Everything goes wibbly-wobbly and were back in August 2012...
This car gave up moving under its own power at a junction at low speed. It was switched off immediately and brought back to base. A suspected belt jump and shredding. 30k previous at around 139k, it had a new cambelt fitted, but it did have a background issue with there being no tensioner-slot lock bolt, the thread in the head having been stripped/crossed. So it had done rather well considering.
I'd managed to take some ancillaries off before now,
IMG_20150313_112452_435 by
macplaxton, on Flickr
Damage this time round amounted to a one break in the camshaft and a centre cam cap trashed.
IMG_20150313_112531_156 by
macplaxton, on Flickr
IMG_20150313_112519_801 by
macplaxton, on Flickr
IMG_20150313_112513_447 by
macplaxton, on Flickr
IMG_20150313_112525_786 by
macplaxton, on Flickr
No other damage noted so far, but I've yet to get the head over here and in front of me on the bench for very close inspection.
Wibbly-wobbly to present and it wasn't until Fri 13th March this year that I found a day spare to visit and pull the head off. (Car in Glasgow, me in Ireland) As I was flying, I couldn't really bring any tools, so I left a note of a general selection to borrow/have ready for my arrival and fortunately the weather was dry (very fortunate given the previous couple of days rainfall).
The borrowed tools lacked some of the things I needed (as well as my note not having requested in the first place), so rather than waste time, it was off to Halfords to see what was on 1/2 price sale in the big sets. Oh good, there is a 1/2 price sale on! I'd forgot about these modern funny head bolts with their Torx heads for starters, so lets find a set with them.
What size are they?
IMG_20150313_114249_843 by
macplaxton, on Flickr
This size! (About the width of queeny's head)
IMG_20150313_114403_655 by
macplaxton, on Flickr
£100 handed over for this:
As there looked to be a suitable TX55 at the bottom right corner.
And back to the lockup to quickly end up with this.
IMG_20150313_145838_657 by
macplaxton, on Flickr
Arse. I was only using the included 7" long 3/8" drive breaker bar.
(As a distraction, when my driver re-appeared with his 8 spark plugs for his Honda Jazz, I decided to just change them there and then. At least that would go right. 35 minutes later all done without any drama)
Oh well, back to the shop to claim my lifetime guarantee 1 hour into ownership. Also to see if they have a 1/2" drive TX55 bit that doesn't have a slimmed down cross-section. Bingo on both counts and back to the lockup (but not before grabbing a 600mm breaker bar). Hmmm, another problem rears it head. The 1/2" drive TX55 whilst beefy enough to deal with front head bolt near the timing belt cover, is too beefy where it counts to do the one behind. Ok, I'll just try this 3/8" one before I give up. Ooops, broke that one too. Back down to Halfords and get other 3/8" replacement and no they don't have any 1/2" ones in long (the only thing remotely close was a set of Laser Ribe ones - grrr). So a bit of running round Paisley on a Friday afternoon wasn't looking good until I hit one of the small local factors, who came up trumps.
Laser Tools 5719 - 140mm long T55 bit and capable of the job for less than 7 quid.
Finally. Head off.
IMG_20150313_173951_784 by
macplaxton, on Flickr
IMG_20150313_174004_221 by
macplaxton, on Flickr
It wasn't my last problem of the day. The left sole of my rather old Adidas Gazelles decided that it would part company with the upper. Another unscheduled expense for the weekend (at the horrific €1.42 to a £1). Once that was finally solved with a quick dash to Braehead, I could finally be dropped off at the Charing Cross Tower and get to the pub.
