VIN No. 1867

[Chris P]

And still looks original ! ......not sure if that's good thing or not.

[Rich Hanlon]

You did well to get it off without snapping any studs tbh.

[Rissy]

(31 Dec 2022, 10:11)Chris P Wrote: Ive have never known them NOT to fail...eventually... and on cars that have stood a long time, it  can very tricky to get the nuts/ studs off without snapping them...then it can turn into a major job.

Well done getting it done with minimum drama.

What's going on here Chris?

[Chris P]

Hi Chris , I'm not sure, it was already fitted.....we will probably blank it off...not had chance to look at it properly yet.

[Justwatching]

Got the remaining exhaust components back on and started 1867 up - no loud ticking noise! It made it all the way to the drive before breaking down...

Luckily only took 15 mins of trouble-shooting to find the cause - a loose alternator connection. Still, these little trials don't boost my confidence. I took the car for a test drive and all went well.

Right, on to the next problem!

The car has hunting idle when cold, oscillating between 750-1500 RPM. When it warms up, the idle is steady but high (1000 RPM). It was like this when I bought it. Are there 'usual suspects' for this?

[Rich Hanlon]

Often vacuum leaks can cause hunting as the system oscillates while compensating for unmetered air, but these can be in multiple places. I saw a car recently where the culprit was the servo hose connection in the back of the RHS inlet manifold but there's lots of potential places unfortunately.

Also check that the idle speed microswitch is being activated.

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Well done on the exhaust by the way it can be a very difficult job to do properly.

[Chris Williams]

They are Volvo style drain plugs. Have a boxfull somewhere from engine swaps.

[Chris P]

erm...not sure why that was on there..Matts engine..?

[Justwatching]

Found this under 1867 this morning.

   

Yep, that's the transmission that I got professionally* rebuilt just four months ago by The Automatic Gearbox Company. 

Thought it might be the sump gasket as everything looked dry above. 

   

I re-torqued the bolts, all of which were at least 2/3 of a turn under spec. Didn't stop the leak though. 

Used a mirror and flashlight next to get a top-down view from above the transmission and spotted a pool of ATF around the base of the dipstick tube. 

   

I'm sure that was new four months ago...

May as well get an eyefull of the rest of their work while I'm under here.

Why bother using a square drive? Just hammer a flat blade screwdriver in there like the professionals*.

   

Save yourself some time and just cut transmission lines. You can bodge them back together later! 

   

Thanks Automatic Gearbox Company. Not only are they £50 each, they're a pain in the arse to change.

[Rich Hanlon]

Oh dear, that's not good at all!

The seal at the bottom end the dipstick is prone to leakage. In the end I had to put a kink in the diagonal leg to the bolting position in order to enable it to be pulled down tight enough. I also discovered that the otterstat seal is a perfect fit and I had a big stash of those, so I used one there along with some gunk. Fingers crossed its all dry now. Bad show on cutting the pipe.

[Rissy]

If this aint a lesson on why you should do as much as possible with your own car rather than relying on outside folks to do it at a business cost, then I don't know what else would convince people.

[Guinney1971]

oh my god, that's horrific.

I take it you've contacted them about this? I would suggest asking the opinion of
a solicitor, as that is clearly a very shoddy job that you've paid good money for there.

Hope you can get it sorted okay.

[Justwatching]

Right, fixed the leak and it's stayed dry for a week now. Wrong length bolt, damaged threads and no washer by the way! Oh, and they cut the wiring loom for the governor computer too!

   

I've raised these issues with The Automatic Gearbox Company. I'll post further in due course.

[Rich Hanlon]

Good grief, I mean even if they'd used black shrink wrap for goodness sake! Are the damaged threads fixable? I seem to think I had to go oversize on one or two of my AT pan bolts.

[Justwatching]

I ordered a thread repair kit, but got bored before it arrived and tried threading the bolt in off-square (basically, a deliberate cross-thread). It actually got enough bite to tighten down and seal the dipstick tube. I'm inclined to leave it alone unless it starts leaking again.