Rick and I learnt a lesson or two Yesterday

[Lazy-Ferret]

I went over to Ricks yesterday, as ever since I have had my car, it had had one of the Glow Plugs snapped off flush with the head. On the few cold days we have had this winter, she was getting harder and harder to start, so time had come to change the plugs, and see if I could sort out the snapped one.

When I heard Rick was breaking one of his cars, I enquired about the head, as I had been told it was probably easier to change the head, than extract the snapped Plug.

So yesterday, I arrived, head gasket set in hand, ready to get going.

Rick decided to just have a quick go to see if he could get the old plug out first... 4 hours later, and more melted, broken and ruined drill bits, stud extractors and screwdrivers than I care to count, we had to give up.. I have to say, Snapped Glow plugs are very bad news....

We then set to changing the head, what a pig of a job, as I have said before, those Nissan Designers really really hate mechanics....

There are so many nuts and bolts that are nearly impossible to get to...

We also discovered that a full head gasket set, is not a full set at all.... No injector washers... no turbo gasket, no thermostat housing assembly gaskets. In fact, with all the bits you have to undo on the T2 engine to get the head off, it needed a load of sealing washers as well, it can not be called a "Set" at all.

I would just like to say a huge "Thank You" to Rick, I don't know how he does it, I was knackered at the end of the day, I drove home, had tea, a bath and hit the sack, struggling to get up this morning, and I was not the one climbing up onto the top of the engine like Rick was.

Thanks so much Rick, I am so sorry it turned into such an epic job..

Just to let you know, I can't see any more wetness around the injector, so that's good news, and I just had to cinch up the oil banjo on the top of the turbo, as it had a small leak there.

[Banshee]

Originally Posted by Lazy-Ferret

I went over to Ricks yesterday, as ever since I have had my car, it had had one of the Glow Plugs snapped off flush with the head. On the few cold days we have had this winter, she was getting harder and harder to start, so time had come to change the plugs, and see if I could sort out the snapped one.

When I heard Rick was breaking one of his cars, I enquired about the head, as I had been told it was probably easier to change the head, than extract the snapped Plug.

So yesterday, I arrived, head gasket set in hand, ready to get going.

Rick decided to just have a quick go to see if he could get the old plug out first... 4 hours later, and more melted, broken and ruined drill bits, stud extractors and screwdrivers than I care to count, we had to give up.. I have to say, Snapped Glow plugs are very bad news....

We then set to changing the head, what a pig of a job, as I have said before, those Nissan Designers really really hate mechanics....

There are so many nuts and bolts that are nearly impossible to get to...

We also discovered that a full head gasket set, is not a full set at all.... No injector washers... no turbo gasket, no thermostat housing assembly gaskets. In fact, with all the bits you have to undo on the T2 engine to get the head off, it needed a load of sealing washers as well, it can not be called a "Set" at all.

I would just like to say a huge "Thank You" to Rick, I don't know how he does it, I was knackered at the end of the day, I drove home, had tea, a bath and hit the sack, struggling to get up this morning, and I was not the one climbing up onto the top of the engine like Rick was.

Thanks so much Rick, I am so sorry it turned into such an epic job..

Just to let you know, I can't see any more wetness around the injector, so that's good news, and I just had to cinch up the oil banjo on the top of the turbo, as it had a small leak there.

What a man!!!!!! Really hope I can make France just to meet the guy

[AlexD333]

He is definitely a guru of the diesel world! I was massively impressed with what I saw. Learnt a thing or two too! Even if i am cackhanded with a spanner

[Lazy-Ferret]

So, while doing all this work on the engine, I decided to also replace the spill off pipes. I got some new pipe off of Ebay, and we did the job as we did the head... Nice and easy to do when you can get to everything, and no inlet manifold in the way.

Came back from Wales Sunday night, and used a bit more diesel than I expected, but not so much to cause alarm, and we did have the AirCon on the whole journey. Stopped outside the house to un-hitch the caravan, but left the car running, on tick over to give the turbo a bit of cooling off time, and then after un-hitching, moved car forward out the way, still leaving it running. Put van in drive, and the reversed the car into the drive beside the van, as I reversed it in, I noticed two puddles of water from the AirCon on the road, or so I first thought. I did think it looked a bit much, but we had just done 290 miles with it full on, so was not too worried.

Later I popped out to get some fuel, and when I pulled into the drive, I saw I had left a splatter trail across the road. I looked under the car, and realised it was not water, but diesel dripping off the bottom of the engine.

I tracked it down to the diesel spill off pipes, specifically, the one that runs from injector 1, down to the injection pump. The new pipes had gone brittle, and were cracked all the way along. I did a temporary fix using trusty Micro irrigation pipe, and will now have to the change the spill off pipes, again...

The worst part is, I now find my local motor factor sells it, and is cheaper than I paid for the stuff I got on Ebay!!!

Miffed...

[AlexD333]

Naff pipes i take it?

[Lazy-Ferret]

Originally Posted by AlexD333

Naff pipes i take it?

I guess so, but it all seemed ok when I we fitted it, it's like is has reacted to the fuel, but it was specifically sold as diesel Spill off pipe.

[solarman216]

add to that I found a few days ago a roll of the correct pipe hanging on the wall of the workshop!!!!!!!!!!!!, Rick

[Lazy-Ferret]

Originally Posted by solarman216

add to that I found a few days ago a roll of the correct pipe hanging on the wall of the workshop!!!!!!!!!!!!, Rick

Sods law...

[briggie]

I had no issue at all driving 6 hours or so down to ricks to let him fix my truck ......absolute genious