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Rave's Motors - 12/4/19 ST170 Step 1: MOT Step 2: Profit


Rave

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The inners do wear quickest, usually when the calipers are starting to bind. I'd have used the tool for the brakes, much easier and less chance of ripping a seal than using a pair of pliers.

 

The fluid isn't a good sign, the seals are goosed. Might last a few months or more but it won't get better. The plating on the cylinder comes off and ruins the seal. I'd get the better calipers on an exchange basis from ECP, should last longer. If you leave it though it might not give you much warning and probably piss fluid all over the new pads.

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Yow, they're over 100 quid even with 35% off though :( . Thanks though, I will keep a close eye on it and assume they will need doing. I'm expecting trouble at the MOT to be honest, we'll find out soon enough as it's due at the end of the month.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, the Mondeo apparently really hates going to Heathrow Airport. Late last year it conked out at Heston Services when the alternator went; today it didn't even quite get to the A4. After an hour or so of trundling along through very heavy traffic, the road had just started to clear up a bit when I noticed a cloud of what looked like smoke in the rear view mirror. I hoped it was the LDV Pilot next to me, but no such luck. As I slowed down, the steam started coming out of the bonnet as well, so I bailed into the nearest parking space- fortunate to find one there, really. There was already a fairly big puddle on the road by the time I got out to have a look.

 

It seems to have come from the pipe that comes out of the bottom of the water pump housing, but there's so little space in the engine bay of a Mondy V6 that it's hard to tell. There was certainly coolant dripping from the pipe though, and plenty on the front bit of undertray underneath it. It drove onto the recovery truck no bother so I hope I've not done it any permanent damage. The temperature gauge didn't move from where it always sits in the middle.

 

The recovery truck guy reckoned it could be the pump itself that's failed. It could well be original for all I know. They're not particularly expensive, found one on ebay for 48 quid delivered, but I suppose I'll try removing the current one to have a look at it before I order one. It could be just the pipe, even. Anyone got any experience of Mondeo cooling systems? I know bugger all about it. I did top it up with a litre of premixed pink stuff a year or so ago when I noticed the expansion tank was low, so it has probably been leaking for a while.

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I had a coolant hose lag water out of mine because the clip holding it on snapped, it was the big pipe that goes from the waterpump and joins onto something else on that side of the engine near the middle of the vee (sorry I can't picture in my head what it looks like any better than that) It wasn't immediately obvious until I took it off and the clip fell in half in my hand.

 

Mk3’s do have the plastic impeller water pumps like the Mk2’s but it was a revised design and not a known trouble spot on the mk3, not to say it definitely isn't that of course, pumps do fail. Fortunately it's just about the easiest job on this engine.

 

So long as you haven't overheated it you should be fine, they really, really, really don't like being overheated.

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I suspect that pipe to be fair. I actually have a length of suitable looking pipe knocking about; I bought a foot of it for a quid to replace the crank breather hose that always collapses on them, and still have 6" left. I'll stick it on with proper jubilee clips I guess. Is it just a case of refilling the tank, running it, and refilling until the bubbles stop coming out then? I guess it will be obvious if the pump's not pumping?

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Not necessarily, sometimes when the impeller in the pump has gone or is failing it gets just enough inertia at idle to keep the water pumped, when you increase speed the impeller is won't spin enough and it gets hot. It's quite a well known problem on the V6, the pump, moreso on earlier models which didn't have the metal pump.

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Well, I've just finished scrabbling around under the car. I'll post some pics later, but long story short, I cut the hose I was suspicious of off and found a split in it. I then bodged a bit of apparently unsuitable radiator hose as best I could and clamped it on really tight with jubilee clips, despite not being able to ram it all the way onto the barb on the pump I'm hoping it will hold. Absolute pig of a job as access is so tight. Anyway- I put in the 2l of coolant I had available and it seems to have sucked some down...but not all of it, there's still some sat in the tank by the hose. I'm going to go and get some more and run it again to see if I can get the water circulating, at the moment it doesn't feel as if the hose from the radiator has anything in it.

 

How long can I run the engine for without circulating water without buggering it?

