2009 CashCow - My friends wife's new qashqai

[beko1987]

18 minutes ago, sierraman said:

J&R for the driveshaft. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/143952355497?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=cQL39ZdRRLG&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=QOvj0cTJQtq&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Their the ones who I've been finding. Seems reasonably straightforward to swap, especially if I'm changing the bottom arm while I'm there. Going to inspect the pass side tomorrow but there's no grease shite everywhere so far 🤞

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Wire brush and sheep jiz Lanoguard on that subframe. I need to do the same with my rear subframe when the weather is less shit. 

[dean36014]

I had a nightmare with driveshafts for a citroen dispatch from j&r. First off they sent me the wrong shaft completely.  As I had the van dismantled I nipped over to Birmingham where they are made and got it exchanged for the correct one. Went to fit it and it just would not push into the final drive. Checked the spline count and all good. Tried again giving it a love tap with a copper mallet and still wouldn't engage.  Got the micrometer out and the bloody thing was nearly half a millimeter to large to go into the bearing.  At this point I thought sod it I'll nick the outer cv joint and use it on my existing shift along with all the new gaiters. I then discovered there was a difference in driveshaft diameters too. It got thrown like a javelin into the scrap pile. Never again will I buy one from there.

[Mrcento]

13 hours ago, beko1987 said:

I hear ya, but I don't think my Aldi 40v Impact driver would have helped me much there, nor created much friction. 

Doesn't need to be fast or hard (oh err), it can be done by hand,  i've done loads over the years, Just need to hammer the tightest fitting one you can to it on the top (The cheap multi spline sockets are best, more edges to 'grab'), and spin, it'll slide around and feel like it'll be a useless exercise, turning pretty easily after the first half rotation for 10-15 seconds by hand then suddenly start squeaking louder and louder, another 10-15 seconds and it'll just get very tight and fuse as the friction builds and the metal expands before it won't turn any more, then just undo as normal and launch the locker/socket into the nearest skip as one.

[beko1987]

Today is cambelt day! 

I've been out and found the last locking pin location under the starter motor, fired the car up and let it idle for a bit so it'll start more easily later, sprayed plus gas over the lower engine mount I also need to remove, and getting the kids sorted so I can leave them for a while until mum gets here and having one final coffee before getting started! 

It's not raining yet 🤞

[twosmoke300]

When you tighten the crank pulley - only do the initial torque ( 100nm maybe ? ) using the timing pin to lock the crank while you use a torque wrench .

If you use the pin when you do the angle tightening bit you could bend it / break it and cause yourself a world of pain .

Just mark the bolt head with a pen and use the ugga dugga to do the 90/180 degrees it needs . You can still leave the pin in for this as you aren’t applying so much force as if you were using a breaker bar 

[beko1987]

Thanks! I've got an assistant I can use to sit on the brakes too inside the car which will help. 

That's where I am now tbh. Waiting for my mum to arrive. Diesel system is removed

It's already had a fuel filter in the past

I've not got special blanking plugs so used tin foil on the fuel pipe connectors 

I've got every engine mount bolt cracked off now, and once the crank bolt is off I'll get the engine supported and off with the mounts and we begin 😬

Dumb question but the longer of the 3 timing pins I have is for the crank right? Then the 2 other same sized ones are for the shafts up top... That's how it seems in my head, I'll find out soon! 

[Supernaut]

I have no idea how old the fuel filter is in my Megane.

Wonder if that's part of why it lugs lower down? Fuck knows.

 

I didn't realise these 1.5 dcis were single cam until after I'd paid my neighbour to do the cambelt on the Megane last June. He did the belt, tensioner, water pump plus a tired engine mount for about £400 though, so not too bad.

For context my neighbour is a mechanic for a living, then he does homers in his own workshop in the evenings and charges less than half the hourly rate as the garage he works at. He even does pre-MOTs in his workshop then takes the car down to the garage 3 miles away himself (and he's usually the one testing them). It's a very agreeable setup.

[Sigmund Fraud]

55 minutes ago, twosmoke300 said:

Just mark the bolt head with a pen and use the ugga dugga to do the 90/180 degrees it needs .

Some manufacturers (like Honda) specifically advise against using an impact driver for angle tightening of crank bolts.

But the torque required is such that even the longest breaker bar known to man isn't enough. So I also use the trusty Milwaukee. I may have hesitated if I was working on a McLaren F1, but for daily shitters it works just fine.

[beko1987]

New belt and waterpump and rear plastic bracket are fitted, seems tensioned fine, just done many engine rotations! 

Coffee and a rolly then carry on going back together

[beko1987]

It's going fairly well. Technically I'm done, the car is back together. But I've killed the battery trying to start it both cold and not properly primed so I'm waiting for my mate to come round with a jump. Turns over fine on the starter motor though and was just starting to cough when I got the relay click of death. 

