Omega Owners Forum

Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: rpont on 14 December 2006, 19:50:18

Title: Well she runs
Post by: rpont on 14 December 2006, 19:50:18
Started stripping down in February to do the valve stem seals but ended up taking the heads off and doing the head and manifold gaskets. New lifters and even a new air injection non-return valve. It took quite a while to get fuel through to where it's needed but then she fired up with not too bad a clatter.

Idling smoothly at 500 rpm but still a ticking at the top and she kept just stopping. No misfire or change in idle speed, just as if I'd turned the key. That hasn't happened since I ran her back and forth on the drive a couple of times though.

Electrical problems all round. The display had missing pixels, tapped the computer button and it stuck in and it started misting up inside the dash display. She did warm up very quickly, I've never known heated air to come out of the vents so quickly so I turned off the heating to see if the HBV valve cleared any possible aitrlock. After a few minutes I turned the heater back on and the temp dropped by two degrees almost instantly so there is water in there. The outlet from the thermostat got hot and the radiator as well. I'd left the cap off the expansion bottle so that I could top it up if needed and when the cooling fan cut in water poured out of the bottle so I turned her off waited for it to settle and topped it up again. Presumably the auxillary pump on the radiator comes on with the fan and that still had air in the pipes which hit the hot water and expanded somewhat.

I put the cap on after topping up and ran her again, the fan came on and she gurgled and hoses were hard. Turned her off and topped up the tank, after carefully releasing the pressure, put the cap back on and this time when the fans came on no gurgling and no really high pressure in the pipes.

She's not been on the road for two and a half years and the petrol has been in there since then, even the half gallon we added was bought 10 months ago, so the cutting out may be that. I've got a new petrol filter to fit but don't want to put that on until I've got some fresh fuel.

The good news is no more thick cloud of blue smoke when you blip the throttle after she's been idling a while so the new stem seals are doing their job. I did get a bit of smoke when blipping it at  first but she's been burning oil for years and since it stopped after ten minutes or so I put that down to oil in the exhaust or on the cats.

Even the pixels on the display came back as she warmed up. I'm extremely pleased and it wasn't too bad a job taken in stages. Hopefully I'll get her on the road again early next year.

Finally a public thank you to Geoff for his advice and tools loan, thanks Geoff.
Title: Re: Well she runs
Post by: TheBoy on 14 December 2006, 19:54:31
:)
Title: Re: Well she runs
Post by: STMO123 on 14 December 2006, 20:26:01
Wow! Well done :y
Title: Re: Well she runs
Post by: Del Boy on 14 December 2006, 20:30:36
Well done m8y :y
Title: Re: Well she runs
Post by: Bo Bo on 14 December 2006, 21:17:48
Good job  :y
Title: Re: Well she runs
Post by: Auto Addict on 14 December 2006, 22:54:52
Nice one :y
Title: Re: Well she runs
Post by: Markjay on 15 December 2006, 00:24:58
Quote
...Finally a public thank you to Geoff for his advice and tools loan, thanks Geoff.

He is on a Tour of Duty I think - should be back in the New Year? Anyone knows?



Title: Re: Well she runs
Post by: jonny2112 on 15 December 2006, 00:29:30
Quote
...ended up taking the heads off and doing the head and manifold gaskets. New lifters ..

Well done pal  :y  How did you find these tasks? :o
Title: Re: Well she runs
Post by: rpont on 15 December 2006, 08:15:00
Quote
Quote
...Finally a public thank you to Geoff for his advice and tools loan, thanks Geoff.

He is on a Tour of Duty I think - should be back in the New Year? Anyone knows?

He is coming home for R&R at Christmas and then going back for another 3 months or so.

Title: Re: Well she runs
Post by: rpont on 15 December 2006, 08:28:57
Quote
Quote
...ended up taking the heads off and doing the head and manifold gaskets. New lifters ..

Well done pal  :y  How did you find these tasks? :o
There's nothing complicated about it if you take it a bolt at a time  :)

I'd only previously worked on a lawnmower engine but have spent nearly 30 years earning a living fixing things so I know the difference between a screwdriver and a spanner. I knew the job would take time but didn't realise just how much, if I'd been well I think maybe 4 days for the first time since I'd have checked everything twice.

Take the power steering pump out first before trying to lift the head and remove the passenger side head first and put it back last so that you can do the water inlet pipe at the back of the engine.
Title: Re: Well she runs
Post by: nixoro on 15 December 2006, 11:17:51
Well done sounds like a job well done :)
Title: Re: Well she runs
Post by: v6man54deg              Geffd on 24 December 2006, 15:04:26
no problem Ron - glad you finished it in the end
Quote
Started stripping down in February to do the valve stem seals but ended up taking the heads off and doing the head and manifold gaskets. New lifters and even a new air injection non-return valve. It took quite a while to get fuel through to where it's needed but then she fired up with not too bad a clatter.

Idling smoothly at 500 rpm but still a ticking at the top and she kept just stopping. No misfire or change in idle speed, just as if I'd turned the key. That hasn't happened since I ran her back and forth on the drive a couple of times though.

Electrical problems all round. The display had missing pixels, tapped the computer button and it stuck in and it started misting up inside the dash display. She did warm up very quickly, I've never known heated air to come out of the vents so quickly so I turned off the heating to see if the HBV valve cleared any possible aitrlock. After a few minutes I turned the heater back on and the temp dropped by two degrees almost instantly so there is water in there. The outlet from the thermostat got hot and the radiator as well. I'd left the cap off the expansion bottle so that I could top it up if needed and when the cooling fan cut in water poured out of the bottle so I turned her off waited for it to settle and topped it up again. Presumably the auxillary pump on the radiator comes on with the fan and that still had air in the pipes which hit the hot water and expanded somewhat.

I put the cap on after topping up and ran her again, the fan came on and she gurgled and hoses were hard. Turned her off and topped up the tank, after carefully releasing the pressure, put the cap back on and this time when the fans came on no gurgling and no really high pressure in the pipes.

She's not been on the road for two and a half years and the petrol has been in there since then, even the half gallon we added was bought 10 months ago, so the cutting out may be that. I've got a new petrol filter to fit but don't want to put that on until I've got some fresh fuel.

The good news is no more thick cloud of blue smoke when you blip the throttle after she's been idling a while so the new stem seals are doing their job. I did get a bit of smoke when blipping it at  first but she's been burning oil for years and since it stopped after ten minutes or so I put that down to oil in the exhaust or on the cats.

Even the pixels on the display came back as she warmed up. I'm extremely pleased and it wasn't too bad a job taken in stages. Hopefully I'll get her on the road again early next year.

Finally a public thank you to Geoff for his advice and tools loan, thanks Geoff.