OK I have a question and went to the AceAnswers page (link above) to do the right thing - only it has changed since I was last there (yes it has been a while) and I don't seem to be able to navigate very well.
So two questions -
1. Is there something wrong with the site? (Or maybe my link to it?)
2. (The real question!) Which is the cam for the central locking? My Central locking has stopped, uh, well, locking (and unlocking!) and I have checked all the fuses - all OK - so I thought the next step was the cams mounted above the fuse box - pulled the cover and there are no obvious markings.
Mine is a 1990 MasterAce Surf 4x4 Super Touring - if that makes any difference. The central locking switch is a rocker switch on the door armrest near the electric window switches.
Any other suggestions will also be taken on board!
Thanks,
Dave.
- (#12544) DaveW, 5 Aug 04 12:40
DaveW - In my Townace the circuit breaker on it's own (there are 3) above the fuses is the door locking one. Try resetting them all paper clip in the hole and push.
As to the AA site Dave Mason has re-vamped it a bit, he is on holiday until the end of the week after which you can e-mail him with your problem.
- (#12544) Clive (Bristol, UK), 5 Aug 04 15:01
What OS and browser are you using....
- (#12544) neil (torbay), 5 Aug 04 15:09
Clive - thanks - I will look closer for it!
I also ahve the cooler/warmer, so getting to anything there is not 'convenient' ;)
Neil - win 2K and MS explorer.
- (#12544) DaveW, 6 Aug 04 10:49
I too have difficulty navigating around Ace Answers
I just get a list of links etc but have no scroll bars down the righthand side - this also occurs using the Ace Handbook
I use netscape v7.01 and win XP
- (#12544) Jim Grice, 7 Aug 04 17:29
Hello Jim,
Dave Mason is away at the moment, so I will try to answer this for you.
Different browsers work in different ways. Townace.com and AceAnswers are framed sites and as such are built to work with Internet Explorer v5 or above. ( this being the most popular ) For people who prefer other browsers, and in my case its firefox because IE is not secure enough, Dave Mason is developing the site to acomodate them.
I get round this by using my IE browser to lookup Townace.com, ace answers and for the automatic updates to my computer. I use firefox for All other general surfing and browsing.
If you don't have IE v6, then a free download is available at this address http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx
- (#12544) dave Bright (Bournemouth), 8 Aug 04 02:11
Thanks for the reply Dave - I too prefer not to use IE unless as a last resort.
Unfortunately I have had similar problems with IE as I had using netscape - in fact at the moment I can't access the Ace Handbook.
I think I will try again tomorrow as sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't - it's not that I am looking for anything in particular I just like to log in now and again.
regards
Jim
- (#12544) Jim Grice, 8 Aug 04 16:05
Even I am having difficulties! but it works if I wait long enough (I use IE5.5, W98 @ 200MHz and a dial-up modem).
I will try to sort it out but after 3 years of use I think my number has come up for engine trouble. Not overheating - that would be embarassing - a massive rise in oil consumption, pouring out of the rockerbox breather hole and the dipstick tube, and loads of smoke, especially if I connect the rockerbox breathing into the air inlet hose. So I've been touring the archives, editing as I go, and removing oily bits that I've only read about previously ... and the children to mind too.
- (#12544) Dave Mason (Sussex), 9 Aug 04 08:21
townace.com ace answers and the hand book seem to be working ok with me. IE and bt broadband connection, maybe there is a server problem somewhere?
Sorry to hear of your oily problems Dave, it could be a head gasket blown across a cylinder/oil port. Just a quick thought though, is you ATF ok?
I hope your holiday worked out ok?
- (#12544) dave Bright, 9 Aug 04 08:43
Probably will have the head off by tomorrow and "head gasket blown across a cylinder/oil port" is about the only remote possibility that justifies even doing that. However I admit that oil consumption has been creeping up over the past year and I quite like the idea of a "new" engine - thinking of a BBC 2nd-hand one like Tom Lister got.
Haven't checked the ATF but there was never any trouble driving it except topping up the oil, the ghastly smoke screen and even some occasional pre-ignition towards the end, presumably because the air going into the cylinders contained so much engine oil. What makes you ask about the ATF?
