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.