Zel's Fleet Blog - BX, Jag XJ-S, Sinclair C5, Mercedes 208D & 230TE, AC Model 70.

[RichardW]

Scotchbite and elbow grease should clean that head up. You can get drill mounted ones to save the elbow grease.

[Zelandeth]

Following direct recommendations from a couple of folks the heads have been dropped off with Headline MK to be cleaned, inspected and if necessary re-faced. Seemed efficient, polite and a refreshingly old-school sort of place. Figure this just makes the most sense as it means that I know for sure that the heads are both properly flat before I put things back together, and they have far better equipment to check that than I do! If they're good, they'll also get the job of inspecting and doing any rework needed on the Renault's head when that comes off. Given the response I've had from a lot of so called professionals around here, getting an immediate cheerful "Yeah, that'll be no bother" was kind of refreshing.

Otherwise I've been running around like a headless chicken for 95% of the day today. Only thing I did was take ten minutes just now to see whether it's worth spending any time on cleaning the valve covers up a bit as they're quite oxidised in a fair few places. The before and after of a really quick skim over suggests that yes, the end result in the engine bay will be worth it and will make things look far less scruffy.



We don't need a blinding mirror like finish here, just looking tidy is sufficient.

[Rp0thejester]

I will say I'm not a fan of shiny stuff in the engine bay, a black rocker/valve cover does it for me. And there's something reassuring about walking into an old school workshop that isn't pristine clean when it comes to engines, if you know what I mean

[Zelandeth]

I guess there's a bit of novelty there in that I've never had a car with anything shiny under there before. I'm not going overboard though and this is the only thing that is shiny. Probably not actually original anyway as I think the P6 would have had painted rocker covers originally.

[Rp0thejester]

So could you go black with shiny ridges? Best of both

[Zelandeth]

New toy arrived in the post this morning. Was suspiciously cheap on eBay so was half expecting it never to turn up, but it did and was still sealed new in the box with all the cables etc.



Which showed us to have two error codes. Which I annoyingly failed to take full note of. One was for an open circuit or ground fault to the intake throttle flap motor - expected as I unplugged it when initially poking around. Second one was complaining about an implausible needle lift sensor signal. That seems rather more plausible as our issue. I'll pull the covers off and make sure we don't have a loose connection or something daft like that to the injecton loom shortly.

Cleared the codes then went for a half hour or so drive, and came back with none stored.



The word "none" there is the important bit. Ignore the ECM disabled message and P1570 - that's basically saying that the immobiliser is blocking the engine start, which always seems to happen when you plug a code reader in to this - cycling the ignition once after unplugging it returns normal service. Does exactly the same with a Foxwell scanner.

Possible the sensor was just being sticky I guess, car hadn't been driven in a couple of weeks, but it does have me looking slightly suspiciously at whichever injector has that built in on this engine - assuming 1 or 4. I'm not about to go replacing them though given that this is about to be sold. Potential fault will be disclosed and the new keeper can roll the dice on whether it comes back again, with the price adjusted accordingly.

I do believe that we have found where the water dripping onto the centre console in the P6 was coming from.



Lack of any rubber seals around the antenna and a disintegrated plastic spacer meaning there was zero tension on it I think would equal a leak.



Rather home made looking plastic grommet through the roof probably not helping.



So that's going to be subject to some attention shortly. The threads in the antenna base are stripped as well, so I may well replace the whole thing.

Did discover that apparently the underside of the gutters/door shuts apparently weren't cleaned up and painted along with the rest of the car.



Yeah, that will be wanting some attention sooner than later.

[mickthemaverick]

Zel, I think it's time you updated your blog title!! Most of the cars in it are long gone!!!

[Zelandeth]

Aye, I really ought to get the moderators to change it to something more generic!

[Rp0thejester]

Zels Rusty crap that needs help??? Zels Rusty valve lessons? Zels Rusty P8 that I want!! Sorry, my personal opinion shouldn't be involved. Zels, I need to order again....

[Hell Razor5543]

Zels' Highly Eclectic Blog?

[bobins]

Zel's A-Z of Cars.
Wonder how many are left to go to complete the alphabet ?

[mickthemaverick]

For me it could simply be the most generic of all: Zel's World

[daviemck2006]

For me it could simply be the most generic of all: Zel's World

Zels world is simple and it covers cars, vans, bus if he ever gets one, computers and his house tales. I think everything's covered there!

[myglaren]

The Zeloblogicon.

(With apologies to Neil Stephenson)

[c16rkc]

For me it could simply be the most generic of all: Zel's World

I think you have nailed it there

That allows for all the inevitable future sales and purchases