Woody's Probe - It started with a brake line

[Liggle]

Love the Probe, saw your thread on PH when you first bought it.

[Guest Hooli]

So, after 2 days without any catastrophic electrical failure, the Espace won't start and there's no spark nor anything coming from the coil. New coil time? ECP have one for about £30 made by BBT, any good?

 

Don't come here boasting about having the most reliable espace! Two days, who's gonna believe it's worked for that long?

 

/Useless post that doesn't help at all.

[Asimo]

Don't make assumptions when fault finding ignition!

 

It MIGHT be the coil but first - does the rotor arm turn with the engine? is it points n' condensor or electronic?

 

If it's electronic, is it connections, sensor, amplifier or coil?

 

If it's points n' condensor - do the points open and close? If they do, does the voltage at the coil change? do the points spark? Is the condensor loose, burst, short circuit etc? Are all of the connections good?

 

The coil is just one part in a system...do you feel £30 lucky?

[w00dy]

Thanks. I had a look through and decided to try the coil. The french made one looks old, but better built than the Chinese ECP one. Importantly though IT LIVES! Much to the joy of my neighbours because that stupid exhaust is embarrassingly loud.

[w00dy]

The Espace has ticked past 90k miles on the clock, 80k was apparently achieved around 2006 so it was quite the event. Although I only noticed today.

 

 

Nowhere to hold your Important business meeting or perhaps your picnic is about to be ruined by the weather? Don't worry, the Espace has you covered:

 

 

 

[Kringle]

Serious business can be conducted in that suite. I feel like it's missing something though. A pager perhaps?

[Guest Hooli]

Fax machine?

[Tomtation]

Got some serious love for a mk1 espace, even more for the V6 flava! Wouldn't say no to a probe either

[The Moog]

We had one as a family when I was a young boy. A visit to a damp Safari park did end up with us eating like that!

[w00dy]

So the probe went in for the MOT today. It failed.

 

 

Mostly because it needs new rear brake pads. Easy enough to get from RockAuto in the states, but is there a match available in the UK? Probably a Mazda from the late 80s. They look like this

 

 

 

Edit: Looks like there's a few options on eBay. Lovely.

[w00dy]

So after some new rear brake pads and a little welding to the exhaust, the Probe has passed its second MOT of this millennium. To celebrate it got a lovely new eBay stainless backbox. Perhaps a little larger than I would've chosen, but It's better than the downturned original and I do like an outwardly rolled tip.

 

[w00dy]

So the Espace has been helping me move house, something it is rather good at:

 

 

But not without issues. Firstly the indicator relay went bad and was making some dreadful noises and mostly deciding to flash to its own tune. So i headed into my unhappy place

 

 

Replaced and working nicely, but of course there are further issues. The stereo isn't working, it'll light up and make a small sound through the speakers when switched on, but won't play any radio station or accept a cassette, the display is also stuck and won't display anything other than this (clock mode cannot be accessed):

 

 

Any thoughts would be much appreciated, I will leave you with a quick pic of the "no curves allowed end of my local Mcdonald's car park.

 

[Exiled_Tat_Gatherer]

To have such a minor gripe with one of the most wonderful automative creations this planet has ever seen - you sir, are winning at life! 

[w00dy]

It's been a while and not much has happened. I sold the Espace to a chap who had bid and lost when I bought it and the clutch cable snapped on him immediately so he ended up in my lounge for 3 hours awaiting recovery. The Probe had a sticky caliper which then meant pumping the brakes a bit blew one of the pipes and since it wasn't running properly anyway I thought I'd go through it and unsurprisingly it's turned into a much bigger project than anticipated.

Since the hard lines are hard to access and probably original I decided the best thing to do was to replace them all, the nuts were the worst part, they'd become very crumbly. Since there's always been an intermittent fuel issue and it helps with the brake pipes, I decided to drop the tank. Definitely worth doing since it was full of crap and I'm hoping it will sort the fuel issues along with a new pump and hardware (it was almost as cheap as getting the hardware bits separately). The tank is ok externally, some surface rust where the rubber coating has separated, but it should clean up nicely.