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OK well here's some pics for anyone interested.

 

post-20573-0-11816700-1506100148_thumb.jpg

 

My workshop for the day. It smelt strongly of dog piss, I suspect that someone has been allowing their dog to relieve themselves on my car (even saw a fresh spray of it on the back of the Fiesta yesterday) though it could be the local foxes. It made the job that bit more pleasant, anyway  :rolleyes: .

 

post-20573-0-37418700-1506100338_thumb.jpg

 

This is the pipe I thought was the culprit. I didn't put the split there (I cut the other end to get it off) though it could have happened when I was trying to wrestle it off, I suppose.

 

post-20573-0-55202100-1506100463_thumb.jpg

 

That's the pipe I used to replace it. I had to cut the first length off again when I found that I'd put the jubilee clips on orientated so that I'd have no chance of doing the top one up- fortunately the guy in the motor factors had cut me off about 20" and only charged me for a foot. It looks about the right size in the pic, but it was a bit too big for the lower pipe, and a bit too small to go over the barb on the pump, despite me putting a drop of silicone spray down it. Talking of which, here's the view from below of where I was trying to get it:

 

post-20573-0-62507500-1506100891_thumb.jpg

 

The curved pipe runs off in front of the sump somewhere. It was full of coolant anyway, so I'd clearly not lost it all. Anyway, after about 30 minutes of swearing and trying various tools (ended up using a 7mm 1/4" socket on the jubilee clips in the end) I'd nipped the bottom one up tight enough to compress the hose tight around the pipe, and the top one tight enough that I can't see how the hose could come off the barb, even though it's only about half way on.

 

post-20573-0-76504200-1506101116_thumb.jpg

 

Anyway, I mixed up the 1l of coolant concentrate I bought yesterday with 1l of de-ionised water (had to stop myself reaching for the cold tap  :shock: ), bunged it in, and started the engine. It seemed to drink most of it so I stopped it and went off to buy some more. Anyway to cut to the chase a bit when I started the engine again it started smoking from below the cylinder head, so I feared the worst (I hear they can blow the head gasket straight to the outside world, bypassing the water jacket). But it didn't sound unhealthy and smelled of burning electrics rather than combustion gasses, so I kept topping up the water and squeezing the radiator top hose. In the end after adding 2.8L of coolant the level in the bottle stayed above the Max marker. I whanged the heater on full and it got very hot as the temperature gauge climbed towards the top. Putting the cap back on the expansion tank caused the level to drop in between Min and Max, and my bodged up pipe doesn't seem to be leaking. The fan eventually kicked in after about 15 minutes. The only thing I was a bit unhappy about was that the radiator top hose, while clearly getting hot, didn't seem to be full of water- if you gave it a good squeezing it would fill up, but then it drained again. Is that normal?

 

Fingers crossed, anyway. I might take it for a spin after dinner to see if it behaves. I'll probably take the Peugeot for my journey tomorrow morning though, despite having a large person and a disabled person to pick up, it'll be a real pain in the arse if I break down!

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Update. I took it for a 4 mile drive around town just to test it on Friday night and it seemed fine. I grabbed the keys on Saturday morning and immediately noticed a puddle underneath it when I came out, so turned around in disgust and got the keys for the Peugeot instead.

 

Today I've done what I probably should have done in the first place, and ordered the proper pipe from Ford for a mere 18 quid. I daresay I'll need another four litres of coolant though :rolleyes: .

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  • 3 months later...

Update. The Mondeo eventually lost all its coolant out of the small leak at the bottom of my bodged hose. I still haven't done anything with it other than order a bit of silicone reducing hose that I hope will fit. I've been using the Pug for everything since, including four up shopping trips and a trip to Yorkshire and back which it managed on 6 gallons of diesel, 70MPG. Unfortunately it has just started making a loud grinding noise from the brakes, which I am assuming will be the problem noted in every other Pug 106 discussion I have seen, that of the shoe lining material coming loose. Replacement shoes are 20 quid from ECP but apparently I can't re-use the hub nuts, and I can't see them on the ECP site. Anyone got any pointers for me? I need it working for Monday, and typically I've got various things lined up to do in the meantime, so I hope it's not too involved a job :( .

