SteveRK

Its running with a weak mixture, hence overly fast idle in nuetral, but stalls when a load is applied to the engine (in drive) You need to have a look first for any split/damaged hoses that may be connected to the inlet manifold before tackling the engine management components Check for any air leaks into the inlet manifold.

I would not expect a drain hole in any gearbox as oil does not mix with water. The vent tube will be the only way water can get into the gearbox

I agree with all the above posts - no smoke = no fuel. Although a different engine my non turbo transit doesn't have glow plugs, instead the pump is meant to advance the fuel timing to match ambient temperature, but it doesn't. So long long as the temperature is above 10c it starts on the button. When its cold it doesn't - but it makes smoke! With the current temperatures you won't need pre-heat.

Your welcome, at this stage of your investigations my approach would be to try and eliminate possible causes to the point where there is only one explanation, rather than trying to find/pinpoint the cause. Its an approach i try to adopt when I get stumped with a problem, and of course good Detectives follow this course when investigating crimes (well Inspector Morse did!)

This isn't a suggestion/answer but some observations: Unlike the front suspension the rear suspension is 'pivoted' around the A frame ball joint located midpoint across the axle. Bearing in mind the relatively high body attitude if the vehicle is parked on a side slope there will be some degree of lean of the body that may be more pronounced at the rear than the front due to the pivot point between the axle and chassis? If the front springs are of a differant rate, and or subjected to a differant load than the rear then this will also result in differant lean angles in theside slope scenario above. It might be that the problem is with the front suspension. In order to allow the rear of the vehicle to adopt a lean then a corresponding lift on the opposing front corner will be needed, unless the whole body is twisting, or the body mounts are compressing, or there is clearence opening up due to a loose bolt. I would put the front chassis up on stands to elliminate the front suspension whilst parked on a side slope and observe what happens at the rear as a start.

Going back to your first post it is not clear whether the problem occurred as a result of all the work done, or the work was done to try and cure the problem. I had Michelin Pilot Primacy tyres fitted and no issues with tracking or following the road camber. I then had four new General TR tyres fitted and immediately noticed that more steering input was required on local roads compared to when the Michelin's were fitted.

Any air in the pressure system, once compressed, should not cause the pump to cut in on 'every pedal press' Mine cuts in after 3 or 4 hard presses and is probably a bit tired (175,000 miles) and MOST importantly it cuts in without pressing the pedal after switching the ignition off for around 15 minutes and switching back on. Do the same test on yours. Allow it to pressurise and cut out with the ignition on. Switch off for 5 minutes. Switch ignition back on, If it cuts in straight away you have an air leak somewhere resulting in a pressure drop.

My experience with driving in the dark is the roads have never been better lit, it wasn't that long ago that sealed beam headlights were quite sufficient. Of course the problem now is dazzling oncoming headlights which is driving an 'arms race' to fit brighter lights on our own vehicles so that we can see where we are going. On an unlit road with no oncoming vehicles std' fitments lights are quite adequate surely??? My daily driver has std fitment HID lamps with auto levelling. They are only 45 watts and yes compared to new Audi A4s (the worst offenders for dazzle surely) they are dim but as above quite adequate.

Whats the current status? does it run? When the AA arrived had it lost much coolant?

I think its more a case of petrol being cheaper than diesel out there. In Holland for example petrol is cheaper than diesel. In the UK diesel has historically been cheaper than petrol unti around 2004/5 when it started to become more expensive. I cant see any of the oil refinerys making 'sub standard' fuel for china

swap the springs over from left to right before condemming them, its a half hor job to do

Sounds like you have jumped in at the deep end in stripping the engine before checking to easier first test items. Thermostats don't open very much, maybe 2mm, but equally as importantly they should open before the water starts bubbling/boiling, the 'stat will have the temperature number stamped on it usually so you need a thermometer to test the water temp when it opens. A 'stat opening around boiling point will likely cause overheating in the engine. Did you check that the water pump impeller is not sheared and also for any blockages in the radiator or other water channels that need to conduct the flow of water when the 'stat opens?

