If you have a set of height adjustment blocks does a sloping driveway matter? Raise the body/suspension up, insert required height block, lower body/suspension until the body is resting on the adjustment block at each corner and then read the four height sensor readings - the difference twixt axle and body, and the height sensor reading, will be no different if you did it on completely level ground surely!

Both O2 sensors were replaced two and a half years ago and I did suspect them but they seem to be doing the job properly. I’m not worried, just intrigued.

Rangie has a new MoT - yay - and no advisories - double yay.

However, over the past year or so the insides of the tail pipes have become a bit black, not sooty as such but definitely blacker than usual. NanoCom tells me the O2 sensors are working and all the fuel trims are ‘bang on’. The MoT report shows the emissions are also ‘bang on’. No smell of fuel at all from the exhaust. Engine runs beautifully.

So why are the tail pipes black? Could this possibly be the swap over to E10 fuel in some way?

Note: use specific rubber grease or washing up liquid. Never use ordinary petroleum based grease as that ‘rots’ rubber.

The other method is to lower the suspension to access height, position the bump stop carefully twixt mount and axle then evacuate the suspension air completely preferably with suitable EAS software/Nanocom but can be done ‘brutally’ by pulling the air lines from the valve block. The bump stop will surrender and afix itself on the mount!

Jug of really hot (near boiling) water. Immerse bump stop and soak for a couple of minutes. Meanwhile put a smear of rubber grease on the centre dowel of the mount. Retrieve (now much more pliable) bump stop from jug and fit into place. Also use this method to put recalcitrant exhaust rubbers on as well..

For some time now I have had (endured) a very annoying rattle on the passenger side at the front. I initially thought it was in the dash and as the glove box damper had failed I thought it might be that. Replaced the damper but the rattle persisted. Recently I asked my son, who I was giving a lift to at the time, to see if he could locate the source of the rattle. It took him some time but it turned out to be the internal door lock button/rod rattling in the door - proven by ‘wedging’ the button whilst on the move.

Removed the door card and found the problem - me! Last time I had the card off and the internal sealing film peeled back I had obviously not replaced it properly around the door lock rod and it was resting against the rod which was then, in turn, resting against the internal metal door frame and rattling when on the run. Folded the door seal around the rod properly and also ‘insulated’ the rod with some foam rubber for belt & braces approach and after reassembly - blissful silence.

I’ve just been running quotes for mine (2001 P38 4.6 Vogue) and cheapest is Aviva at £155.90 with lots more up to where it tails off at £250.00! So, no, not seeing huge increase.

Warm day today so time to test out the ac before summer proper arrives. Jumpered relays 13, 14 and 18 in turn to test out the condenser fans and they both spun up nicely individually and both together. With 20C showing as outside temperature the ac was switched to ‘Lo’ and blew hard and cold. I will have to wait until the temperature gets well into the 20’s to test it fully but it bodes well after its light duties over winter.

The drivers door has had a bit of wind noise at the top rear ever since an air bag was used to force an entry when the door lock and key operating lever failed and wouldn’t let me in via either the remote or the key. Judicious amounts of door ‘fettling’ via BF&I seem to have cured that.

No coolant or oil leaks anywhere . . . for now!

Finally, broke out the NanoCom and ran through absolutely everything - no fault codes at all and everything responding to manual inputs correctly and/or running within specified parameters. Unfortunately it means that there is only one way things can go from here! However, for now, Rangie is ready for the, hopefully, better weather.

I have had many wheel sensors go AWOL and some of them exhibited initial intermittent failure before finally giving up the ghost permanently. When the fault is present NanoCom will report/assign it accurately as it just takes the fault directly from the Wabco ABS ECU. However, NanoCom reports/assigns three of the four wheel sensor voltages incorrectly as follows:

Nano Front Right = Vehicle Front Right (the only correct reading)
Nano Front Left = Vehicle Rear Left
Nano Rear Right = Vehicle Front Left
Nano Rear Left = Vehicle Rear Right

This has been reported to Blckbox but AFAIK they have never corrected the software so be careful using the volyage readings to identify the failing sensor.

Rimmer show the OC261 filter as OEM and only £5.10 inc VAT!

Back in August, when changing the rear diff oil, I noticed considerable sludge build up on the drain plug so investigated an Ashcroft replacement. The diff also whines on the over-run and during the recent brake dust/mud shield replacement when I had to withdraw the half shaft I noticed the off side half shaft splines had a build up of sludge on them. Better get that diff changed!

