| ID: 842 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: Oil leak from flywheel side of the engine, Question: I have an oil leak from the flywheel side of the engine, ie turbo end. I have changed the oil return pipe and checked that it remains dry. My pit crew are strugling to fix it. O great wizard rub your crystal balls and tell us where to find the origin of the leak. Russell T Answer: The leak is above the crankshaft oil seal i presume from the fact you thought it was the return pipe. You need to check the turbo, its oil feed pipe, oil cooler pipes, rocker cover and head gasket. Try steaming clean the whole area and driving around for a bit to show the leak better. It will help to not have the standard air box in the way but don't remove it unless you can fit a cone filter. |
| ID: 843 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: Smokin! Question: Wiz mate, Me cars smokin :o( On a morning or when the cars cold It kicks out loads of smoke, when the car warms up the smoke dissapears....usually. Sometimes when the car is warm and im slowing down going down through the gears smoke starts to pour out aswell......I have had endless problems with my zaust and my manifold gasket need replacing again which I am sorting this weekend. I have been told it could be oil seals? What do you think mate? Cheers Ben Answer: Remove the turbo to intercooler pipe and look to see if it is full of oil. If it is then it is likely to be your turbo oil seals, if not it will be your valve stem oil seals. |
| ID: 844 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: RE:Smokin! Question: Yip theres oil in the pipe mate.......how do I change the seals wiz I need sum magic. Cheers Ben Answer: Just to confirm it is the turbo, clean this pipe out, refit and run the car for a while before rechecking. The seals and bearings can be changed for about £1-150 from any good turbo company. |
| ID: 845 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: Swirl Pot Question: Hi wizard, I´ve fitted an electrical water pump to my GT Turbo (with an thermal controller ) !!! The pump impeller and the thermostat has been removed, the hoses are original . At the first time trying to remove the air from the system it hasn´t worked. All the time air came into the water. I found out that the swirl pot sucked the air into the water. I closed the hose on the top of the swirl pot. And the top hole of the header tank. Now it works. Do you think it will work so. Or do you think air will enter the system, causing an air lock ??? What´s the normal job off the swirl pot ? Please give me some advice !! Answer: The swirl pot (or degassing pot as Renault call it) is there to remove air from the system and usually does a good job. Have you got the water pump running the water the correct way round the engine? It may be that as the coolant passes through the pot the air is being drawn into the system rather than removed. If your system works ok then fine but make sure it is running at working temperature all the time. It doesn't take long for excess heat to cause the head gasket to go so be carefull. |
| ID: 846 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: leaded/unleaded? Question: ive just bought a r5gtt on a g plate and the previous owners were running it on 4 star is this right?or can i run it on unleaded?cheers Answer: You can use unleaded but it is recommended to use super unleaded if you can get it. 4 star leaded is expensive but worth putting in every few tank fulls just to be safe. If you experience any running problems or pinking under load/boost then stop using normal unleaded and don't run high boost pressures with normal unleaded. |
| ID: 847 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: low idle speed Question: mate when my motor is idling it keeps dropping either just under 1000 rpm and some times stalls even when its at normal temp. Answer: Idling speed should be around 700rpm and constant not fluctuating. It may be that you have a blocked idle jet. It is in the side of the carb in a large brass screw. Take it out, blow through it till its clean and refit. |
| ID: 848 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: running rich at idle Question: hi wiz, Recently rejetted the carb on my car, since then my car idles a bit low and fluctuates and when i pop the ecu vacume pipe off the engine actually idles a lot better, would this be due to the small amount of extra air leaning out the mixture or me having a dodgy ecu ??? Cheers Ben Answer: The engine obviously need the extra air. Have you had the mixture screw adjusted to suit the new jetting? To test the ignition module vaccuum, try sucking on the pipe to it and listen for the movement on return when you stop sucking. You may hear a sort of sucking noise, like a baby on a dummy??? its a bit hard to discribe! |
| ID: 849 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: smoke signal Question: hello oh wise one,have you any idea what could be causing nasty smelling smoke from the bottom of the carb.i have an idea that by turbo seals are on their way out as the turbo is quite noisy and there is oil in the intercooler pipe.Is this related or could it be oil burning of the engine as i have a gt tuning rocker cover that never seems to firm a proper seal with my oil filler cap,therfore there is quite a bit of oil aroun the base of the carb.the smoke was quite worrying as it looked like it was comming from underneth. also it looked as if the perk fan could have been blowing the smoke out. many thanks. Answer: It sounds to me like you have oil leaking from the oil filler cap, buy or make a new rubber seal as this is undoubtably leaking oil down the back of the rocker cover straight onto the hot manifold and this is not good! The smoke is the oil burning off and is not good news as the chance of fire is increased with the amount of oil leaking. |