Personally i wouldn't entertain trying to weld in new Z sections. I sourced a mild steel steel cut accurately to size with the fuel pump hole cut and welded some U channel sections underneath to give rigidity. It straddles the across the Z sections by around half inch per side to touch the inner wheel arches and is secured with a number of M6 stainless screws each side and some underseal between the floor section and original side support floor. No welding to fit and can be removed if required. Absolutely no problem with MOTs, noise levels or rigidity to take heavy loads. See: Fast forward to 4mins 30 seconds for details on the floor http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zF4ow4ebYI

I agree, in fact its virtually impossible due to the horizontal ledge thats level with the floor so you cant get up to reach the upper bolts. Removing the rear wing is not a serious job at all. The important bit is to slice all the body sealer at the front (rear door opening) and around the back tailgate area.

oh dear! i hope so too

Sounds like a plan, I'm confident you will get a good result so long as you have enough adhesive sprayed on, its the sort of job you can only do once without having to rip it all out and start again from scratch so well worth taking extra trouble to get it right.

20 to 30 seconds is an important observation. This is around the time that the ECU operates on a fixed fuel map before monitoring the feedback from the Lambda sensors. It is normally less than 20 seconds but I would be checking at the ECU input whether you are seeing alternating voltages from 0 to around 1VDC from each of the Lambda sensors as a starting point to check that they are giving an input.

I got through 2 cans and could have used at least one more for the job. My brother did his disco roof lining before me and used 2 cans and did suffer from detachment when the weather got hot. I recommend getting some more cans and really lay it on until you can see it floating on the surface of the fabric.

I did my headlining using the same supplier and the same aerosol glue. I found that i needed twice as much as expected to make it stick but its been in place for 2 summers now and outside in the hottest days we had last summer with no problems. The material is very absorbent and i think its a case of spraying enough onto the fabric so that that it exceeds the absorption of the material. This means in practice spraying lines of glue rather than trying to cover the whole area, otherwise you will need 10 cans!

Two connections on the vacuum advance unit are to provide vacuum advance, or retard depending on which of the two connections are used. If you are noticeably down on power it wont be due to 'vacum' advance as this only comes into effect at low RPM large throttle opening (large vacuum). Above around 2000 odd RPM the 'mechanical' advance will provide more advance than the vacuum unit anyway. Up to around 25 degrees of total mechanical advance is available, more than the vacuum unit provides. The vacuum advance is taken from directly over the throttle butterfly and starts to take effect as the throttle opens, once fully open of course its subjected to atmosphere and so doesn't have any effect. To test if its working with a timing light blip the throttle briefly and smartly and watch for around 10 to 15 degrees temporary advance

Cheers Guys Im gonna stick with whats fitted but one of the seals I ordered isnt correct. The outer seal FRC8222 looks correct as it has a garter spring but the inner seal is the same as the one I replaced previously and doesnt have a garter spring fiited - and the part No. supplied was changed from FRC8221 to FTC4785 so a phone call will ensue to the supplier.

I need to replace the N/S rear hub inner seal and have checked with MicroCat as to what hub seals are needed but just want a sense check from others that might have come across this issue of non-standard halfshafts fitted My vehicle is 1993 with ABS. It should have axle tube lip seals fitted to seperate diff' oil from hub grease. The O/S half shaft fitted appears to be 86-91 model year with ABS and has the corresponding ground shoulder on the half shaft. The hub is not contaminated with oil so no real problem here. The N/S halfshaft appears to be from 86-91 non ABS (has no machined surface for the axle tube lip seal) and hence the hub was full of oil and the inner hub seal is weeping. I'm hoping its because the fitted hub seal is for greased hubs not oiled hubs. So, Microcat tells me that I actually need two hub seals for 86-91 with no ABs: FRC8221 & FRC8222 (inner/outer resp) Does this sound correct????

cold temperatures cause things to shrink!! it might be nothing more than an electrical connector on the fuel pump relay, or the relay itself not connecting electrically correctly?

Hmm, That does leave tyres (swap them over even though no doubt they are the same model and pressures are the same just to 100% eliminate them) and then measure from a common point on the chassis to the rear axle hubs on each side to eliminate a misalignment in the chassis causing the upper or lower arms to put a slight lift on one side?

In that case the bodyshell is twisted giving the impression of a weak spring on one side?