Rich Moss 1997 820 Si saloon

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richard moss
Posts: 233
Joined: Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:23 pm
Location: Wolverhampton

Re: Rich Moss 1997 820 Si saloon

Post by richard moss » Sun Feb 14, 2010 10:48 pm

A couple more jobs done this weekend: replacing one of the differential oils seals and fixing a dodgy starter motor.

The oil seal had been spewing out gearbox oil all over the place and so the replacement will pay for itself in a while. The job isn't too bad - after unbolting the brake caliper, track rod end and ABS sensor the suspension upright can be removed (3 bolts) and lifted clear, taking the driveshaft with it. The seal can then just be pulled out easily enough and the new one pressed in.

The starter is easy enough to get out - in theory. In practice, you can't get to the nut that secures the lower bolt without removing the lower gearbox crossmember and you can't remove the crossmember until you remove one of the gear selector rods. When you've done that, you find that the bottom bolt goes through the rear engine mount bracket and as you pull it out the engine drops and the bolt holes go out of alignment. Refitting requires the engine to be jacked up and trail and error used to align it all - all much more fiddly than it should be.

The problem with the starter was just a bit of corrosion on the wire link between its main terminal and the solenoid - this was stopping the solenoid throwing the pinion forward 9 time out of 10. Cleaning it up means that it now works first time every time. I love a free fix.
1990 827 Sterling manual
1990 Jaguar Sovereign 4 Litre on LPG
1969 MGC GT (currently hibernating)

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