invacar LightBulbFun's Invacar & general ramble thread, index on page 1, survivors lists on Pages 24/134 & AdgeCutler's Invacar Mk12 Restoration from Page 186 onwards, still harping on...

[plasticvandan]

Looks very much like the leak is above and running down.the area under the dipstick looks saturated.worth cleaning it and running it up with a torch to see if you can spot the leak.could be a barrel gasket,rocket gasket,pushrod seal etc.pushrod quite likely as thst usually has oil running up it.

[lesapandre]

Get an old oven tray and put it under the engine when you park up to catch the oil drips. 

Check the oil is not in fact over-filled. It is difficult to follow these oil leaks - clean up the diff and check it's not that - if it's not that I'd live with problem if there is not an obvious fix. They probably all do/did it. 

It certainly won't be a cracked crank-case or oil reservoir as that would lead to a continuous flow and oil all over road IMHO.

Main thing is oil not getting onto the exhaust and causing smoking.

[somewhatfoolish]

The transfer box on my landrover has leaked since I bought it a decade ago, I've changed the oil twice and checked the level a few times between, the level has never dropped a detectable amount(calibrated finger poked through level/filling hole). Keep an eye on the size of the oily territory marking and if the rate of growth changes it may be of concern. The engine mount frame on both sides looks oily, so probably pushrod tubes. It's an old car, TADTS.

[barefoot]

25 minutes ago, somewhatfoolish said:

It's an old car, TADTS.

And when it gets bad enough to top up, a red light appears on the dash and a noise comes from the engine, like a sort of rattle. This is what it looks like under my Scirocco. 

[Christine]

And you feel it tighten up a bit too ....eh?

[chadders]

1 minute ago, Christine said:

And you feel it tighten up a bit too ....eh?

It would with his T2 as the warning light only comes on at either 5 or 7 psi if it's the same as mine.

[Snake Charmer]

1 hour ago, chadders said:

It would with his T2 as the warning light only comes on at either 5 or 7 psi if it's the same as mine.

The "It’s too late" lamp. 😳

Dez, that's not a great deal of oil just REV marking it's territory since being let out in public. 😊

As mentioned previously,  a tray under the engine after a good run will help identify the type of fluid and give you a rough idea where it's coming from. I quite often leave a car overnight on the ramp after a good thrap up the road to check for incontinence.

[LightBulbFun]

thanks for the input everyone theres some more good suggestions ill have a look at next time in that area, glad to hear it does not seem to be of too much concern to anyone, I had figured myself that unless it was actively dripping or such, it could be fairly safely filed under "just keep an occasional eye on it and keep checking levels as per usual routine checks" but as per my original post on this, I of course realise I have no real world experience in these manners so figured best get it posted about and see what learned folk of these beige pages make of it

 

speaking of oil stuff, one of the things I have noticed is in the couple times when REV has had her oil filter changed, the replacement oil filter has been a MANN W712/43 the standard called for oil filter for a Steyr puch engine like REV's is a MANN W712 without any suffix number on the end, so its been bugging me as to what the difference is? I have tried to google it but i cant seem to find much on it sadly, I do happen to have on hand  a new MANN W712 no-suffix oil filter I Have been thinking of just fitting anyways because the miss-match bothers me, but I figured like the oil leak i'd ask about it here incase its nothing to worry about?

[beko1987]

The bottom of my engine looks like that every year from my rocker cover gasket weep. Every year I wipe it up and tell myself I'll replace the gasket this year... 🤷

I'd clean it up first then keep an eye on it, can of brake clean should see it gone

[chadders]

What's the heating by, water or air?

If it's air oil leaks can be pretty problematic, I'll expand on this if it is and you want me to.

