Mirafiori-Max wrote:

I finally changed the upper tailgate which was very very rusty, found a mathcing one a couple of years ago.

Went fine although changing it alone was tricky (balancing it on my head while fumbling to find the screwholes without seeing them) but now it doesn´t shut properly most of the time. I know the screwholes are variable and it seemed to sit fine according to the vague RAVE instructions and that the look that goes into the lock is movable too but I can´t get it adjusted that it will always shut tight.

Also tried loosening the "lock loop" and then shutting the tailgate for it to position itself properly and then screwing it tight but that didn´t work either.

Any hints ?

i have had the same issue, when the lawn mower through a rock at it and broke the glass i replaced the door, done all the same things as yourself, fiddled with the latch etc, then i loosened the bolts slightly and wiggled the door left and right whilst pushing it up as far as it would go, dont forget to center it, and it fixed all the issues , works well now. it looked to hi but it wasn't hope that helps.

Gilbertd wrote:

I was round at Phil's (Holland and Holland) place last week where we are getting a very late Vogue SE recommissioned when Phil noticed my car had dropped something on his pristine driveway. A quick look underneath showed a dribble down the back of the front diff from the input. Ordered a replacement seal and output flange so tackled that today.

Put an axle stand under the rear axle so one rear wheel was off the ground, gearbox in Neutral and parking brake off so if I lifted one front wheel I could rotate the propshaft to get to all the bolts. I had previously bought a set of high tensile Allen bolts of the correct size for the propshaft flanges, so dropping the front prop was a simple job. Rattle gun had the bolt holding the flange in place out (early cars have a bolt, later ones a big nut) and it pulled straight out. Levered the old seal out, tapped the new one in, new flange in, bolt done up and prop refitted. Then, with the suspension on high, blasted the underside with degreaser from the pressure washer, let it soak and then blasted it all off.

Took it for a run to get everything nice and hot to dry it all out and checked underneath only to find smoke...... Whether it was the pressure washer or whether it was like it already I've no idea but the passenger side heatshield was soaked in oil from the diff and had dropped down so was sitting on the catalytic converter. Wired it up into place on the original mounting points and hit it with the pressure washer again to get rid of the oil that had soaked into it. Took it out again and this time, no smoke and a dry heatshield.

hi Richard, i have heard of this happen to another person, he washed his car and drove it home and stated that he could smell something in the driveway, opened the bonnet and it was on fire down at the cat, a piece of insulation of the firewall had fallen down on the cat and was on fire, he put it out obviously but said if he had just walked inside it would have destroyed itself. so be careful when washing under the bonnet as the insulation and other things of cause, can get you in trouble.

i imagine that it has many miles on the old girl and to give it an oil additive is like giving it a bit of love in my opinion. i defiantly will not hurt anything.

without knowing the motor i would change the oil first and put in an engine oil stabilizer "oil additive usually comes in a liter bottle " use about half a bottle and just see what comes of it .

sorry but page cannot be found. six times a second is alot of rattles. does it sound like a kid on a bike with a card on his spokes . if so i doubt its a cam issue.
managed to get your link to work and it does sound like lifters, if it's been sitting it could be a sticky lifter. you should be able to hear the rattle from the top of the tappet cover to give you an idea of which one or one's it is.

i suppose the next question is do the later models do the same or did they change it out, if so, it might be some form of safety device that they came up with.
similar to cars that need the brake pedal pressed before they will start.

wishing all a Merry Christmas and a happy new years to everyone, lets hope this one is better than the last year, too much unrest around the world, hopefully it will all stop soon.

hi Andrew, welcome to the pub, being an Aussie like me you would be accustom to a night at the pub. when you try all the things Richard has mentioned your next thing would be a compression test, its not uncommon for v8s to carry a dead piston,eg cracked, top come off etc. to get that much fuel in a short time would indicate a big issue. take the oil filler cap off and see how much blow by is coming out of the tappet cover, if its bad then the compression test will show the dodgy piston. it should have a vacuum on the filler cap.

im shore the oil doesn't lube the bearings, they are exactly like the front one's, haven't replaced one but i imagine they are the same as the front to remove
PS if the bearings are firm and smooth when you turn them i would leave them, if there a bit gritty or rough then replace them.

are you having troubles getting the fitting to undo, if so you can get a freeze in a can that you spay on to the area and it will freeze the area, it helps, i also use vise grips and just move them back and forwards just enough to flex the fitting, it produces heat and also helps to loosen them. run a drill down the hole on the nipple and spray with wd40 or similar and leave overnight.
FYI vinegar works a treat on salted parts, common to use on boat trailers.
PS i also talk to my car, but it's more a threat to it's longevity and involves matches and after using all the liquids and solvents it would only need a spark. just saying..

hay Richard upgrade the valve grinding tool , use the cordless drill and save yourself the blisters. works a treat.
the fact that they didn't know what it was says it all in my book.

that sounds about right Richard even in Australia the prices vary greatly , up tp 130$ an hour, most places here don't actually fix things more a case of replace things and as for dismantling CVs as an example , it's a shaft replacement as the time to actually do the job is more than the boot replacement and time to do it is ridiculous in costs. i have a friend that dose garden stuff mowers etc, he replaced a carby once and it only needed a gasket, i asked and he said i will show you . the gasket was 19$ plus fitting and to replace the hole thing was 24$, yes they are just plastic but the time to repair instead of replace is just to much in these cases. the big problem is most places just replace with recon parts as they haven't the time for dismantle , diagnosis and repair, wait for parts have the shop full of things that can not be moved when there is a 100 cars that need a basic service, which take no time and they charge like 300$ to change oil and filters, it's just not going to happen, the only people that do fix things are on here or in their own shed. i don't know any workshops that do their own inhouse rebuilds. i now mechanics of 40yrs that have never done a full rebuild on an engine. it's hard to find a good one at any price.

does this mean he now has a little helper in the car.

Chasman wrote:

I'm not exactly sure what you mean.

the pins on the abs sensors down on the hubs and the reluctor ring on the axle is also a spot to look as this is where the reading is taken from for the abs sensor, just look down the hole and you can see it
why are you pulling the electrics out , am i missing something.

congratulations to you both.

all the pins might be shiny, but do they touch each other, its very common in todays cars for this to happen. they may have spread a little when you removed them . if it worked before and now it don't thats the first spot to look, also make shore they are fully in and not being pushed out by dirt or a broken ABS ring.

i can remember when they started bringing out n70zz battery's , they where the biggest pain in the butt . it was a big battery for the 4wd of the day , the trouble was they killed cells in the battery, and they would play up just like you are talking about, work fine for ten starts then die, wait 10 minutes and it would go again. in this instance it was the battery. have you done the tests , if they are ok you are looking at a new battery or a starter from the sound of it .

iv had this issue on other vehicles and in most cases it was bad or dirty connections, has your temps risen slightly, another sign of poor earths. do the electrical tests first before you disturb everything and then check your starter.

find the leak and fix it is the only real option.

there is only 2 adjustments on a rover
align the back wheels with the front wheels so the track is right , this is done with the Panhard rod at the front
and the toe in or out with the front steering arm thats between the wheels
straighten the steering wheel with the arm of the steering box
if you don't have a laser for measure, you can put a chalk mark on the back side on the tread of the tyre , measure and roll forwards 180deg and measure the front to get the toe in or out. this is a little crude, but it will get you in the ballpark so to speak
some of the alignment equipment is very accurate to the point 0.1mm
just a note, there is no adjustment on the back axle, if the axle will not align you most likely need new bushes fitted.