Hello from north London!

[Napoleon Boot]

Thanks Phil, that link's really handy! I'd been searching YouTube but hadn't found that one; got a fair idea of where to look now.

Seb

[Ian46]

Apologies - I did not read thread from the start.

[mogbob]

Seb
When replacing the petrol tank gasket don't forget to disconnect the battery first. Petrol fumes and electrical sparks are not a healthy combination. With apologies in advance if you're well aware of the precautions necessary.
Bob

[Napoleon Boot]

Hi Bob,
Thanks for the reminder! I am really paranoid about the petrol vapour but it doesn’t hurt to be reminded. Off to have a look at the car now it’s a bright sunny Saturday so will report back once I’ve had a tinker.
Seb

[Napoleon Boot]

Well, I ran the engine and checked the transmission fluid level, and the dipstick came out clean, not a drop on it, so I think there must definitely be a leak somewhere which has caused the level to drop severely. It's a relief in a way, at least I've narrowed down the source of the problem. Too dark to carry on now, so will go and buy some more fluid tomorrow and see where that gets me.

While I was with the car, I thought I'd make time for a nice quick easy job; finding out why the radio/cd player won't power up. The previous owner had said that it wouldn't remember the station presets when the ignition was off, but that doesn't bother me as I only want to listen to CDs or plug my iPod in anyway.

So I had a look at the fusebox, worked out which wires must lead to the radio, and returned inside to trace them, in case he had disconnected it.

Ah.

Underneath the dashboard is a huge cat's cradle of wires, most of which do important things like the indicators and the windscreen wipers. I really didn't want to start poking about blindly and dislodge anything essential, so plan B- I'd slide the radio out of it's housing and see if any wires had been disconnected there.

Ah.

The radio is installed in the cubbyhole behind the steering wheel, and won't fit past the curved panel in the dashboard. Never mind, just find a few screws and take it off...

Ah.

Now the radio slides a few more inches, and gets stuck on the homemade shroud on the steering column housing the indicator/headlamp/wiper stalks. I've come this far, I think, so I might as well bite the bullet and disassemble this housing.

The housing falls into a heap of bits in the footwell, together with the indicator etc stalks. The radio still won't come out- now it's getting stuck on a small prong sticking out the steering column. I decide that as it's starting to get dark, I'd better concentrate on fixing the mess I've made before I end up disassembling the whole car.

Eventually, with the aid of a head torch, I manage to put everything back as it was, after trying every single possible combination, swearing a lot, and chipping lots of paint off the dashboard.

I'm flummoxed to be honest. I know it's not really the most essential thing on the list to fix, but I've got a long solo drive coming up and it'd be nice to have something to listen to. Is there an easier way to get to all that wiring? I feel like only a contortionist would be able to look at it in situ, and I don't really want to start removing the steering wheel. Here's a picture of the setup:

[ianmack]

Bear in mind that modern audios have two feed wires, one live when the ignition is on to work it, one permanently live to keep the memory going. If the permanent feed is not connected the memory is lost when the ignition is turned off. If you can identify the stereo make and model you can probably find a wiring diagram on line.

Sadly the birds nest of elderly wiring doesn’t always take kindly to being disturbed. I’ve fixed one electrical item in the past only to then find that two others have stopped working, it can be very frustrating.

Your car has had a fair bit of modification and I think you might need to remove the wheel to get the radio out. Most people fit them more accessibly than that. You might be able to manoeuvre it enough to check the wiring without taking it out altogether.

[Napoleon Boot]

Thanks Ian,

I've been searching old posts on here; am I right in thinking that to remove the steering wheel I need to remove the centre boss, and then undo the large nut?

I think for the moment I'll just stick a portable radio in the passenger seat and listen to that!

Seb

[ianmack]

Yes, boss and large nut to remove. Pry the centre boss out very gently, they are not easy or cheap to replace. The centre nut needs a large socket or box spanner.

Alternatively you can slacken the column mountings and move it down slightly.

[mogbob]

Seb
1. When removing a steering wheel , loosen the retaining nut but DON'T remove it completely at first.
With it removed they are often stuck.If you pull / tap the steering wheel it will hit you in the face and at worst
smack your teeth or break your glasses.
With the loosened nut still holding it , you can break the seal and then only then take off the nut. Emergency Dental treatment doesn't come cheap !

