Technical 2009 MultiJet engine out cam chain repair

[DaveMcT]

Gearbox shifter shaft seal.

To get access you have to knock out a roll pins and remove a C washer that hides behind the non tapped nylon spring seat. The old roll pin (4mm x 25mm) was in two pieces. I carefully slid out the shaft hoping to keep the springs in place but the lighter spring always makes an escape bid. Cover it with a rag or lose it. I levered out the old seal, tapped in the new one and reassembled the mechanism. Then Oh ** I only had the shifter lever 180 degrees out. Oh well, at least I have a spare roll pin.

That new (now old) pin would not shift. My trusty pin punch was getting wedged into the roll pin so I bought a new set (£8 so not too bad). Still no joy. A friend with a press had a go but we could see the shaft springing so gave up that idea. I was now faced with a considerable problem.

Overnight, a thought came to me - Maybe my 4mm punch is a bit too large for the hole and it is longer than necessary. So I cut the punch pin to 20mm and carefully ground it down to 3.95mm over about 1/2 that length. IT WORKED that nasty pin came out, but OMG it was tight. I got the last 50% out with my older (and now quite wonky) smaller pin punch. The roll pin had bent banana shape. It went in seemingly OK a bit tight but it was new so not unreasonable.

Basically DO NOT MAKE MY MISTAKE when doing this seal. The roll pin hole is not quite on the centreline but you wont be able to see that its wrong. Fit the shaft upside down (a very easy mistake to make) and you'll have a whole world of struggling. You cannot knock the pin out from the other side it has to keep going the way it went in.

The upshot is no harm was done. The new pin went in nicely and everything leaned up. The shifter shaft slides works as smoothly as ever. I even wrapped the bare end with a strip of thin nylon cloth and two zip ties to keep grit off the sliding shaft.

 

[DaveMcT]

I've had to buy a new clutch as the splined centre is wobbling about. Never seen that before. No wonder I couldn't get the gearbox onto the engine. New clutch on order.

New Valeo MJTD spec clutch fitted and all done in no time. That faulty clutch plate is why I could not get the gearbox onto the engine.

 

[DaveMcT]

It’s almost ready to go back into the car. Back side of engine is fully rebuilt (just needs hose clips in the new breather (blue fluoro lined silicone) drain hose. That needed burrs taking off the metal pipe that flanges to the engine block.

It’s standing on a castor board that wheels under the car. That’s sat on a motorcycle lift. The plywood “legs” are bolted to redundant mountings in the crank bearing cover.

 

[DaveMcT]

This is the auxiliary end showing alternator. It’s only 1250cc but quite a serious lump. Saying that, it’s no bigger that a 1.2 or 1.4. I guess they are all pretty large. The tape measure shows 400 mm wide from alternator case to edge of water pump pulley.
The tall studs are the engine mount to be added when it’s lifted into place. The black hose is the engineer breather.
Power drill drives the motorcycle lift via a big acme thread.

 

[DaveMcT]

This shows the block, crank bearing cover and oil pan. Painted in blue Hammerite. The grey part is a cast alloy reinforcement to the gearbox bell-housing. It’s not used on 1.4 which has a similar one-piece main bearing cover. My colour choice is a bit rubbish but it’s what I had in the shed. It won’t be seen in the car, but after removing the greasy crud, it cried out for a coat of paint.

 

[DaveMcT]

This is gearbox end. The cover plating was starting to fail so it’s been painted. funny shape blue bracket carries the gear shift cables.
You can also see my shifter gaiter made from thin fabric wrapped around and held by zip ties.
Top left is Bosch common rail diesel pump. I stripped it and fitted new seals as the whole thing was filthy with oil. I guessed at a slow leak of diesel.
Top middle is the air pump for brake servo.
Top right is the air inlet manifold intake port. You can just about see my modified EGR pepper pot.
Black hose is the engine breather pipe.
Under that is the EGR system. I’ve not touched it internally because (despite the filthy inlet manifold) the pepper pot pipe was clean inside. Hopefully not a mistake as it's hard to get at in the car.

 

[koalar]

Looking like good progress

 

[DaveMcT]

I’m ready to put it back into the car but decided to replace the brake pipes. They are ok but access is so easy, I’m doing if anyway.

 

[DaveMcT]

Today I've just been cleaning up cruddy brake callipers. They work fine but look crap. five bottles of Lidl's cheapest vinegar is saving so much work. Light rust rubs off and the heavy scale (hidden by brake pads) just flakes off. They've had two hours I'll give them another two and wash them off for acid neutralising and drying.

 

[DaveMcT]

The brakes eventually had about 2 days soaking in vinegar. It shifted general rust and was surprisingly good against scaled rust. It had minimal effect on crunchy patches which had to be scraped clean. Much work was saved but it's slow. A soak in phosphoric acid would be nice but getting hold of it is hard these days. In the end its a cosmetic exercise but after all the work, I want the car looking its best.

Another time, I will try Fertan. But at £30 a litre, it needs a way to continuously trickle the stuff over the job. A volume big enough to soak brakes would be silly money.

Just realised kettle descaling liquid would do a better job AND it contains phosphoric acid, which is ideal for stopping rust. Oh well its done now.

