Omega Owners Forum
Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: psychnurse on 29 May 2008, 12:14:04
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Hi there!! Cool site for such cool cars, so glad Ive found it!
I am not mechanically minded, so all my maintenance is done at a local garage.
A few questions for you experienced and expert owners.... I have a 96 3.0 elite, does this have a timing belt or chain? as my garage cannot fix a chain!
I am also getting somekind of steam/heat generated paticularly when in town or on short hops. the water does not appear to be being used. I cannot see evidence of water in oil. However I have noticed that there has been some oil used in the past week since i first noticed the problem.
I thought HG but have heard that this is unlikely. have also read about oil cooler?? but again I aint got a clue!!
Any help or suggestions would be really appreciated, also does anybody have any quotes on price expected?
i intend to get belt and water pump done as no history of it and its 157,000!!
Many thanks all
Dan
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Hi, and welcome to OOF.
All V6's have a timing belt. Belt and tensioners need replacing at 40k miles or 4 years without exception. As yours has no proof of being done, you are on borrowed time. Check through the maintenance guides for assorted 'howtoos' for the job.
Steam/smoke? Without greater explanation, sounds possibly like the old favourite, rocker gaskets leaking oil which then burns off. Again, do a search for a 'how to' remedy this. Quickest way to check is to carefully pull a plug lead or two from each bank and check for oil on the lead. They should be dry....
Engines do generate steam out the exhaust, thats jus normal combustion, particularly when cold....
have a browse around if you have not done so already. Loads of good info here and best of all, its free! :y
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Cool! thank you very much for the advice. did you mean pull the spark plug out to check for oil on tip?? does smell quite burnt/ fuel like. the steam was comming from under the bonnet, did not appear to be coolant.
Once again many thanx!
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Simply remove the plug lead from the plug, no need to remove the spark plug itself. The lead will, most likely, have oil on it to a greater or lesser degree. It should be completely dry. Get a torch and look down the plug well. Again, should be dry and most likely you will see a small (or big!) pool of oil. Use kitchen roll and screwdriver or similar to mop up the oil as thats causing a short on the High Tension electrics and causing a misfire.
If the 'steam' is from the bonnet area and no loss of coolant, bet its the rocker gaskets.... ;)
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cool :) :) :) will have a look on my luch hour! better go and do some work now!! many thanks matey!
Dan
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Sorry, should say for the pedants among us, 'Cam Covers' and not Ye Olde rocker covers and gaskets....
Showing my pre-crossflow and sidevalve upbringing now..... :(
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Sorry, should say for the pedants among us, 'Cam Covers' and not Ye Olde rocker covers and gaskets.... .......
Surely not on this site!? They must be on the other forums that you visit! ::) ;D
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You ask if the 3.0 V6 has a timng belt or chain as your local garage cannot do a chain.
My advice would be- (a) They should know what it's fitted with & (b) if they can't do a timing chain - don't let them anywhere near your engine to do the V6 cambelt :o :o
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You ask if the 3.0 V6 has a timng belt or chain as your local garage cannot do a chain.
My advice would be- (a) They should know what it's fitted with & (b) if they can't do a timing chain - don't let them anywhere near your engine to do the V6 cambelt :o :o
It's ok - we're takling it this weekend. Cambelt kit, water pump, and cam gaskets/breathers.
It's in good hands ;)
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If James is on the case and doing the work .. "good hands" is an understatement
:y :y :y
:) :) :)
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If James is on the case and doing the work .. "good hands" is an understatement
:y :y :y
:) :) :)
Agreed -- James hasn't done any work for me (YET! -- but I have some lined up ::) ) But, from what I have read over a while, you are in good hands (ooo-eerr missus!!!).
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Remind me.. what were you after again? :-[ ::)
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What about the HBV? if thats leaking then surley that would cause some form of steam when hitting the right hand front exhaust pipe?
Paul :y
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What about the HBV? if thats leaking then surley that would cause some form of steam when hitting the right hand front exhaust pipe?
