Series 3 My Saturday just got mapped out for me.

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S

Scalleys Dad

Active Member
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96
Location
Exeter, Devon
I took the 72 S3 into our garage of choice for a full check over of everything below stairs. I even left a tin of waxoyl and a brush with the techie. She is in excellent nick and a bit of welding by one of the front hangers is booked in. Quids in I thought. Wrong. She drips a little oil from numerous locations but it does not add up to much. Recently I have noticed a bit of diesel under her when she has been parked up and have tried in vain to trace the source from above the engine and from the side as best I can but it has only ever been a few drips. ‘We’ might have been a bit over zealous with the cleaning off of mud, silage and road gunge as the leak is now clearly visible on the ground and the drips are constant with the engine running and for a few seconds after turning the engine off. After several checks, wiping everything in the vicinity of the diesel pumps,filters and pipes and then firing up the engine again it looks like the leak is from the top side of the injector pump and possible under the mechanism attached to the throttle via a short bar. I will need to take the screen wash bottle out tomorrow and the bonnet off to get a really good look but I am fairly certain the leak is thereabouts. I can’t leave it as I must be losing a heck of a lot of diesel when driving and of course I am aware of the environmental issues and how puddles of diesel must be antagonising the neighbours. So the question.
Is there a gasket or seal that could be broken or perished that will be substantially less money to fix than a new/refurbished pump. Thanks
 
Take it you have a CAV DPA pump? The bio additives in modern diesel harden the seals and they leak like sieves. There's good youtube vidoes on how to replace the seals. I got a full seal kit off e-bay for under £20. There's several types and you need to know whether it has a mech or hyd governor as the kits are different. Its an evenings work to take the pump off, change the seals and put it back. You can do most by loosing the joint, replacing the seal and doing it up, it doesn't have to be a full strip down. Its a differernt story if you pay someone, could be a few £100s or exchange pump.
 
Thanks for that. All I could see in the gathering gloom was ‘Lucas’ so I’ll get the finer detail in the morning. I did do a bit of shopping research and you are right about new pumps being hundreds with or without exchange deals. I did not think to look for seal/gasket refurb kits but I’ll suss out the make and model number tomorrow. We don’t have a garage or a driveway so any repairs are going to be pavement/roadside which could be a challenge.
 
You don't need to take the bonnet off, I just disconnect the bonnet support stay and use a bungee strap to hold the bonnet flat against the windscreen.

Col
 
Tell you what. There’s one heck of a chilly breeze blowing under the landing this morning. The pump is a Lucas Cav and it is now as clean as I can get it. How do you tell what type it is? For the life of me I cannot see the source of the drips as it’s difficult to get a really good look with the engine running. It still drips for a few seconds with the engine off but it takes me longer than that to get back under. There are a couple of independent landie workshops dotted about so she may have to go in. In this new normal not much is open today so I’ll look at seal and gasket kits on that there internet.
How many get distracted by easier jobs if the main one foxes you? I’m cleaning up all the earths with a toothbrush and polishing up all the connection points. It does at least look like I know what I’m doing.
 
There a good chance its the large o ring that seals the "hydrualic head" to the body. The manual shows a full strip down but you can slide the head out enough to swap the o ring once you get the locking screw(s) out. There's also a seals on the pump inlet and lever shafts that leak. You only need about half the stuff in the seal kits.
https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/r...p-manual-fuel-injection-pumppdf-solide-bolide


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lucas-CA...562307?hash=item468e25f283:g:0EkAAOSw5YlcQFfI
 
The most common leak is the accelerator spindle as the pump internals are lubricated with diesel which then runs back to filter.
 
Mine was absolutley peeing it out. It was the accelerator spindle, cut off sprindle and the big seal between the hydraulic unit and the body. That was the worst and it was hard to work out as it just came out all round the pump. Easy to change though as you only need to pull the unit out about 1/4" and swap the seal, not strip the pump itself down. Inlet filter was very dirty so it was worth stripping that.
 
