Motors Chat - Round 8

Stheno · 03-06-2015 10:22PM

Interslice wrote: »

Roten stuff sparkling water. I find anything acidic like that cuts the stomach out of me. Really bad if I haven't eaten anything. If I've a green tea first thing with nothing to eat i'll probably have to pull over either to be sick or grab a bacon sandwich! Seems to be alot worse in soft water areas like dublin and cork city without the limey water to neutralise it.

Haven't noticed the soft water thing but have the not eating and too much caffeine or sparkling water, is truly horrible

ba_barabus · 03-06-2015 10:22PM

I was looking at an old Clio diesel. Inter cooler had split years ago mixing the oil and water. The owner blanked of the inter cooler and never drained the coolant/oil mix and just drove on. Reckons it was fine but it did use coolant. There was no water in the engine oil.

I'd like the car but don't want it if the engine is fooked.

Interslice · 03-06-2015 10:23PM

Stheno wrote: »

I was anal as fook about that car, when the belt was changed so were the tensioner and aux, and the water pump and variator! And still it snapped within the lowered interval. Bizarrely, a week or two before it snapped I said to my mechanic I'd only a couple of thousand miles left and we had planned to get it in in that timeframe, that's how cautious I was

Oil checked every week, serviced on schedule

I permanently had oil in the boot also but never had a problem with excessive oil use

Actually burns little or no oil which is surprising for any irish petrol engine at this mileage. Though they might be thirsty on the oil in general too. Sump bung threads were mangled over the years though. It's just a constant drip of a half litre per week no matter if you drive it or not. Annoying but I'll get it sorted in a week or two when I've time.

Stheno wrote: »

Haven't noticed the soft water thing but have the not eating and too much caffeine or sparkling water, is truly horrible

The limey water effect is just something I noticed recently living between cork and home in meath where the water is like some sort of liquid limestone.

166man · 03-06-2015 10:25PM

Stheno wrote: »

I was anal as fook about that car, when the belt was changed so were the tensioner and aux, and the water pump and variator! And still it snapped within the lowered interval. Bizarrely, a week or two before it snapped I said to my mechanic I'd only a couple of thousand miles left and we had planned to get it in in that timeframe, that's how cautious I was

Oil checked every week, serviced on schedule

I permanently had oil in the boot also but never had a problem with excessive oil use

Stheno wrote: »

I'd a belt on a twinspark snap on the m50 at 31.5k miles and 4.5 years

Are you driving a 156?

4.5 years on the interval would be your problem there...........

It's 3 years or 36k miles, whichever comes first...........

GvidoR · 03-06-2015 10:28PM

It seems strange that it has to be replaced so soon. Don't they usually last 80k miles or even more?

Stheno · 03-06-2015 10:29PM

166man wrote: »

4.5 years on the interval would be your problem there...........

It's 3 years or 36k miles, whichever comes first...........

Duh sorry it was 2.5 years not 4.5 got it changed early 2012, snapped late 2014 Sept or so

Interslice · 03-06-2015 10:33PM

166man wrote: »

4.5 years on the interval would be your problem there...........

It's 3 years or 36k miles, whichever comes first...........

Will go for the 3yr/36k I think. I wouldn't exactly be the most timing belt friendly driver in the world! The weather her doesn't help either. Was actually nervous driving it up and back to cork on the old belt. Took it handy enough on the back roads in general too. A mechanic I know who served his time on fiats/alfas said he could hear the tensioner when I was over with him one day which didn't help the nerves. Wasn't sure wheter to beleive him or not until I pulled it out and seen the state of it.

166man · 03-06-2015 10:37PM

Stheno wrote: »

Duh sorry it was 2.5 years not 4.5 got it changed early 2012, snapped late 2014 Sept or so

Yeah that's what I thought! I had a feeling it was 2.5 years.... It may be of interest for you to know that your car will hopefully live on and be fixed back for the road... Just thought I'd let you know..!

Interslice wrote: »

Will go for the 3yr/36k I think. I wouldn't exactly be the most timing belt friendly driver in the world! The weather her doesn't help either. Was actually nervous driving it up and back to cork on the old belt. Took it handy enough on the back roads in general too. A mechanic I know who served his time on fiats/alfas said he could hear the tensioner when I was over with him one day which didn't help the nerves. Wasn't sure wheter to beleive him or not until I pulled it out and seen the state of it.

Yeah I'll be changing mine early anyway, did nearly 5k miles in the last 4 weeks so it may be done sooner than expected...!

Interslice · 03-06-2015 10:39PM

GvidoR wrote: »

It seems strange that it has to be replaced so soon. Don't they usually last 80k miles or even more?

The last belt I done was on the transporter a few years ago. The kit was in it 7 years too. Not a bother on any of it. It a combo of petrols making more heat and the amount of weather and engine fluids they are exposed too. This will vary alot between individual cars and your driving style will affect it too. I always try and keep or get an undertray on a car to keep the belts and tensioners as dry as possible. You can't keep the irish damp out unfortunately.

