Dunno about you but I always find there's something actually satisfying about pulling an engine apart and seeing the cause of whatever caused you to pull it apart in the first place. There's nothing worse than pulling it apart and finding everything looks perfect.

You won't, cars built after 1999 don't have one. The fluid level has to be checked using the level plug but with the engine running. I must admit that auto boxes are a bit of a black art as far as I'm concerned so can't offer any advice on the reverse problem. If nobody else pops up, you could try giving Ashcrofts a call and seeing what they can tell you (http://www.ashcroft-transmissions.co.uk/index.php).

Sounds decidedly tappetty to me. That sounds very similar to the one my mate in France has and his was down to two rockers with the loose inserts. His is slap in the middle of the affected VIN numbers too. Mine is a deeper sound, almost a clunk rather than a tapping noise. Never thought about the purge valve though, I thought that just opened for a while as it felt necessary rather than clacking open and closed.

Don't see why not as long as all 4 connections are link internally. The idea of the two Y pieces is to balance the pressures from the two sides of the reducer. Effectively it is two in one housing and if they were kept so one outlet fed one injector bank and the other fed the other, any difference in pressure would cause one or other bank to be out.

Sorry I mis-read that it was doing it before the oil change. Yours is a 98 so could be in the range that suffers from the loose steel insert in the rockers but that makes more of a tappety noise than a clack. Mine also has a clack when warm and that's always been there. It was there before the engine went to V8 Dev for the whole block to be refurbed and was still there afterwards. The only moving parts that weren't new was the rocker gear so I've put it down to something there. Mine is also intermittent and most noticeable at idle but at the last summer camp we checked and a number of them were all making the same noise to a greater or lesser degree.

It shouldn't be, not with top hats in there. Even if it is, it isn't important as the fire ring bears against the top of the liner.

(this is where he pulls the head to find the invoice from Turner was for a different car and there aren't any top hat liners in there.......)

You can also see where carbon is starting to build up on the pushrod. When I pulled mine apart it had been run for so long with the blow that there was a big lump of carbon on the pushrod. Mine had gone on the other bank so you can't see the pushrod in my pic but the bit of gasket had been blasted across to the opposite side.

I've got the same connectors on mine, I just wiggle them from side to side while pulling on them. Wiggling them causes the spring on one side to release and pulling causes the other side to let go.

At a rough guess, I'd go for number 5......

What oil did you put in?

Early one has a pigtail with 2 connectors coming out of it whereas the later one has a socket on the latch itself. They are actually interchangeable if you extend the loom so it will reach the connector. The later early ones (from about late 97) also had the three microswitches encapsulated in epoxy so they are a solid block rather than 3 individual switches. It's one of these solid blocks that I've got so it should be the same as on yours.

Usually means the ultrasonic sensor (the thing in the headlining above the LH B post) has failed. Pulling it out, unplugging it and plugging it back in to clean up the contacts is often all that is needed to cure it.

Orangebean wrote:

Way things are at the moment, it's probably vultures too lazy to circle overhead.

I must admit, I thought my SE was cursed with the number of faults I found with it but you seem to have bought the lemon of all lemons there. At least my SE would manage a couple of hundred miles before something else failed rather than finding everything all at once.

You'll probably find that if you look very carefully you'll be able to see where the gap in the gasket is. I found a pretty big clue to the problem when I took the inlet manifold off when I was doing mine. That definitely shouldn't be there.......

That explains it then, central locking is activated by a combination of the mechanical linkage and the CDL switch. So, he's got a dodgy key switch. If you remember you sent me a couple of the encapsulated microswitch sets to replace mine to stop the dancing locks in hot weather. I've still got the one I didn't use so could fit it for Rutland Rover if the latch on a very late car is the same. It's a 51 plate, one of the very last.