[Dyslexic Viking]

32 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

speaking of oil stuff, one of the things I have noticed is in the couple times when REV has had her oil filter changed, the replacement oil filter has been a MANN W712/43 the standard called for oil filter for a Steyr puch engine like REV's is a MANN W712 without any suffix number on the end, so its been bugging me as to what the difference is? I have tried to google it but i cant seem to find much on it sadly, I do happen to have on hand  a new MANN W712 no-suffix oil filter I Have been thinking of just fitting anyways because the miss-match bothers me, but I figured like the oil leak i'd ask about it here incase its nothing to worry about?

MANN W712/43 seems to have an anti return valve which MANN W712 does not have apart from that the filters seem identical.

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/mann-filter/963587?search=MANN-FILTER+Oil+filter+(W+712%2F43)

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/mann-filter/963573?search=MANN-FILTER+Oil+filter+(W+712)

I don't know how important the return valve is so can't help with that.

And W712 comes up here fitting on the Steyr Haflinger.

[Snake Charmer]

W712 has a bypass valve opening pressure of 2.5 Bar, W712/43 bypass pressure is 1.0 Bar with an anti drainback valve.

@Dyslexic Viking l was typing as you posted! 👍

[wuvvum]

31 minutes ago, chadders said:

What's the heating by, water or air?

If it's air oil leaks can be pretty problematic, I'll expand on this if it is and you want me to.

Engine is air cooled so I would assume the heating is via heat exchanger like on my Visa.

[LightBulbFun]

16 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

MANN W712/43 seems to have an anti return valve which MANN W712 does not have apart from that the filters seem identical.

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/mann-filter/963587?search=MANN-FILTER+Oil+filter+(W+712%2F43)

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/mann-filter/963573?search=MANN-FILTER+Oil+filter+(W+712)

I don't know how important the return valve is so can't help with that.

And W712 comes up here fitting on the Steyr Haflinger.

 

12 minutes ago, Snake Charmer said:

W712 has a bypass valve opening pressure of 2.5 Bar, W712/43 bypass pressure is 1.0 Bar with an anti drainback valve.

@Dyslexic Viking l was typing as you posted! 👍

very interesting! thanks for digging up that info  hopefully the drain-back valve is in the right orientation, I vaguely recall reading a horror story of someone fitting a slightly different but otherwise identical oil filter to their car, but the drain-back valve was the wrong way round, so it ended up blocking all the oil flow through the engine, or something along those lines

[chadders]

22 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Engine is air cooled so I would assume the heating is via heat exchanger like on my Visa.

That was my assumption.

If oil gets on it the resulting smokescreen in the cab can be more than a bit disconcerting, as I found out when I turned the heating on in my T2. Fortunately I was on the drive but I still dented the back bumper on a stone wall.

[LightBulbFun]

3 hours ago, chadders said:

That was my assumption.

If oil gets on it the resulting smokescreen in the cab can be more than a bit disconcerting, as I found out when I turned the heating on in my T2. Fortunately I was on the drive but I still dented the back bumper on a stone wall.

even better is when over winter the squirrels/other field critters fill up the cooling/heating system/ducts, the fins on the piston barrels etc with nuts, pine cones and other sundry items, and then you put the windscreen demister on you get a very dramatic show of smoke pouring down the windscreen 

but it smells very nice  

[Snake Charmer]

A remote control diesel heater would be a nice addition, step into a toasty warm and defrosted Model 70 on a cold day. 

[LightBulbFun]

in other small potato REV news, I have got the USB charger/volt meter I bought back in August 2019! for REV, on test  just got it charging up my iPad from a bench top PSU, just making sure it can at least survive this before I wire into REV!

rather amusingly the volt-meter does become slightly useless when you plug in a juicy USB device since you end up getting a little bit of voltage drop over its spindly flying wires from the load of the USB device so the built in volt meter drops by a couple hundred millivolts, unplug the USB device then the volt meter jumps up and agrees with what the bench top PSU is outputting, so I know the voltmeter itself is accurate at least  

I did look at replacing the spindly wires with something a bit more substantial for this reason, but due to the way its constructed theres not much space for that, if I can find another one of this style, I might pick it up for some more invasive experimentation in that regard, but for now ill just fit it as is with a suitable 2A inline fuse to be safe, and hopefully find somewhere accessible under the dashboard I can zip tie it too  

[dollywobbler]

Haflinger Technik is rather old school. Email or phone call the best idea. I have replaced the pushrod seals on TWC. Last time I had the rockers off, I used the cork gaskets. It has leaked ever since. I should have used some dabs of sealant to hold them in place perhaps. The self-adhesive gaskets sound a much better idea. TWC also leaks from the strainer gasket so that's something I need to address next service.

