Tuesday 30 July 2019

Engine - Oil Cooler leak

Small oil leak found after a trip on Holiday in Norfolk. Did a 500 trip and halfway through found a small puddle of oil from the left hand side of the engine.

Managed to take a photo and found i was a small leak from the bottom of the oil cooler.


The Brazilian UGA engine has a single port oil cooler mounted in a doghouse. Strange and odd to use a single port but I suspect it was a case of the design transferring from Germany -> Mexico -> Brazil transfer. It also has 8mm diameter oil lines so had to use 10-8mm adapter seals on the oil cooler mounting adapter. Then 8mm single port under the cooler.

Tightened the nuts up a little to try to stop the leak and set off homeward. 100 miles to get home. A little leak but not enough to cause any major breakdowns. Well done Betty for getting us home!

So this weekend I pulled the engine out. Major heavy rain forecast and did not fail to disappoint!

Party tent put up to stem the flow!




Camping chair to relax on. Buckets to capture the rain from the roof gutters in a vain attempt to keep the floor dry!

Hardboard flooring to make the jack easier to travel on and try to keep the worst of the water off!

Engine ready to come out!


Engine out!



The ATV jack is just great. Slides under on lowest setting without having to jack the van up. Large board to hold the engine level and flat. I have to do this solo so makes life so easy to pull back and slide the engine out.







Fan housing removed and think the two black 8mm single port seals were to blame. The foam is to seal the cooler. Some strange dent and marks on the cooler but suspect this might have been when struggling to align the fan housing.

The black seals were quite hard. Not really flexible. I think the green, white and red color ones are better and the black ones (from Machine 7) are quite hard.

No supplier had stock so the alternative ones so had to resort to ordering the same ones from Machine 7.

The cooler and the mounting was removed so I can torque the bolts up. New seals fitted with a small amount of sealant (I know its not recommended but did them dry last time!

Taking the mounting adapter off allowed me to torque down to the correct torque. The mounting adapter bolts you cannot get a torque ratchet on so had to guess but the adapter to case seals did not leak and are more flexible.

Fingers crossed!

Refitted the fan housing and was going to refit on the Saturday but had to do the supermarket shopping!

After a night to torrential rain! The engine was a little wet on Sunday morning. Managed to get cracking but very wet!

Engine installation was very tricky as water poring down your overalls was not good. Alignment was hard but after 2 attempts the engine slid in.

Then connect up all electrical, fuel and cables. All went smoothly. Even stopped raining by lunchtime!


Fired the engine up and went for a drive. No leaks yet!


Fingers crossed it has solved it. I have been on VW classic parts and order the OEM seals at 0.79 euros each but with a massive 40 euro delivery they are the most expensive parts I have ever ordered. On the look out for some Elring red 8mm seals when they get stock in the UK.

I think the black ones will hold with the sealant and correct torque but not sure. Time will tell.

Monday 3 June 2019

Bodywork - Part 7 - Before / After

So you are probably reading this in the reverse order as blogger likes to post in date order with the latest first.

This is the re-cap post to show the before during and after photographs.

Inner front wheel Arch


Before

During

After


Front Inner Sill


Before

During

After

Outer Sill


Before

During

After

Rear Inner sill / Closure

Before

Before

Before

 Before

During

During

After

After

 After

Rear Wheel Arch


Before

Before

Before

During

During

During

During

After

After

Battery Tray


Before

During

After 


Rear Bumper / Valance Mount


Before

 During

During

Sorry no After! Too exciting to finishing!


I hope that covers it all! Its been a busy time. Did about 50 hours work on this.

The van has now passed the MOT! Inspectors comments was "that someone has done a lot of work under here!"

Only the paint left to do.... Wait for a week of good weather!



Bodywork - Part 6 - Paint & Finish

Just to recap the last 5 posts are all about inspecting, cutting, fitting and welding.

This post of the finial post on the painting and final finishing.

I will do one more post on the results of all this work with before and after photographs.

The paint used was the rust busters Epoxy mastic EM-121.


 
 

 Injected some paint into the sills before closing. 


End of inner and middle sill looks better. 


Inside of wheel tub

Much better view of the battery tray!


After the epoxy went off I put the U pol Grey Stripe seam sealant on all welded areas.

Next update is the Before and After Photos!