Return to a Cavalier - Satin Red Diplomat.

[Lowrider Dave]

Top mincing! Good luck with MOT.

[cavalier1990]

Good work Tony, I have held off doing my front dampers for the very reason they are hard to get undone. I suppose at some point I'll have to bite the bullet as Archer feels a little 'wayward' on corners...

Yeah, an absolute PITA. But well worth the effort..

Of course, as always with this car, theres a sting in the tail.. I now can't get the bonnet to release.. I know the catch is well greased as I cleaned and lubricated it a couple of months ago. think the handle pivot has come adrift, and is not pulling the cable strongly enough..

Just check cable is not caught under the strut top mount plate, there is a gap between that and body, and it catches in there sometime, and cable gets mashed when the suspension pulls down.

[tonyo]

Straight through! OK, second attempt, but it had nothing more than a couple of advises this time.

The advises are..

Engine oil leak - Had already half diagnosed a sump gasket leak, and cleaned the sump before MOT. Tester let me under the ramps and we confirmed that the gasket is weeping.

Coolant leak - Noted that the coolant was dropping, and the car was running hotter than normal (slight lack of pressure suspected) MOT man showed me the coolant dripping off the bottom of the rigid pipe at the back of the engine. Will have a look at that soon.

Front Brake flexies slightly perished - Will do all four if I'm doing it.

Tester commented that body wise, it was in a great condition for its age. Not really any early warnings structurally..

[tonyo]

Just check cable is not caught under the strut top mount plate, there is a gap between that and body, and it catches in there sometime, and cable gets mashed when the suspension pulls down.

Thanks. In this case it was just that the cable and handle were really old and worn..

[James McGrath]

Congratulations to the old girl.

On the road for another year.

[tonyo]

Congratulations to the old girl.

On the road for another year.

You'd have thought, wouldn't you. But, as ever, this car kicked back when I investigated the coolant leak.

Could clearly see where the issue was..



Had been leaking for a while.. I'd noticed the levels dropping, but never really understood where it was going until now.



Removing the pipework is somewhat of a ballache.. But a few hours perseverance, and it was out.. Whilst removing the connections, one of the jubilees on the rear hoses was only finger tight, thinking I'd cracked it, I carried on and removed the solid pipe to get a good shot at cleanup..



Whats that feint line under the mould mark?


Uh Oh..



That'll be the issue then! I HAD to replace it in order to remove the car from the garage so that the GTE could go back in.. At least I know where it's leaking now.. Genuine NOS Replacement is on it's way from the Bay of E for £17.

Whilst I was under there, I spent a couple of hours cleaning more oil and old grot from the bottom of the engine..







Found out my A/C compressor is made by an American company in Korea too!



So, it's now back on the drive awaiting more parts..

New Solid water branch pipe, both new rad fan switches, and a new crank position sensor - all on their way..

[tonyo]

So, the car is continuing on it's mission to single-handedly deplete the International stocks of Cavalier Spares..

New bits arrived.

Pukka Tube..



Made in the same place as the car too..



Electromagical bits to be swapped out..

[Robsey]

It seems that we have both been depleting the remaining stock of GM parts.

Nice to have lots of new shiny parts in packages with blue and white labels and holograms on.
But it gets very expensive.

Good to see another Cavalier being kept on the road and being treated to well deserved tlc.

[Lowrider Dave]

Tony, where did you order the top tube from please?

[tonyo]

Ebay Dave..

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-Vauxh ... 1859342392

Also trade as Vaux-world..

[Lowrider Dave]

Ebay Dave..

Cheers!
Now why didn't I think of looking there!? Doh.

[tonyo]

The Cavalier kicks once more...

Yesterday evening I swapped the water pipe. Because I'd put it back with the jubilees facing the right way, I managed to do the job in about 40 minutes.. Winner..

After refilling it, I started it up to check for leaks and make sure all was well..

Sniff.. sniff.. Petrol..

Oh. The fuel feed pipe is cracked and weeping petrol..

Why? Why does this car reward a repair with another problem immediately?

[Robsey]

The joys of a "twenty something" year old car.

These repairs are to check to see if you still love the old girl or not.
Like a real female - they need regular attention and encouragement.

[Lowrider Dave]

I am a similar petrol smell problem - the joys!

[Robsey]

I am a similar petrol smell problem - the joys!

You actually smell of petrol Dave?
Time for a change of soap / pit spray / after shave. Unless your other half likes that sort of thing.

[Lowrider Dave]

Lol

[tonyo]

Just a bit of mucking around with that cars today, between friends coming over etc..

