M54 broken thermostat bolt

t-tony

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Stop sowing the seeds of doubt:thumbsup:=))

Tony.
 

Brian H

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Glad you got it out, Great news :thumbsup:
 

mrscalex

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Bet you're happy now.:thumbsup: So, onto the next problem...:whistle:
We started work on rebuilding that thing in mid-April. The cooling system was the last known problem standing in our way of actually driving and enjoying the thing after those 6 months.

There's plenty of small jobs left to do but I truly hope there are no more problems, certainly not as stinky as that one :)
 

pgunter

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Great news and glad that worked. I know the feeling of the last thing left to try ... lol..
 

mrscalex

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Actually there is one thing I ought to sort out as a priority. I'll start a new thread. But it's bizarre what happened and it's difficult to describe without a picture.

Essentially I can't get the big bolt at the bottom in to the gearbox/engine join. And it's bearing quite a lot on that one. The thread area is physically broken. How that happened is the bizarre bit worth a thread on its own as a cautionary tale.
 

mrscalex

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Well all good when we started it up with a freshly charged battery. No leaks and worringly easy to bleed.

We had a great test drive, the first time we've driven it properly since the engine swap/rebuild and MOT. It drove really nicely!
 

t-tony

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Great news Rob. Now, what's next?:)

Tony.
 

mrscalex

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Great news Rob. Now, what's next?:)

Tony.
Thanks Tony. There's quite a bit of fettling to do but that will be done as and when. Top of the list is servicing the wing mirrors and window mechanisms so I can get the door cards back on.

In terms of my other projects. Time for a bit of break while I catch up with other stuff. But I then have a 1.9 that needs brakes and suspension sorting. And a 2.2 that needs camshaft sensors. I'll be moving them on promptly without making too much more of a fuss on them. The next big project is another 2..2, a lovely car, that has a partially melted loom.
 

the Nefyn cat

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Melted loom? Had some experience of that in the past. A muppet of a young army officer bought himself a small Renault with a burnt loom, and rewired it using yellow wires. The whole lot. Made fault finding a touch harder than normal.:banghead: And that was the sort that was supposed to lead us to war.:wideyed:
 

mrscalex

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This one had a short in the boot, probably from chaffed or damaged wires. Whatever it did the fuse didn't blow and it fused a number of the wires together. And the circuit it went wrong on was as innocent as the boot courtesy light!

I'm going to have to strip most of the interior out to get access. And then I expect to run replacement wires the length of the car. No patching for me. And I'll use the right colours and rating for it.
 

t-tony

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Could you not source a replacement loom or part loom from Andy or Adrian if they have a suitable donor?

Tony.
 

mrscalex

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Could you not source a replacement loom or part loom from Andy or Adrian if they have a suitable donor?

Tony.
I've got a complete loom myself. But it's a big, big job to change the whole thing. A much bigger job in my view than for example an engine swap. The driver's side under the dash is particularly fiddly.

I was looking at grafting sections from my spare loom. And it's still an option. But when you get a problem like that the loom fuses together all the way back to the fuse box. Depending on what's fused together I think discrete single wires end to end are simplest. But if I find the whole thing has become a molten tangled mess I may have to graft the loom instead. I don't think that will be the case as I was told the car was otherwise still running and working correctly.
 

t-tony

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I've got a complete loom myself. But it's a big, big job to change the whole thing. A much bigger job in my view than for example an engine swap. The driver's side under the dash is particularly fiddly.

I was looking at grafting sections from my spare loom. And it's still an option. But when you get a problem like that the loom fuses together all the way back to the fuse box. Depending on what's fused together I think discrete single wires end to end are simplest. But if I find the whole thing has become a molten tangled mess I may have to graft the loom instead. I don't think that will be the case as I was told the car was otherwise still running and working correctly.
Fair point Rob, I think it sounds like the same fault Dino had on his car. May well be worth sending him a PM mate.

Tony.
 

mrscalex

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Fair point Rob, I think it sounds like the same fault Dino had on his car. May well be worth sending him a PM mate.

Tony.
Yes I read up about that previously. I would say it's the identical issue.

Pretty scary actually. I've little doubt in either case the next thing would have been the car going up in flames. The previous owner of this one said there was nasty smoke coming from the fuse box into the cabin.

He couldn't even claim on insurance as they said it was a mechanical fault. Although the ironic thing was if he hadn't have been diligent and left it and it did go up in flames he could then have claimed.

On the plus side it means the car was never written off. I'll do the job properly and no reason it shouldn't return to service and retain it's full worth.
 
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