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Who is doing what maintenance today?

I've no doubts as to the value of changing them.. it's purely if I can manage to do it without breaking anything! I'll try again tomorrow, but I'm not willing to strip the pump when it's working fine. I had these valves put in at about 260,000.
 
Not quite " maintenance today" but a catch up on a few jobs on the old 24V auto I did on the weekends and nights prior to Lincombe meeting a couple of weeks ago.
It had always driven well from the day I got it in 2015 with no issues but had it in storage for a couple of years while I got the Collie thing out of my system.
When I got it out it passed the MOT no advisories but I noticed a touch of oil on the n/s swivel hub and that was the start.
Replaced:-
Front driveshafts and CV's ( gen Toyota)
Swivel bearings, Wheel bearings, seals and gaskets.
All brake discs and pads ( gen Toyota)
All brake hoses to steel braided extended.
Rebuilt n/s front calliper, rest fine.
Replaced std suspension with Dobinsons Front springs and dampers, Rear springs were Suplex with Dobinsons dampers, replaced steering damper with Ironman unit.
Fitted castor correction plates as the drop boxes hadn't arrived in time but it drives ans steers well.
Replaced after market wheels on 275's BFG's with black standard wheels shod with new 285 KO2's
Replaced Maggi roof tent with I-Kamper to give us more room.
Replaced ali bumper I had on with a JDM Toyota one which will make fitting the Aisin ( Toyota fitment) winch easier.
Took rear ( 2nd row) seats out and installed dog cage on one side and ARB fridge in the other side, draw system next to be installed when I will probably change the rear springs for the matching Dobinson ones.
Changed the reg no to N 80 MUD.


so after all that it looked like this:-
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Got packed up for Lincombe, drove down beautifully, only to find when we got there that all the elastictrickery had escaped and the bloody batteries were nearly flat. Got a jump start the next morning to get home and replaced the ( like new Lucas recon unit) alternator with the one off "Mud" and we're charging along again.

Hopefully we'll get to the next meeting without any dramas.
 
The off-side side-step started collapsing. I thought it was the inner sill giving way but actually the 'L' bracket had rusted through.

Two new brackets from Simon (£134 :shock:) and the fun begins - removing the lumps of rust that used to be bolts (plus one nut) without damaging the threads in the mountings.

Slowly, slowly catchee monkey . . First grind away the sides of the brackets. There is little room between the inner sill and the chassis but the air-saw got in there and weakened the sides - a Mole Wrench and metal fatigue did the rest.

A small chisel removed a lot of the rust scale leaving bolt heads that no longer fitted any spanners. A good stiff wire brushing and then a MAP torch on 'very low' setting - its tempting but I don't really want to set fire to this money pit.

Once very hot, a small Mole Wrench got the three M8-threaded bolts out - amazing :thumbup: !

The nut on its captive stud was a different story. I cut away one side of the conical lump of rust with a small air-grinder and then heated it. With a Mole grip it eventually turned. Careful extraction kept enough thread for the replacement stainless nyloc nut to grip.

During this process the bottom edge of the sill fell away revealing clean, painted metal up inside. There are four brackets on each side; the end two bolt to heavy channel body mounts and are solid, the middle two are mounted on the sill and can flex a bit now. The whole assembly is firm though. I used stainless M8 Set Screws with anti-seize paste on re-assembly. I'm afraid they will out-last the truck.

Replacing the inner sills is a different can of worms and I'll need to think about that. Unlike the '90' the body mounts are solid on the chassis so the sills are only partially supporting the side-steps. Structurally it all looks OK to me (but not to an MOT Tester :doh:), I have 10 months MOT left :icon-wink:.

:text-worthless:

I know - but I'm afraid I didn't take any as I was lying on my back covered in dirt and rust :oops:.

Bob.
 
To be honest it's probably my imagination Shayne..

What's not my imagination is 3 stupid rounded Allen head bolts that hold in the suction control valves in my pump. The valves haven't failed, but I have had a bit of hesitation once or twice over the last couple of months. Now it may be down to diesel quality, but I said I'd pick up a pair and put them in before heading to France to be sure. (truck is driving perfect with plenty of power for a month or more - 2000 miles or so)

So today I went about changing them. Not a difficult job... Until...

View attachment 156781

One bolt on the red valve came out ok. But the other 3 just rounded as soon as I tried to turn them with the Allen socket. Normally I'd punch in a torx or something and use some welly, but these are in a fairly tight spot, and I'm not taking out the pump... I tried a mini vise-grip but it can't get a good hold of the head. Can't drill them out, how would I get the rest of the thread out

Any suggestions?

Ok, so yesterday the SCVs started to act the fool, right on cue!! I didn't want to take the pump out so I called a mechanic in. He didn't want to take the pump out either...
IMG_20190703_165922.jpg
Money changed hands, and shiny new SCVs went in. He had to weld on to the heads of 2 of the studs, and use a trick thread extraction tool on another. One of them danced out. 4 new studs in and mind at ease for France. I do like to DIY, but I also know when I'm best to call the cavalry!
 
The off-side side-step started collapsing. I thought it was the inner sill giving way but actually the 'L' bracket had rusted through.

I tackled this job on mine a couple of months back. The steps were still solid but the brackets looked quite rusty. I took each one off in turn, cleaned them up and treated them with Aquasteel followed by a good coat of stone chip. The bolts holding the brackets to the body came out relatively easily but several of the smaller bolts holding the sidesteps onto the brackets sheared off and required drilling out and retapping. I also replaced all bolts with SS items.
I contemplated just fitting new brackets until I priced them up!
 
