paul mc

Hi, I had a problem with no oil pressure which i have now sorted but now my engine isn't running well at all, it's a 1987 3.5 Efi flapper. It is running well, although a bit fast at idle, on LPG but very very badly on petrol, also i have had to set the timing very advanced for it to run at all whereas it used to run pretty near TDC. I am guessing the bad running has something to do with timing as i did have the dizzy out while priming the oil pump but i think i have put it back correctly, if i use the timing light i can get cylinder 1 to spark bang on TDC by turning the dizzy but the engine will not run, as i said it needs to be very advanced to run. I will change the fuel filter tomorrow as a matter of course, it needs doing anyway, but any one got any other ideas what could be causing the problem? I Have disconnected the fuel lines and petrol is getting to the engine, although i can not confirm at what pressure. Any help much appreciated.

Well I have finally got the oil pressure back, in the end i did take off the pump and oil pick up stariner and clean them both thoroughly with petrol and i blew through the oil pick up line to ensure it was not blocked, i also blem the airline through the holleft behind once the oil pick up pipe was removed to ensure the oil passages within the engine were clear. I also put the old pressure relief valve back in as it was in good condition and was a tiny bit looser than the new one, probably becuase it was warn in. I then primed the oil pump with vaseline, and fixed the cover back on with a new gasket and then fitted a new oil filter. I know it was a bit oif a scattergun approach but it only cost me a couple of quid for the new filter and relief valve and its sorted now. Thanks for all the advice! I do have new probelm though which i'll start a new thread on, the engine isn't running great and i have had to set the timing very advanced to run at all

I think I might be confusing people here, even with the 10W-40 the oil presuure used to be fine before the rebuild, it is since the rebuild that i have had NO oil pressure and am having trouble priming the pump. Talking of oil grades, i went back through the workshop manual to try to figure out why i was using 10w-40 if everyone says it is too thin and the manual itself recommends 10w-40 or 20w-50, although i would have thought that the 10w-40 is more suitable to the British climate as it is suitable from -10degress to 50degreees, whereas the 20w-50 is only recommended above 0degrees, and anyone who was down my way last night and early this morning can attest that less than zero is quite likely anytime from November to March. Having said that, i have now drained the old oil and replaced with 20w-50. But anyway....... I was very busy this weekend so i didn't get to do much but i did drop the sump and remove the oil pick up and gave them a thorough clean out and soak in petrol, and i have to say they both weren't in that bad a state so i'm not very hopeful that was the cause of having no pressure. But i did clean it all out and i even bent the pick up strainer a touch to make sure that it wasn't sucking against the bottom of the sump in case i had damged it previously. Now everything is back together and just waiting on the weekend so i can get a chance to prime the pump again. Can you please tell me if what i am doing is wrong to prime the pump.............. - remove the oil pump cover - remove the 2 oil pump gears - pack the empty housing with vaseline - replace the gears - replace the cover - turn the engine over for about 30 seconds with fuel pump relay removed and LT lead disconnected I don't think there is an air leak between the timing cover and the block as I used gasket paste to form the gasket, not just a paper one. Any help much appreciated thanks, paul

To be honest i only changed the relief valve as i bought one ahead of time thinking that could be the problem, but when i stripped the filter housing i found the existing valve to be perfectly smooth and running freely, but i thought i may as well change it while I was there.

No, its an ongoing rebuild and its still not back on the road. In all honesty i don't know how long the pressure has been low for but it started sounding quite tappety the other day and the pressure light came on so obviously i've been trying to sort it since and not running the engine much. Halfords oil is £20 for 5 litres and from various comments i've read previously i thought it to be amongst the better value oil in that it is both good and reasonably priced. Is Halfords oil proven to be bad or is it a bit of prejudice against the brand?

I'm using a Halfords 10W-40 part-synthetic which i have always used in the engine and worked fine previously. Unless anyone has any other ideas i'll drop the sump, clean it and the strainer out and then do an oil flush before changing the oil filter and new oil again, hopefully that will sort it, or at least cross it off the list

I did have the heads off to do new gaskets etc and valve grinding. I haven't checked the strainer for blockages, i suppose i should do that on the weekend but would this likely to have been blocked? I have done a couple of oil and filter changes as i've been rebuilding it to try and keep debris from getting around the engine.

I have started it and it runs fine, i have let it warm up and still no pressure but obviously i don't want to over do it if there's no pressure. Regarding which way the rotor arm spins its just a bit fiddly to turn it over and see the dizzy when i'm by myself, I've no doubt i can keep the key turning with an elastic band or something i was just hoping someone might know off the top of their head.