Have a smattering of photos until I do a proper write up. The old belt was a gates belt 😂 The waterpump gasket was a one piece with the lower oil pan too which means that might have been original? I gave it a thin smear of sealant on either side of the gasket. 

 

[chodweaver]

Congrats/sympathies for doing this outside in the rain

[sierraman]

A proper impact gun makes a job like this much easier. 

[beko1987]

Job done! Car still runs, doesn't sound any better or worse so 🤷

Belt went back on, tensioner on, locking pins removed and many manual turns done! Everything reassembled, I had my stepdad sit on the brakes with the car in gear and did the crank bolt up fucking tight (no fancy impact gun here...) and then it really started raining hard 😂

I got the whole lot together enough to turn the car on and being stone dead cold it didn't turn on and killed the battery. My friend came over to get me a jump start, but whilst I waited, given how it turned over lots on the starter and didn't explode I got everything else back together. 

Fired right up with a mondeo attached to it, and whilst it idled and I panicked over ever little noise and vibration we changed the spark plugs in my friends car, as I'd bought some a month or so ago for it. 

Got the temp to start coming up and it drank some coolant and that's where I've left it tonight. It's drivable if needed, but tonight I'm going to remove the battery and bring it in and stick it on a charger. This will make it easier tomorrow to change the thermostat and then I can drive it and ge tit properly warm and bled and hopefully 🤞🤞🤞🤞 that's one job of several that is done! 

Being able to rev it up to 3k it's nice to hear the turbo come alive! I've not been using that much... The engine cooling fan was on when I turned the car on though, not noticed if it always does that or not. It turned off after a while. 

I'm ready for a shower now 😂

[Supernaut]

I hardly ever hit 3k in my Megane! Perhaps I should try.

 

Regarding the thermostat, go for the - I think - 93 Celsius one if you can find it. @artdjones will advise, but he told me in my thread after my first replacement thermostat started running cool again when the colder weather hit.

It still takes a good 5 miles to get up to temperature properly, but I get good heat out of the vents much more quickly than that, then once it's properly warm the heater vents are like a furnace.

[artdjones]

Calorstat TH6393.89J is the hot one. Which is 89° instead of 83°

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/176317535710?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=5282-175127-2357-0&ssspo=6o5MYh7JTkS&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=1gRsBydUQIa&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY!

Looks like :-

They changed the housing on later models, but I'd say yours is early enough for that one. Anyway, if yours has the different housing the thermostat itself swaps easily. 

 

[beko1987]

4 minutes ago, artdjones said:

Calorstat TH6393.89J is the hot one. Which is 89° instead of 83°

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/176317535710?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=5282-175127-2357-0&ssspo=6o5MYh7JTkS&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=1gRsBydUQIa&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY!

Looks like :-

They changed the housing on later models, but I'd say yours is early enough for that one. Anyway, if yours has the different housing the thermostat itself swaps easily. 

 

Thanks! I've already got the thermostat, I spent no expense and got this one from ebay. Says 89 degrees

I've jsut driven 3 miles to take Eva some bits so she can sleep at a friend's house and it does perk up past 3k doesn't it 😂 Still got suspension issues to stop me driving like a complete twat but I don't need to worry about the cambelt exploding now I hope! 

Heaters started to come hot too as I got home but I want it changed. The housing looks shitty on the old one and I wasn't that impressed with its holding of temperature on the m40 the other night. 

Then I can bleed it again

[artdjones]

8 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

Thanks! I've already got the thermostat, I spent no expense and got this one from ebay. Says 89 degrees

I've jsut driven 3 miles to take Eva some bits so she can sleep at a friend's house and it does perk up past 3k doesn't it 😂 Still got suspension issues to stop me driving like a complete twat but I don't need to worry about the cambelt exploding now I hope! 

Heaters started to come hot too as I got home but I want it changed. The housing looks shitty on the old one and I wasn't that impressed with its holding of temperature on the m40 the other night. 

Then I can bleed it again

Excellent, it does make a difference.

[beko1987]

The 2nd little drive I did made the expansion tank empty which is good so I've topped it off again, no point doing more now as I'll have more coolant lost tomorrow. 

Did bring the battery in though. Should I leave it going all night or just until bed then turn it back on in the morning? 

Flicked the charger to sealed and the ready/maintenance light came on and it's not got hot and exploded yet 🤷

[FakeConcern]

10 hours ago, Sigmund Fraud said:

 

But the torque required is such that even the longest breaker bar known to man isn't enough.

Reminded me of when donkeys years ago I did up the crank bolt on my 1275GT with my mum's washing line post slipped over a socket set bar as my torque wrench didn't read high enough!

Impressive work @beko1987!