24V auto got a bit more attention today. Since I got it there has always been an annoying ammount of wind noise from the door mirror area especially at motorway speeds. since all the outer seals looked ok I replaced both the window channels which had been on the shelf for a good while. Straight forward job replacing those and gave the window regulators a good greasing too.
Result, the windows go up and down quicker and smoother than they did and the wind noise at motorway speeds is reduced by a good 95%.
This is a job worth doing if its not been done before as the seals/ channels harden and shrink with age, the improvement to mine has changed it from tolerable to pleasurable.
Also fitted a different roof rack and the rear door ladder bought from our Mr KW.
 
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052AD478-AB9C-4652-B4B9-FF61354A6BF6.jpeg
Unexpectedly found myself with a free afternoon so decided to do something quick and easy

At 8pm I realised I ran out of black spray paint and it all has to go back together tonight :doh:
 
Replaced the timing belt tensioner today after discovering most of the oil had leaked from it and the damping was severely reduced although there where no obvious symptoms. Looking at how the tensioner is constructed I reckon it’s highly unlikely it would fail completely and leave the belt flapping about. I was looking for the source of and intermittent “whirring” sound at around 2000rpm and thought I’d start by checking the timing components. Still not found it.
 
@Towpack

Sounds like something similar to what I have. From 2100 to 3000. Sounds like a squeal.

Removed serpentine belt but still present.

Will try the belt for alternator and fan.

If not that then possible from the turbo.
 
I have also developed a squeal after cleaning out the engine bay. Hard to pinpoint where it is coming from. @ADD Could be your water pump also.
 
I carried out the annual oil & filter change on the '100'. Nothing of note to report but I had acquired the 'correct' diesel filter with the recessed top. I will be interested to see if there is a noticeable difference.

If it ever stops raining I will service the Focus TDCi (boring :violin:).

And then there is the younger daughter's '07 2.2l D-4D RAV4 (again). She wanted to sell it so I took it to a local Garage who said they would try to move it on. It didn't sell - whenever they took it up the road in a low gear and "gave it the berries" it poured black smoke (it has never done that with us :think:).

I'm guessing that with 180,000 miles on the clock the EGR has choked the inlet ports & manifold meaning it can't get enough air when given a lot of fuel.

I have now "acquired it" from her and will give it a top-end overhaul (which will cost three times what its worth).

Its still a nice car and may be useful as a winter hack if the weather is bad. I don't really want another (5th) car though :doh:.

Unexpected commitments like this really upset my plans (such as they are) !

Bob.
 
Water pump replaced just 2000 miles ago so not that.

Had the timing belt replaced and auxiliary belts replaced. The ac belt just snapped might have over tighten it. I suspect might be belt noise. The belts were toyo. Going to change alternator belts and ac belts plus all the tensioner to see if that’s it.

I have determined that I have two squealing noises. One definitely from ac belt as after snapped one squeal stopped and suspect the other is from alternator belt.
 
Finally!!!

I have been chasing down a rattle in the back of the 95 for a wee while, and of course forgot to do a search here first. Anyway after removing and putting back all of the interior trim, checking the shock mounts etc.. etc.. I got into the back and had Mrs Bob drive up the lane (couldn't put her in the back being pregnant...bit unfair)

I present to you the upper door hinge on the tailgate...

IMG_20190820_113209.jpg


Enough space around the pin for a family of pandas to live...

New genuine one shipped from the UAE for 1/2 the price of Mr T locally

IMG_20190820_113228.jpg


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And no more rattle..


...edit: but now we have a squeak.. adjustment needed I think.. I will update!

...edit 2: spray grease deployed.. no squeak now!
 
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Finally got round to fixing my horn today, the low Hz had already died and over the weekend the high Hz packed up, so deployed 10 year old to play with the steering wheel/horn and went to listen for the relay.
All clicked so took off the front grill and put the 10 year old back in the box.
Connection to the high Hz horn had snapped so swapped connectors with the other and redeployed 10 year old.
One working horn, just cant seem to turn off the 10 year old.

Out of interest, I hate the LC's horn tonal range - anyone know of a nice lower horn - around 250-300Hz would be nice :)
 
Replaced ac belt and both pulleys. Found the one below the power heater was really crunchy, the shiny one in the pic, so one of the squeals eliminated. Now just the one between 2100 and 2200 rpm.

View attachment 158351

870D3255-77D6-4571-9372-DA957C5FCF37.jpeg
 
Finally got round to fixing my horn today, the low Hz had already died and over the weekend the high Hz packed up, so deployed 10 year old to play with the steering wheel/horn and went to listen for the relay.
All clicked so took off the front grill and put the 10 year old back in the box.
Connection to the high Hz horn had snapped so swapped connectors with the other and redeployed 10 year old.
One working horn, just cant seem to turn off the 10 year old.

Out of interest, I hate the LC's horn tonal range - anyone know of a nice lower horn - around 250-300Hz would be nice :)

I got similar to these off ebay for my 120 couple of years ago.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/331536958412

Not from this seller, so not recommending the seller
 
Did the tappetts. Just routine check as it was overdue. Three of the inlets were tight and out of spec but can’t say it feels any different. Managed to loose a 10mm socket down the back of the engine, probably sat on top of the bellhousing or gearbox maybe. A quick trip to Halfords should sort that!
 
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