Purely personal preference. Some polish, some spray, some just clean them :)
You can barely see them underneath all the inlet stuff anyway so it's just down to the way they make you feel. Most important is a damn good clean out inside and on the gasket faces, and a close look at the christmas tree separator in the RH breather hole.
You can also go for NGK BCPR6ES which are the same as the BPR6ES but with the smaller hex so will fit all Thor engines. The only difference is that some, and it is only some, Thor heads have a smaller hole machined in them for the plugs so the standard sized plug socket won't fit in the hole. OB found he had just one hole that was smaller, Rutland Rover found all of his where smaller but many others have found that none are.
I pay £2 each for both BPR6ES and BCPR6ES from my local motor factors.
Orangebean wrote:
Most important is a damn good clean out inside and on the gasket faces, and a close look at the christmas tree separator in the RH breather hole
Christmas tree separator??
Gilbertd wrote:
Thor heads have a smaller hole machined in them for the plugs so the standard sized plug socket won't fit in the hole.
Can I tell what size I have by pulling a HT lead and seeing what socket will go in the hole?
Christmas tree separator is in the tube at one end of the rocker cover where the oil breather tube connects. It's a plastic thing that looks like a Christmas tree and is there to slow down any oil vapour and allow it to turn back into oil.
Yes, but check every hole as, as I say, OB had just one hole that wasn't big enough.
Gilbertd wrote:
Yes, but check every hole as, as I say, OB had just one hole that wasn't big enough.
It's a cross I have to bear :)
No. 7 actually
ok. what am I looking for on the Christmas tree? should I get another on standby?
Just been out and had a look at spark plugs. Biggest socket I had to hand was a 13/16 which seemed to fit. Is that roughly 21mm? I might go for the bcpr6es on refit as I have a 16mm spark plug socket and it will avoid any headaches if perhaps I have odd holes like OB.
As a side note, what degreaser do you use? The best one I ever had was Astonish Engine Degreaser. Got it from the pound shop. Cleaned the inside of my wood burner up like new. Pound shop don't have it anymore though.
Thanks
I normally use brake cleaner spray for smaller bits or diesel for bigger bits. That and lighting bonfires is the only good use for diesel as far as I'm concerned.......
Christmas Tree- needs to be clean without lumps of debris etc clogging it. 50/50 on whether it breaks when you try to pull it out. My personal non-destructive test is, after a good wash, if you can breathe through it, so can the motor. Doesn't taste great though.
Degreaser of choice? Red diesel and a good blast off with the air line.
Good information here. I would also check that the HT leads are completely seated in the coil packs on the back of the engine. My experience is the screws to the packs themselves may have backed out causing the lead to wiggle out, which in turn causes an intermittent miss.
Vancer wrote:
Good information here. I would also check that the HT leads are completely seated in the coil packs on the back of the engine. My experience is the screws to the packs themselves may have backed out causing the lead to wiggle out, which in turn causes an intermittent miss.
Thanks. New coil packs and leads going in at same time.
Gilbertd wrote:
I normally use brake cleaner spray for smaller bits or diesel for bigger bits. That and lighting bonfires is the only good use for diesel as far as I'm concerned.......
Use diesel as a cleaner?
blueplasticsoulman wrote:
Vancer wrote:
Gilbertd wrote:
I normally use brake cleaner spray for smaller bits or diesel for bigger bits. That and lighting bonfires is the only good use for diesel as far as I'm concerned.......
Use diesel as a cleaner?
Yup! Old school- red is cheaper than paraffin (and almost anything else). Use it in my parts washer as well, and periodically empty that, bung the used red through a filter and burn it in my space heater. Total recycling if not hugely caring for the environment.
I see. Not sure if the council will appreciate me washing their road with diesel though.
I've also seen many videos of people using branded cleaners and then pressure washing the engine. This doesn't look like a good thing for a p38. Would I be right?
You can pressure wash- but you have to do it carefully
I'm not sure the council will appreciate any dissolved oil and engine muck being washed over their road though as they hate crud like that getting into the drains.
Maybe go to a truck wash where they've got interceptors in the drains to catch that kind of thing?
Screwfix no nonsense degreaser is awesome stuff - 5 litres for a tenner. Used in a spray bottle 1:1 with water it lasts ages.
Hmm, diesel - also called detergent oil...;-).
I cleaned my block before relining at a manual carwash (on a not so crowded hour). Hot + shampoo, flush with hot water. I skipped the wax program.
Ferryman wrote:
I cleaned my block before relining at a manual carwash (on a not so crowded hour). Hot + shampoo, flush with hot water. I skipped the wax program.
Near here there's a 4x4 off-roading course (formerly Frickley pit tip) frequented by lots of 4x4s on a Sunday, all of which get very sludged up. Some local garages don't allow scruffy 4x4's to use the jetwash on a Sunday but a woman behind the counter at one of them (just an employee but a 'difficult' type even in the opinion of her workmates) is over vigilant and personally gives any tall vehicle the once over before she will sell a jetwash token even midweek. So seeing me pull up in a people carrier and get out with boots and scruffy workclothes on she gave my car the once over but sold me a token. Then I proceeded to jetwash the gunk from around the solenoid pack on my gearbox, gearbox sump and engine sump.
That's the way to do it, I back-up into the jetwash and work behind the car. Nobody sees it.
ok, so back on topic
I think I've assembled all of the necessary kit. Although I've not done this kind of job myself before, I'm pretty confident (as long as there are no headaches) I can get it done. If anyone can add anything or has any tips, that would be great as once I've started, the mode of transportation is either foot or public.
The Job
Slight misfire. Cylinder 5 is suspected to have a leaky injector. LPG had to be altered to compensate. Plan is to refurbish injectors and replace the iffy one if need be and to be thorough, I've also decided to fit new coil packs, HT leads and spark plugs. Surely this will eliminate any misfiring.
Also replace rocker cover gaskets and clean manky rocker covers.
If anyone has any words of wisdom, i'm all ears as I'm not a mechanic. This will be my first mission and I don't really want owt to go wrong or the Mrs will be bending my ear saying "why didn't you just send it to the garage?"
Tools:
Torque wrench
1/4, 3/8, 1/2 sockets
16mm and 21mm Spark plug sockets
socket set ranging from 5/32 - 13/16
100mm and 200mm extension bars
Universal joint
hex bits
Flat head screwdrivers
Cross head screwdrivers
Standard and needle nose pliers
Hammer
Rags
Carb Cleaner
WD40
Homemade injector cleaning rig
Components:
Upper inlet manifold Gasket
Rocker cover bolts
2 x Rocker cover gaskets
Spare Injector (incase the suspect one is completely fudged)
8 x BCPR6ES spark plugs
2 x coil packs
8 x 8mm Ignition leads
Injector seal kit
Thanks
Imperial sockets??? They will probably fit but really you want metric ones, 8, 10 and 13mm being the most common. If it's still got the original rocker cover bolts in they are 8mm but what are termed bi-hex, so you need a 12 point socket, not the usual 6 point you get when you get down to the smaller sizes. I bought one of these sets https://www.toolstation.com/shop/Automotive/d60/Socket+Sets/sd2938/Alldrive+Bit+%26+Socket+Set/p30712 which gave me the 8mm socket I needed but the Torx bits have since come in very handy.