[D.E]

Invalid carriages in Amsterdam, 1974.

[brummiejon]

On 07/11/2024 at 13:32, D.E said:

It has the right colour!

https://www.carandclassic.com/la/C1802171

Looks like something out of Total Recall

[LightBulbFun]

16 hours ago, D.E said:

Invalid carriages in Amsterdam, 1974.

very interesting! its amazing to see that, thats from *1974* its quite the stark contrast from the much more refined and full enclosed/weather protected Model 70 that we produced at the same time!

I think this is one of those things that really goes to show the effort that the people running the Invalid Vehicle Scheme in the UK put in to try and give disabled people a means of independence, as much as people look down on the Model 70, it was still light years ahead what other countries had, if they even *had* an Invalid Vehicle scheme at all (or free health care at all...)

 

[LightBulbFun]

Speaking of Model 70's! I finally managed to bash my sleepcycle into something that included being awake during the short winter daylight hours, so I finally was able to take REV on her longest trip yet, to Wanstead and back along the A12

she picked up another taxi friend this time an LEVC  

got the windscreen fluid topped up, pleased to report for @dollywobbler no triangle of doom  and with the preflight checks done (pleased to report in the days she was standing the oil stains have not gotten much worse/bigger) I was underway, and before long found myself heading onto the A12! I am pleased to report she handled that with aplomb and I was crusing along at 50 without any issues (well apart from the fact, you cant actually hear what google maps is trying to tell you LOL) and before not too long I was at my destination 

which is the driving test centre I passed my driving test at back in 2021! I thought it would be fun to revisit it in REV and as above gave me a good way to stretch her legs along a route I was already pretty familiar with  

I did not spot any examiners about in my brief stay, but there was a steady stream of driving school cars as you can imagine! 

and this old 1970's Americian pickup truck went past as well which I thought was neat  

with the photos taken I was soon on my way back home, another 50Mph blat down the A12 (I did look at trying to get one of her on the other-side of the road with her directly next to the test centre but it was a bit busy for standing in the middle of the road for photographs!) during which REV also ticked over 100 miles since I got her back in July 2019 (23071 or 23072 depending on how much hooning @Slowsilver did in REV at the FoD before I arrived , is the milage she had when I got bought her ) 

and before not long I was home again (after diverting quickly to pick up some shopping)  

she also clocked up just over 30 miles since she arrived home on the 27th of October  (23143 is what she was on when she arrived home then)

all in all I am pretty pleased with this run! with the fact that I was able to get her bombing along at 50Mph without any issue  once your settled in your lane she will bowl along quite happily and relaxedly (I mean obviously its fairly loud in the cabin, but your not fighting the controls or such) speedo is fairly accurate too only over reading by about one or 2 miles an hour when at 50 which was nice to get confirmation of since I knew pretty well how accurate the speedos of earlier Model 70's where but I was not aware of anyone checking the accurecy of the large speedometers found on later Model 70's like REV 

 I also discovered the heater/demister is pretty effective at those speeds you actually feel the hot air, which is nice  

 

[Dobloseven]

Seems everything has finally fallen into place.Quite a heartwarming tale really, in these not especially happy times.Keep up with the shite spotting,it never ceases to amaze me what is running about on the roads.

[High Jetter]

32 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

I finally was able to take REV on her longest trip yet, to Wanstead and back along the A12

Great news, you must be chuffed. I know it took a while, but your perseverance has paid off with much help from some very decent people.

