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Took my 160 for an MOT, it passed with the now what appears nearly mandatory advisories on a TF of subframes corroded but not seriously weakened on front and back Still not done my thermostat housing, I was surprised it wasn't an advisory for a water leak

 

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Changed the thermostat on the 160 today, pig of a job compared to the 120/135....decided to split the inlet manifold to make it easier to remove it which I have to admit it did but also had to unbolt the oil cooler to get to one of the metal pipe bolts which was a nightmare, needed to get an extension bar onto the sockets to remove the bolts!! Anyway, all back together but looks like a leak on a front pipe now...at least they are easier to get to.

 

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Visited my brother earlier after work as have a "whistle" since changing the thermostat which is probably a air leak on the inlet manifold, anyway couldn't find out where the leak was but when sitting in car revving the engine so he could hear I put my foot on the brake which felt very spongy....turns out rear offside (drivers side) brake pipe had burst in an area not really noticeable when on a ramp, brother just so happened to have his brake flaring tools handy so a quick cut of the pipe further up in the engine bay and a black put on it as a temporary measure so I could get home.....next job later this week, replace the brake pipe completely and probably fit my spare braided pipes on the back the same time

 

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Come on peeps, is no-one doing anything to their F/TF?

Two part one as one was yesterday - Brother came around with his brake flaring tool so nice new brake pipe now in place, also fitted some braided hoses I've had hanging around for a while

This evening I decided to see if I could rectify the whistle on inlet manifold, removed the top half of inlet manifold (Plenum) to gain better access to the bolts, cranked all bolts up slightly over recommended torque value, refitted top half of manifold and all appears ok now. Will check properly tomorrow when I take it to work as engine will be hot when I arrive. Hopefully there will be nothing else happen to it now...apart from an oil and filter change and refilling the coolant with anti-freeze

 

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All leaks sorted on my 160, however; noticed the temp gauge had stopped working in the dash so "shorted" the sensor cable to earth to check if a break in the cable or if a faulty sensor, temp gauge went to top so obviously no break in cable so decided to change the sensor for another I have spare, pig of job trying to get a spanner/socket onto the sensor when "in-situ" with the car on the ground (nice and easy by the looks if up in the air) so decided to take the alloy block with the sensors in off the head as its only 2 bolts, anyway took off changed sensor cleaned old gasket off mating surfaces only to find my spare gasket to refit was nowhere to be be found....luckily had some gasket paper available so made a new gasket...got it all bolted back on, bled the system started up only to find my spare sensor is also faulty New sensor now on order so will look at doing the job all over again in a few days.

 

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The 160 is now running sweet The coolant sensor which works the temp gauge in the dash finally arrived, changed it over and working fine. Also drained the system and refilled with new antifreeze....no leaks no odd noises, I feel something has to go wrong.......

 

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Check fluid level on my 160, pleased to say no different than 12 days ago, looks like my leaks are finally all sorted

 

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Beginning to hate my 160, started this morning and sounded like a blow from the flexy-pipe, had a quick check as was on my way to work and it looks like the flexy has split...sods law, just as I thought everything on it was sorted

Also had a bird shat on my bonnet.....told her not taking her out again, but seriously, looked like a seagull had dropped its guts big time, cleaned it off to see paintwork already damaged

 

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Finally got around to changing the fuel pump on my silver TF. This is the fuel pump which I took apart and botched a in tank pump unit for a Ford Focus. Pressure caused the botched pipe fitting to come off initially so fitted a mini fuel line jubilee clip and all appears to be working well. going to dismantle the unit I took off and look to fit a similar style fuel pump into that

 

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Changed the downpipe (flexy) on the 160, then after fitting new one found out old gaskets used was causing a blow, got new gaskets fitted only to find its blowing on the lambda sensor so will be coming off for a third time shortly

 

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Finally got some nice weather to fit new lambda sensor to the 160 so no longer blowing there, however, still got a blow between the down pipe and manifold which I find odd as new gaskets used, will take back apart to check in case manifold has a crack and to uses some exhaust gasket paste. beginning to get annoying now

 

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Hi, is it wise to use exhaust paste? As when it hardens bit can break off and damage the interior of the cat. Previous owner of my F had used it to seal before the cat, so the cat was damaged by hard bits of seal breaking off. Regards. D4KGP.

Only an issue if you overload with gasket gunge otherwise your fine, used it a few times in the past, no issues

 

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Ended up having to take the downpipe (flexy) completely off the 160 again today, was only going to drop it slightly to put some gasket paste on to stop the blow, but unfortunately one of the nuts decided to seize (odd as its been off 4 times recently) and it sheered the stud. Anyway, brother had called around with some drifts to knock the stud out so gave him the downpipe while still under the car, he then pointed out the one downpipe was not fully welded around the top (pic below) so a quick out with the welder, brother welded it up and put on with some gasket paste. No more blowing annoyingly though this was the third time I'd taken it off and hadn't noticed the lack of weld each time! Also cleaned up the burr before refitting

 

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So as it was blowing because of the lack of weld did you need to use exhaust paste? Regards. D4KGP.

As I'd bought it I used it although, as the gasket was a thicker fibre style I probably didn't need to. Now have to sort out the water leak from the gasket I made and fitted a month or so back on the damn thing! Don't think the gasket sheet I used has held up very well to water

 

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For those that have done this, is it pessimistic to think it might be worth doing the upper ball joint at the same time?

They are not that difficult to do as long as you have the correct size deep socket to take the old one off, I did all on one of my TF's a good while back even though it was only the front ones which were gone, funnily, it was when changing the upper ball joint was when I noticed the upper arm bush was knackered!

On other news, today I again ventured into the engine bay on the 160 to change the gasket on the sensors water block. All appears fine now, but if I've anything else go wrong with the damn car I'll be selling it and just move onto one of my less problematic TF's/F's which would have needed far less work and time spent than what I've done to the 160 to get them back on the road.

 

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Left it at work as the battery flat....charger and extension cable to work tomorrow as didn't have tools to remove it and take home to charge!

 

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Battery charged, brought home yesterday and took back to work today only to have the eml come on. Anyway got home and out with my Pscan, Looks like I've a duff new lambda sensor with the two codes which come up...P1185 and P0135. I'm getting to the stage of just parking it up ad moving onto the next one in line with this 160!

 

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Nothing exciting to feedback, Had to change rear passenger side wheel on my 75th for the spare in a Tesco car park tonight due to a puncture! At least it was only cold and not raining Look back at last post (above) done nowt to my 160 since that post, think I will need to get battery off it tomorrow to recharge and fit new lambda sensor on weekend of dry

 

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Finally managed to find some time to get the down pipe/flexy back off the 160 to swap out the faulty lambda sensor...think this is the 5th time I've had the pipe off in the last 6 months....sadly forgot to sorn it in October so wasted 3and an half months tax on it Anything else goes wrong on it now, it will be up for sale!