cackshifter

Hi, I have a '97 110 CSW with a rear door that after the salt of winter is rapidly converting itself back to its original assorted minerals. The heated rear window is also losing the will to demist. Assuming I have to buy a complete new door, is it better to get the new one piece type or the old? Would the new type even fit? Apologies if this topic has already been covered somewhere, but I haven't found it with a search. Nigel

If you think, there are only a few ways you can burn oil; past the rings, down the guides, breather, and turbo oil seal. If it's rings you tend to get smoke under power rather than overrun, and considering the mileage too they ought to be ok. Your oil filler test also suggests you haven't got ridiculous blowby. Presumbly while the head was off you checked there were no nasty scores in the bores. So what else? If it was the turbo or the breather you'd expect to get oil on all of the glowplugs., whereas it is just on 1 & 2. So are you sure your head job was good; the valve guides and seals replaced? The oil can run down the inlet valve when the engine's off and get sucked into the cylinder at start up, hence the initial rough running. It only takes few drops to make a lot of smoke. A compression test won't necessarily show up bad valve guide seals as provided the valve seals, it'll read ok, even if the guide seals are shot. The oil round the valve seat can even improve the seal, and make the compression better. I'd make sure your breather's clear, but again the oil filler cap test would suggest that is ok - if was blocked the engine would be pressurising itself, and you'd get a Paahh!!! from it when you take the cap off, and probably oil leaking from the crank pulley also. That leaves the turbo. If there's a lot of oil in the inlet manifold maybe it's coming from there, and a check of the slop in the turbo spindle is in order; you'd see lots of oil in the compressor-intercooler pipe as well. Otherwise, smoke on overrun is classic valve stem oil seal symptoms - I'd be wondering about those valves/valve guides/stem seals... Regards Nigel

I'd endorse Millers enthusiastically generally, but I contacted them re R380 oil as they don't have an obvious substitute for MTF94; their advice was to use 15w/40 semi synthetic engine oil. I'm not sure whether that's good advice ( I'm not saying it's bad; I just don't know) It seems ATF isn't adequate, and it needs a synthetic gear oil around 5w20. Apart from Texaco MTF94 (the official LR recommendation which you can allegedly get from Partco, or of course LR dealers) the difflock oil and Redline MTL seem to get get good comments when you google. The Difflock oil is not cheap but then neither is Redline or a gearbox rebuild. I'm thinking I'll go for MTF94 or Evo 1 for my R380. If anyone from Millers reads this - come on, make a proper R380 oil at a sensible price please!! Nigel

Wonder if that 3 litre Mercedes/ZF combination would fit in a Defender ????? Nigel

Or maybe a block of (hard) wood, so that the load is spread over several teeth. Also if you jam the ring gear, and are using the breaker bar technique you can jack the end of the bar rather than using the starter ( which I agree can be quick and easy but has unpredictable results!) Nigel

The small lockheed remote servos were also fitted as standard to Mini Cooper S and 1275 GT with 7.5" brakes. Nigel

I was told if you put cling film over the lid on POR15, you can reopen it. I put the cling film actually on the surface of the paint and let the ends stick out through the lid. It works for me up to a point, but the paint does goes off after a while anyway, but at least its not immediate. I'd also recommend buying 2 colours and using them for alternate coats then you can see if you've missed a bit. Black on black is hard to see where you've been, and I believe you need at least 3 coats of solvent based paint to be sure that pinholes don't align. I think also you're supposed to recoat within a certain time. I am investigating the 2-pack epoxy from www.rust.co.uk which I think is Jotan Jotamastic smart pack repackaged, but all the Jotan stuff looks very good. If you use POR15 make sure you use gloves and do get the thinners as well to get it off your face - otherwise it has to wear off! Nigel

I had to do a very similar thing the other day. If you take off the door cards, you'll see the back of the door handles inside (I'm assuming it's the type with the push button), behind what passes as the inner door. If you waggle the key in the old lock you'll see there is a lever on the end of the barrel held in with a little posi screw holding the lever on, and a kind of orange washer underneath, but behind some of the door metalwork. The quick trick is to drill a hole in the steel so you can get a screwdriver onto that screw.If not you have to undo the linkages (mind you keep in captivity the little spring clips that retain the linkages), and undo the two fastenings holding on the handle. If you then undo the little screw (careful cos the helix of the thread is about as fine as a human hair)you can remove the lever on the end, and the lock barrel etc can be pushed out and will emerge on the outside. You may need to unclip one of the linkages.Before doing this, just check on the outside which side the little dent in the end of the barrel is and remember it for reassembly. When the barrel emerges, you'll notice it doesn't look quite the same as your new one - and it's longer. You'll need to to remove the grey zinc alloy (crapite) barrel extension from the old and put it on the new. To do this, look for the 2 small radial holes towards the base of the barrel extension. In one of them you'll see (may be obscured by a lot of muck) the end of a tiny brass pin (see the new ones too), which you can push in with something small, like a biro point or a punch. If you pull the extension at the same time as you press the pin you should be able to ease the extension off the old one. As Haynes says, reverse is pretty much the opposite of dismantling. Clean it all up and assemble with smear of grease except don't lubricate the actual barrels with grease or oil, powdered graphite is best, which can be got in a pinch by scraping pencil leads with a knife. Best done somewhere warm if poss as its more difficult with stiff fingers. Good luck, don't lose the spring clips off the linkages and don't overdo tightening that screw. Nigel

You can buy a new set of barrels very cheaply (but would have an odd ignition key), eg see ebay sellers. Or, take the lock barrel to your local locksmith with a key. Our local locksmith can repair them and make them match etc, and they aren't expensive provided you remove it from the door for them. Nigel

Reckon the hissing is arcing in a duff connection. Let it hiss for a bit then feel round. If anything is hot, that's where your problem is.

I have been looking at some US stuff imaginatively called Fluid Film. Its sold by www.rust.co.uk (its not on the website but look in the pdf catalogue). The US co website is http://www.eurekafluidfilm.com/. They also quote a dealer in the uk called marineco see http://www.marineco.co.uk/Pages/Fluid%20Fi...luid%20Film.htm, who also sell the stuff at about £27 for the 3.39 l size, but it is supposed to slow down galvanic corrosion, and there are some good reports from us sites. Maybe that would fit your requirement for something to postpone the inevitable. I must admit I have used Waxoyl for many years, and though it's ok, I think it must be possible to do better - I've been looking at Sander's grease and 2-pack epoxy paints (especially Jotan) as better alternatives to traditional gloops. I anyone has any experience of any of these things I'd be interested to hear. Nigel

I've seen some water cooled alternators on ebay, I think BMW 7 series and Mercedes Benz and Range Rover 4.4 have them, about 150 amp output. The BMW & RR ones at least look sealed. How they connect I don't know.I have to say I was toying with the idea of investigating one of them if available at the right price, rather than allowing airborne filth to do the cooling. That might be a way forward? If you're popping ordinary ones frequently it wouldn't take too long to recoup the price differential. Nigel

I had a fairly similar problem a few months ago with a M**deo tdci. The problem was the hose between the intercooler and turbo. Under power it inflated a little and pushed itself off the connection, despite the clip being quite tight. When you eased off the throttle it contracted and the rubber pulled itself back into position. The whooshing is probably air escaping from the boost side of the system somewhere, as that is exactly what I had, with it disappearing when you eased off. It took a rolling road session to find it, as it only manifested itself under a fair bit of throttle; you couldn't make it do it just by revving. Nigel

Bit kludgy but PTFE tape on the threads might do it, provided you make sure there aren't wispy bits dropping where they shouldn't?