Yeh i couldnt see anything specifically broken, but that sounds likely!
I just bought cotton overbraided fuel hose, as thats what was already on there. I'm not a fan of large bore silicone for vacuum purposes. It gets soggy when it gets hot and can be sucked flat as theres no reinforcement.
Well had it into Kwikfit yesterday for alignment and AC regas. It apparently held pressure and worked fine, though i didnt actually test it myself as it was cold out by the time i picked it up.
The alignment was squiff, so it went back today to get that fixed. Been out this evening reinstalling the plenum plastics at the bottom of the windscreen and some other bits and pieces and noticed this:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0bi6n2az3dyhpri/IMG-20170621-WA0024.jpg?dl=0
Which i presume means its emptied the contents out those O rings when its heat cycled them...
Certainly looks like the UV leak detection stuff that it's dumped out of there. I take it your aircon no longer works?
not tried it yet, didnt have it running this evening, was just doing bits and bobs of tidying up. If i can find the pressure switch i might just stick a meter across it and see if it shows open or closed.
That's certainly a leak :)
You probably won't find those o-rings in universal AC o-ring kits - they're really large on the GEMS compressor connections. Part numbers are STC3177 and STC3176.
might see if i can get a UV lamp and see if there are any other signs of leaks
Oddly its still working despite the leak. I've shut it off on the control panel for now as i dont want to damage it. Will get some new o-rings ordered, dont think they'll be here in time for the trip though :(
Had a good prod at the cruise control today. New hose is in, T piece was leaking so a few jubilee clips on there to sort that out. Tested directly at the pump and its holding a vaccum no problem. Went thru the tests within rave, all button signals and brake signals are correct. But it doesnt work.
I suspect the ECU is probably duff?
It may be that the orings have now sealed up again with some lubrication. No real harm in continuing to use it - if it is still leaking, the low pressure cut off will stop the compressor running and doing damage.
The early cruise ECUs were a bit problematic from what I know - mine didn't work on my GEMS.
Yeh i've ordered a later ECU, i'll swap the plug and see what happens. I've asked the seller to give me the plug, i hope he does!
Well it made it the 500 miles to goodwood just fine ☺
Cruise ecu didn't arrive in time though.
A few new issues have appeared though.
The steering seemed to get really hard to control after some of the back roads on the way into goodwood. Some poking around this evening shows the front track rod has play in the ball joint on the passenger side. I've also managed to track down the creaking steering that it's had since I got it,looks like one of the balljoints on the drivers side ofexcessive which look like a total arse to change!
Tried to source a track rod today but euros couldn't get it until Monday and nowhere else had it.
It also seemed to have burned (or leaked?) two litres of engine oil in just over 500 miles which seems somewhat excessive!
If it's been standing for a long time, chances are the oil control rings have gummed into their grooves so aren't doing anything. Simplest thing to try first is wait until you don't need to use it for a few days, take the sparkplugs out and fill each bore with diesel. Let that soak for a few days, change the oil and try it then.
Yeah cylinder 7 had oily looking spark plug when I first got it, and oiled up it's replacement too. I wasn't sure if it was stem seals from all the idling, or rings.
I meant to recheck it after I'd done some miles in it but I've not looked at it since passing the MOT 😂 that was 1300miles ago.
Well i figured i should put together a short summary of the trip.
We drove 1200miles over the weekend, from Glenrothes to Fareham, visiting goodwood for 3 days then back home again. It made it, without needing a flatbed truck, which i was quite pleased about.
No cruise control was annoying, as the ECU didnt turn up in time. The AC worked surprisingly, despite the leak, and was a godsend on the return leg where it was really quite warm!
The trip did throw up a few issues, with the BECM going in a huff in the Harry Potter tour car park and immobilising the car for a period. That magically fixed itself, but then it sprang a fuel leak on the way to the hotel.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cqamhk5ji5hhd8p/2017-07-02%2023.09.19.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/a786gl72ax9jk2m/2017-07-04%2010.52.11.jpg?dl=0
That hose on the return line is 10mm LPG hose that some arsehole has used to join the tank to the return line. Its all perished and has split around where the jubilee had crushed it down to 8mm. 30minute walk to a nearby pirtek (via euro car parts, who didnt have any fuel hose...) for a length of hose and a repair in the hotel carpark on monday morning and we were off again, albeit a couple of hours late!
A few more minor issues came to light as well, some mentioned above. I replaced the rear track rod before we went as one of the boots was split and the balljoint was rusted up. While the front one felt fine, we discovered once we hit some minor back roads that it was a nightmare to keep it in a streight line, with the steering pulling wildly around the place on camber changes, and discovered the balljoint on the front bar now also had play. At least one of the axle end balljoints is also creaking when turning it, so i guess its dry as well? Those look like a pig to change! I'll replace the front panhard rod bushes as well.
The brake pipes on the rear axle are a total bodgefest and were clattering off the axle tube over slow bumps in traffic as they're completely unsupported over their length. Temporarily fixed that with ducktape but the pipes need properly recreated and the appropriate mounting tabs need fitted. It appears to be a later style axle case, that someones bodged the early style pipes onto, and ofcourse that means theres no locating tabs etc.
The car also managed to use about 4L of oil over the course of 1200miles. When we arrived at the hotel (500miles) there was barely a drop on the dipstick, and it took 2L to fill it back up again. I kept a closer eye on it after that and topped it up regularly.
The exhaust, despite sounding epic around town and while being a bit chavvy revving it in tunnels, has an awful drone around 2250rpm. Its not usually an issue, as motorway driving is up closer to 2800rpm where its quite civilised, but once you get in some traffic and are doing 50-60ish it was really quite annoying. I often found myself forcing it into third gear to keep the revs up. So i'll need to get a small silencer added to replace the middle box (though realistically i knew that anyway)
The transmission was otherwise fine, despite me fearing the worst due to its oil leak and horrible noise it was making before we left, and after repositioning the sump gasket appeared to retain its oil without issue.
Theres probably more stuff, but i cant think of it just now!
My SE, despite not being used, suddenly developed a strong smell of petrol when I started it to move it recently. That was a leak on the return but from above the fuel tank. I dropped the tank (no need to remove it fully, just drop it down at the front) and both pipes were rusted through where they run along above the fuel tank. I replaced the whole length and if the exposed bit is rusted on yours I suspect the bit you can't see will be no better.
yeh i might have to replace all the lines at some point. The previous owner had apparently replaced the fuel pump, so one would hope that if the pipes were rusted above the tank he'd have replaced them, but given hes bodged it with LPG hose of the wrong size i dont have much faith in his skills.
Whats annoying is that the lines are steel at all... My 1990 Vauxhall Nova that i owned back when i started driving had nylon fuel lines. You'd have hoped a luxury car thats 4 years newer would have also used something better than steel, but then it is a landrover, where nothing sensible gets done!
My A4 uses plastic coated aluminium pipes for both fuel and brake lines. 17 years old and its all original with no signs of corrosion anywhere.
They changed to plastic fuel lines on the Bosch/Thor setup. Still doesn't stop morons snapping them and repairing with crappy hose though, as we found out...