Late afternoon, I had a little play with the 'spare' SC303 radio from last years Billing, seeing if it would work in the GTE, no go. By chance, I stuck the dead SC804 from the Cav in, and it duely sprung into life!

So, without even stopping to think, I whacked it back where is should be, and after a year sitting on the windowledge of the garage, it seems to be back in full form.



Really happy with that, I took the working SC303 fom the Cav to the GTE, and replaced this JVC unit with it..



OK, not totally correct, but still more in period with the car..

[James McGrath]

Nice one!

I do like the SC804 radio. Noticeably better than the standard SC303.
My Diplomat being slightly later, came with the SC303. Managed to find an SC804 on eBay and put that in instead.

By the way, moisture and humidity have a big effect on the removable LCD screens.
I noticed that when my LS was unused for long periods of time I would get dead pixels on the screen.
Try removing it and storing it in a dry place indoors for a while. Sometimes the pixels come back to life.

[humbucker]

OEM+ FTW. Nice to see lots of tidy genuine parts being used, Tony. That radio is ace!

[dazzlersri]

Just read through this thread again, lots of good work gone into a lovely car ! Looks like it's given you the run around on occasion, but then again don't they all !

[tonyo]

They certainly do Dazzle.. This one seems to be constant.

Not a great deal happenned with the problem child recently.. I had rather a large 'sense of humour failure' with it.

A couple of weeks back, I noticed that the passenger carpet was wet once again. Mopping it with a white rag, it was pink water. Great! I'd got another leak in the heater matrix. After some very short words, and a couple of days thoughts about selling or breaking it, I decided to have another look.

It appeared that the leak was coming from the pipe unions (on the AC Cavaliers, the feed and return pipes are separate, rather than being attached to the unit like the non-AC version). Maybe it was just the O-rings, as I hadn't replaced them when I swapped the matrix.

I clamped the feed and return hoses in the enging bay to save draining the whole system of fresh coolant, and removed the pipes. The O-Rings were indeed knackered..



Old ones were hard and plastic like.. New ones nice and rubbery..

Connected it back up, and the footwell is no longer wet!

From there, it's been running around with no real effort to look after it.. It's got to earn my trust again.

During the last week, Pete mailed me and said he'd spotted soemthing hanging down whilst it was parked in the car park at work. His diagnosis of the offending article was correct.



Thankfully the bracket on the exhaust has a little bent tab, so it hadn't fallen off. Replaced it fairly easily, and started to feel a bit happier with it once more.

Next Job - New Sump Gasket - The one on the car is leaking oil at quite a frightning rate.

[Lowrider Dave]

Good to see progress Tony. Cav's can get you down, I know that feeling.

[James McGrath]

When they work though, they pick you right back up again.
It'll be worth it in the end.

[cavalier1990]

It appeared that the leak was coming from the pipe unions (on the AC Cavaliers, the feed and return pipes are separate, rather than being attached to the unit like the non-AC version). Maybe it was just the O-rings, as I hadn't replaced them when I swapped the matrix.

I clamped the feed and return hoses in the enging bay to save draining the whole system of fresh coolant, and removed the pipes. The O-Rings were indeed knackered..

Interesting to note that about the AC equipped cavs Tonyo, will certainly check my dippy, maybe even just replace the rubbers. Did you get these genuine parts?

[tonyo]

If you delve down into the passenger footwell, on the side of the centre console, there is a small cover, held on by one screw, that, when removed allows access to the feed and return to the matrix. Have a look behind there and you'll see the two Ally pipes clamped in to the side of the matrix..

Here you go. (Pics from the 'disaster')




Honestly, if they're undisturbed, and not weeping.. Leave them be. They may not be rubbery any more, but they're sealed, and theres no point disturbing them.

When I replaced the burst matrix, I just shoved the pipes back with the existing o-rings. I should have replaced them at that time really. No - they were just from a generic box of o-rings from <ahem> Halfords...

Today..

Thanks to the really awesome people at GPS/Autovaux, I had a little delivery.



4 Oil filters (takes my stock to 7!), 10 litres of Genuine GM 10W40 (incredibly good price too!), and a baffled sump gasket for the Cav.

I also had a two legged puller delivered, so that I can swap the 5th gear from the spare F16W box to the GTE's F16C to calm it down at motorway speeds.. Problem is, I think I overestimated the size of tool needed..



Theres no way thats going to work on the tight confines of the 5th gear! Oh well, another tool for the cupboard, I'll keep it in case a small asteroid needs removing from the core of the earth or something..