 

 

 

This is what happens when you put a car in storage for 20  years, there was loads of crap on the strainer. Got some Bilt Hamber stuff ordered to hopefully clean out the tank and then I can get back to the brake pipes. 

 

Does anyone have any advice on a good but cheap brake pipe flaring kit? Also what should I do to protect the underside of the Probe? it's all original and very nice and I want to keep it that way.

[danthecapriman]

I sympathise with the manky tank, my Mercury had a similar issue. It’d sat for many years then when I put it back into use it stirred up all the rust and sediment in the tank blocking everything repeatedly. I had to get a brand new tank and pump in the end!

For brake flares I use one of these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Laser-3434-In-Situ-Hand-Held-Brake-Pipe-Flaring-Tool-Top-Quality-Bargain-Price/302613045872?epid=1781476634&hash=item467524a270:g:NogAAMXQfFJRQaMI

It looks a bit half arsed but it works well once you get used to it. Do a few practice flares first though. I’ve done quite a few pipes with one so far and done loads replacing all the lines on my Capri.

For protecting the underside I use Bilthamber Dynax UC clear wax. It’s a tough wax coating designed for use on car underbodys but it’s clear so it shows the cars paint etc colour through still. Great stuff and dead easy to put on with the aerosols too.

https://www.bilthamber.com/corrosion-protection-and-rust-treatments/dynax-uc

 

[320touring]

Good work so far!

 

Although, I can't help but think of this when I read the thread title..

 

 

[w00dy]

20 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

I sympathise with the manky tank, my Mercury had a similar issue. It’d sat for many years then when I put it back into use it stirred up all the rust and sediment in the tank blocking everything repeatedly. I had to get a brand new tank and pump in the end!

For brake flares I use one of these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Laser-3434-In-Situ-Hand-Held-Brake-Pipe-Flaring-Tool-Top-Quality-Bargain-Price/302613045872?epid=1781476634&hash=item467524a270:g:NogAAMXQfFJRQaMI

It looks a bit half arsed but it works well once you get used to it. Do a few practice flares first though. I’ve done quite a few pipes with one so far and done loads replacing all the lines on my Capri.

For protecting the underside I use Bilthamber Dynax UC clear wax. It’s a tough wax coating designed for use on car underbodys but it’s clear so it shows the cars paint etc colour through still. Great stuff and dead easy to put on with the aerosols too.

https://www.bilthamber.com/corrosion-protection-and-rust-treatments/dynax-uc

 

Hoping I can avoid a new tank. Haven't checked the postage from the US, but probably horrendous.

Awesome, I shall get that ordered and definitely do plenty of practice. I figure if I'm going to do them all I may as well learn a new skill .

Spray on and clear is perfect too, definitely going with that.

[danthecapriman]

17 minutes ago, w00dy said:

Hoping I can avoid a new tank. Haven't checked the postage from the US, but probably horrendous.

Awesome, I shall get that ordered and definitely do plenty of practice. I figure if I'm going to do them all I may as well learn a new skill .

Spray on and clear is perfect too, definitely going with that.

From memory I think my new gas tank was actually cheaper than the postage from the states!

 

That spray on clear wax is good stuff. It comes out with a slightly yellow-ish tinge but dries clear. If you go too heavy with it though it might stay yellow-ish! So far I’ve done the whole underside on my Capri with it and things like headlight bowls etc that I want to keep in body colour but give extra protection to.

heres a pic of a headlight bowl that has had the clear wax on it.

You can see in a few places where it’s pooled in yellow-ish colour but it’s since dried clear.

[Steve79]

If you need a new fuel tank, this apparently is what you need 

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F253992166039

Amazon.com: CPP Steel 16 Gallon Fuel Tank for Mazda 626, MX-6, Ford Probe: Automotive
https://www.amazon.com/CPP-Steel-Gallon-Mazda-Probe/dp/B01N787GS8