Thread: 3.5 v8 Dead - options

It was gud to see u guys, and hope it drops in and works out well!! With this V8 in yours, you can pull the other apart and see what was going on inside it.

Well,

This morning I dropped off the engine at the Mechanics...

It was weird seeing the 101 up on the hoist - it would certainly make changing the engine a lot easier than trying to do it in a driveway... !

May it be a speedy recovery...

Good luck Grey_ghost! And thanks for picking up those tyres for me too

Hello Grey Ghost,

It has been a while since you mentioned how well the replacement engine installation is going? Are there any progress reports available?

Kind Regards
Lionel

Hi Lionelgee,

Well... Progress at the mechanics has been very slow, which is making me both and

Anyway - things are getting very close, and I might get Harry back in a week or two...

New engine is in.
Replaced the rear main seal
Replaced the head gaskets
Radiator taken apart (take off top + bottom tanks, flush the fins) - was 50% blocked
New water pump, new viscous fan, new fan blades
New HTC leads, new spark plugs
New Coil
New exhaust gaskets

Apparently it runs and drives well - a new engine kinda helps!

What's the delay now? Unfortunately the temp sender (a copper pipe filled with alcohol) was broken when being re-fitted. I can see this happening as it is a 30+ year old car, and things become brittle. Problem is - I have been told that you can't get this part anymore (apart from importing it from England)... I have also been told that it is the same part on a Series III 109, so you wouldn't think that it would be that hard to find...

The mechanic doesn't want to give the car back to me without a working temp gauge - which is understandable, because that's how I diagnosed that something was wrong with the original engine... So to be safe - I agree that we do need a functioning temp gauge...

The temp gauge has been sent to a company in Melbourne that can repair gauges. That's a 5-7 working day turn around.

In the meantime, the hunt is on - so if anybody has any ideas on where to find a 101 FC temp gauge sender pipe - I am all ears...

(I had thought about purchasing a VDO or other brand after market temp gauge, and fitting that - which I still might do - but I would prefer to keep the dashboard looking original at this stage)

Cheers,

Hya GG,
I believe (because the previous owner of mine said so) that my 101 has a Series temp gauge sender/gauge replacing the original one. This keeps the dash working as per original. However, he seemed to be suspicious of the Series sender and thought it was reading high (Reads about 2/3 to 3/4 when normal running and gets within 3 or 4 mm of the red zone on highway running up the long hills or into the headwind across the Nullabor). So he fitted a VDO electric gauge as well. This has helped prove that the Series gauge seems to be fine as the VDO gets up to a bit over 100 to 105 DegC in the same conditions as described above. General running it sits about 85 to 90 DegC. No matter how hard it was pushed it never went above 105 DegC or into the red of the standard gauge, so I believe my engine is fine but the radiator might need some work.

So why not do the same and fit a VDO electric gauge for peace of mind as a backup to the standard gauge, especially seeing as noticing the high temp was your initial clue of an issue with the engine?

I hope everything works out for you. I guess this means you missed Wombat though?

Cheers

Hi JayBoRover,

Sounds like a good idea (running the standard and a VDO).

It is very hard to see in this picture, and I think that this *might* be because mine was an ambulance (or that could have nothing to do with it) but there is a spare round empty area on the left hand side of the trans tunnel. If you look in the below picture, you can see it just to the left of the heater cover...



Is that where your VDO gauge is? If not - I wonder if one would fit there..

No I didn't make it to Wombat in the 101. I did pop out there yesterday to visit and say hello to the good folks of AULRO. It was nearly a 4 hour round trip, but well worth meeting some new people.

Cheers,
Tom.