Holiday was hardly affected - Pembrokeshire, seems a popular direction for Ace owners this year? Minster diesels, Merlin Bridge, Haverforwest, was very helpful. We liked playing with the satnav in the Avensis we hired for the second half of our holiday but of course it was useless at the beach for changing clothes in and we didn't see so much of the countryside over the hedges. The recovery truck at the end (300 miles) was a commercial one with a very messy, hot and uncomfortable crew cab.
- (#12544) Dave Mason (Sussex), 9 Aug 04 09:45
I'd get a compression check done before delving too deep. There's more likelyhood of the consumption being through blowby than accross the head - plus that additional crankcase gas will be making it harder for the turbo's seals to work efficiently.
You might also want to check the breather pipe and the oil seperator in the valve cover for blockages.
FWIW, when I had mine apart to sort the cracked piston, the rings had noticeably lost their tension...
- (#12544) David Miller, 9 Aug 04 09:58
If the ATF is cooked then it can cause the engine to run at a higher temperature. Sometimes this can even cause overheating, but if not the higher engine temperature can cause thinning of the oil. This will mean that more oil can seep pass the piston rings and burn off in the combustion chamber. For what its worth its a long shot, but worth a few minutes to check it.
- (#12544) dave Bright, 9 Aug 04 10:06
David, thanks for taking an interest.
I assume that "blowby" refers to combustion gases getting down past the pistons - failed ring(s), damaged piston and/or scored cylinder wall - possibly from a dislocated gudgeon pin. This is what seems most likely to me and the three mechanics I've consulted directly. It's hard to believe that it would "pass" a compression test and I don't want to waste time clutching at straws.
Turbo seals working inefficiently - how would that affect the diagnosis?
With a cold oil level halfway between L and F on the dipstick: with the rockerbox vented to the atmosphere (via an old heater hose to carry all the fumes out of the cab) so no engine oil is being blown into the turbo: the engine ran evenly but still with loads of smoke from startup for a couple of minutes, by which time the sky was beginning to darken.
"The breather pipe" is often mentioned in the archives but I thought we'd agreed that there is no pipe between the crankcase and the rockerbox, 2CT breathes via the head. What are you thinking of?
And the oil separator - is that the flat plate that fills the top of the rockerbox cover? It seems to me that if my crankcase pressure was only observed at the dipstick, not at the rockerbox vent pipe, then it would be reasonable to suspect blockages where you say. But the fumes are gushing freely out of the rockerbox so I don't see (yet) where a blockage could be contributing to the problem.
Dave - yes I'll look at the ATF.
- (#12544) Dave Mason (Sussex), 9 Aug 04 10:56
Well, if the crankcase is being pressurised (either by duff rings or a blocked breather)that back-pressure will a. stop the turbo bearing house from draining and b. prevent the sealing rings from mating tightly enough with the shaft.
BTDT, BTW. Whilst playing with external oil seperator/ traps I was getting enough pressurisation to make it smoke like a train at idle. The smoke would clear up when under way as both oil and boost pressure were higher...
Yes the 2ct breathes through the head- via the oil return galleries, in fact. but under the plate inside the valve cover there's a mesh that acts as a seperator. If that mesh is carboned up (long shot...) then you could be building pressure regardless of what's happening at the dipstick tube. The breather is marginal at best- look a Pug/ Citroen diesel, the breather is about 3/4". Replacing the stock hose with one the same bore but maybe a foot longer was enough to cause me problems... You might try running with the filler cap off- but you WILL need a cloth or something to stop the oil spray!(DNA...)
I'd be extremely surprised if old ATF could make the engine run THAT much hotter- generally it's the friction enhancers that burn off, I believe. Gearchanges tend to be smoother with fresh fuid, no?
So all in all, you're looking at head off for a peek inside. Only other possibility is an application of Krause Bond- might sort it out for a bit. How many kms do you do a year, and how many are on the bus now?
- (#12544) David Miller, 9 Aug 04 12:27
The clock says 125,000km and I do about 12,000 per year.
