eerSolenoid hitting chassis?
Discussion
After weeks trying to track down the source of a rattle that only happens when accelerating hard and thinking the exhaust was loose I finally found that it is the solenoid impacting on the vertical chassis section next to it.
Having fitted a non-Bosch starter motor I thought it may be due to didderent size casings. Luckily I kept the old starter and it too has a worn section in the same place on the solenoid casing.
Does anyone else have or know of a similar problem, and more importantly, what I could do to remedy it?
Photo taken from above.
Cheers,
SteveO

Having fitted a non-Bosch starter motor I thought it may be due to didderent size casings. Luckily I kept the old starter and it too has a worn section in the same place on the solenoid casing.
Does anyone else have or know of a similar problem, and more importantly, what I could do to remedy it?
Photo taken from above.
Cheers,
SteveO

I did the same to lift mine further clear of the ARB when I fitted new polybushes to the front suspension and ARB (the sump had been rubbing under acceleration, but it was only apparant when the ARB was off the car). The fitting of a shim takes all of 10mins and one 3mm shim lifted my engine by about 1cm, which should give you enough clearance for the solenoid in the picture given the rake of that chassis strut.
Undo (loosen) the top nuts on the engine mounts and then place a jack with load spreader under the sump. Lift the engine and the weight will come off the mounts giving you room to slip a shim between the rubber of the mount and the metal of the engine bracket (make sure the metal shim is large enough that the rubber doesn't just deform around the shim). To do this you will need a slotted shim - I got a 3mm square washer from B&Q (about 2" square) and cut the slots with a hack saw then filed the edges - 4 shims cost about £5 - quite expensive for small bits of zinc coated steel but I wanted them quick and B&Q are just down the road.
Mark
Mark
SteveOS3 said:
Cheers MEP, now for my novice questions.... I take it all I have to do is raise the engine enough to slip the shim in and lower? Would I need to use a hoist, I don't have one, or can I lift it using a trolley jack and wooden block on the sump?
Cheers,
SteveO
Hi Steve, remember to have a good look at your sump, it may have been rubbing on the anti roll bar. Cheers,
SteveO
steve j said:
remember to have a good look at your sump, it may have been rubbing on the anti roll bar.
Mine didn't show at all on the sump (no marking, no intentations and not even any removal of the paint - there was no congealed oil on that bit though which there is over most of the rest - a residue from a now fixed oil leak), it was the paint having been rubbed off the ARB that showed the rubbing and a smoother (flat) profile on the top. I can only think the metal of the ARB is softer than that of the sump.Mark
Got the tape measure out last night to see what mounts I had.
The vertical height was 1.75", as measured by a 1.5" piece of wood being too small and a 2" piece too big and being shaved down until it fitted.
Now I'm guessing that I may have a 2" mount that has compressed over time but, the small set of numbers I saw ended in 3535, which according to the Parts List is probably a mount from an S3C, but I don't have cats. It's a 1991 2.9 V6 so I'm not sure if cats were standard or not at that time.
Either way, if the shims that Ken may be able to send don't cure the problem I'm looking at getting new mounts.
The question is does it matter if I go for the standard Ford 2" mount or should I try to source the S3C part.
Any advice would be appreciated.
The vertical height was 1.75", as measured by a 1.5" piece of wood being too small and a 2" piece too big and being shaved down until it fitted.
Now I'm guessing that I may have a 2" mount that has compressed over time but, the small set of numbers I saw ended in 3535, which according to the Parts List is probably a mount from an S3C, but I don't have cats. It's a 1991 2.9 V6 so I'm not sure if cats were standard or not at that time.
Either way, if the shims that Ken may be able to send don't cure the problem I'm looking at getting new mounts.
The question is does it matter if I go for the standard Ford 2" mount or should I try to source the S3C part.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Steve,
There are a number of threads on this if you search, referring to "hard" and "soft" mounts, apparently the softer ones tend to deform quite quickly and the engine drops (they move to form and "S" shape). The harder mounts are recommended and are available at rally design here I believe.
I believe the softer ones are the ones available from the better known part suppliers, however check the other threads and don't just take my word for it - unfortunately I can't check myself as the search function on here won't work at my place of work as the filter blocks it.
Mark
There are a number of threads on this if you search, referring to "hard" and "soft" mounts, apparently the softer ones tend to deform quite quickly and the engine drops (they move to form and "S" shape). The harder mounts are recommended and are available at rally design here I believe.
I believe the softer ones are the ones available from the better known part suppliers, however check the other threads and don't just take my word for it - unfortunately I can't check myself as the search function on here won't work at my place of work as the filter blocks it.
Mark
I posted a picture of my old mount and one of the Rally Design ones on the other thread that's currently running about this: http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...
It shows how much they can slump after a few years wear, I used the Rally Design mounts and they work fine. The problem I was trying to solve by the way was sump clearance to the anti-roll bar. If you do end up changing it is worth having a read through the earlier threads to capture the hints and tips about how to do it, it can be a bit of a struggle.
K
It shows how much they can slump after a few years wear, I used the Rally Design mounts and they work fine. The problem I was trying to solve by the way was sump clearance to the anti-roll bar. If you do end up changing it is worth having a read through the earlier threads to capture the hints and tips about how to do it, it can be a bit of a struggle.
K
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