Mk3 Cavalier Owners Club | Vauxhall Cavalier Dot Com

cavalier1990 wrote:Doesn't seem to do that high revs when coasting to a stop business either.

Yep, mine was doing that a bit too. Maybe 1500rpm or so, then settling back down to 1000 quite slowly as you came to a stop.

Honestly I thought it was normal as it's done it since I first started driving.
I only really began to notice something was wrong shortly after I had the cam belt changed.
After that it would rev up to about 3000 rpm when it was started up and then drop down to normal.

Anyway, all fixed now. I'm looking forward to dryer weather so I can use it a bit more.

I haven't got many plans for this one this year. I got quite allot done in 2016 so fingers crossed I'll just be doing normal maintenance.
I'm hoping to focus on the Diplomat this year. I was planning to get stuff done on it last year but the V6 got in the way a bit.

James McGrath wrote:

cavalier1990 wrote:Doesn't seem to do that high revs when coasting to a stop business either.

Yep, mine was doing that a bit too. Maybe 1500rpm or so, then settling back down to 1000 quite slowly as you came to a stop.

Honestly I thought it was normal as it's done it since I first started driving.
I only really began to notice something was wrong shortly after I had the cam belt changed.
After that it would rev up to about 3000 rpm when it was started up and then drop down to normal.

Anyway, all fixed now. I'm looking forward to dryer weather so I can use it a bit more.

I haven't got many plans for this one this year. I got quite allot done in 2016 so fingers crossed I'll just be doing normal maintenance.
I'm hoping to focus on the Diplomat this year. I was planning to get stuff done on it last year but the V6 got in the way a bit.

First time I really noticed it was when I took my boot of the gas the car was still pulling along, wee bit concerning sometimes. One time the revs shot up to about 3k when I was coming to a stop, the noise overcame the sound of moving car as I was slowing down, and I'm thinking what's that noise, only to look down and see it's sitting at 3k rpm. It was funny how it would drop lower and lower and then revert to idle as soon as the car itself stopped. Like related to a speed sensor or gbox sensor.

I decided it was about time I did something about the state of the engine bay which hasn't been looking it's best for quite some time.
All the paint on the cam cover was flaking off and of course, the cam cover gasket was leaking again.

I neglected to take a before photo so here is one from the autumn. It's cropped and a bit out of focus but you get the idea:




The first time I did this it took me about 2 hours. I've got that down to about 2 minuets now.
White I was there, I spayed a bit of WD40 on all the valve guides as I suspected one of them is sticking a little.
Seems to be running better now as a result.




Anyway, an hour of scrubbing with a soft wire brush got most of the paint off from the cam cover and any remaining oil was removed with a generous spray of carb cleaner.
Seems like every time I replace the gasket, I end up painting the cam cover too.




Prepped for painting:




After a couple of coats of Halfords finest engine paint:




And fitted back on:




The next day, and it's time for round two.
My goal was to clean up the engine as much as possible and remove the oil stains left by the leaky gasket.
Finally found a use for this Bilt Hamber Surfex HD I bought about 5 years ago.
The empty autoglym bottle was used to spray it neat onto the engine:




I then used an old paintbrush to agitate the oil stains:




This was then sprayed with a little water and wiped off.
The result was semi-successful. It's better than it was anyway:




After that I had the fun task of painstakingly repainting all the lettering, in the cold with slightly shaky hands.
This is now the third time I've done this and I was in two minds whether or not to stick with the all red lettering.
I have some black paint so painting the lines red and the lettering black or vice versa was an option. Oh well, it's done now.
Still using the same paint I bought back in 2010 by the way, certainty has a long shelf life.






Then just a general wipe around:




Next job for tomorrow is a good scrub down and wax if I have time.
Can't actually remember the last time I washed her. Probably just before the 200,000 mile mark was reached.

Looking better!
I usually use a wd40 (but cheap version) to spray around engine and other areas then wipe off with a cloth - it seems to 'rejuvenate' dirt and oil making it easier to remove.

Alan

Thanks.
Good tip, I'll keep that in mind for next time.

I'm just a bit annoyed I didn't keep the engine bay looking good in the first place.
I was really happy with the way it looked back on page 10 of this thread.

Cavalier engines do not lend themselves to staying clean for long.

Leaky cam cover gaskets and other oily dribbles.

Hi James could you please let me know where you got the gearstick and handbrake gaitor from
Cheers

I would recommend looking around ebay.

An original GM gear stick gaiter was about £230 + the last time I looked.
Silly numbers if you ask me.