Standard 4 pin replacement diff ordered from Ashcroft and arrived a few days later. Just finished swapping it over and having removed all the brake, hub and drive shaft bolts recently disassembly was pretty straight forward, even the diff bolts came out easily after a good wire brushing to remove 23 years of corrosion and crud.

With a good ‘wiggle’ the RTV sealant let go and it was fairly easy to pull the diff out and onto a waiting trolley jack. Balancing the diff on the jack was easier than I anticipated. With the diff withdrawn to the end of the studs the head of the jack could be positioned below the diff locating ring, weight taken and then just rolled the jack back. I found with one hand on the top of the diff with fingers inside the diff grasping the locating ring the whole assembly was easy to balance and once completely free the jack could be lowered and the diff rolled carefully off the jack.

Reassembly was a reverse of disassembly the most difficult job was rolling the replacement diff up onto the trolley jack head. Once, there it could be rotated easily to get it into the correct(ish) orientation balanced, raised up, jack rolled forward and the diff entered the axle housing easily and when the locating ring was butted against the studs a slight jack adjustment for height, diff rotation to fully line up the holes, push and wiggle and she slid home off the jack head.

The most time consuming activity in all this was removing all the old RTV sealant off the axle housing!

Test drive revealed all good and diff whine eradicated.

I don't think the V8 is particularly starved of air flow so a high flow filter is not required unless an uprated engine has been installed pumping out lots more horse power. The only time I have ever replaced a paper filter was on a 'sleeper' car I built with very uprated engine and, even then, I didn't use a fancy filter, I just used a small pancake filter filled with gauze atop a large twin choke carbytooter to stop the big rocks getting in the engine! Suffered 30k miles of absolute abuse with no detrimental engine effects. The rest of the drive train though, well that's a different story!

Water leaking under driver side dash and, sure enough, the pollen filter on that side was wet . . . again! Removed and dried out the filter as well as the housing and checked the cover gasket which all looked good. Reassembled carefully checking positioning of the cover gasket but the next bout of rain proved the leak was still ongoing. Completely sealing off the cover with tape made no difference.

Removed all the plenum covers but all looked good underneath and could see no obvious source for the leak. The plenum seemed to drain OK without any leak into the pollen filter housing. Removed all the plastic captive screw screw 'nuts' but they all looked OK although on some of them the rubber seal had detriorated but replaced them with new anyway as well as new screws using a (belt and braces) touch of RTV sealer on each 'nut'. Checked the bolts across the top of the filter housing and all were tight apart from the middle one of the three . . . on both sides! Ran a bead of sealer around the edge of the housing upper plate, even though the gasket all looked OK, and nipped up the 'loose' bolts (they took an extra eighth to quarter turn).

Reassembled the plenum covers, pollen filters and filter covers and . . . success! Still mystified as to where it leaked and which action solved the problem but it's all tickety-boo now . . . until next time of course!

When replacing the NSR half shaft oil seal back in August I noticed the bracket for the mud/dust shield had rotted through and the OSR bracket had done the same in exactly the same way. In addition the OSR shield looked decidedly worse for wear as well. Time to change the brackets and shields on both sides so having acquired new brackets and shields I set to work.

Firstly the OEM brackets are a bit pricey and the OEM shields are a bit eye watering from what are essentially pressed steel plates. However, I obtained a couple of OEM brackets and aftermarket (Britpart) shields which were still massively expensive for what they are.

I won't bore you with the struggle of the bolts being stuck (pretty much welded with corrosion) in the hub so had to be drilled out which I expected. I had toyed with the idea of drilling them out and re-tapping but there is plenty of space behind the hub so just resorted to drilling them all out and using through bolts with washers and locknuts on the back side of the hub - easier to implement and easier to cut off if they prove 'difficult' in the future! Not concerned with the bolts in the shield captive nuts as they were being junked anyway.

The real surprise is that the aftermarket shields initially seemed good quality and of pretty thick steel but didn't fit! Firstly they wouldn't go over the hub without some significant 'panel beating' and then the locating holes didn't line up requiring the bracket holes to be opened out somewhat to line up with the shield captive nuts and the non captive locating hole on the shield to be extensively 'modified' to fit! What should have been a reasonably quick and painless job was anything but. However, all is now back together and calm has been restored.

