Bentley bashing big style
Discussion
It's just the misinformed usual stuff coming from people who haven't driven one far enough to understand what they are about.Fantastic machines for those that know and understand.
said:
It will do the best part of 30mpg on a long run
As I said, never driven one That run must be down a very long hill.The problem with many of the contributors to that thread is that they form opinions on the exotica of the motoring world without ever trying the cars or in some cases even seeing them in the flesh. I can see a distinction between the Crewe models and the VW models and my preference is with the former although I have driven both and the VW cars are truly awesome. There is also a sharp distinction between those that buy and run both models and this varies with the age cycle of the models.
As always beauty is in the eye of the beholder so enjoy what turns you on.There is even a Morris Marina Owners Club. Lets simply rejoice in the diversity.
Paul
As always beauty is in the eye of the beholder so enjoy what turns you on.There is even a Morris Marina Owners Club. Lets simply rejoice in the diversity.
Paul
I ran a Mulsanne S Mk II for ten years until it began to get too expensive to maintain. I followed it up with a Continental GT, and the clue is in the name. Sure, you can take it to Aldi if you want to (I prefer Waitrose)and the incompetent (female) drivers of 4x4s will soon ding it or worse. Motto: use your cheap old modern for the weekly shop - or let the wife do it. Use your Continental to drive to Monaco for the weekend, and use it for it's intended purpose. Crossing Continents in style, comfort and at speed.
There's bugger all about that's any better.
David.
There's bugger all about that's any better.
David.
Im amazed by some of the negativity, Ive not had mine long and whilst most people are cool, they want to have a look, i do get comments occasionally.
I thought this was a car enthusiasts' forum but even here ive not had a good reception (i just joined today).
Anyway, cant say im that arsed, i love my car and its everything i hoped it would be.
I thought this was a car enthusiasts' forum but even here ive not had a good reception (i just joined today).
Anyway, cant say im that arsed, i love my car and its everything i hoped it would be.
roygarth said:
2708420018 said:
There is even a Morris Marina Owners Club. Lets simply rejoice in the diversity.
Paul
Totally irrelevant, but I went out with a girl called Marina Morris!Paul
Edited by VladD on Saturday 5th May 15:33
I love my 1996 Turbo R, even though it's just blown it's head gaskets-I spent a week under the bonnet dismantling everything on top of the engine, just to get to the cylinder heads. But instead of being resentful at the car & the skinned knuckles it's given me, I'm enjoying cleaning all the bits as I remove them & I can't wait until I put it back together & fire up the de-coked engine with it's top-end rebuild.
I've owned several fast BMW's & Jags-currently got a 2001 supercharged V8 XJR-but they just don't have the majesty of the Bentley.
I bought it simply because I wanted one badly after years of dreaming about having one. Now that I've got it I won't swap it for anything else-not even for more sensible, technically superior modern cars.
I guess it must be love
I've owned several fast BMW's & Jags-currently got a 2001 supercharged V8 XJR-but they just don't have the majesty of the Bentley.
I bought it simply because I wanted one badly after years of dreaming about having one. Now that I've got it I won't swap it for anything else-not even for more sensible, technically superior modern cars.
I guess it must be love
The mileage was 77k when the gaskets blew-the vehicle is a 1996 Mk4 facelift model with the Zytek injection system. I'm not sure why the gaskets blew but I know it's happened to other turbo R's & I've noticed that many of them are the Mk4 models with the more powerful & torquey Zytek injection system-maybe there's a connection?
I took the heads off myself & it's a massive job as there's so much stuff to remove from the top of the engine. It's not too difficult though, as there's no complex overhead cams & timing belts/chains to sort out-just a big, simple pushrod overhead valve V8 with no complex alignment procedures. You do need a good selection of tools though, as access to some of the bolts around the engine is limited so you need a comprehensive socket set with extension bars/universal joints & a good selection of spanners.
After removing the heads, the drivers's side gasket was clearly breached between the flame ring & a coolant hole on the second cylinder, which explained the cooling system pressurising & the misfire at start-up. The flame rings on the other cylinders were weakening & cracking as well, and across all 8 cylinders on both gaskets the flame rings had weakened in the area directly below the spark plugs-at the exhaust manifold side.