After stripping the top end of my 1987 3.5 V8 Efi I can't manage to get the oil pressure back up, both the oil pressure warning light and my electric gauge are showing low pressure so I'm fairly happy it's not as simple as a dodgy pressure switch. I have tried priming the oil pump with vaseline by removing the oil filter housing, taking out the two cogs and packing with vaseline, then putting the cogs back in so that there really is an much vaseline in there as i can manage then turned the engine over but still no pressure. I also put a new pressure relief valve and spring in just in case it was that sticking open, although i don't think it was. However, i did notice that when the spring is at full extension the valve cylinder itself seems to stick in the closed position, though if this is a problem it should be causing high pressure if anything. I would greatly appreciate any tips or tricks for getting pressure back up, or any reason why i might be having problems? Also if i am priming the pump manually using a drill, which way should i be turning the oil pump, i.e. does the distruibutor turn clockwise or anti-clockwise? Thanks, Paul

At the moment the handbrake on my 1987 3.5efi auto works but only engages on the first click and won't go any further, i believe for the MOT it should travel about 3 clicks, if you know what i mean. I have tried adjusting the square bolt on the face of the hand brale drum but doesn't make a difference, any ideas? Thanks, Paul

I am going to wire up my new winch on the weekend but i want to wire a relay into the wiring so that power to it can be switched off from inside the cab. I have seen 100A relays around with 180A max surge with 6mm terminals to connect to, would these do the job? Are there any problems with using this set up over a kill switch type? Thanks

Bloody relays!!!!! After much cursing i finally got it going. It dawned on me that if it keeps starting briefly it is probably the cold start injector firing but not the others, so i checked them with a multi meter and lo and behold it was. After a bit of reading on diagnosis i saw a comment about not using Lucas type relays in place of Bosch type for the main relays, so when i checked i was using Lucas type so swapped it over and it fired straight away. The annoying thing is the Lucas type does click on and off when you turn the key which is why i thought it was fine as i previously had checked the relays, I must have swapped the correct Bosch one out at some point to make sure it wasn't faulty. The timing was alright in the end, although i did get it wrong first time by not getting it on compresision stroke, what i did to check it was on compression stroke initially was just to take out No1 spark plug and feel for air being forced out, but now i realise this is stupid as even if the valves were open (which they were) air will still come out of the spark plug hole as the gap around the valves are much smaller, so from now on always remove the rocker cover to check! Thanks for all the help

The engine does fire up, revs to about 1000rpm then dies. The firing order is definately correct, checked many times against Haynes manual. I rotated the dizzy to get it to fire slightly before and after and it didn't make a difference. I took the spark plugs out and dried them with a cloth and gave them a quick brush, do they really need to go in the oven?

After fitting new head gaskets and timing chain I can't get the engine to run again. Every time i turn the key the engine very briefly fires up then cuts out straight away. I am thinking its a timing problem but using a timing light at least shows the timing is perfect, No1 is firing at exactly TDC, although i have turned the dizzy both directions to check if slight advance or retard helps to no avail. I'm thinking the timing is out from fitting the new chain and sprockets but i thought i followed the Haynes manual to the letter, but this is the first time i've ever done it before. Obviously the marks on the sprockets lined up but maybe the camshaft was not correctly orientated to the crankshaft, i.e. one or other was a revolution out or something similar. Before i take the timing cover off again this weekend abd start again is there anything i need to look out for? Any tips for a timing newbee? Or maybe it isn't timing at all? All plugs are sparking and don't think its fuel related as the engine won't start on 'easy start' and when i took the plugs out i could smell petrol. Any help much appreciated 1987 RRC 3.5 V8 EFi Cheers, Paul

Good idea, i was hoping for something like that which didn't involve taking bits off the engine again

I had the heads off redoing gaskets, valves etc now i have the engine back together it will turn over but won't fire. Looking back through the Haynes manual i should have re-installed the distributor with the rotor arm just before cylinder one HT lead while cylinder 1 is at TDC of the compression stroke, but with the heads and all back together how can i tell if i'm on compression or exhaust stroke? Cheers

I need a new battery for my RRC 3.5V8 EFi, but as i've moved the battery to the seat box I'm wondering can i buy any battery i like,basically i want the biggest battery i can find which will fit in place, is there anything particular i should be looking for? Cheers

Hi, i have an air leak in the fuel system somewhere on my 1987 3.5 V8 EFi, if i block the air inlet in front of the air filter the engine slows right down and nearly stalls but not quite, surely if i completely block the air inlet it should cut out? I am looking for a diagram showing which vacuum pipes should go where as during the rebuild i may well have mixed up a couple, there is one loose which i have blocked off which used to run to the heater matrix, but as i took it out i just blocked the pipe. I thought i saw a diagram in the RAVE manual but have just looked through it and can't find it now. Any help much appreicated.