03-06-2015 10:48PM

Just home from work and had a present waiting for me. Been a while since I had to change anything like this on a car. Hopefully the weather is OK tomorrow.

Stheno · 03-06-2015 10:52PM

GvidoR wrote: »

It seems strange that it has to be replaced so soon. Don't they usually last 80k miles or even more?

Alfa belts are special

Interslice · 03-06-2015 10:52PM

166man wrote: »

Yeah I'll be changing mine early anyway, did nearly 5k miles in the last 4 weeks so it may be done sooner than expected...!

Probably no harm on these anyway just to get the timing set up right and them running a bit smoother. That mechanic reckons the only thing attached to the engine that's built to last is the water pump. Says the bearing is the size of your fist. Should be OK to do every second go anyway. I didn't bother changing mine. Spun it about and no play or anything in it.

GvidoR · 03-06-2015 10:54PM

Just saw a car posted on facebook with a fairly big sun visor on the windscreen and in the comments he was told to take it off (which would make it look less ridiculous) and he replied that he is keeping it on because it attracts guards and he likes the crack with them.

Oh dear lord...

Stheno · 03-06-2015 11:00PM

GvidoR wrote: »

Just saw a car posted on facebook with a fairly big sun visor on the windscreen and in the comments he was told to take it off (which would make it look less ridiculous) and he replied that he is keeping it on because it attracts guards and he likes the crack with them.

Oh dear lord...

Last checkpoint I wentwent through they missed the dress and heels, saw the very short hair, and referred to me as young man four times

I'm female and in my forties

It was entertaining

03-06-2015 11:03PM

GvidoR wrote: »

Just saw a car posted on facebook with a fairly big sun visor on the windscreen and in the comments he was told to take it off (which would make it look less ridiculous) and he replied that he is keeping it on because it attracts guards and he likes the crack with them.

Oh dear lord...

I went to school with a guy like that. Used to get a kick out of getting pulled over. Was known to every garda in Limerick for all sorts of motoring reasons. Never did anything wrong really but made himself a target. Had his Ford Puma torn inside out outside a nightclub one night by the drug squad. They found nothing as expected but the interior of the car never went back together properly. Also mortified him in front of ~1000 drunken students. Lucky for him camera phones were few and far between at the time. He never annoyed the gardaì again.

quadrifoglio verde · 03-06-2015 11:06PM

GvidoR wrote: »

It seems strange that it has to be replaced so soon. Don't they usually last 80k miles or even more?

It's a preventative maintenance thing on them at this stage. Back in 2005 they revised the interval downwards, from 72k/5 years to 36k/3 years.

They used to use tensioners made of plastic but now use metal as they dont disintegrate.
My guessing is at the time of revising downwards, they still used the older tensioner.
A chap in the UK ran his 1.8 ts for 100k miles and 9 years on the one belt. However he had a rebuilt engine waiting to go into it for when it innevitably went. He just wanted to see how long he'd get from the belt and tensioners. The main issue is that no one really knows how long you will get, so that's why most are Still sticking to 36k miles or 3 years.
It's still 72k or 5 years on the v6 but most do it before 60.

Interslice the thing to watch out for on yours is the oil. See the max line, don't let the oil fall below there, ever. The exhaust runs under the sump, but to make it look nice, Alfa designed the sump so that it rises in the middle around the exhaust (well that's my theory, why else would they do it). As a result, the crankshaft at cylinder 2 and 3 are prone of getting starved of oil leading to big end failure.

Interslice · 03-06-2015 11:06PM

Snotaul Goodman wrote: »

I went to school with a guy like that. Used to get a kick out of getting pulled over. Was known to every garda in Limerick for all sorts of motoring reasons. Never did anything wrong really but made himself a target. Had his Ford Puma torn inside out outside a nightclub one night by the drug squad. They found nothing as expected but the interior of the car never went back together properly. Also mortified him in front of ~1000 drunken students. Lucky for him camera phones were few and far between at the time. He never annoyed the gardaì again.

How did they mortify him? Sounds like a water off a ducks back kind of person!

Special Circumstances · 03-06-2015 11:08PM

Stheno wrote: »

Last checkpoint I wentwent through they missed the dress and heels, saw the very short hair, and referred to me as young man four times

I'm female and in my forties

It was entertaining

Shur I hear the lads up in the big smoke are all wearing leggings these days! You couldn't be taking anything for granted anymore !!!

quadrifoglio verde · 03-06-2015 11:09PM

Interslice wrote: »

Probably no harm on these anyway just to get the timing set up right and them running a bit smoother. That mechanic reckons the only thing attached to the engine that's built to last is the water pump. Says the bearing is the size of your fist. Should be OK to do every second go anyway. I didn't bother changing mine. Spun it about and no play or anything in it.

But everyone changes the water pump on the Twinnies anyway every 36k. Not because you need to, but because the v6s were prone to belt failure due to the water pump using a plastic impellor. Impeller has since been changed to metal but people still change them anyway :pac:

quadrifoglio verde · 03-06-2015 11:12PM

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Shur I hear the lads up in the big smoke are all wearing leggings these days! You couldn't be taking anything for granted anymore !!!