I assume this is because the temperature & pressure in this part of the combustion chamber are highest as this is where the ignition flame front starts, at the spark plug.
After looking around online, there was another owner with a Mk4 Turbo R which had blown it's head gaskets in exactly the same place-the guy had taken the car to a garage to be fixed & was presented with a bill for £6519, of which the biggest part was the labour charge.
This is why I did the job myself
The other guy had a photo show of each stage of the repair, showing the original blown gaskets-his blew at 65k miles. He wrote it up & posted it on the net under the name of Jon Honeyball. You can view the article at: http://jonhoneyball.livejournal.com/13325.html
It may be that the Mk4 Turbo R's with their extra power & torque are pushing the head gaskets to their limits & they need to be stronger, with wider flame rings etc. Way back in 2001 a mechanic posted on a forum that his garage had seen 5 turbo R's in for blown head gaskets, all with less than 50k miles on the clock. He made the comment that Bentley & the dealers stonewalled the issue...
To sum up, if you are considering buying a Turbo R-especially the Mk4 Zytek models for the 1996 model year onwards, treat any misfires from cold on the test drive with great suspicion. It's usually the first sign that the head gaskets are weakening. As the gaskets weaken further, the engine misfires on hot starts & pressurises the cooling system, causing rapid overheating & the heater to suddenly blow cold air.
Whatever the seller says, it's probably not just a spark plug or ignition lead, and they may be trying to pass the car on quickly before the gaskets blow completely-leaving you to pick up a huge bill, and I do mean huge. The parts themselves are not terribly expensive-it's just the labour charges that send the final bill sky-high.
I've been doing car repairs for 25 years so I was quite happy to do the job myself-it was actually quite enjoyable & a job to be done at a steady pace over 2-3 weeks. I'm in the final stages of re-assembling the very top of the engine & I took the opportunity to clean everything up during the overhaul-which added a few days
I do love my Bentley, but I realised that you have to fit into one of the following 3 categories to consider owning one without getting your fingers badly burnt:
You must either be:
1) Rich
2) Good with tools & have lots of them
3) Lucky-as in a generally lucky person who gets the best job & the prettiest
women, always backs the right horse & has been lucky all their life.
I took the heads off myself & it's a massive job as there's so much stuff to remove from the top of the engine. It's not too difficult though, as there's no complex overhead cams & timing belts/chains to sort out-just a big, simple pushrod overhead valve V8 with no complex alignment procedures. You do need a good selection of tools though, as access to some of the bolts around the engine is limited so you need a comprehensive socket set with extension bars/universal joints & a good selection of spanners.
After removing the heads, the drivers's side gasket was clearly breached between the flame ring & a coolant hole on the second cylinder, which explained the cooling system pressurising & the misfire at start-up. The flame rings on the other cylinders were weakening & cracking as well, and across all 8 cylinders on both gaskets the flame rings had weakened in the area directly below the spark plugs-at the exhaust manifold side.
I assume this is because the temperature & pressure in this part of the combustion chamber are highest as this is where the ignition flame front starts, at the spark plug.
After looking around online, there was another owner with a Mk4 Turbo R which had blown it's head gaskets in exactly the same place-the guy had taken the car to a garage to be fixed & was presented with a bill for £6519, of which the biggest part was the labour charge.
This is why I did the job myself
The other guy had a photo show of each stage of the repair, showing the original blown gaskets-his blew at 65k miles. He wrote it up & posted it on the net under the name of Jon Honeyball. You can view the article at: http://jonhoneyball.livejournal.com/13325.html
It may be that the Mk4 Turbo R's with their extra power & torque are pushing the head gaskets to their limits & they need to be stronger, with wider flame rings etc. Way back in 2001 a mechanic posted on a forum that his garage had seen 5 turbo R's in for blown head gaskets, all with less than 50k miles on the clock. He made the comment that Bentley & the dealers stonewalled the issue...