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They are to be replaced because of the way they are peened over to stop then undoing and the wheel coming off.

 

If you prise off the dustcap you will be able to see if they have been peened in areas other than where the recess is; if not they will tighten to a different point on the 'other side ' revealing a virgin area to be peened.

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Ah, that makes sense, I will whip the wheels off to have a look later. Annoyingly my trolley jack is at my in-laws half a mile away and I now don't have a working car to go and fetch it! So I will have to do it this evening.

 

Do you have to undo the peening in some way before removing the nut, or does it just come loose by itself when you attack it with a breaker bar? I suppose I had better check that I have a 32mm socket, as well.

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Thanks, yes I realized I was being dim and have just been and had a look after strolling round for my trolley jack. Sadly the hubnut had a smashed up area in addition to the peened one so new ones will be needed. The dust cover looks to have been on and off a few times too!

 

So if anyone knows how to find them on the ECP site...

 

Before I go buying the shoes I will jack the car up and spin the wheels just to make sure it is actually the rears at fault. Have had to ask my brother if he has my 32mm socket as well, I think I lent it to him a couple of years ago to use with a bottom bracket tool...

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Right well sorry about this, the rear hub nut chat turns out to be a red herring. I decided to drive the car round the block while applying the handbrake just to be sure it was the drums, and I couldn't get the noise to repeat itself. So I applied the footbrake and the car ground to a halt with the brakes stuck on. Jacked up both sides and found that the offside was the most likely culprit. I removed the wheel- my new Lidl 12V impact gun made a massive meal of loosening the bolts, but got there in the end- and found this:

 

post-20573-0-01499600-1514565405_thumb.jpg

 

Which doesn't look good, TBH. The disc is scored, of course. I've just bunged a set of pagid discs and pads into my ECP basket and applied the discount code, and it comes to 30 quid, which is a pretty trivial sum. However I daresay that piston is going to cause a lot of mischief with the seal when I try and force it back in, right?

 

I'm assuming that it's a Bendix system, BTW?

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Hmm. A remanufactured caliper is apparently £50 after the discount code and assuming I get the £23.99 surcharge back. I have never fitted a caliper before though, presumably I will need a brake bleeding kit as well? If I decide to buy a caliper refurb kit I suppose I'm still going to need to bleed the brakes. Please advise :) .

 

It doesn't look like I'm going to have a working car by Monday, whatever I do. Unless I pay a garage to do it tomorrow, I suppose...

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OK cool, thanks. I guess it's worth a try to get me mobile for Monday. By brake grease you mean red rubber, right?

 

Annoyingly I have apparently missed the 5.30pm deadline for getting it delivered to my local store so it's up at the crack of dawn for me tomorrow to cycle over to Woolwich, probably in the pissing rain!  :rolleyes:

 

Edit- would wet and dry paper work on the piston?

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It would be well worth nipping the caliper off and popping the piston out for a proper clean. Make sure you clean the bit of the bore to the outside of the seal groove as corrosion here is often what makes them stick. While you are at it take the seal out and give the caliper a warm........then remove the bleed nipple while warm.

 

Piston seals will be ok again with a wipe and a good clean of the groove it sits in.

 

It reads like a lot but will take you half hour a side.

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Hmm. A remanufactured caliper is apparently £50 after the discount code and assuming I get the £23.99 surcharge back. I have never fitted a caliper before though, presumably I will need a brake bleeding kit as well? If I decide to buy a caliper refurb kit I suppose I'm still going to need to bleed the brakes. Please advise :) .

 

It doesn't look like I'm going to have a working car by Monday, whatever I do. Unless I pay a garage to do it tomorrow, I suppose...

Easy job. Clamp flexi,Slacken the caliper to carrier bolts, slacken union, then undo the previous bolts, then spin the caliper off the flexi. Then bleed off, a eezibleed is about a tenner on trade usually, if your working on your own.

 

Wouldn't fuck about with the piston, it'll more than likely leak anyway, the plating usually comes off and fucks the seal.

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