 

[DaveMcT]

More pictures
The 4x2 timbers are bolted to front bumper beams and top shock mountings. The box tube is the lifting beam. A pair of ratchet straps lift the engine into place until the engine and gearbox mounts can be bolted up. The jack keeps the engine vertical as the straps tend to pull the front side more than the back. The wood stand above the jack was used while I had it on the “bench”. It’s held with M8 bolts into holes at each side of the crank bearing plate, which Fiat conveniently provided.

 

[DaveMcT]

The engine mounts are now fully done. I've been sorting out the wiring loom and repainting various brackets. I can't believe how many silly little parts Fiat used rather than making the loom sleeves adequate without a bracket every six inches along.

The wiring tray under the battery box is great but the split "conduit" sleeves at either end are crap. I've replaced the frayed cloth tape with self-amalgamating tape. The starter motor wires are weird. There's a plastic cover containing a large diameter contact ring that goes on before the main power wire lugs. it's fiddly to fit from under the car but it's done now and easier with the drive shafts out. They are next on the list.

 

[DaveMcT]

Intercooler and air pipes are now fitted with repainted brackets and new bolts. I've used stainless cap screws where I can as they'll handle the road salt better than the already rusty screws from the car. The cooler really does look small compared to the one on my 1990s VW TDI 90 which made similar power.

The turbo oil feed cleaned up but still looks horrible. I'll fit a neat replacement from HEL but it's not important right now.

 

[DaveMcT]

Time for an update.

The engine is back into the car with everything connected up. I had goofed the starter motor connector, which has a large diameter eyelet for the trigger wire and the two heavy duty spades. Correctly seating it has done the job. There's a little lug that gets it suitably aligned.

Engine turns but wont start. No surprise the HP fuel pump is leaking from a cylinder head (it has three). I also have an injector seat leaking so that's got to be done as well. Booger it was a swine to fit to the engine but at least access is good with battery box and ECU out of the way.

At least I know the fuel inlet non-return (check) valve is working properly. There is no blow back into the low pressure side and thankfully no leaks from the QD connectors.

 

[DaveMcT]

The new pump is on the engine. It was supplied within 48 hours (via eBay) by Nerings of Latvia with no return/exchange needed. I'm impressed to say the least.

The old pump is on the bench and the new pump is on the engine. It's quite a faff as the vacuum pump blocks the mounting flange so also has to come off to make space. The blowing injectors have been reseated. Battery box and ECU are back in and it's all looking clean. The engine turned a few times and fired up. YAY I need a coolant expansion tank so it's only been run for a minute.

It's running on three cylinders but there is no unburnt diesel smell. It's expected, because I had to replace a damaged injector and I have not (yet) gone into the settings (with MES) to tell it the new parameters. Something else to have fun with.

Any advice gratefully received.

 

[bugsymike]

The new pump is on the engine. It was supplied within 48 hours (via eBay) by Nerings of Latvia with no return/exchange needed. I'm impressed to say the least.

The old pump is on the bench and the new pump is on the engine. It's quite a faff as the vacuum pump blocks the mounting flange so also has to come off to make space. The blowing injectors have been reseated. Battery box and ECU are back in and it's all looking clean. The engine turned a few times and fired up. YAY I need a coolant expansion tank so it's only been run for a minute.

It's running on three cylinders but there is no unburnt diesel smell. It's expected, because I had to replace a damaged injector and I have not (yet) gone into the settings (with MES) to tell it the new parameters. Something else to have fun with.

Any advice gratefully received.

I stand to be corrected , but having taken several Bosch Common rail injectors apart and reassembled , some with new nozzles etc. in the past, they have all ran and never had parameters reset to stop a misfire and have passed Mot emission tests, so maybe I was just lucky.
However, I fully accept that correctly set parameters according to spec. is the correct way to go.
I don't think my eyesight is up to it these days though.

 

[DaveMcT]

Hi Mike.

I have stripped and cleaned the bottom end of all four injectors but one is not from this engine.

One injector was virtually welded into the engine. I damaged it getting it out and bought a replacement injector - used.

The HP fuel lines have been bled and exhaust smells like any cold clean running diesel. I have not done a compression test (dont have the correct tool), but there is no unburnt paraffin smell so I think it's simply not spraying into all four cylinders. MES should give me a clue. I will have to get the WIndows laptop fired up.

 

[koalar]

Yes you should code

Howver I have just had a look on the corsa forum they normally get away without coding

If you swap the injector over does it follow the injector

 

[DaveMcT]

If you swap the injector over does it follow the injector

I've run the engine for 30 seconds only as there is no coolant in it. I'm waiting for a coolant tank as the one I had was damaged. Swapping injectors around is a pain but I want it warmed up before doing that.

 

[irc]

In my (limited) experience a swapped (but not coded) injector will operate enough to run the engine, usually without any significant roughness.
But definitely smoother when properly coded. Assuming the injector is working properly in the first place.

I have a box with 6 or 7 injectors which came out of scrap engines which I couldn't test before removing, which I have fitted and then rejected because they still caused roughness even with being properly coded. Still haven't got round to finding someone to refurbish them.