What's made you grumpy today?

[portland_bill]

A trip to the hospital at Oxford for my partner. Always difficult to get there, too much traffic, no space.
They've recently removed a double mini-roundabout, replaced with traffic signals. Bigger delays now. We sit looking at green lights, unable to move due to the queue beyond, then when the queue moves, the lights favour the few vehicles form the minor road. The roundabout was self-regulating as people generally didn't block it and were courteous with priorities.
Then a 25 minute queue into the hospital. I called the department and asked if they'd like to send a porter to collect her in her wheelchair, leaving me to park and follow in later. They declined. The disabled spaces are in the main car park, which counts the cars in as tickets are issued. But the counter cannot know whether anyone is looking for a normal space or a disabled one. So we're sitting outside the car park, looking at so many empty disabled spaces, while others circle the car park waiting for someone to leave. There's a small multi-storey car park, currently blocked off due to asbestos issues. Been like this for over a year, lights still on just to tease us. Could have been fixed by now.

 

[portland_bill]

My brother has broken another car. This one was just a stopgap until his Land Rover is fixed, and he's broken this one.

It is a Peugeot 307 2.0 petrol automatic.
It has surprisingly been dealer serviced all its life, the last one being early this year, where a new auxiliary belt was fitted. From the top we noticed some fraying of that belt, from underneath the reason why was it was not aligned on all the pulleys, so sitting one groove off one of them. Whilst under there, it was noticed that the track rod end gaiters were about to disintegrate, rubber gone hard with age.

So brother set to trying to do both jobs at the same time. Never a good idea.
Track rod ends were seized on, so he doused with GT86 (WD40 equivalent, not a good substitute for proper release agents like PlusGas, but like our father, he won't do things properly if there's a difficult alternative.
He flitted between heaving on the track rod nuts, to fighting the belt over its pulleys, and once on, turned the engine over with a spanner on the crank pulley bolt.
No idea why he left the spanner on the bottom pulley, I can't remember why he thought he needed to revisit it. But later, he hit the starter switch, spanneer hit something, and the bottom bolt came undone.

Now generally, with the pulley still in place, that should be a moment of embarrassment, and retighten the bolt. This he did, spun it over and appears to have bent a few valves.
In their wisdom, Peugeot have decided that the crank pulley for the cambelt will not be keyed, but is free on the crank, held in place by the pulley bolt and the aux pulley. This engine has done over 100,000 miles, so perhaps they are justified, as such a shock loading and turning with the bolt loose are not normal operating conditions. With crank and both cams pinned, bottom pulley is free to sit wherever is correct for the cambelt, so no manufacturng tolerances of the keyway will affect this.

We set the crank at its pin. Cam sprockets not near theirs. Turning the engine by hand, we have four stiff points, but this is more than normal compression. So, off with its head for diagnosis and assessment. Easier said than done.

I've never come across so much stuff to remove before you can get to the head. It has lpg added, so more pipes and valves to shift too, all cable-tied making it a real fight. The inlet manifold will not come off until the wiring loom across it has been disconnected, but one last wire down over to the oil pressure switch is impossible to see, and almost impossible to get to with the manifold in place. Catch-22. After a significant amount of anti-French sentiment, manifold is off.

We are now ready to remove the 10 bolts and prise the head off. The engine is tilted back, so it is mostly underneath the wiper plenum. The exhaust manifold is still attached on the back of it, as removal of this is impossible from underneath. If we rebuild it, there will be new oxygen sensors fitted whilst out.

That took from 9:30am until 5:15pm, with two of us working well together.

If I had to do every difficult job on the Panda all at once, it would still be easier.

 

[DaveMcT]

When I did the Punto Mk2 HGT valves, the head had to come off complete with inlet manifold. It made the job far harder as there are some horrible to access bolts underneath.

