Looking for a Cerb, a few questions

[Fat Boy Chim]

I am considering giving up my much loved Chim for a Cerb (mainly because the other half is bending my ear, cos no where to put the kids!) I have looked at a few over the last few weeks mainly 450's however a couple of things always put me off, can you guys help.

The Engines seems "Knocky" on tick over, i am no expert but do the camshafts give problems as this is what it sound like?

Also from cold the oil pressures only seems to read middle of the dial, on the Chim its in the upper half until running temp, then it drops down.

thanks for your comments / answers in advance.

Steve

[touching cloth]

Bag of nails on start up is normal but should quieten a fair bit once warm. Some very early 4.2 had clatter cams which are supposedly noisier than later ones, bit don't think these were ever in the 4.5s anyway so doubt you have experienced these. Oil pressures can vary depending on age of oil pressure relief spring - 60-70 when cold is good and then down to about 40 on idle once warm seems normal, if it around the middle of the gauge then this would be in the 50's so sounds fine to me. As long as it is not dipping below about 35 ever then probably fine, even then not a sign of a done engine but would want more investigation. In fact at the end of the day I think you want to get it inspected anyway as got to be worth £150 or whatever of bit more peace of mind.

[byker28i]

Buy another Chim for the missus, one child in each car?

[mark r skinner]

Cams are £800 a pair as I`ve just found out.

[Garethgtt]

Fat Boy Chim said:

I am considering giving up my much loved Chim for a Cerb (mainly because the other half is bending my ear, cos no where to put the kids!) I have looked at a few over the last few weeks mainly 450's however a couple of things always put me off, can you guys help.

The Engines seems "Knocky" on tick over, i am no expert but do the camshafts give problems as this is what it sound like?

Also from cold the oil pressures only seems to read middle of the dial, on the Chim its in the upper half until running temp, then it drops down.

thanks for your comments / answers in advance.

Steve

Jools once told me...
Its the ones that sound smooth on cold startup that you should keep away from and the ones with highish oilpressures on warm running are good ones.. or words to those effect.

[simonkd]

Hope your kids are really young and you're not over 6ft tall. Simply because with all this new child seat mularky (not that everyone takes any notice of it) and the drivers seat adjusted well back only very small children can be accommodated successfully on the drivers side rear seat. The passenger side rear seat does offer a little bit more legroom but not all that much. Trying your kids in the rear seats of a Cerb before buying is a good idea.

Regards
Simon.

[pcowen]

I swapped my Chim of 5 years for a cerbera in September. We have a 19 month old girl. It was so we could all go out in the TVR rather than always in the Kia Sportage. Love the Cerbera, but it is such a different car.

[Rude]

pcowen said:

It was so we could all go out in the TVR rather than always in the Kia Sportage. Love the Cerbera, but it is such a different car.

Different from the Kia...no sh1t Sherlock

[BLUETHUNDER]

touching cloth said:

Bag of nails on start up is normal but should quieten a fair bit once warm. Some very early 4.2 had clatter cams which are supposedly noisier than later ones, bit don't think these were ever in the 4.5s anyway so doubt you have experienced these. Oil pressures can vary depending on age of oil pressure relief spring - 60-70 when cold is good and then down to about 40 on idle once warm seems normal, if it around the middle of the gauge then this would be in the 50's so sounds fine to me. As long as it is not dipping below about 35 ever then probably fine, even then not a sign of a done engine but would want more investigation. In fact at the end of the day I think you want to get it inspected anyway as got to be worth £150 or whatever of bit more peace of mind.

Mine from cold is around 50psi.Drops to around 30psi fully warmed up.Asked Austec when it was in for a service if the oil pressure relief spring needed changing and they said oil pressure was fine.

[touching cloth]

Clearly he is setting you up for a big engine rebuild

No seriously if Paul says 30 is fine then have to go with that, did he give a figure when one should become slightly concerned?

[Fat Boy Chim]

Thanks guys you have put my mind at rest, I will take your advise and get one looked over by someone, If i didn't the wife would probably bend my ear over buying a dud, no pleasing some women seen a couple i like on PH Classifieds. What i need now is some saint to take mine in part ex!

Edited by Fat Boy Chim on Sunday 14th January 00:17

[BLUETHUNDER]

touching cloth said:

Clearly he is setting you up for a big engine rebuild

No seriously if Paul says 30 is fine then have to go with that, did he give a figure when one should become slightly concerned?

Nope he never mentioned anything else other than it was ok.

[mars]

I'm not sure where in the oil circuit the oil pressure is measured relative to the pump and the crank but if the oil pressure is measured "last" then *any* positive oil pressure is OK.

What I mean is, if the oil passes through the pump, then the crank and *then* to the oil pressure sender, then it's done it's work (ignoring cams and such because if the crank has received its dose of oil then it's likely that everything else has too). If you've still got pressure **at all** at this point then you've got flow, and it's "flow" of oil that keeps the engine alive.

If warm oil pressure falls over time, then that's certainly something to investigate.

Sometimes high oil pressure at cold start can blow seals out. Don't know about the AJP engine specifically though.


I'm curious why the oil pressure valve springs fail over time. Anyone know? Are aftermarket springs more resilient? I've never encountered this problem before on other engines.

[Scrooloose]

My oil pressure is around 80 psi once the engine gets warm. Drops to about 70 psi when idling.

Is this correct?

[mars]

That's about where mine is and I was told this is best.

[Scrooloose]

Also, doesn't ever seem to use any oil :S

[Fat Boy Chim]

Now your worrying me !

[big_treacle]

Mine sounds clattery when started from cold - thats pretty normal i think. Oil pressure is about 70 ish on start up idle dropping to 45-50 ish when hot and idling at which point its smooth with no bags of nails although you can still hear the running gear (belts n stuff) going round if you have the windows open.

[gazzab]

Scrooloose said:

My oil pressure is around 80 psi once the engine gets warm. Drops to about 70 psi when idling.

Is this correct?

That is much higher than I have ever seen in a cerb.

I believe that 'good' readings are likely to be in the region of:-

65 - 75 ish cold idle.
Hot at load = 60 - 70 ish
Very hot at idle = 30 - 45 ish

On my last cerb I had higher readings because the oil pressure spring had been bodged up and was articially raising oil pressure (one new engine and later it was fixed....!!).

[V8Cerbera]

Fat Boy Chim said:

I am considering giving up my much loved Chim for a Cerb (mainly because the other half is bending my ear, cos no where to put the kids!) I have looked at a few over the last few weeks mainly 450's however a couple of things always put me off, can you guys help.

The Engines seems "Knocky" on tick over, i am no expert but do the camshafts give problems as this is what it sound like?

Also from cold the oil pressures only seems to read middle of the dial, on the Chim its in the upper half until running temp, then it drops down.

thanks for your comments / answers in advance.

Steve

YHM Steve