I've already started on the oil leaks. I must admit, it's got a lot worse in the last 10 days or so, and it really took me by surprise at the weekend. Once I've got the rocker leaks under control, I'll do that fuel pump.

I've got the 360 up on stands having the downpipe with wideband bung installed (only been waiting since February!), but once that's done, I'll turn my attention to Nessy's leaks. Just to add to the fun, the rear gearbox seal appears to be leaking very slightly on the 360. That car is my 'leak-free queen', so this will NOT do!

cheers

James

if you havent put a new rocker cover and gasket on yet, that'll be your first souce for oil leaks - past that, she used to be pretty good (might need a new sump washer i guess).

i recon the rad will swallow more water than anything else - its held together with metal putty!

It had a brand new rocker cover (£15!) and gasket. It's blowing from around the cover bolts, but those have now been dried up with some Hylomar Blue sealant. It's also leaking from the fuel pump to block joint, and a couple of other places. I think you're right, the sump > block gasket is probably leaking too.

cheers

James

foggyjames wrote:It had a brand new rocker cover (£15!) and gasket. It's blowing from around the cover bolts, but those have now been dried up with some Hylomar Blue sealant. It's also leaking from the fuel pump to block joint, and a couple of other places. I think you're right, the sump > block gasket is probably leaking too.

cheers

James

Hmm, you know if it leaks so bad from rocker cover then crank case ventilation / oil separator thing must be blocked, if it is really badly blocked it can even blow some seals out. When I cleaned that from mine oil leaks ceased immediately, before that it was leaking quite badly.

My engine is blowing a bit from oil dip stick hole, maybe piston rings would need refreshing as engine is not used too often. Actually bit is not right word, better to say blows quite a lot from there, much more than you do when you blow soap bubbles...

Why it is that car can blow up but still wind blows, makes me confused?

I think you're right Jani, the PCV is probably blocked.

cheers

James

well "cali" is running fine now and ,on the few occaisions I prize the keys out of Julies hands ,I love driving her , having driven the redline for 18 months I had forgotten what decent acceleration was like ,

the 2.0 litre ecotec is a lovely engine and I personally think its better than the red top, now the K+n and peco back box are on it sounds and performs as good as it looks.

my valeter is amazed by the looks it gets when hes driving it and people always comment on how good it looks especially now the new alloys are on it,
the jungle green paint and cream leather are deffinately the best colour combination for this car .

I will miss the redline but am glad it has now sold so I can afford to get the calis windows tinted , a pre facelift front bumper (just mesh no vauxhall badge ) and an irmscer rear spoiler which should finish the car off nicely ( yes thats right no graphics )

As it happens I'm breaking a cavalier GSi (proper redtop) at the moment, which shares the majority of its underpinnings with the calibra. It looks like it's going to be on the drive for a while yet due to lack of interest, but if you wreck your engine, box, suspension or whatever, let me know and i'll see what I've got. I'm sick of the sight of the damn thing.

looks fairly clean , why are you breaking it

redline wrote:looks fairly clean , why are you breaking it

best thing to do with a vauxhall

Wow, it has the optional extra wheel arches

5lab wrote: best thing to do with a vauxhall

I suppose you wouldent have to break a mondeo Hugh ,
just park it up and let the local louts do it for you and then sit back and watch the shell rust away

It'd be a valid argument if Mondeo's rusted more than Vauxhalls - but that's not the case

I must have had exceptional luck then , there is no rust on the calibra or skys corsa and both my carltons and my cav 4x4 were totally rust free yet every Ford I have owned has had rust issues of one kind or another

I'd have said that at least historically Fords rust worse than Vauxhalls - case in point: mk3 Fiesta.

Now I'm getting a bit worried, as two seemingly perfectly reasonable people have now referred to the XE engine as a 'red top', something I've previously only heard chavs do. To misquote Phil Mitchell, "Ave a word. Sort it aaat".

I actually have quite a soft spot for the mk3 Cav (no, not the wheelarches ), in the same way that the mk4 Astra is a great car overshadowed by its blue oval rival of the day (arguably due in a large part to the influence of the motoring press, who were most likely slipped more backhanders by the chaps from Dagenham ). GSI2000s were particularly tasty, although I prefered the Carton GSI3000. Having said all of that, when was the last time you saw a Cav SRI or GSI which wasn't being driven like it was stolen?!

cheers

James

Mine isn't going particularly fast! It used to be proper quick though, but sad electrical faults mean it no longer starts. I may actually get a mobile mechanic out, but I think I'd get more for the car in bits than whole. I think the term redtop came around as a collective term for the two slightly different engines, the C20XE and the 20XE. Couldn't tell you which mine is, other than it's the 150bhp one fitted to cavs, as opposed to the 156bhp one fitted to the disastra GTE. Whatever, IMHO it's a better engine than the weak-otec for some idea of what it's like, check this out.
Not bad for a 1440kg hatchback.