2.Oil leak ? Don't go mad initially with topping up the oil ( is that the auto box or the engine you were referring to ? ). If it is definitely leaking and you find the source , you may have to drain the oil to replace something e.g a sump gasket. Fresh oil wasted.....if you filled it to the max level on the dipstick. Just fill to the minimum level on the dipstick until the source of the problem is resolved then you can fill up with oil to the correct level.
A few sheets of newspaper placed underneath the engine and gearbox , suitably weighed down with bricks or lumps of wood will help identifying the general area. Don't assume it is automatically directly above. Drip /leaks will descend vertically until they hit an obstruction , then they are diverted in another direction until they can fall vertically again. Use a bright torch to search moving the torch around. Some leaks only manifest themselves after a heat cycle so the car may need a run first.
3.Steering Nut size ...have you found the sticky in the Mechanical Section which gives Spanner sizes ? A very useful resource.
The nut is listed as 3/4 " Whitworth but you will find alternatives of 33/34 mm and 1.5/16th " AF will work.They do have to be the deep socket variety.
Happy Christmas Bob

[Napoleon Boot]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the advice; I would have just yanked away at the steering wheel so I'm glad you warned me! I'll look out for the right size socket- I'll have a look with the digital calipers in the New Year to check the size as a lot of modifications have been made on my Traveller.

Regarding the leak, the previous owner told me that there had been an oil leak, probably from the scroll at the rear of the engine, and the first time I stopped in a rainy car park, I saw clear evidence of an oily leak in the puddles. I've been keeping an eye on the oil level as a result, checking the dipstick each time I go for a drive, however it's remained constant for weeks now, and there's been no sign of a leak under the car since last Sunday, so whatever was leaking out has presumably stopped.

However, when I checked the transmission fluid level yesterday, it didn't show on the dipstick at all, which makes me think that it's that which has been leaking out- which would explain why there's been less and less power each week and why the shifting became a bit erratic last weekend.

Which brings me to today's update (I hope everyone doesn't mind all these posts from me - especially as I have an automatic - I just hope that when I finally get on top of the problems, this thread may help someone else in future!).

I topped up the transmission fluid as described in lots of online tutorials. I took it a bit at a time, moving the gearstick with the engine running, checking and rechecking the level until I reached the minimum level.
Once the level was correct, I jumped in the driving seat, choke out, foot on the brake, gearstick in park, handbrake full on, and turned the ignition...

The engine came to life immediately and the revs went crazy, up to 3-4,000+ and the rev counter light started flashing. I quickly moved the gear stick down through the gears and back up to park again- as I went through the gears, the revs came down a bit, but still around 2,000 and I could feel the car straining to move - with the brakes full on it was still starting to pull away.

I switched the ignition off, popped the bonnet and had a look at this forum. A thread suggested that crazy high revs might mean that the choke return spring might be damaged- mine isn't't, and the cable was fine, but it was a bit slack and the thing it's attached to (sorry, I don't know the name!) could be moved back by hand, so I pushed it back to the left as far as it would go and got back in for another go, this time leaving the choke well alone.

Again it started first time, and this time the revs were high but more normal sounding- quiet enough that neighbours wouldn't come rushing into the street. Encouraged by this, I decided I'd do a quick drive around the block.

To say the power issues are resolved is an understatement. Without touching the accelerator at all, just releasing the brake saw the car get up to about 20mph in a couple of seconds. I quickly realised that the challenge was going to be stopping it!

I made a few laps of the block, but literally had to stand on the footbrake to stop at junctions; after a while I decided I'd better try to park safely and come back indoors to find a solution.

Thinking it through logically, it seems to me that the power issues I had before were due to a transmission fluid leak- now the level is topped up all of the 1098's power is getting to the wheels. The brakes presumably need adjusting to cope with the increased power- I've seen videos on this and am pretty sure I know what I'm doing there. I have servo rear brakes which shouldn't require too much effort on the footbrake, so I will just click the brake shoes in a bit. I'll check the brake fluid level at the same time but I don't think it's low.