Thanks for the tips. It looks like the area around the spindle is the most likely source of the drips which when starting her up this morning was more monsoon like.
Rob. When you say pull the unit out do you mean the spindle mechanism alone lifting by a quarter of an inch with the main pump unit left in situ? That would be handy as realistically there is no way the whole unit is going to come out bearing in mind this is all curb side stuff.
 
I meant the main body, where the round bit pulls out of the casting. but if that's not leaking and its just the spindle then I think you can take the governor housing off and get the spindle out. I changed just that on mine but that's when I found the main body was leaking too.
 
Not going too well as we reach statutory tea break time. There seems to be more pedestrians than ever tutting that I am in the way. I am normally quite laid back but!!!!!!!! Logistically and pragmatically I am not going to get this done curb side. Does anyone know of a workshop or a far more experienced mobile mechanic in the Exeter area who could tackle this?
 
Good evening. I had to raise the white flag today and sought a sympathetic workshop who will look at her next week. Thanks for all the tips and advice. I simply could’nt get into a good position to get to the nuts and bolts without being run over or tutted at by the buggy pushers. Having watched the Aussie guy in his workshop I think the early doors proposal to downsize now has to include a very big garage.
Thanks again.
 
Karamba!!!! The injector pump has been stripped down and needs further attention. It would seem diesel has been seeping out for ages and mixed in with mud, grass and general crud has been eating away at a couple of gaskets on that side of the engine and the engine mounting. With the pump out and a clear swing at it the timing chain warranted a check but we might as well replace it as I never have in over a decade. Bottom line. Move house to somewhere with a driveway, garage and barn and a crash course in repairs or pay the man. As was said on another thread there is much to be gained if you can undertake big and biggish repairs at home.
 
You can achive a lot with a tarp and a dry shed. I have to work outside so my plan is get the part off and into the shed, then relax and sort it. When I rewired I had to do it in Nov, it was very cold and I only had the eveings.. Ran an exstension lead and put a fan heater and light in, took a flask and got to work. Got a strip of that rubber where the lead went across the pavement. I reckon I did 80% of the wiring from inside. It was so cold the soldering iron would only work once the heater had been on a while!
 
You make it sound quite romantic. Back in the olden days I had a BSA 650 that had a head gasket go. Like you do a mate of mine and I put it in a biggish tent and ‘after tea’ we started tinkering with it. Some lighting turned up along with a Party Seven, biscuits, and more ‘help’. The bike ended up being stripped right down, polished to death and reassembled as the sun rose over the neighbours trees. We had to torch the tent in an allotment stylii incinerator as the floor was covered in oil stains, beer and tea. By 6am we were queueing up with the Posties for breakfast at a cafe on the A23.
 
Perhaps that's the key, I too had a BSA 650 (well several, A10 and A65), they are a good grounding for Land Rovers. I fondly recal a similar rebuild, of a Norton, 4 p****d blokes, a small shed working through the night. At around 3 am we had a disagrement over which way one of the timing gears would go when the crank was turned. The bikes owner got it wrong and we laughed so much we ended up collapsed, as much from the tiredness. When we got it finished he started it up for a test run set off and did a circle and landed at our feet, steering lock was still on! Happy days...
 
So she is back outside, repairs, especially the pump overhaul, seemed to take ages, and that thump you might have heard yesterday was the bottom falling out of the financial market as I dug into the secret slush fund to pay for the works. Turns out there had been some seepage from the pump for quite a while and gaskets and things like the engine mounting rubber and bottom hoses had to be replaced. "Its not the parts, its the labour and the £200 VAT" I cried as I broke the news to a disinterested household. All in the bill was just £300 short of what I paid for her all those years ago which got me wondering if now was the time....... but then I snapped out of it. I have to say she was purring very nicely when we got onto the open road but trying to get her through town was a bit of a bit of a drama as the idling speed was way below what I had her set as previously so she is back at the workshop now for a fine tune and then we are off again to seek new adventures and go exploring the nooks and crannies of this fine county ....................... oh dammit. I suppose I will just have to clean her everyday
 
If its any consolation my injector pump leak also did for the N/S engine and gear box mounts and the all 3 suspension bushes on the front N/S spring, they all just swole up and went soft.
 
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