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Decisions decisions

MJH

MJH

Active Newbie
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E51 Owner
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Location
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First Name
M
Elgrand
E51
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Decisions decisions

Just thinking of servicing my gearbox on E51 2004. Had a little look underneath and noticed an oil leak from rocker cover. Then the same day found some coolant leaking from the radiator. Nothing dripping on the drive. Now I know what to do if I’m doing the oil leak.. plugs coils etc etc etc. cats need doing also ☹️. Is it worth it??
2004 .. 150000 miles. Probably need some suspension bits doing soon. She goes well. Cost me £3500 4yrs ago and have never had a problem. Except starter motor.
Invest or call it a day🤔🍻
 
Think you have already made a decision!!
Scrap it's worth £!!!!!, breaking yourself will get more, to sell, who will buy, if it needs !!!
You'll probably need another motor, which will also cost, will it be reliable!
Whatever you choose it will be right for you, wish you well
 
Depends on what last MOT was like and how much is left. I reckon on £1,000 depreciation a year. I'd be tempted to tighten rocker cover bolts and use slightly thicker oil, throw in a can of radiator stop leak (or get it professionally repaired if there is anyone locally who still does it) and see how you get on. It doesn't owe you much
 
What needs doing with the cats?

If it were just the rocker cover gaskets and a radiator I'd fix it up if it were mine.

If you start scrapping it yourself you'll be doing more work for less money than it's worth now minus cost of parts to fix it up anyway.
 
Price of doing the work versus a new vehicle you don't know that could cost you just as much to fix, although we have all been there, nothing probably wrong with the car you have but it feels like time for a change, want and need are entirely different. Cost up the work and then decide if you can get a vehicle as good for the money you will lay out for repairs.
 
MJH said:
Decisions decisions

Just thinking of servicing my gearbox on E51 2004. Had a little look underneath and noticed an oil leak from rocker cover. Then the same day found some coolant leaking from the radiator. Nothing dripping on the drive. Now I know what to do if I’m doing the oil leak.. plugs coils etc etc etc. cats need doing also ☹️. Is it worth it??
2004 .. 150000 miles. Probably need some suspension bits doing soon. She goes well. Cost me £3500 4yrs ago and have never had a problem. Except starter motor.
Invest or call it a day🤔🍻
Click to expand...
Sounds miles to good to break

Is it a S1 or S2, what sort of condition is the body and interior in.
 
MJH said:
Decisions decisions

Just thinking of servicing my gearbox on E51 2004. Had a little look underneath and noticed an oil leak from rocker cover. Then the same day found some coolant leaking from the radiator. Nothing dripping on the drive. Now I know what to do if I’m doing the oil leak.. plugs coils etc etc etc. cats need doing also ☹️. Is it worth it??
2004 .. 150000 miles. Probably need some suspension bits doing soon. She goes well. Cost me £3500 4yrs ago and have never had a problem. Except starter motor.
Invest or call it a day🤔🍻
Click to expand...
Depends on the condition of the rest of it I guess.

If it were mine and I was only going to get scrap value for it I would fix the rad as I have heard they can completely fail and carry on driving it until next MOT. If it's only minor things on the next MOT I would consider the transmission service and so on.

As for the rocker cover if it's not dripping on the drive and giving you the burning smell it's only minor and will hopefully stay that way.

At the end of the day it will probably cost more to get another car which you might find needs more doing, sometimes it's better the devil you know.
 
Ordered the radiator… still very drivable.. topping up coolant almost daily.
How easy is it to give the rocker cover bolds a nip up say half a turn? Also is there something that would fail and cause the oil leak as it seemed to come from nowhere.🙏🏿
 
Pcv valve? How easy is this to replace.. think I know the answer🤣
 
The valve covers are plastic so can't be over tightened, the gaskets harden over time and need replacing. PCV is screwed into the rear of the driver's side cover so easy to replace if you are doing a full top end service.
 
I don't think there's much scope for nipping the valve covers up to stop a leak, it's either leave as is or replace the gaskets.

Seems to me the torque figure given for the cover bolts ensures that the inner lip of the covers just about meets (or does meet) the aluminium head, when the covers do meet the head the bolts suddenly need a lot more torque to tighten any further because tightening further would mean crushing the cover plastic, stretching the bolts or pulling the threads in the heads. Or in other words the torque figure for the cover bolts may be calculated to ensure the cover just about (or does) meet the head, if the cover is already meeting the head it leaves no scope for 'nipping up further'. When the cover is properly fitted it does look from the outside like there is scope for 'nipping up' because there's a gap between outer lip of the plastic cover and aluminium head but at that point the inner lip of the plastic cover may already be touching the aluminium head. The seal works because it is flexible and compressed between it's channel between the inner and outer plastic lips in the cover and the aluminium head but when the inner lip meets the head that's as much compression as you can put on the seal. You know when an Elgrand cam cover bolt is tight enough without using a torque wrench because when it is tight the plastic meets the head and you'd suddenly need an excessive amount of extra torque to tighten any further but tightening any further would probably cause damage - it is like tightening an M6 nut and bolt with a small spring between them, when the spring was fully compressed you'd also suddenly need excessive torque to tighten any further.

Obviously still tighten cam cover bolts in sequence and in stages, clean the areas on the head around the cover before removing covers and again after removing covers, remove old sealant from the tight corners at the front end of the heads and covers and apply a bit of new sealant in those tight corners.

Changing cam cover gaskets on Elgrands is a job I've done many times, including most recently just a couple of days ago on Friday. On Friday the owner hanged around and watched me do the work (was pushed for time and wanted to set off as soon as it was done), it was only last year when I had the plenum off the same Elgrand and changed the PCV valve last time (during LPG conversion last year), I changed the PCV valve again this time. On both occassions when I had the plenun off I noticed and commented that there was some oil / blowby in the inlet plenum, on both occassions I said it'd probably be due to blowby from the rings, not due to a problem with the PCV valve and changing the PCV wouldn't decrease the amount of oil in the plenum... I was definitely right last time and will be again this time, but the PCV was just a 'might as well do while we're in there' on both occassions as far as the owner was concerned.

Changed the radiator on my own Elgrand the other week, surprisingly quick and easy job when it's on the lift.
 
Last edited:
Amazing and thank you 🙏🏿
Did you have to top up gearbox after the radiator?
 
MJH said:
Amazing and thank you 🙏🏿
Did you have to top up gearbox after the radiator?
Click to expand...

I checked it but it was OK, the rad doesn't contain much ATF and you don't lose a lot from the lines, especially if you plug the lines using something like the top of an old spark plug like I do. I recently did a partial ATF change so knew the gearbox was up to the fill level when I started, I will be doing another partial fluid change soon and will obviously be checking the level again when doing that.
 
Thanks again..
will service my gear box next then tackle the oil leak (which isn’t too bad) plugs coils and sensors.. 🍻
 
Got the radiator done today. Gear box oil was black so ordered service kit. Thinking I’ll replace what comes out and drain a couple of times as posted by others. I think this is the way to go. Then I’ll tackle the top end and try to decide what to do with the front cats. I fancy the cut and weld method 😁 exhaust still looks good.
When i did the radiator.. had a quick look at the plenum in anticipation of taking it off. Doesn’t look straight forward 😅
 
Plenum is not too bad just an awful lot of bolts to remove. There are a couple of hidden bolts on the back near the brake servo, when refitting replace them first finger tight before fitting the rest then tighten them last. Also thread lock the flap screws while it's off.
 
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