Anyone around West London for a bit of spannering advice?

[Juddder]

Hi everyone

I've finished replacing my starter motor, via removing half of the top of the engine and am starting the fun task of putting everything back together again (fun!)

So I wondered if anyone might be around to check over what I'm doing, that might have taken the top of their engine apart before, that I can bribe with beer / money / Cerbera appreciation to double check as it all goes back together?

I'm over in W2 and I have all the parts (O-Rings, cleaned Injectors, Gasket Sealant, Map of which order the Injector Wires go where, bookmarked PH Pages) but seeing as it's me on my lonesome in the underground car park (*the Mrs and the dog are definitely not interested in helping!) I would appreciate the advice

Drop me a PM or moral support also much appreciated!

Alex / Juddder

[ukkid35]

Hi Alex

I have no experience of the 4.2 which you are working on, but very happy to pop over to offer moral support, and get in the way...

Let me know

[Jhonno]

When are you planning on doing it? Easy enough job..

[Juddder]

Thanks both and very kind of offering to help!

I'm totally flexible when doing it - either one evening or a weekend if either works with either of you, or I can take some time out of work

As for timescales - no rush at all - just would appreciate the double checking as I put it all back together before starting it up etc.

The good news is that the hard stuff is done and the starters are swapped

Interestingly my starter had what looks like a heat shield clipped around it - not seen one of those before in the other threads...

[Boatbuoy]

Yep, that's normal Greg. The pipe clamp snaps onto the solenoid.

[Juddder]

Boatbuoy said:

Yep, that's normal Greg. The pipe clamp snaps onto the solenoid.

Thanks - wasn't quite expecting to wrestle that through the engine bay as well!

[Juddder]

Just to say that UKKID35 has very kindly offered to pop over Thursday evening and give a wise eye over the reassembly of my 4.2 as it all goes back together - very much appreciated!

[Jhonno]

How did you get on?

[Juddder]

Jhonno said:

How did you get on?

We did well and Paul [ukkid35] was a super star for giving up his Thursday evening to help out and a great mentor!

The good news is we achieved all of the following (we were busy!):

- Torqued Starter Motor to Engine (18 lb/ft) and ensured power connections were all clear of manifold and heat shroud in place around starter motor

- Checked wiring to new 'big fuse' and cable tied the insulation tape to keep it wound and away from any shorting, closed top on new 'big fuse' to hide the fuse from exposure (the old 'big fuse' was hardwired with both terminals at one end and no fuse in the middle!!)

- Cleaned all injector holes in Fuel Rail and Throttle Bodies using kitchen roll to remove dust and gunk

- Refitted N/S Throttle Body and cleaned off gasket sealant used by previous mechanics. Fitted new O-Rings to bottom of Throttle Body 'thick gasket' and torqued to engine (no torque specified so used standard body strength)

- Refitted 8 x Injectors using original O-Rings on top (the new ones from the injector cleaning were too tight) and kept the new ones on bottom with Castrol Red Rubber Grease on both end O-Rings to make them easier to fit.

Interestingly the easiest way to fit the Fuel Rail on the 4.2 back to the engine is to put one set of 4 x Injectors in one side of the *Fuel Rail* and the other set of 4 x Injectors in the *Throttle Body* and then you can easily slot either end into the remaining holes and tightly fit it back together

- Disconnected top fuel feed from Fuel Rail, cleaned, copper greased and tightly fit back onto Fuel Rail, Reconnected middle fuel return to Fuel Rail

- Reconnected vacuum hoses to both Throttle Bodies into 3-way T and connected back to feed into engine bay

We then checked over the work a couple of times and got to the point of ready to test fuel pressure within the system...

Primed the fuel system a couple of times by disabling the alarm, pressing the 'black' steering wheel button to start the fuel pump (not trying to start the engine!) and running this a couple of times.

However at this point we could smell petrol and hear a hissing sound (*it's tough in an underground car park as your never sure if it is a water system of the building or something else!)

On wandering around the car Paul noticed some fuel under the back N/S wheel and on inspection with the torch the back N\S fuel pipe connected to the Fuel Pump had now started a tiny leak and saw spouting petrol out onto the ground. Ahhhh..

So we turned everything off again, soaked up the petrol and waiting for the fuel system to de-pressurise.

So now I have to remove the rear N/S wheel and replace the fuel pipe there as obviously the new work we had done on the front of the engine was so super air tight that it put new found pressure on the rear fuel pipe and caused the leakage!

Anyone got the size or recommendations of what pipe to use?

I've been looking at the selection from Pirtek which look quite good

So.. getting much much closer and big thanks again to Paul for all his hard work :-)

Edited by Juddder on Friday 29th July 19:02

[ukkid35]

My pleasure Alex, great meeting you and Eva (and a well behaved Casper). Lovely Cerb you have, and a great learning experience for me too. I have no doubt that you'll have a much happier car again soon, although it may take a few more hours in the subterranean car park!

Thanks again for your alt parts website, which I regularly use.

[anonymous-user]

I can attest first hand, Paul is a top man!