[Stanky]

Excellent work, well done getting that sorted - looks like the previous owners had their money's worth out of the old belt! Now that you've sorted the major mechanical job you can do the other suspension and odd jobs safe in the knowledge it should be a good'un for a good few more years.

 

[sierraman]

I don’t know the procedure on that particular unit off hand but on a lot of engines it saves locking the flywheel if you can use a decent gun to whip the crank bolt up. 

[artdjones]

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

I don’t know the procedure on that particular unit off hand but on a lot of engines it saves locking the flywheel if you can use a decent gun to whip the crank bolt up. 

It's locked by screwing a pin into a threaded hole in the front of the block, which one of the crank webs butts up against, preventing crank rotation. 

[beko1987]

11 hours ago, Stanky said:

Excellent work, well done getting that sorted - looks like the previous owners had their money's worth out of the old belt! Now that you've sorted the major mechanical job you can do the other suspension and odd jobs safe in the knowledge it should be a good'un for a good few more years.

 

Thanks! That's the idea, it was the most scary issue it has that I can fix for sure! 

Hopefully now next month I can get the new suspension stuff it needs and throw that on, then after that an oil change. Then start to work out what other knocks and bangs it has. 

Home Assistant turned the battery charger off at 11pm, I didnt fancy it running all night so I got home assistant to turn it back on at 6am. Will go out and change the thermostat first later then refit the battery and hopefully it'll fire back up! It's a shit cheap looking battery but I've not been driving the car enough to naturally charge it which hasn't been helping

 

[beko1987]

Thermostat done! 

With some mild bracketry removed

As well as the battery access was decent

Poor thing is covered in oil from whatever above it is firing it out, but removed ok

No temp printed on it

The block looks good, not corroded or etc which is nice

New stat on, with all the pipe clamps pointing a nice way for removal next time I took a sensor off and cleaned it

Then popped the big oily pipe off and cleaned it's mating surface and refitted it incase that helps

Next job is to put the battery back on and fire it up and bleed it. Was easier yesterday to go drive a few miles then refill and repeat so that's the plan for now. A bit tempted to take the engine lower cover off later too and plus gas/eye up/tentatively gently try the glow plugs, but if not I can keep the engine cover off, keep firing plus gas into them and one night when I come home from work with the engine red hot I can try then quickly 

I can leave the lower clipped on engine cover off and run the car can't i? 

[beko1987]

43 minutes ago, Tayne said:

 

 

There’s a negative aerodynamic effect which may become noticeable at higher speeds.

https://youtu.be/8snP33Ga3X4?si=PE58pipfwtTCN6VK

Or the engine might just get dirty.

Noted, thanks 😂I'll keep it to under 80 on the m40 then 👌But it means I've got more of a chance of grabbing them whilst their very hot rather than having to strip the cover off whilst it's all hot and cooling. 

I fired it up a while ago and I've never heard it spin the starter so fast! The battery had 8ish hours, i might do it again another day but if it lasts a few more months that'll do. 

Topepd off the coolant and went for a 2.4 mile fairly mild rag up and down the bypass and the heaters started to come on, the temp blocks came up and when I got back I opened the thermostat bleed screw and coolant flowed. 

Got to pick Eva up at 11 so that'll be another nice 3 miles and I'll check it again. 

Charlie caught the massive grey clag cloud it puts out upon finally starting 😂 I saw him walking over looking worried about to question it so I headed him off with a "wow did you see that massive cloud? 😂" and he laughed...

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Fair play to you, Beko, for getting balls deep with this one already. I paid a man from the deepest, darkest corner of Cornwall to sort my cambelt, but have done the rest of the servicing and maintenance work myself. Fingers crossed it doesn't have any more surprises waiting for you! 

[beko1987]

2 minutes ago, Dick Cheeseburger said:

Fair play to you, Beko, for getting balls deep with this one already. I paid a man from the deepest, darkest corner of Cornwall to sort my cambelt, but have done the rest of the servicing and maintenance work myself. Fingers crossed it doesn't have any more surprises waiting for you! 

Thanks! I steered towards this engine particularly as it seemed easier to work on for my skill levels. And the Xsara needed it's belt doing this year on ago so I've not saved myself a job there! 

Hoping the rest will be as simple/bolt off bolt on and done. Some of the suspension stuff will be cheap for now as I still don't know what might be knocking at the rear, hopefully it all lasts long enough that one day just an ball joint goes and I can then look into a better quality replacement for just that bit. And it'll be copper greased and easier to take back off 🤞🤞 

 

[beko1987]

It's also nice to have the confidence* to kick it up to 2.5/3k for a gear change. It's quite rapid when you do that 😂

Nice to know I can wallow it about in the low rev range though when commuting/no point caring about going fast etc

[beko1987]

Eva wrote the sticker out and I stuck it on. It's official now