| Author | Message | ||
     Bill Coburn (203.51.26.121) |
Recently I was fiddling with a 1985 Spirit, low mileage, excellent order but noticed a deep brown slick on the lower radiator hose. It turned out to be resin or a similar material from the alternator. My local man from Lee and Thomas (they are still in business Richard)found the encasing material in the regulator at the rear of the unit had melted and run through the main casing and dripped below. The unit was functioning perfectly. Overhauled and with a new regulator it was refitted but when I attempted to fit the new drive belt it was almost impossible being too short. It was however the same dimension as the belt I removed. Since the bearings had been almost U/S I deduced that the agents who had serviced the car since new had at some time fitted the wrong belt. Sure enough the alternator was a Motorola and needed a longer belt. So the correct belt was fitted and all was well until when I last looked - I have a slick again on the radiator hose. The drive belt if anything is too loose! Any ideas? There is no agent for Motorola in Australia I am told. | ||
| RTreacy (195.232.90.66) |
Hi Bill, Indeed I know that Lee & Thomas are still in business out at Phillip (Canberra) ! Our T-Series goes in there next week for an airconditioning service. How's that for 35 years of customer loyalty, everything from re-coring the R-Type radiator to finding a broken gear selector wire in the middle of a wiring harness on the T. They are still a really good outfit; surely they can find the problem with the alternator ?? Perhaps there is a bad diode, leading the regulator to work overtime, or even a faulty rotor winding. Something is wrong as these alternators and regulators usually have a pretty easy life. Strangely, the Motorola alternators were only used on SZ cars between series 9534 and 16930. My monster, 20037, has a Delco. I was able to buy a diode bridge, regulator and bearings from an American car specialist in Lucerne a few months ago when a diode failed. The giveaway for a dodgy diode is usually a grumbling alternator. I'm sure L & T will find the problem in minutes. Oh and the drive belt for pre-20,000 cars (Lucas/CAV or Motorola) is SPC2680, and the post 20,000 cars SPC3430: as you say, they are different. My local garage stocks them anyhow. By the way, I fitted 5-spoke Turbo RT 17" wheels and 255.55WR17 Michelins to the Turbo R and they look tremendous. Regards, Richard. | ||
| Robin Hickman (203.173.161.131) |
Bill, The alternator on my '86 Mulsanne also drips resin on to the lower water connector. I showed this, over a year ago, to my auto-electrician (who also did all the electrical work for the dealers in Melbourne for many years, including while Spirits were current models). He claims this molten resin was not unusual, was not caused by a fault, and was not a sign of imminent failure. He did say that if this caused undue anxiety, there was an equivalent Bosch alternator which could be easily fitted as a changover, had 50% more capacity, was known to be reliable, and was not expensive. Regards, Robin Hickman | ||
| Bill Coburn (203.51.26.121) |
Well thanks to Richard and Robin. I am getting the car back on Thursday for another problem and have arranged to take it back to L & T for them to scratch heads. Only yesterday I spoke to Bentley Sydney the new agents down there and their elctrician had not heard of the problem, neither has the factory commented or put out Service Sheets. It is a puzzlement. Separately the car is coming back since I had the boots replaced on the steering rack. The rack is not the easiest to remove, sent it to the Sydney specialists who do the things for everyone and debated whether to do a full overhaul. It was not leaking so boots only for about $140. Guess what? It is now leaking. The car has now done 52K. So back it goes for the full treatment. The racks when they first came out on the Shadow II were a pain in the bum. I remember accounts of the first SII being unpacked only to find a huge pool of fluid underneath it. I understand that the factory is now using its third manufacturer so hopefully they now have it right. The other embuggerance is a leaking rear brake pump. Seems all it requires is a couple of 'O' rings but I am not sure one can remove the thing without pulling the induction system off! Incidentally a friend arrived last week in his Citroen and I noted the apparently identical accumulators on the car at a third of the RR price!! The other bit of intelligence is that Total make LHM which Citroen use and which is noticeably cheaper! Cheers to all. | ||