My two gaiters were about £25 from an ebay seller about 5 years or so ago. Good thick leather.
But you do not get the plastic parts, so you have to strip your old assemblies to fit the new leather gaiters.

Robsey wrote:But you do not get the plastic parts, so you have to strip your old assemblies to fit the new leather gaiters.

How to:
viewtopic.php?f=70&t=15860

Bit of a minor update to the LS.

First of all this arrived neatly packaged in the post:




It's an original 1990's warning triangle. Just the type that would have been on sale when the LS was new.




It's of a surprisingly solid and sturdy construction, certainty much nicer than the ones they sell today...




...plus it fits properly in the boot:
I've got the full 1990's safety set now!


(That's not rust in the boot by the way, it's dynax s50, honest)


As in my Diplomat thread, I also got this:




I've been looking for a good one for ages but I've only been able to find 2.0i or diesel ones.
This is the one specifaically for a C16NZ2 or a C18NZ.

I also managed to remove every single one of the clips without any breaking:




It's been missing one ever since my dad ran into a stag about 10 years ago and the bonnet and headlight had to be replaced.
That accident has caused me a lot of issues over the years as almost every part that was replaced was wrong. That's why I had a pre-facelift bonnet on there for so long by the way.
This was the last peice of the puzzle.

Before:




Complete at last:

I didn't realise there was a difference between the SPi and MPi bonnet sound dampeners.

My tatty old C18NZ item is still fitted, despite the C20NE being fitted five years ago.

It does make a huge difference to ambient noise levels.

Nice little update James, I wonder if these help keep the heat in? My MK2 cavalier is missing, I wonder if this will help keep the engine warm in cooler weather and thus I won't have to use slight choke to keep her running when I haven't used her for a few hours.

It is mainly for sound deadening,
However it should also allow slightly quicker warming in the cooler winter months.

Not so good for heat dissipation in the warmer summer months.

Good work James!

Robsey wrote:I didn't realise there was a difference between the SPi and MPi bonnet sound dampeners.

Yeah, the difference is only very subtle. But as far as I know there is a different liner for every engine, or type of engine.

Here is a comparison with the 20NE/C20NE type liner, this one is from the CD auto. (slightly nibbled at by mice while it was in storage by the way )

20NE/C20NE:




C16NZ2/C18NZ:




The only real difference is around the middle where it sits above the intake manifold on the MPI engines and the top hat on the SPI engines.

Here's the totally different design on the V6 for good measure:




I know the diesel also had it's own design and I presume there was a different one for the Turbo, redtop, Ecotec and early carb engines too.

Honestly the differences are so subtle that it wouldn't make any difference if you have the wrong one on there.
Only a real pedant like me would notice or care about such a thing.

For once I've got some good news from one of my cars:



First time it's passed with no fuss since 2014.

I've booked all of next week off in A/L.
I plan to spend a considerable amount of the time polishing and waxing in preparation for the VBOA national meet on 8th & 9th of July.

It's always great to get a pass particularly one with no advisories. It's funny since I've owned cavaliers again I find myself worrying about failing on corrosion, more than anything else,something which you tend to forget about on newer cars.

The VBOA National Rally at Market Harborough is fast approaching and I've been scrambling to get my cars ready; my dad and I have chosen to take the LS and the CD auto this year.

Despite taking this week off work so that I could spend some time getting them looking good, so far most of it has been spent fixing some niggles that I should have done years ago.

First of all a new drosselklappenstellungssensor!!
That's a throttle position sensor to you and I.




Interestingly the C16NZ2 uses a more advanced magnetoresistive type sensor rather than the usual potentiometer type sensor found on the C20NE.

I had hoped that this may have been the cause of the pinking/nocking (pre-ignition) that this car has had since the late 90s.
(I think I mentioned this back on page 3 of this thread.)

Old on the right, new on the left:




Unfortunately this has not solved the knocking and I still get it under medium throttle loads.
Once again, it's fine on light and heavy throttle loads and it only happens when the engine is under strain such as going up hills.
So far I've just been managing it simply by the way I drive and also using super unleaded petrol helps an awful lot.
Still an on-going problem though.

On the up side, It could be my imagination but since fitting this the car does seem to have a bit more punch, especially in the higher rev range.


Next little job was to fit one of these bump stops:




I bought 4 of these form genuine parts search. When they arrived, one of the bags had two in it. Meaning I was sent 5 instead of 4, which was a nice surprise:




I've already fitted one to the V6 and one is destined for the Diplomat (if I ever get it back), which will leave me a couple spare if I ever need them.