To sum up, if you are considering buying a Turbo R-especially the Mk4 Zytek models for the 1996 model year onwards, treat any misfires from cold on the test drive with great suspicion. It's usually the first sign that the head gaskets are weakening. As the gaskets weaken further, the engine misfires on hot starts & pressurises the cooling system, causing rapid overheating & the heater to suddenly blow cold air.
Whatever the seller says, it's probably not just a spark plug or ignition lead, and they may be trying to pass the car on quickly before the gaskets blow completely-leaving you to pick up a huge bill, and I do mean huge. The parts themselves are not terribly expensive-it's just the labour charges that send the final bill sky-high.
I've been doing car repairs for 25 years so I was quite happy to do the job myself-it was actually quite enjoyable & a job to be done at a steady pace over 2-3 weeks. I'm in the final stages of re-assembling the very top of the engine & I took the opportunity to clean everything up during the overhaul-which added a few days
I do love my Bentley, but I realised that you have to fit into one of the following 3 categories to consider owning one without getting your fingers badly burnt:
You must either be:
1) Rich
2) Good with tools & have lots of them
3) Lucky-as in a generally lucky person who gets the best job & the prettiest
women, always backs the right horse & has been lucky all their life.
You must either be:
1) Rich
2) Good with tools & have lots of them
3) Lucky-as in a generally lucky person who gets the best job & the prettiest
women, always backs the right horse & has been lucky all their life.
I am none of the above....in which case, I shall stick to my Vauxhall Omega......for now.......
1) Rich
2) Good with tools & have lots of them
3) Lucky-as in a generally lucky person who gets the best job & the prettiest
women, always backs the right horse & has been lucky all their life.
I am none of the above....in which case, I shall stick to my Vauxhall Omega......for now.......
RedOctober said:
The mileage was 77k when the gaskets blew-the vehicle is a 1996 Mk4 facelift model with the Zytek injection system. I'm not sure why the gaskets blew but I know it's happened to other turbo R's & I've noticed that many of them are the Mk4 models with the more powerful & torquey Zytek injection system-maybe there's a connection?
I took the heads off myself & it's a massive job as there's so much stuff to remove from the top of the engine. It's not too difficult though, as there's no complex overhead cams & timing belts/chains to sort out-just a big, simple pushrod overhead valve V8 with no complex alignment procedures. You do need a good selection of tools though, as access to some of the bolts around the engine is limited so you need a comprehensive socket set with extension bars/universal joints & a good selection of spanners.
After removing the heads, the drivers's side gasket was clearly breached between the flame ring & a coolant hole on the second cylinder, which explained the cooling system pressurising & the misfire at start-up. The flame rings on the other cylinders were weakening & cracking as well, and across all 8 cylinders on both gaskets the flame rings had weakened in the area directly below the spark plugs-at the exhaust manifold side.
I assume this is because the temperature & pressure in this part of the combustion chamber are highest as this is where the ignition flame front starts, at the spark plug.
After looking around online, there was another owner with a Mk4 Turbo R which had blown it's head gaskets in exactly the same place-the guy had taken the car to a garage to be fixed & was presented with a bill for £6519, of which the biggest part was the labour charge.
This is why I did the job myself
The other guy had a photo show of each stage of the repair, showing the original blown gaskets-his blew at 65k miles. He wrote it up & posted it on the net under the name of Jon Honeyball. You can view the article at: http://jonhoneyball.livejournal.com/13325.html
It may be that the Mk4 Turbo R's with their extra power & torque are pushing the head gaskets to their limits & they need to be stronger, with wider flame rings etc. Way back in 2001 a mechanic posted on a forum that his garage had seen 5 turbo R's in for blown head gaskets, all with less than 50k miles on the clock. He made the comment that Bentley & the dealers stonewalled the issue...
To sum up, if you are considering buying a Turbo R-especially the Mk4 Zytek models for the 1996 model year onwards, treat any misfires from cold on the test drive with great suspicion. It's usually the first sign that the head gaskets are weakening. As the gaskets weaken further, the engine misfires on hot starts & pressurises the cooling system, causing rapid overheating & the heater to suddenly blow cold air.