[auntiemaryscanary]

Great to hear you are starting go further in your 3 wheel dream machine. It will be keeping the battery topped up too.

It might be worth (yes I know I mentioned know this a long time ago) calling in to some local independent garage/mechanic places to sound them out about doing work on it when it's required. I'd imagine you may get a straight no from some places but there could be a place who would be interested doing it as it's quirky/distinctive and not the usual modern stuff. Just a thought.

[LightBulbFun]

18 hours ago, Dobloseven said:

Seems everything has finally fallen into place.Quite a heartwarming tale really, in these not especially happy times.Keep up with the shite spotting,it never ceases to amaze me what is running about on the roads.

indeed! there are still plenty of small things to take care of, quality of life things and stuff like i'd like to take care of eventually (all the seals in REV, windscreen, door, window sliders etc could really do with refreshing/replacing) but its really awesome to have her home and that reassurance that I can suit up and head downstairs and disappear into the middle distance if i have to or whenever I want to  just as I did! I decided I wanted to go for a blast down the A12 and back, and was able to do so with minimal thought or worry or prepwork, I mean there are still things external to REV that are a PITA, getting dressed and having to deal with all the stairs in the flat with tools in hand especially is a bit of a pain, but yeah its very nice feeling to know I can just get into REV, set the sat-nav. belt up and and head out! 

on the shite-spotting front, I was not able to get any photos of it, because well,  I was driving  but on the 5th of November, at the aforementioned box junction a Red Mercedes on an E suffix plate went the other way, it looked a lot like an R107, but on an E suffix? maybe it was a private plate...

and then today(yesterday?) when coming back home I passed a sandy beige coloured MGB GT going the other way  

17 hours ago, auntiemaryscanary said:

Great to hear you are starting go further in your 3 wheel dream machine. It will be keeping the battery topped up too.

It might be worth (yes I know I mentioned know this a long time ago) calling in to some local independent garage/mechanic places to sound them out about doing work on it when it's required. I'd imagine you may get a straight no from some places but there could be a place who would be interested doing it as it's quirky/distinctive and not the usual modern stuff. Just a thought.

indeed thats still very much on the list to do in-fact during one of my previous trips out when talking to a member of the public who was like "what is that!" he actually gave me a business card for the garage that he happened to work for , so I have got that to look into in itself  (see if they are any good or not!)

its been quite fun seeing/hearing peoples reactions to seeing REV, so far I have only come across 2 people who actually know what REV is, most people dont have a clue what REV is, but find her very cool none the less  I even had one person even ask me if it was a Citroen! I mean air cooled flat twin and breezaway rear window styling sure, but Citroen Ami it is not! (and I also had one person make the obligatory "hey its the Mr Bean car!" reffering to the Reliant Regal from that show) I I think I am getting fairly good at giving the 2 toots of the horn when I see someone point or notice REV  

as an aside on the driving front, I have discovered traffic calming bollards are really quite fun in REV, because you dont have to slow down at all for them, you can just chuck it in with gay abandon and enjoy the body roll as you slalom through them at speed  (and today I also had my first "how fast can it go?" from a van driver pulled up along side ) 

[Pieman]

Just sent you a PM Dez  

[Dyslexic Viking]

I came across the picture and the story of a Norwegian home built invalid carriage that may be of interest.

Quote

Electric car at Yven i Tune, Sarpsborg Norway, built in 1939-40. The car was made by "Radio-Nilsen", Nils Robert Nilsen (1904-86), who built his own electric car. He ran Nilsen's radio business at Kirkeparken, in St. Marie gate 69. The reason he built the car may have been his disability (polio).

[martc]

Just a thought about the oil leak. Using the Mk1 human nose what does it smell like? You talked about a differential, if that uses hypoid oil (which they normally do) there is a distinct 'cat wee' smell about it, quite unlike engine oil. The smell could help to determine the source.