Paul :y
No coolant loss...
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Remind me.. what were you after again? :-[ ::)
Oh, how soon they forget :'( In a couple of months or so ...... front end upgrade from mixer to sequential :)
Don't worry ---- I will keep harping on about it ::)
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I remembered that... I just wondered if there was something more pressing :y
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What about the HBV? if thats leaking then surley that would cause some form of steam when hitting the right hand front exhaust pipe?
Paul :y
No coolant loss...
Sorry James..... I did read it but just abit tired not long been back from my hols..
No loss of coolant so yes not HBV. DOH!!!
Paul :-[ :-[
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I remembered that... I just wondered if there was something more pressing :y
Not yet ---- but you know the old beast .... something will surface !!!!!!
Sorry to hijack your thread Dan :-/
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Yeah, I must say James has been a god! think Im probably done with garages now!! so happy i found thi forum eh!!
Thanks all of you guys
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all sorted now!!! James and his mate came to the rescue! WELL WELL CHUFFED those guys are mean mechanics
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all sorted now!!! James and his mate came to the rescue! WELL WELL CHUFFED those guys are mean mechanics
Glad you're pleased - are you still noticing the increase in power?
I've never seen such a cabbaged mess of an engine bay before we started -
The vacc pipe for the rear multiram was on the inlet manifold, and the breather from the ICV was on the multiram :-/
Both holes in the inlet for the plenum bolts on the passenger side were stripped and there were NUTS on the underside ;D
Cam timing was 2mm out on banks 3 and 4 and the tension was waaaay to slack - so we've had a good reported increase of power now that's fixed :)
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oh yes, and whoever worked on it last time couldn't figure out where some vacc pipes went, so they were all plugged with screws >:( >:(
It's no wonder it flies now with the valve timing right and working multirams ;D
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Remind me.. what were you after again? :-[ ::)
Oh, how soon they forget :'( In a couple of months or so ...... front end upgrade from mixer to sequential :)
Don't worry ---- I will keep harping on about it ::)
What does that mean?
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Yeah!! One kick AS@ impovement! Thought it was ok before! The James treatment seems to have done some tricks!!
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Remind me.. what were you after again? :-[ ::)
Oh, how soon they forget :'( In a couple of months or so ...... front end upgrade from mixer to sequential :)
Don't worry ---- I will keep harping on about it ::)
What does that mean?
The system on GNU is an old mixer system -- far from ideal for the V6's ----- front end upgrade is to change all the gubbins in the engine bay to a new sequential system ( far superior, updated technology). Everything at the back end stays ( tank and pipework etc)
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Nope, sorry I'm still none the wiser. I think it is the 'GNU' that has made matters worse.
I understand 'gubbbins' though ;D
Can someone explain this upgrade in really 'thicko' simple terms and what it does to performance?
Why would someone want this to be done?
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Nope, sorry I'm still none the wiser. I think it is the 'GNU' that has made matters worse.
I understand 'gubbbins' though ;D
Can someone explain this upgrade in really 'thicko' simple terms and what it does to performance?
Why would someone want this to be done?
Sorry ... GNU -- is what I call my miggy (reg letters). She has an old, outdated and badly performing LPG mixer system with one injector. On V6's ( which my car is) this system is prone to bad running and backfiring on LPG. A backfire can split the intake pipes ( which happened to me a couple of weeks ago )-- or blow the air box or Mass Airflow Meter ( methinks).
The sequential system doesn't backfire, runs smoothly with no noticable drop in power or MPG, having an injector for each cylinder, and is generally more reliable and far easier to set up and keep in tune.
This is how I see it -- could be right up the wrong tree as all I know about LPG systems is written in this post !!!!
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Aaah, I see now. So this is an LPG specific upgrade.
Thanks :y
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Aaah, I see now. So this is an LPG specific upgrade.
Thanks :y
Yerp -- sorry I didn't make myself clear