- (#12544) Dave Mason (Sussex), 9 Aug 04 14:47
ATF looks as it has for 3 yrs, slightly browner than new stuff but still "clear".
BTW I've always changed the oil (10-40 semi-synth Comma) every 3000m/5000km and the filter every alternate change, though both are soon due.
It passed the MOT early June and the oil consumption and smoke seem to have risen gradually in the two months since then, and more sharply heavily-loaded on Welsh hills in July heat. A bottle of STP injector cleaner in the tank caused even more smoke, which I expected it to, but it never got any less which I had expected/hoped it would.
Lastly a bottle of Forte oil fortifier didn't help either though 30km later the dipstick blew up out of its tube so perhaps it improved the seal there! very messy though. Only at this very last event, when I decided to stop using the car, did my modified temperature gauge show any rise above normal but I DID notice the viscous-coupled fan running a few times (I'm proud of that, I've never noticed it before) so I guess the was overheating of a kind.
- (#12544) Dave Mason (Sussex), 11 Aug 04 03:24
The ATF was a long shot, but in this case it won't be causing the problem. Worth checking though because overheating can also cook the ATF.
- (#12544) dave Bright, 11 Aug 04 03:28
We got the head off this morning. Gasket completely intact, head looks fine at a glance.
No. 1 (front) piston has a jagged crack roughly along a line from the steering wheel to the sliding door handle and the front left 20% by area wiggles around as if its locked in place by a ring. I can see no damage to the bores but can feel a tiny groove at the steering wheel end of the crack in No. 1.
I guess this explains the oil consumption etc. Maybe it just "happened"? Could I tell if it resulted from hitting a valve? or something?
- (#12544) Dave Mason (Sussex), 13 Aug 04 09:17
Thats not such bad news dave , replacement piston is a cheaper fix than a new head, is the crown of the piston very clean just on that pot by any chance?
jim
- (#12544) J Adgo, 13 Aug 04 09:35
Lucky one, Dave. Mine did the same on No.4, no real reason why... You'd see an impact mark if it'd touched a valve. I think Jim's wondering about the possibility of it being a cooling crack caused by an HG leak...
- (#12544) David Miller, 13 Aug 04 09:44
I had limited time so far to examine things. That piston/bore was a lot messier than the others. This is not just a crack - part of the piston has broken off and the gap goes up to 1mm wide. I will wipe it all off and see if that piston top is noticeably "cleaner" than the others and if there is any signs of impact on the piston top or the valve above.
No sign of HG leak. All the head bolts were extremely tight. The HG fell away cleanly when we lifted the head. It has 5 (I think) metal layers, two holes in the corner.
Having done all this work, and with more yet to do, I'd like to swap in a full refurbished engine rather than work through all the bits myself.
I guess the first thing is to establish whether I can ignore the bore damage - how? I'm not used to assessing such things but it feels like a fine scratch only about 2 thou deep.
If the damage to the bore can't be ignored can whatever has to be done be done in situ - I'd assumed all four cylinders would need reboring and no.4 looks pretty inaccessible?
- (#12544) Dave Mason (Sussex), 13 Aug 04 10:12
You can't bore in-situ but you should be able to run a bottlebrush hone down...
- (#12544) David Miller, 13 Aug 04 15:20
Hi Dave, I don't know a lot about engines but if you need to get another one try JAS I got one from there for £705 inc vat and negotiated with them and got free delivery. Touch wood I havent experienced any problems thus far and the mechanic who did the work reckons the engine and turbo are pretty good. Mind you only problem so far has been an interfering 17yr old, revenge will be taken. marc
- (#12544) Marc Hamilton, 14 Aug 04 00:34
AA has stpped working for me and my mac.
not good
- (#12544) paul, 18 Aug 04 11:40
AA has ceased to exist for a number of folks out here. It is a fantastic and invaluable resourse.
Can some one please please please make a non-browser specific text only version?
For some wierd reason the scroll bars disapear when using IE 5.1.7 on a MAC with OS9.2.2
I can not upgrade to IE 6 because of politics outside of my control
Best Regards
Paul
- (#12544) Paul, 23 Aug 04 03:10