My theory (and please chip in to correct me) is that yesterday, while I was fiddling about with the battery, I had to move the washer bottle, which is heavy and it fell onto the carb/choke cable. I think that I must have somehow disturbed the throttle cable arrangement, and as a result the idling revs are way too high. Presumably I need to fiddle with the idle speed screw while someone else sits inside the car- though I don't relish the thought of standing in front of the car while it's revving!

Does this sound plausible? I haven't fiddled with anything else so there aren't any other variables.

Seb

PS for all the head scratching, it was a real thrill to feel some real power in the car for the first time!

[ianmack]

Of course we don’t mind your posts, that’s what the forum’s here for.

If you have disturbed the throttle cable the remedy will be in getting the cable back as it should be, straightening kinks and lodging the ends in their ferrules. Don’t try using the idling screw to compensate for a cable problem or you will just add to your difficulties.

Glad to hear the auto box is sorted.

[Napoleon Boot]

Cheers Ian!

I'll give that a go in the morning in that case, and leave the idling screw alone. Thanks everyone for the advice, and Happy Christmas to you all.

Seb

[panky]

Check the throttle return spring is still attached, it should run from the linkage on the side of the carb to a bracket further down. I had it break and the revs went crazy as the throttle opened by itself - scary

[Napoleon Boot]

A bit more Christmas Eve tinkering, in the vain hope of driving to see my relatives!

It seems that I dislodged the throttle cable so that it had come out of the ferrule on the bulkhead. After refitting it, the revs were a little lower, but still very very high. I noticed that the throttle cable itself was very very slack, and tightening it brought the idling speed down to what I'd expect.
Job done, I thought. But no - the throttle return spring, although it looks brand new, isn't very taut- in that the things it's attached too at either end are too close together, so after driving with the throttle open, the spring can't pull the throttle closed again.

In fact, the arrangement is so loose that I could actually flick the spring off the retaining nut at the top end.
The idea of this coming off while on the road, like you describe Panky, fills me with terror!

I'm trawling through threads, but if anyone is online today, and has a suggestion, I'd love to hear it!
I've attached a picture, the cable I'm talking about has a red sleeve at the top end and you can just see the spring at the bottom.

Seb

[mogbob]

Seb
From your photo it looks like a "one off " solution. The top cable has what looks like an HT cable cover where it emerges from the bulkhead area. The nicely machine metal block retaining the bare cable is set too vertically
for my taste. I would slacken the main holding nut and bolt and rotate it slightly so that it enters the block at 90 degrees.This will give the cable a straight pull , be smoother in operation and genearlly operate more efficiently.
There is slack in it , release the cable holding screw and pull it tight with a pair of pliers. Keeping the tension on re tighten the holding screw.
From what I can see of the spring ( not much ) it looks as though it it is not under any tension at all.
You need a new and different spring. Can you supply a measurement of 1. the existing spring 2. the exact gap it has to cover and I will see if I can find something suitable in my spares. I'm assuming it's just a "hook" end at both ends ?
Happy Christmas Bob

[panky]

Yours doesn't look like a standard set up, I guess it's been modified for the auto box kick down. It's difficult to see what the fixed end of the spring is attached to, is it a bracket of some sort? would it be possible to bend it slightly to take up the slack in the spring. If not then a shorter spring would do the job, maybe you could shorten the existing one as a temporary measure, or relocate the fixed end to a point further away.

[philthehill]

Why is there a SU carb jet perched above the carb throttle spindle?
It looks to have been roughly reduced in diameter and has what appears to be a couple of holes in its shank.
There is also what appears to be an electric power lead under the SU jet.
There are also two spacers between the carb and manifold with take off pipes.
Interesting set up.

[Napoleon Boot]

I did it! Will reply properly when I’m get to the other end of my journey, but in a nutshell the other end of the spring was attached to a piece of angle iron fixed under the air filter.

It must have been removed and replaced on the wrong side of the angle iron at some point, as when I reconnected it properly, the tension was bang on and everything works better than it ever did-sounds like a mog at tick over instead of a heavy bomber. Brakes, power etc all now as I’d hoped.

Thank you all for your patience and advice and happy Christmas!

[panky]

Well done, enjoy your trip
Would also like to see some more of the set up to see what's what.

[ianmack]

Previous owners’ modifications can often be a headache even for experienced enthusiasts so well done getting it sorted as a novice. Happy Christmas all.