Andrei's V6 project

[planetc]

You can't remove it without destroying the bearing, IF you can get it out without removing the whole leg and putting it in a press. Even if you can then you need to press the new bearing in.

[Lowrider Dave]

This might help
http://www.vauxhall-car-parts.co.uk/aca ... 04027.html

[Cavalier342]

Ok cheers guys.

[Cavalier342]

Unfortunately that's the wrong one Dave but at least I know what they look like now.

[Cavalier342]

Right, slight progress report.

Changed the coolant today, drained and flushed it as best I could. Not the roomiest engine bay to work in, but I got the job done.

Battery out, expansion tank off, and gave it a quick clean inside and out.




Old coolant looked really dark, not the best in my opinion so well worth changing. Didn't smell too bad though.

That's one of the heater matrix hoses: Could not get to the other one at all, the jubilee clip is buried right under it





Changed a couple of sensors over too.








Everything back together, filled her up, ran up to temperature, a massive airlock generated somewhere as it started boiling over, managed to get rid of that by booting it down the road and back, now letting it settle and do the final top-up in a bit. Some bits were tricky to get to, but got it done in the end. Stuck half a bottle of Wynns injector cleaner in the tank as well, see if it helps at all.

Went for a 50/50 mix as recommended, Halfords advanced 5 year anti-freeze. Hopefully that'll prolong the life of the oil cooler, etc for a bit more. I really hope the heater matrix doesn't pack up as it's a BIATCH to get to....

[humbucker]

Hose pipe on one end of the matrix is always a good idea to blast it out. And let the engine run with the coolant bottle top off for a bit before it gets up to temperature in order to allow the air to escape

Good work though, nice to see a V6 being looked after

[Cavalier342]

Hose pipe on one end of the matrix is always a good idea to blast it out. And let the engine run with the coolant bottle top off for a bit before it gets up to temperature in order to allow the air to escape

Good work though, nice to see a V6 being looked after

Cheers dude, yep certainly is.

[Lowrider Dave]

Looking at Andrei's car, I found what looks like to be a ceramic fuse attached to the fan housing - see attached photo - can anyone put any light on what this is? It seems to have crumbled inside at one end...

[Cavalier342]

Just got back from Dave's.

Fan was running constantly all the way at high speed.... Something definitely ain't right. Wasn't getting off the blue line. Gotta be that ceramic fuse thing.

Regarding the sluggish pulling problem, haven't really got anywhere with it, might just be how it is.

[DiplomaXE]

"ceramic fuse" is in fact a big old resistor. if it blows you have no rad fan on slow speed. think v6's have the low speed fan setting from the rad switch as well as the higher speed/full speed setting. this is the same for aircon cars. mine blew and i only had full speed when it got very hot.
if the fan is on all the time i dare say it has been frigged to run constantly by a previous owner.

[Lowrider Dave]

Thanks Pete - That sounds like just the problem you were having Andrei, interestingly my V6 doesn't have that resistor!

[Cavalier342]

Thanks. It's only started doing it today strangely... On the way back the fan stopped as I got home, to reverse in the drive then started again. Needle barely moved to 80 degrees ish. Strange..

[Cavalier342]

Regarding the fan resistor, I found the part number for them on Clubcalibra after trawling through google:


GM90510211


Found some online but none in stock ready to order, so going to make some inquiries. At least I found what I was looking for!

[Gaz]

sure robsey did a post about this, replacing the fuse with a 20p maplins bit

[Cavalier342]

I'd prefer to get the standard one so I can attach the wire terminals on with no hassle.

[Cavalier342]

Well decided to have a little clean up this evening as I had sod all better to do, decided to poke about around the heater fan area. Was a bit grubby, so took the bits out, and got cracking.


Cleaned up the fan surround shield, and the fan cowling top half.





Cleaned around the fan housing.








Haven't had a proper look in there until today, but I'm pleased to report, there's hardly any rust in there! Just a few light surface rust marks, around screw holes etc. Nothing major though, especially at the drain points in the wings.

Then greased up the wiper linkage spindles. They were caked in years of crud, so brushed what I could off, and swabbed a good dollop of grease on each one.



Greasy


All back together and another vital clean-up operation done until next year.






One of my plans for it is to see if I can wire up a bonnet light, as surprise surprise, it hasn't got one... Not even the wire for it. So that'll be my next port of call. I'll probably route a live wire from a sidelight and give it an earth, as that's pretty much how they are anyway. Just annoying not having one, it should be there but it's not sort of thing...

Slowly getting there.

Next major plans are to change the front brake pads and get the fluid changed or bled, depending how old it is. Brakes are a tad spongy.

Till next time

[Hayward691]

Get a bonnet switch and just earth it to the bonnet...

[Cavalier342]

Get a bonnet switch and just earth it to the bonnet...

You mean the alarm pin-switch? It's got one on there already, factory fitted. Would I be able to use that?

[James McGrath]

Looks good under there.

I did this just the other week on my LS at the same time as fitting your wiper linkage. The rubber seal on my water deflector was much worse than yours.

I used some cavity wax to seal it up. It seems to have worked really well as the floors are still bone dry after all the rain, which is the first time it's been dry after rain for about 5 years.

However it did make the interior smell like a workshop for a few days.

Defiantly a good job to do before the Autumn/Winter.

[Cavalier342]

Cheers James. Ye, it's definitely one of those worth-while jobs that is good to get done this time of year. What bugs me is where the elephant trunk drain sits in the bulkhead, there's a gap between the bottom of the elephant trunk inlet and the bodywork, if you know what I mean, so there's still a small puddle of water that remains there.. Might see if I can alter that somehow.

But ye, not too bad overall.

[Cavalier342]

Got the stub axle replaced today, finally. Thanks to Pete. Still a knock from the steering so more investigating to be done, but at least the stub axle/hub is out of the way. The old bearing which was almost new came off in 5 pieces so they put a new one on again as expected. All for under £80.. can't complain.

Brake pads and fluid change plus tracking are next on the list.

[Cavalier342]

Right, still having problems with the radiator fan kicking in too early, replaced the coolant temperature sensor today,(in the photo) to no avail. So the problem lies elsewhere.




Think now it has to be the fan resistor which I cannot find anywhere... I've replaced all the sensors, the blue relay, cleaned up the resistor contacts, still the fan kicks in too early on full speed. Low speed is non-existent.

Also the thermostat I suspect is jammed open, as the radiator gets hot quickly after a cold start. Even with the cap off. So thermostat also will need doing at some point.


On the plus side I also replaced the column stalk switches. Old ones were wearing out, the white decals that is, and the flasher stopped working on the old indicator switch.

Wiper switch:

Old:




New:





Indicator switch:

Old:




New:



So one thing fixed at least, many more things to go Need repairs for MOT, and track rod ends done.

[Hayward691]

Get a bonnet switch and just earth it to the bonnet...

You mean the alarm pin-switch? It's got one on there already, factory fitted. Would I be able to use that?

Would require running a wire from a separate live, to the switch, then to the bulb, then to earth... With obvious .fuses... So I wouldn't use an alarm one...
Put one that looks the same on the other side and make it symmetrical

[Cavalier342]

Don't get me started on symmetry, I get anal!

[Hayward691]

I get anal!

I don't think mike will be to happy that your posting it all over the inter web...