PS. Laddy will probably screw up the next car as well. After all, he always has a low cost fallback option. :bang:

 

[portland_bill]

More sad than grumpy.
Changed the cambelt on the Panda, so it has rewarded the love by refusing to start.
As crank and cam were fixed with the correct tools, timing cannot be the issue. It tries to fire, occasionally.
MES reports no fault codes, possibly because it does not run - catch22 - but does declare 'Faulty' for the Phonic Wheel Status. Suggests crank sensor. Strange it fails while resting in the garage.
Now have a new one, to be tried on Sunday, as I'm stripping the head of a Peugeot 2.0 petrol tomorrow, happy days.

I have the correct tool for setting the timing belt adjuster. A little forked tool with two pins to fit the adjuster holes. Bought in 2013, using it for the second time now, one pin broke. Not only did it break into two tiny pins, but dropped both of them. I spent a good 10 minutes on my knees with a torch, CSI style, under the car. Found one bit on the floor. Then found the second, resting on top of the crank pulley. If I'd turned the engine it would have become trapped by the belt, causing a weak spot. At least it was not inside the adjuster.
I've emailed the supplier, requesting a replacement. It may be 6 years, but it has only occasional use, so we'll see how they respond to that.

 

[DaveMcT]

If supplier ignores you, is there space to put some flat dome head or even countersunk set screws through the tool?

I mean you could drill the holes through and tap the holes to appropriate size then screw in suitable length set screws. Thread lock would help. If there is space for a wider tool, a nut on the business side would better retain the screws.

 

[portland_bill]

If supplier ignores you, is there space to put some flat dome head or even countersunk set screws through the tool?

I mean you could drill the holes through and tap the holes to appropriate size then screw in suitable length set screws. Thread lock would help. If there is space for a wider tool, a nut on the business side would better retain the screws.

Thanks for the thought, but the pins are about 1mm diameter.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

If supplier ignores you, is there space to put some flat dome head or even countersunk set screws through the tool?

I mean you could drill the holes through and tap the holes to appropriate size then screw in suitable length set screws. Thread lock would help. If there is space for a wider tool, a nut on the business side would better retain the screws.

Very small diameter pins. Here's a picture - it's the bottom "Y" shaped tool

https://www.ebay.co.uk/c/1909658422

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

By the way PB, I meant to say thanks for posting about your pins shearing. I've done two with mine now - the Punto and our Panda - all looking good so far but I will take extra care not to stress them in future. My tool set is branded Neilsen. Just as a matter of interest, what's yours? Although probably all the budget brands will be made in the same far eastern factory, I would guess?

 

[DaveMcT]

Very small diameter pins. Here's a picture - it's the bottom "Y" shaped tool

https://www.ebay.co.uk/c/1909658422

You may be able to make up something with a steel bar and M4 screws. I'm guessing the size (obviously). The issue will be the depth of space where you fit the pronged tool.

Failing that, build up the bent over pegs with weld and file them to the correct shape. There's nothing to lose.

 

[varesecrazy]

An engineered repair may be available locally..

Do check out a warranty replacement initially though..

Charlie

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Probably not worth the effort when this is available though?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tensione...529745?hash=item1cd18970d1:g:v5UAAOSwRwddUunm

 

[portland_bill]

You may be able to make up something with a steel bar and M4 screws. I'm guessing the size (obviously). The issue will be the depth of space where you fit the pronged tool.

Failing that, build up the bent over pegs with weld and file them to the correct shape. There's nothing to lose.

Just measured the pin with my vernier. 1.99mm dia.

 

[portland_bill]

By the way PB, I meant to say thanks for posting about your pins shearing. I've done two with mine now - the Punto and our Panda - all looking good so far but I will take extra care not to stress them in future. My tool set is branded Neilsen. Just as a matter of interest, what's yours? Although probably all the budget brands will be made in the same far eastern factory, I would guess?

At the time I could only find complete sets, including bits for the DOHC engines. Then I found a reputable tool supplier who offered spare parts for sets, so after an email exchange, I got the crank and cam holding tools and the adjuster tool only. These were parts for a branded set, but I cannot remember the name now.

Thanks for the link from Ebay, I had found that, and have 'watched' it. I will still pursue a warranty replacement, as they need to feedback to the manufacturer that the quality was poor.