Next up, something that has been bugging me for a long time, one of the bulbs behind the instrument cluster had blown leaving it unevenly illuminated:




So I took the clocks out:




Fitted 4 of these 12v 2w bulbs:




I also cleaned it inside and out:






Now the dash is fully lit:




The perceptive amongst you may have noticed the 113 mile difference between the before and after shots.
Well, while I was doing this, I decided to replace the speedo cable as the speedometer needle had begun to wobble around in a comical fashion at low speeds. A tell tale sign that the cable was knackered.

I tried for about a week to get a new cable but just couldn't find the right one. Frustratingly both Genuine parts search and Online-teile.com had them incorrectly listed as in stock when really they were not available. Luckily Vauxhall green parts came up trumps and found this for me:




It's the same length as my original one, just it has an elongated fitting on the gearbox end.
Not sure what the part number is but it's got the indent number MU. The original was LT.

Here is my old cable side by side with the new one:




Just for good measure I got one of these and fitted it at the same time.
My old one was probably fine but, what the hell:




Old cable removed:




New one in:




I've had a real bugger of a time fitting this today. Fitting the cable to the gearbox and instrument cluster was easy but fitting the rubber grommet/bung to the bulkhead has proven too difficult. There is just not enough hand room to fit it properly, so for the moment I've just left it. Obviously this doesn't make any difference to the working of the cable, but it would be nice to know that it's fitted properly and there aren't any unsealed holes in my bulkhead.

Anyway, it's nice not to have a wobbly speedo any more, just got to try and fit in the cleaning and detailing before Friday.

Tomorrow I'm going to see the original owner of my CD auto, Gordon Jackson. It's his 100th birthday so I'll be taking the car along for him to see again. I've got between now and 1pm today to get it looking nice for him and I've got to fit in some sleep somewhere as well.

First world problems I guess.

Just a thought, has the head been off the engine at all? If not it could be a build of carbon causing pre ignition and pinking?
Some great looking work going on there. Must get round to sorting a few of the niggles on mine.

Nice work James, good to have a well lit Dash but not keen on that 'bending/springing' of the lower cover section! Wouldn't like to tackle that if it was cold for fear of breaking something!
Have a look at your plug colour, might be worth trying a cooler running one that could help with the pinking.
Had an HC Viva long time ago that linked terrible, tried everything, eventually took head off for proper de-coke which cured it although I do think modern fuels and tighter control of mixture does make this less likely.

Alan

In my experience decokes are needed less often these days, however with 200k+ on it and if it's ever been used regularly around town I personally would just pop the head off it and probably rebuild the valve gear or replace it with lower milliage head. However if the pinking isn't bad I would probably just live with it until I had to remove the head for a different reason.

Thinking of the pre-ignition issue...
I am being very back to basics here.
Is the Octane Coding plug the correct way round.

I am sure that normal settings are 91 ron one way and 95 the other.
Otherwise I would consider the timing belt being just one tooth out, so that the timing is just a few degrees advanced.

I recall dropping my mk2 back by 5 degrees when changing from leaded to unleaded to avoid pinking.

I have had the head off my C18NZ about 4 times. Thanks to modern fuel additives, there was virtually no burnt on carbon build up, right upto 227,000 miles when I changed my whole engine.

Good point about timing one tooth out, few years ago we bought a MK4 Escort - full dealer service history, just how you like it.
When I changed the belt (belt & braces I like to know it's been done) the timing was one tooth out!
Dealers, wouldn't bother don't really know why we all want 'full dealers service history'
If you can't do it yourself find someone who is reliable.

Alan

Just a very minor update but I thought it would be worth mentioning for those of you who have done/plan to do the popular EGR blanking modification on the C16NZ2/C18NZ engines.

When I originally did this mod back in 2011 here, I simply put a screw into the breather hose. Well this worked fine for nearly 6 years but recently the hose started to split so it was time for a proper solution.

I found this on ebay:




It's simple 4mm silicone vacuum plug.
I wanted one in black, but they were out of stock at the time.

They fit perfectly, are a pretty cheep and finish the mod off pretty well:




Here's the link for all those who are interested:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silicone-Vacu ... 2749.l2649

A nice simple, and tidy little solution.

Being a former engineer, I would have gone belt and braces by drilling out the vacuum stub,
Then tapping a suitable thread and fitting a snug fitting bolt.
Guaranteed not to fail within the life span of the car.

But for 99% of people that would be creating un-necessary work - ha ha.