| RTreacy (195.232.90.66) |
Hi Bill, As a consolation, steering rack oil leaks are very common on these cars. I have a new rack in mine so it doesn't leak yet, but it is quite usual for owners to add 25% transmission conditioner to the system. I hear this stops leaks dead in their tracks and causes no adverse effects to the system: worth a try rather than overhauling the rack every few years. By the way, there is an animal here called a marder which eats radiator hoses, brake hoses and steering rack boots. One ate the steering rack boots out of my other car, and a friend had the cooling system on a brand new car chewed out. In the cold, these animals like a nice warm rubber hose to munch on. People even take out special insurance policies to cover the consequential repairs. On LHM, I buy mine in bulk from the local Jaguar dealer as Jags use the same stuff. Half litres of Castrol cost around AUD$9: how much do you pay ? LHM is made by just about every oil company (Esso, Total, Lockheed, Antar, Agip, Cofran, Elf, Igol, Motul, Stop, Castrol, Mobil, BP), so shop around ! It is also well known that Citroen spheres will fit these cars, but beware as the pressures are critical in the rear suspension spheres I hear and affect the ride quality significantly as they control the gas springs/dampers. The European aftermarket specialists sell the spheres with the correct pressures at Citroen prices, AUD$90 for main spheres (which I have replaced as routine) and $140 for rears (I'll replace them soon for good luck). Especially if the '85 Spirit has carburettors, the induction system is unbelievably easy to remove you will recall, so those hydraulic pumps will be easy to access, and you don't even need to remove the pumps to replace the o-rings. Have fun ! RT. | ||
| Bill Coburn (203.51.26.121) |
A breath of fresh air Richard many thanks. I must say I am tempted to try the conditioner as getting that rack off is a pain. Can't hurt I wouldn't think. Still thinking about the Marder. The accumulators for the Spirit are about $400 here each that is. The Citroen spheres are the same for the main accumulators I am told but others in the car (there are 8 all told)have restrictors in them for some pupose. The gas springs in the Spirit I haven't yet seen but Tom Small tells me they are smaller than the accumulators for what that is worth. when they go it is like riding on a board they tell me. I thought the manifolds would have to be lifted the only daunting bit is the myriad of pipes wires etc. Have you replaced the tappet cover gaskets and fitted the bonded washers and spacers? Well worthwhile to stop the leaks!! | ||
| RTreacy (195.232.90.66) |
When I replaced the T-Series' tappet cover I used a standard new gasket with a good smearing of Silastic gasket, which I find much better than Hylomar. Is there a mod using bonded washers and spacers ? The whole motor is dry as a bone now as I also replaced the rear main oil seal with a rubber one from a Spirit, along with the rocker covers (again a bit of Silastic gasket helps). Yes, the rear spheres are smaller than the main accumulator spheres. Access is through the boot of course. You can buy them in the UK and have them shipped for the prices I mentioned. I have ridden in a Spirit and several Citroens with flat rear spheres. Tom is exaggerating the comfort under those conditions. Awful ! | ||
| Bill Coburn (203.51.26.121) |
Well you have no problem. This perished Spirit I have been refurbishing was so leaky the oil would run out around the mounting bolts when you were filling the sump. The mod apart from the gasket consists of tubular spacers and thick penny washers with a neoprene-like surface on one side bonded to it. I will be fitting them to the S2. On steering matters, I called Penshurst this morning re conditioner and he almost came through the phone. Apparently, they work well for a short while then soften the seals to a point where the pressure simply blows them clean out and you have a catastrophic failure. So I will have to pull the rotten thing out. He said the design is very archaic uses nitrile seals and is very good for his business.!!!! The other problem with the conditioner is that not only does it soften the rack seals but also the pump seals which in turn fail. If you email your address to me at shermanherman@hotmail.com I will send you a CD with the complete works of BBC over the past year which I have been putting out monthly for the past year and a bit. Cheers |