I procured and fitted a Double S stainless steel cat-back system in 2009 through Rimmer Bros for a little over £600 which was a comparable price to the mild steel systems on offer back then. It came with everything, all nuts, bolts, washers, clamps and, IIRC, the rubber hangers and a lifetime guarantee! It is still on the vehicle although it is somewhat akin to Trigger’s broom in that the centre section has been repaired once and replaced once completely free of charge as per the guarantee. Can’t fault either Rimmer Bros or Double S in standing up to the guarantee and both the repairs and the replacement were furnished within 48 hours of reporting the problem - brilliant service.

All the rubber hangers have been replaced at least once as have the mild steel clamps as they have rotted out and split flanges were required at both ends of the centre section to affix it back on - these are now stainless steel as well. It has now accrued a minor crack where the near side tail pipe finisher is welded on - just a minor job for a professional stainless steel welder when I get round to it - not worth the hassle of taking the rear sections off to claim under the guarantee.

The U clamps at the back part of the exhaust came as the only advisories at the last MoT in May so I replaced them and took the opportunity to thoroughly inspect the exhaust and it remains absolutely solid and good, it seems, for another 14 years!

Gilbertd wrote:

My Ascot is on Triple Spokes.....

The everyday is on 16" Futura.....

Richard, do you find a significant difference in ride quality between the two! Mine rides on the 18” Hurricanes and, for the majority of time, the suspension copes admirably well except for rutted and broken surfaces where the air suspension can’t filter out the resulting ‘vibrations’ and I’ve always wondered if the lower profile tyres on 18” rims might be part of the problem.

Admiral have obviously changed their business model this year . . . and lost a bundle of customers in the process, including me. They claim increased profitability in that the increase in prices has sort of exceeded the lost revenue from those departing. Well, that may hold for the first year but it appears that they are shedding low risk customers (who but only high risk will pay their prices now) so Admiral will see whether their new business model ‘holds water’ over the next few years as the repair costs come in!

I had a full multi (four) vehicle and house insurance policy with them for many years the renewal premium of which they increased by 44% this year - no claims ever with them. I had become accustomed to ringing them up each year and going through the stately dance of getting renewal premiums reduced to a sensible level but they held firm this year believing they had done me a favour by getting the increase down to a mere 20%. So I went elsewhere for everything.

Comparison web sites meant I could easily get the same cover by doing a bit of work myself for the same cost or, indeed, much less. I then tried a broker and they came up trumps and say they will do the leg work for me each year - we’ll see. Cars and house insurance premiums 10% less than negotiated only 20% higher Admiral price for better cover all round.

Nearly all the diffs I’ve changed have been on old cars and quite a few years ago now. However, I changed the diff (to change the ratio) many moons ago on an Austin mini where it’s integral with the gearbox slung under the engine - that’s a third type!

Why change the ratios? It was my mate’s car and I swapped out the 850cc ‘A’ series engine in it for a full race prepared 1340cc ‘A’ series with twin Dellorto side draught carbytooters (that looked bigger than the engine). That car was rapid but 1st gear became redundant with only the remaining 3 gears remaining useable and could that thing post a 0-60 time! Trouble is it ran out of revs somewhere around 80mph so new diff gearing required so a) 1st gear could be sensibly used again; and b) a suitable top speed, appropriate to such a modified car, could be achieved.

I will probably employ the two jack / two stud method. Two lengths of studding in the diff casing. Two jacks under the diff itself. Lift both jacks in sync until diff lines up with studding, push jacks forward until diff is located on studding. Lower and remove jack closest to axle. Push diff on second jack along studding as far in as will allow. Lower and remove second jack. Push diff home. Locate with two bolts, remove studding and locate all othe bolts. Torque to spec. This also ensures that the sealant is not disturbed in all the ‘machinations, of trying to locate the diff.

Removal of existing diff will be by reversal of this method. I just hope the prop shaft can be moved sufficiently out of the way. It may be possible to do this with just one jack, we’ll see!

Victor Reinz sealant on order.

Thanks Richard. Ashcroft it is then and no need for pegged diff - it looked like another couple of openings in the diff housing to leak anyway!

Have changed many diffs in my time but all have required thrusts/preloads, backlash and pinion to crown wheel measurements/adjustments et al to be made. Usually meaning the damn thing has to go in and out at least three times! This looks to be pretty simple in comparison . . . except for the weight issue. I do have various jacks to help on that score though.

Final question - any recommendation on brand of RTV sealant for this job?