Anyone know how to wire up a 1981 Series 3 wiper motor so that when you turn off the wiper switch the wipers themselves return to park, at the moment they just stop wherever they are. I don't understand it as the wiring appears very simple, there appears to just be 3 wires, 1 for fast speed, 1 for slow speed and an earth. What have i missed? Thanks in advance

I've moved the radiator into the back of my series 3/RRC hybrid so I have wired up the dual electric fans from the air con radiator on the RRC. However i have found that the rad fan switch is a bit dodgy so it only works if you wiggle it a bit, so i need to buy a new one, but i have two questions; where can i buy it from? and can i buy different ones with different temperature settings? If so has anyone any recomendations? What is the original spec? When the rad fan is running full time the temperature does remain stable so i just need to get the fan to kick on and off at the right time. Thanks

The last thing left for me to wire up on my 1987 RRC is the fuel and water temperature gauges, i just can't figure out which are the relavant wires to connect into the back of the dash console. From looking at the Haynes manual wiring diagram it seems that they share a common 12v feed but are individually earthed through their respective sensors. So a 12v supply is fed into the fuel gauge and the earth wire is what is connected to the fuel sender unit in the tank, and the earth wire from the water temperature gauge goes to the water temp sensor in the engine. Is this correct? And has anyone any tips on which wires i need to connect to which. At the moment both gauges show full all of the time, and i have found a white wire that when it is connected to a 12v supply both dials show full. Thanks

You can get something for motorbikes similar to what Q-Rover has suggested called an 'Optimate' Charger. It trickle charges batteries and are designed to keep bike batteries topped indefinately, like when they are parked up over winter for softy fair weather bikers! I have one on my bike and they are very good, a little fused fly lead connects to both posts of the battery directly and the other end there is a little waterproof plug (the lead is about 300mm). The optimate charger simply connects to the end of the fly lead and you can leave it for months. I don't see why it wouldn't work on a car battery as it is for a 12v but because of the huge difference in size between bike and car batteries i'm not sure if it would be as effective. It's on their website at the moment for £45 M and P direct Looking on the website above they also sell an adpater which plugs into your cigar lighter plug to top the battery up that way. Cigar lighter adapter

I'm trying to wire the instrument panel/dash board (so warning lights, fuel guage, rev counter etc) into my hybrid project. I have the instrument panel from a 1987 Vogue EFi 3.5 which i am trying to mate with a universal harness. I have figured out what most of the wires coming out of the dash do by using a 12v test battery and seeing what lights up or using a multimeter to check for continuity between wires but there are a few i can't figure out what they do. Has anyone got a good wiring diagram of just the dash? The haynes manual is pretty rubbish as it has things like 'Multifunction binnacle' written on it with 8 wires coming out, but doesn't tell you what each wire is for!! Or even if anyone knows what colour wires do what it may help me narrow things down. Most importantly i am trying to figure out how to wire the tacho, i know the feed is from the alternator on the connection marked 'W', but which wire on the dash does it connect to and is there anything more complicated to consider? I want the tacho working at least so i can try and tune the engine a bit as it sounds like its revving high but obviously i can't tell how high without the tacho. Thanks in advance, Paul

I'm doing the hybrid thing with a S3 and RRC. The Classic is a 1987 Vogue 3.5 EFi so it has loads of wiring like air con, electric windows, heated windows blah blah blah which i didn't need or want as they will only cause problems and take up space. My initial plan was to strip the loom from the rangie, lay it out on the floor in the garage and strip off whatever i didn't need, but it is such a complicated loom that i decided it wasn't worth the effort as you'd follow one wire for a while, which then becomes 2 wires which leads to somewhere you didn't expect from looking at the diagram. Anyway, I found Stafford Vehicle Components online and they do a 'Universal Loom' which is a ready made loom that comprises all the basics you need to get a car running. It comes in 4 parts with plug connections, Main loom, dash loom and front and rear lighting looms. It is fairly expensive at £180 but i think it has made a very good, easy to follow and neat solution and by sticking in another spare fuse board you can add to it neatly in the future. But in general I decided to keep it simple, I've kept the heater and will fit a radio for longer journeys but I'm never going to be using it as my daily commute so don't need things like heated windows etc, they're just something else to go wrong. Also, even with the basics it gets pretty cramped under the bonnet so extra wiring and fittings can't help.

I need to get a pair of harnesses for my truck cab series 3 but want to make sure I get the right ones suitable for any competitions I might enter in the future. Will a standard 3 point harness do or will i need to get a 4 or 5 point harness instead? I already have bucket seats and they will take 5 points if necessary but there is quite a price difference between 3 and 5 point types, are they worth the extra money? Cheers, Paul