Whatever the seller says, it's probably not just a spark plug or ignition lead, and they may be trying to pass the car on quickly before the gaskets blow completely-leaving you to pick up a huge bill, and I do mean huge. The parts themselves are not terribly expensive-it's just the labour charges that send the final bill sky-high.
I've been doing car repairs for 25 years so I was quite happy to do the job myself-it was actually quite enjoyable & a job to be done at a steady pace over 2-3 weeks. I'm in the final stages of re-assembling the very top of the engine & I took the opportunity to clean everything up during the overhaul-which added a few days
I do love my Bentley, but I realised that you have to fit into one of the following 3 categories to consider owning one without getting your fingers badly burnt:
You must either be:
1) Rich
2) Good with tools & have lots of them
3) Lucky-as in a generally lucky person who gets the best job & the prettiest
women, always backs the right horse & has been lucky all their life.
Thanks for that. Very interesting.I took the heads off myself & it's a massive job as there's so much stuff to remove from the top of the engine. It's not too difficult though, as there's no complex overhead cams & timing belts/chains to sort out-just a big, simple pushrod overhead valve V8 with no complex alignment procedures. You do need a good selection of tools though, as access to some of the bolts around the engine is limited so you need a comprehensive socket set with extension bars/universal joints & a good selection of spanners.
After removing the heads, the drivers's side gasket was clearly breached between the flame ring & a coolant hole on the second cylinder, which explained the cooling system pressurising & the misfire at start-up. The flame rings on the other cylinders were weakening & cracking as well, and across all 8 cylinders on both gaskets the flame rings had weakened in the area directly below the spark plugs-at the exhaust manifold side.
I assume this is because the temperature & pressure in this part of the combustion chamber are highest as this is where the ignition flame front starts, at the spark plug.
After looking around online, there was another owner with a Mk4 Turbo R which had blown it's head gaskets in exactly the same place-the guy had taken the car to a garage to be fixed & was presented with a bill for £6519, of which the biggest part was the labour charge.
This is why I did the job myself
The other guy had a photo show of each stage of the repair, showing the original blown gaskets-his blew at 65k miles. He wrote it up & posted it on the net under the name of Jon Honeyball. You can view the article at: http://jonhoneyball.livejournal.com/13325.html
It may be that the Mk4 Turbo R's with their extra power & torque are pushing the head gaskets to their limits & they need to be stronger, with wider flame rings etc. Way back in 2001 a mechanic posted on a forum that his garage had seen 5 turbo R's in for blown head gaskets, all with less than 50k miles on the clock. He made the comment that Bentley & the dealers stonewalled the issue...
To sum up, if you are considering buying a Turbo R-especially the Mk4 Zytek models for the 1996 model year onwards, treat any misfires from cold on the test drive with great suspicion. It's usually the first sign that the head gaskets are weakening. As the gaskets weaken further, the engine misfires on hot starts & pressurises the cooling system, causing rapid overheating & the heater to suddenly blow cold air.
Whatever the seller says, it's probably not just a spark plug or ignition lead, and they may be trying to pass the car on quickly before the gaskets blow completely-leaving you to pick up a huge bill, and I do mean huge. The parts themselves are not terribly expensive-it's just the labour charges that send the final bill sky-high.
I've been doing car repairs for 25 years so I was quite happy to do the job myself-it was actually quite enjoyable & a job to be done at a steady pace over 2-3 weeks. I'm in the final stages of re-assembling the very top of the engine & I took the opportunity to clean everything up during the overhaul-which added a few days
I do love my Bentley, but I realised that you have to fit into one of the following 3 categories to consider owning one without getting your fingers badly burnt:
You must either be:
1) Rich
2) Good with tools & have lots of them
3) Lucky-as in a generally lucky person who gets the best job & the prettiest
women, always backs the right horse & has been lucky all their life.
In what way was it a Bentley bashing thread anyway? Apart from the usual ribbing about the Cheshire demographic, and the parent company shared platform, I didn't read it as a Bentley bashing thread. It was mainly a quite interesting debate on the costs of running one, DIY/Indy/Main agent, now they are getting older and cheaper to buy.
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