With regard to making one, I thought that a couple of pins from a needle roller bearing might work, if I can stumble across some at 2mm dia. No point looking too hard. Sadly cannot repair my tool, as the hole from which the broken pin escaped has elongated.

It is no longer urgent, as the adjustment has been made, so we have a few years before it needs to be done again. A simple bar, two holes and two needle rollers might just do the job. Meanwhile, 16 valves in a Peugeot 2.0 head beckon. All exhaust valves bent, so new on the way, all 16 will need lightly grinding in.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

With regard to making one, I thought that a couple of pins from a needle roller bearing might work, if I can stumble across some at 2mm dia. No point looking too hard. Sadly cannot repair my tool, as the hole from which the broken pin escaped has elongated.

This sounds like a likely remedy (using the needles) if you feel like trying to resurrect it. (I hate abandoning anything where I can see even a glimmer of hope that it might be mendable). With this in mind, have you "discovered" JB Weld? It's a bit like Araldite but stronger. I've had some remarkable successes with it. The only thing I've found is that it doesn't seem to like bonding to aluminium sheet for some reason - maybe I need to do better prep? Steel, plastic, diecast stuff, etc, works great. I recently noticed that the plastic steady brace which holds Becky's air con pipe from vibrating had broken in two. Stuck it back together with the JBW and it's been fine for some time now. I think it would probably work very well in your situation where it would be inside the elongated hole.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

By the way, thinking back to actually doing the job, don't you think this tensioning tool makes it rather difficult to get a spanner on the tensioner's securing nut? I found I could really only get an open ender on it. However after the initial tightening I found you can then further tighten it, with the tool removed so you can get a socket/torque wrench on it, without the set position moving.

 

[DaveMcT]

The old JB Weld adverts used to say "It's even better than Baler twine".

I would try drilling out the old pins and tack welding new pins into place.

 

[DaveMcT]

The old JB Weld adverts used to say "It's even better than baler twine".

I would try drilling out the old pins and tack welding new pins into place.

 

[StevenRB45]

One of those incidents that happens..where nothing happens but it rattles you a little bit.

Just driving up the road from my house, nice wide, dry nsl road. I'm not actually doing 60 as it's just after a hill and the engine is cold so haven't flogged it up to hit the limit. Looked down at fuel gauge, thought about filling up, looked up and PHEASANT! Running left to right from a hedge with a car coming the other way, only actually had time to move my foot off the accelerator to the brake and just start braking (the front had just started to dip about 6 foot from it) as it was thankfully it kept running and a car sized gap opened up behind it just in time for me swerve around without hitting the kerb.

Just one of those moments where you mentally measure everything and think "Yeah I've hit this" never a nice feeling even if it's just a bird.

 

[varesecrazy]

Driving back down the M4 last night.

Left late to avoid the wind + rain + friday traffic.

Had a good run.. so @22:00 thought I would take the 'easier route'...
@ 5 miles further but much less hassle

3 roundabouts vs 12 and quieter

Just got past the option junction

To find a posted 40 limit... took 25 mins to do the next 2 miles : planned night time maint.. down to just lane 3.. shunting the whole way between junctions

How come planned closures are not signed?

Evey other sign for 90 miles told me to prepare my export papers for Movember..

 

[DaveMcT]

One of those incidents that happens..where nothing happens but it rattles you a little bit.

Just driving up the road from my house, nice wide, dry nsl road. I'm not actually doing 60 as it's just after a hill and the engine is cold so haven't flogged it up to hit the limit. Looked down at fuel gauge, thought about filling up, looked up and PHEASANT! Running left to right from a hedge with a car coming the other way, only actually had time to move my foot off the accelerator to the brake and just start braking (the front had just started to dip about 6 foot from it) as it was thankfully it kept running and a car sized gap opened up behind it just in time for me swerve around without hitting the kerb.

Just one of those moments where you mentally measure everything and think "Yeah I've hit this" never a nice feeling even if it's just a bird.

Try it when you are doing 60mph and a red deer jumps over a hedge landing about 6ft in front of your bumper. With luck it wont go through the windscreen.