It's a great thing to have your own style. You think outside the box
and use your own skills to accomplish a needed task. The only
downside is when unforeseen circumstance creates a situation
where using a tried and true method would have been more
effective or cost worthy.
This tool is based upon designs I found searching on here. The strengthening is because the angle iron I had wasn't really thick enough (old bed frame).
Yesterday I was in the tyre shop getting new tyres fitted to the wheels for my HD. While stood around I noticed they did 4 wheel alignment & as I've been saying for years I'll get the XJR done, I asked about it & as they could do it there & then it got done. Lucky I have the workshop manual on my phone as they couldn't find the rear toe-in adjustment, amazingly once it was pointed out the bolt wasn't seized & adjusted easily.
Now the right rear wheel isn't pointing in way too much & the tracking is right, it drives a lot better. Feels like it's rolling freer too as all the wheels are pointing the right way. I'd got used to the front feeling like it was tucking in a bit on bends, must have been the excessive toe-in at the front making it odd. The car not feeling like it wants to walk sideways when booted is good too.
Then I got home & refitted the wheels in my HD. So two vehicles fixed in one day.
More shocking news, I actually washed my XJR today & polished the dash etc. Doesn't look like it's been dragged out of a field now as I've got all the moss & mould growing on it off. I really should do it more often but somehow never seem to get around to it.
I seem to be monopolising this thread currently but today's minor improvement was finally buying some dress making pins to fix* the saggy headlining over the back seat. It's annoyed me since I got the car, I've just never remembered to buy pins as never seen them for sale anywhere I go. Finally got some today & it looks a look neater even with little pin heads showing, makes it nicer for the occasional rear seat passengers too.
I seem to be monopolising this thread currently but today's minor improvement was finally buying some dress making pins to fix* the saggy headlining over the back seat. It's annoyed me since I got the car, I've just never remembered to buy pins as never seen them for sale anywhere I go. Finally got some today & it looks a look neater even with little pin heads showing, makes it nicer for the occasional rear seat passengers too.
Push them in using star constellations as a pattern, claim it was the forerunner and Bentley copied the idea.
Installed the new (Bosch) upper driver side O2 sensor yesterday. Took a couple of hours including replacing all the components that had to be moved aside during removal of the sensor. The biggest problem during removal was finding the tools that fit in the tight space above the catalytic converter (and big hands). The "Check Engine" light extinguished after two engine starts.
Today I replaced the coolant with original specification orange DEXCOOL. There was no way I was going to pull the drain plugs in the block, so I purchased five gallons of distilled water and diluted the old stuff in the engine one gallon at a time (about one gallon will drain from the full radiator when the plug is pulled). So, I did that five times (heater on...fast idle). Took a long time, but the old antifreeze was diluted down and mixed with new water to almost clear before I added the new antifreeze.. I'll test it tomorrow, but the water-antifreeze ratio should be in the ballpark. If it's OK, I'll reinstall the chin valance and move on to the E-type brakes.
When I flushed mine, I just connected the hose pipe to various hoses at the top & let it pour though until it was running out clear. Kept the weeds down on my drive for a bit too.
Didn't happen "today", took a few days over a couple of weeks, because, you know, life. The dreaded Mercedes 722.6 transmission issues.
Changing the transmission pilot bushing (although it absolutely needed to be done) didn't make the "gearbox fault" stop coming up, so I ordered the "Mercedes 722.6 Conductor Plate Transmission Service Kit - OE Supplier 7226CSKNF" from FCP Euro and dove in. There are cheaper options on the 'net, but I wanted to be reasonably sure of what I was getting.
Like the last time, dropping the catalytic converter to get at the pilot bushing was the biggest obstacle. Fortunately, the learnings from the last go-round, as well as everything being freed up, made things go relatively smoothly. Amazing what a difference the application of anti-seize makes. I did have to go back and drop the pan again due to a small fluid leak, which seems to have stopped after being more diligent and incremental with torquing the clamping bolts.
A couple of hundred kilometres of various types of driving and no recurrence of faults yet, so here's hoping...
As always, my thanks to the various posts on this forum that gave much needed guidance and suggestions, but I have to admit to using a few MB forums as well. You Tube has some excellent tutorials as well.
Yesterday I diagnosed an stickig fuel injector. Randomly "misfires" , fixes hersef by her own. And misfiring again from the rest. Classic classic fuel injector failure. In the meantime works fine.
Injectors were completely fine. Under 4% flow differences. But the issue lied in the coil connector pins. Bad contact in the connector that heat soaked so it would not make a contact. Untill couple of miles of misfiring. After started working, it could work rest of the fuel in the tank if engine was not stopped. Nasty to fault to trace.
Definitely pass on the chain which you already did. The two large primary chains are called Morse chains while the secondaries are the conventional roller chains. Those Morse chains and the updated tensioners are from 8/2001 on up. The date will be above the water pump on the right. Speaking of water pump, that looks kinda old? Maybe a pump and a thermostat should be considered? Choose which engine has better motor mounts. Also maybe a new o ring on the bottom of the engine oil dipstick tube.