I suspect that the switch could have been faulty for some time but as the fob was synced it worked prior to the BeCM going into meltdown. Once that happened and it was removed, the fob would need to be synced again but can't be as the switch isn't doing anything. For the same reason the EKA can't be entered with the key either.

Noise will be the ABS pump as you suspect. It will try to pressurise the system and stop eventually (about 30-40 seconds) but the rear brakes are on the power circit so as soon as you touch the brake pedal, it'll blast all the fluid out of the hose (or more likely pipe) that has just burst. There's two short metal pipes that lurk at the back that rot through. Easy enough to make up a new one in Kunifer tubing but you will need a crows foot spanner to get to the top union. To bleed it, just turn the ignition on and get a glamorous assistant (or a bit of broom handle wedged between the pedal and the seat if you don't have one) to press the pedal.

As the pump has run out of fluid, there's a bleed nipple on the pump itself that may need cracking open very briefly. Do NOT allow anyone to drive it as it is, it'll empty the reservoir in a matter of seconds as soon as anyone puts their foot on the brake,

I was going to PM Marty with this but may as well put the info on here. Looking at the Nano it showed that the Right Key Switch didn't change state when the key was turned in the lock. But there are a couple of things that didn't seem quite right. The Nano also gives a reading for the Left Key Switch which it doesn't have. May be universal firmware for LHD and RHD but it just seemed odd that it was showing a state for something that wasn't there. Tried to sync the fob using the key in the hole, turn and press method but no joy which, if the key switch isn't working would explain that as it wouldn't know I'd turned the key. The other thing is that the central locking still works on the key and I would have thought that if the key switch wasn't working that wouldn't work either?

Then checked the fob for output on the spectrum analyser.against mine. It is transmitting on the correct frequency but was maybe 4-5 dB down on the level mine was showing and, as David mentions, his receive antenna etched in the rear window appears to have been damaged when window tint film was fitted. I doubt either of these are the problem as even without an antenna at all the system will still work (as demonstrated by numerous people who have disconnected the antenna). Mine will lock and unlock the car from inside the house so getting closer, like putting the fob right next to the receiver, and it should still work. I'm thinking a failed key switch means it can't be synced (yes, Immobilisation is disabled in the BeCM) and as it isn't synced the receiver won't respond to it but why does central locking work on the key? Or is that done with a combination of the mechanical linkage and the CDL switch? In which case, why is the key switch even there?

You'll have fun finding V8 Dev as a satnav just takes you to a road that appears to have no buildings. They're tucked away behind some trees but look for a sign that says Cobwebs Farm (you'll probably miss that too but you'll see it as you drive past so you can turn around and go back to it).

Thought you said it was running smooth? On that video you can hear the offended cylinder popping only sometimes. So much for Bosch misfire detection......

Mine was running on 7 and blowing into the Vee when I bought it (as well as having a burst rear air spring) so I pulled the head off. I was curious as it was pretty obvious the heat shields had never been off the manifold and I found out why. Someone had removed the heads not long before but they had taken them off and put them on with the manifolds and heat shields still in place. As you can't get a socket on the bolt head unless it is right by the head, they'd held the head away from the block with a screwdriver and nicked the head right where the fire ring went on one of the middle cylinders. 8 thou off the head removed the nick and I put it all back together. 80 miles later it dropped to 7 and made the same noise but a compression test showed a lack of compression on one of the middle cylinders on the other head. Took that one off to find an identical nick in the head in exactly the same place......

The pipes don't have to come out of the bottom like on both of mine, it's just that is the easiest way of doing it. If you used a hollow toroidal tank as on my white one then the pipes, cabling and vent does need to come out of the centre but with a filled toroidal the connections are on the outside of the tank so there is nothing to stop the pipes coming out of the side of the wheel well higher up. They could then run along the inside of the chassis rails (or even along the top as the petrol pipes do). The biggest advantage would be that your 52 mile a day commute to work would cost you around £7 a day (especially as you have the cheapest LPG supplier for miles less than half a mile from work).