They there be no lads. They're Caitlin wannabes.

03-06-2015 11:17PM

Interslice wrote: »

How did they mortify him? Sounds like a water off a ducks back kind of person!

Forgot to mention that he was 17 at the time. He was a fairly popular lad in a sense, was the youngest of a well respected family and was spoilt to no end. He wound people up not expecting a reaction. Teachers, students and gardaì. Never actually got in trouble by the law but when they decided to rip apart his car he bricked it. I was in the night club that night but missed the drug squad part. I came out to a load of students gathered around the car laughing and jeering at him.

Interslice · 03-06-2015 11:24PM

quadrifoglio verde wrote: »

But everyone changes the water pump on the Twinnies anyway every 36k. Not because you need to, but because the v6s were prone to belt failure due to the water pump using a plastic impellor. Impeller has since been changed to metal but people still change them anyway :pac:

There's normally one weak link in all of them. It's not much odds if your paying someone but it was fair bit of extra time and money to me so I left it in. Water pump roulette!

Don't get that oil thing. The pick up tube in the sump should do the job right to the minimum without a massive drop in oil pressure

. Does it all get caught on one side or something.

Interslice · 03-06-2015 11:56PM

Just read how too change the sumps on these. Scweet mother of jaysis does it sound awkward!! Hopefully some overlap with pulling off the subframe to change the front arb bushings so I feel somewhat better about it. Need to source a sump somewhere too. Feckin internet ones are near the price if a whole engine from the breakers. Can't think of any way to repair it on the car so it'll have to come off I think.

from Alfaowner.com

It's not the easiest job in the world, and you'll need a couple of long ribe bits (totally alfa sell them I think). It goes a bit like this:

Remove anything that's in the way of the sump (undertray etc).
Drain the oil.
Disconnect the exhaust downpipe from the manifold and support.
Undo the 10 (iirc) larger ribe bolts from the front and rear of the sump
Undo the 4 smaller ribe bolts from the left/right ends of the sump (the ones next to the gearbox are the hardest to access and I sometimes need to use a ribe-ended screwdriver with mole-grips on the handle).
Undo the horizontal bolt that goes through the rear engine/driveshaft support. This is a pig to get back on.
Undo the sump bolt that attaches it to the rear engine mount.

That should be the sump free, save for the instant gasket that seals it, so pry it off carefully.

Once it's released, you need to undo the 2 oil pick-up bolts (11mm). I can never remember which way round to do it, but I think you undo the front one completely and slacken the rear one. Swing the pick-up pipe to the front of the engine, and the sump should pass the pipe and finally be completely free.

Refitting is pretty much the reverse. I find that applying the new instant gasket to the block, ie not the sump pan, is less messy when doing it on the car.

The horizontal bolt I mentioned is really fiddly to get the washer and bolt back on. I usually have to stick it to a screwdriver with some grease and coax it into place.

Good luck!

Noccy_Mondy · 04-06-2015 02:47AM

Just getting a chance to read through some of the threads now. That one about yer man selling the fiesta on adverts had me in stitches. Pity I didn't see it in time, I'd have loved to have wound him up. Bought the car to carry the dog around, ah jaysus :pac:

colm_mcm · 04-06-2015 07:03AM

Bpmull wrote: »

Actually is it normal that in a car if you press the button to lock rear windows the car puts on child locks on the door itself I though that was a bit weird not a big deal as I don't lock the windows but just wondering.

Thats a Renault thing.
Makes sense though.

Think it was on the Laguna II first.

Mycroft H · 04-06-2015 07:11AM

dgt · 04-06-2015 08:21AM

Interslice wrote: »

Just read how too change the sumps on these. Scweet mother of jaysis does it sound awkward!! Hopefully some overlap with pulling off the subframe to change the front arb bushings so I feel somewhat better about it. Need to source a sump somewhere too. Feckin internet ones are near the price if a whole engine from the breakers. Can't think of any way to repair it on the car so it'll have to come off I think.

Do you need a sump...? I should have one or 2 lying about

Interslice · 04-06-2015 10:14AM

dgt wrote: »

Do you need a sump...?I should have one or 2 lying about

I do!! Threads were mangled when i got it. Tried retreading it but only half worked.. Made a balls of it tbh, went in at an angle. Its tricky to do lying on your back. Dont think id try it again on the ground like that. You really need your eye behind to line it up straight.

Special Circumstances · 04-06-2015 10:22AM

Interslice wrote: »

I do!! Threads were mangled when i got it. Tried retreading it but only half worked.. Made a balls of it tbh, went in at an angle. Its tricky to do lying on your back. Dont think id try it again on the ground like that. You really need your eye behind to line it up straight.

Shur pack it with ptfe tape and plumbers hemp. Be grand...

Chris_Heilong · 04-06-2015 11:19AM

Saw a nice Porche 911? in red racing colours driving around Raheny this morning. I think I saw it on the back of a truck last month near Sandymount.

********Motors Chat - Round 8 ********

Comments

Motors Chat - Round 8