mod I've had to do when the accelerator cable snapped.
Jim had a look under the front to check the leak on the reg and discovered that it wasn't LHM.
So we looked further up behind the starter motor and fuel filter where it looked wet, to the end injector which was very wet and bubbling around it's socket!
The leak off pipe from the next injector had split, the bubbling we believe is from the veg being heated.
Chopped the split bit of the pipe off and fitted securely. The pipe came from Motorserv, and the chopped off bit was rock solid even though it wasn't fitted that long ago.
After leaving the car to idle for a good 10 minutes, I gave it a blast and no more smoke screen!

I am however still losing LHM from somewhere, possibly the pump side as the a/c compressor still was a bit wet, as the float was on the low mark when I checked at Jim's.
Must remember to top it up tomorrow!

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 28 Sep 2010, 21:44

Xac,

I'm bloody delighted we've got to the root of Cassy's smoking after idling

Who'd have ever thought it was a leakoff pipe

Everything else is now a walk in the park!!! A/C compressor still looked a bit damp so maybe yes, the pump is still weeping a bit...

Maybe it'll cheer up now the smoking is sorted...

red_dwarfers · Unread post by **red_dwarfers** » 28 Sep 2010, 21:53

Ideal!

Xaccers · Unread post by **Xaccers** » 04 Oct 2010, 22:58

I hate bloody tube strikes and I hate bloody blackberrys!

Drove into London today as the tube workers are on strike over the unions losing members, sorry, over planned non-compulsary redundancies /rant and I had a load of monitors to pick up for disposal.
Normally it's not too bad a drive, but this morning there were a few breakdowns (including a very forlorn looking woman in a Lotus on the roundabout at the bottom of the M1) and a few minor shunts so it took ages.
I needed to be in on time as they're migrating their blackberry service from Vodafone to Orange, so I had, judging by previous trips in, given myself plenty of time to get there. Ended up arriving 90 minutes late, but thankfully still before the migration process was to begin.
Why they can't ditch BES and use windows mobile devices?

Anyway, eventually activating the new phones stopped working (that's blackberrys for you) not helped apparently by Orange losing a large portion of it's network in the area.
With that news, we decided enough was enough, it was 6pm, and the service desk would carry on in the morning.
So I loaded up the tea trolly with the monitors and a cisco switch that needs configuring, and decided it was time to adjust Cassy's clutch which has been a little too high for me. The threaded length of the cable is a lot shorter than Cassy's original one so the pedal will always be imho slightly higher than it should.
I also noticed an A5 pool of LHM under the pump side, yet I can't see from the top where it's leaking from. The two hex o-rings have been replaced, the feed pipe is dry, so it's somewhere under or behind the pump, perhaps the large o-ring?
Further investigation is required!

Xaccers · Unread post by **Xaccers** » 06 Oct 2010, 10:09

I'm sat in wetherspoons waiting for the aa to arrive.
The aux spring tensioner bolt looks like it has snapped the tip off.
Still, I've had a nice cheap breakfast.

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 06 Oct 2010, 11:04

the big breakfast is.. big

and cheap.. whenever I break down it is always in drifting snow on a motorway at midnight

hope you get it sorted Xac..

never heard of the aux tensioner bolt head snapping off..

Xaccers · Unread post by **Xaccers** » 06 Oct 2010, 11:14

its the other end of the bolt, not the head.
her original one snapped 2 years ago due to the needle rollers failing, the replacement tensioner failed due to the lower eye of the spring enlarging.
Fitted this one and spring only a few months ago.

still waiting for cmg to turn up.
AA wanted to send out just a patrolman but I told a little white lie and said i was a qualified mechanic so they agreed to send a flatbed

KP · Unread post by KP » 06 Oct 2010, 14:15

Crackberrys are good, nice encryption and setup, just takes time. agree orange have a lot of outages and they never tell anyone about them. i complain about it and then for a week i get an email for every outage, cellsite down and poor performance in areas and then it stops... Wierd.

I try and avoid london where possible, hate the tube as always end up next to the person who hasn't showered in a month and it means i have to leave my house by 4.30 to get the train

Xaccers · Unread post by **Xaccers** » 09 Oct 2010, 18:41

As I was working at Cambridge yesterday, I popped up to Sawtry and visited Pleiades to pick up an Activa sphere for Juliet.

This morning, after a plate of delicious eggs benedict made by Danielle, I set to work on Cassy to remove the aux belt tensioner and the broken tip of it's bolt.
Not a fun job, mostly due to the spring's bolt, until I found the 6mm hex bit and 8mm ratchet spanner I'd turned into a tool for the job before.
I was able to remove the broken bit of bolt with my fingers.

I'd also checked the hydraulic pump and noticed bubbling lhm from the join so the main seal has gone.

Jumped into Juliet and headed off to Jim's and we tested the old activa sphere. 4bar! There had been a great spray when I took it off

Juliet seemed to behave a bit better, the stop light didn't take as long to go out after the engine had been off for a while, but still not right.
She'd seem to be in hard mode even though the electrovalves were working.
Jim sussed it, the anti sink valves were kicking in, even with the engine running.
There's no ticking from the regulator. Also, as I've mentioned before, when idling the steering gets heavier.
I've always thought the back would often be slightly too high, and very hard, but if I floored it, or stood on the brake, the back would suddenly drop with a clunk and she'd be reasonably soft.
The evidence suggests that the pump (which is very rusty) is the culprit, not producing enough pressure.
So, I shall call Pleiades on Monday and see what they can do.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 09 Oct 2010, 21:49

Hopefully Pleiades can plumb in a pressure gauge to confirm the diagnosis Xac...

The clincher was bouncing the front and feeling the suspension go hard on an upstroke as the anti-sink valve operated and causing the suspension to stay too high until the pump gave sufficient pressure again to open it.

One test we should have done: Pull F8 to disable the hydractive ECU and force permanent hard mode and see if it still happens or if the regulator starts to tick, just in case you have a (very) leaky electrovalve. Having aid that though, a leaky electrovalve normally just causes fast ticking. Worth a check though...

Eggs benedict

I'm jealous now. One of my favourite dishes

Xaccers · Unread post by **Xaccers** » 09 Oct 2010, 22:27

Danielle promises to do you eggs benedict in 2012

Xaccers · Unread post by **Xaccers** » 11 Oct 2010, 11:37

Looks like I'll be at Cambridge tomorrow after I've set up a laptop in Bedford in the morning.
Gave them a call and I think I spoke with Phil.
I'll be taking Cassy's pump up with me for them to replace the middle o-ring, and hopefully Martin will be around to assess Juliet.
Filled her up from nearly empty yesterday with v-power, £80!

While Cassy is up on axle stands, I must get her front wheels off and adjust her handbrake!