| ID: 850 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: Engines Question: Hi Wiz. I am thinking of lightening the bottom end of my engine the problem is i am a bit conflicted as i have been led to belive that if u go machining chunks of the crank it is going to leave it weaker there for more prone to braking under load ? and is it comon practice to fit uprated bolts to the mains & big end caps ? Also I have the problem with the cam again i have a 260 or 270 piper fited to my prescent engine and it does not feel any diffrent to the std one, would u stay with the piper in the next engine or go for somthing a bit more high lift like that of GDI or K-tec ? and would u fit a Vernier pully would that make any diffrence ? Cheers.........Chris Answer: Lightening the crank may reduce strength so why not just get it balanced? Balancing will improve smoothness and revability of the engine without reducing the strength. I have never heard of the standard bearing cap bolts breaking but you can replace them with stronger items for peace of mind. You could go for the Piper 285 which i know a lot of 5 owners have fitted but it requires stronger springs and will increase the strain on the top end of the engine or something like the K-Tec item which is slightly less lift than the piper but longer duration than standard. Vernier pulleys are a good idea for getting the most out of the engine but you will need to buy or make a modified timing cover to get access to the pulley once fitted. |
| ID: 851 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: Torque Settings Question: Hi again Wiz. I am curious about the torque settings on my engines Mains/Big end caps and the head bolts. Would u use the std manual settings or leave them slacker or tighter ? considering it is going to be heavily uprated. Cheers Answer: If you fit uprated (10.9 or 12.9) head bolts then you can use torque figures up about 55-60 lbs/ft to prevent gasket problems. As for the other bearing caps etc use standard settings unless you fit uprated items and then you could up the torque figure a bit but there is no commonly used percentage or setting for these items. |
| ID: 852 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: arches Question: hi wiz i took off the arches for my iminent respray to find the mountings comming off in my hand. i phoned my local renault garage who told me they were 70 quid each is the anywhere else i can get them or different one i can get hold of any advise would be helpful cheers jp Answer: Try a breaker from the list in the contacts section. |
| ID: 853 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: Replacing Electric window switches Question: Hi, I want to replace my electric window switches with a rally style toggle switch. I have brought two on/off/on toggle switches and thought it would be easy to connect, but it aint. Switching a live current down either of the wires to the motor dont make the window rise or lower. Any ideas as to how to fit these switches or is there something blindingly obvious that i have missed? Answer: Try finding which wires ""excite"" when you push the switch in each direction and which is the positive feed. This should tell you which wires you need to connect the switch to. |
| ID: 854 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: Lightening Question: Hi again. What are the pros & cons for lightening the bottom end of my engine. Would it be worth spending the extra money on ? I know a few people that have had it done and they say the engine revs more freely but they are only runing 170-200 bhp but saying that they have never had a problem. When they lighten the crank do they just clean up the casting marks or do they allter the shape of the crank totaly? Cheers.........Chris Answer: The crank can have much metal removed to lighten it but it will all go to reduce strength other than a little to clean it up. You could knife edge the webs to cut through the oil like a hot knife through butter but it is really only for full race aplications and has very little if any benifit for a road car. Save your money for other more usefull applications. |
| ID: 855 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: Cams Question: Hi once again. I have been thinking about cams and would like to know a bit about the way modified cams work? i dont mean they go round and push the follower etc, i mean things like why some cams are high lift and some are long duration. Basically i thought high lift cams are beter suited to asprated engines (closing the power band and there for giving a few more bhp) but i dont get long duration cams, would they not suit the flowed turbo engine better as they dont open quite as far but they open sooner and close later there for being open longer and letting more fuel air into the bore and giving a bit more lower power but not reving quite as fast ? Cheers Answer: Basically lift and duration effect how much charge gets into the cylinder each time the inlet valve is open. On a turbo engine you can do away with big cams to some degree by just using higher boost to force more air into the cylinder but a longer duration and higher lift cam will allow this same air to get in at much lower and therefore more reliable boost level. Rev ranges can be altered to adjust the power band to suit the power delivery you require. |
| ID: 856 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: ENGINE OIL Question: IVE JUST PURCHASED AN R5 AND WANT TO CHANGE THE OIL . I WISH TO KNOW WHICH OIL IS THE BEST TO USE(MOBIL) Answer: If you want to use Mobil oil then make sure you use the Mobil 1 Motorsport as this is best suited to the 5. Normal Mobil 1 is deemed to be too thin and could lead to turbo damage. |
| ID: 857 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: hissin dump valve Question: About a month ago I fitted a BB performance tuning grp a dump valve and suddenly it has stopped working properly. At idle the dump valve is slightly open and hisses until you kink the pipe that goes on the top of it and then it closes and the engine runs smoother but i cant find any leaks also it doesnt dump until full boost and even then its really quiet i cant work it out. Answer: There may be a problem with the diaphram. Try stripping the dump valve down to check it hasn't split. |
| ID: 858 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: Carb top - re-visited! Question: Hi Wiz, you may remember a few months ago i got an alloy carb top from Andy @ BB. when i put this carb top on i cuddn't get the boost to go past 10psi (usually run day in day out 16psi). So i sent it back to Andy who tested it on 1 of their cars and said it was ok. But being the top lad that he is he sent me a 2nd carb top which the results were exactly the same. Anyway, as soon as the original item went back on everytime boost was back to 16psi. So, last week, me gets a 2nd hand GTTuning Lobster inlet elbow. Just put it on this afternoon and the same thing EXACTLY happens again!! It won't boost past 10psi, but back on with the standard plaggy top and 16 no problems. Please sum1 come up with a suggestion as this is just weird.... the port that should e restricted on the original top appears restricted as do the alloy jobs. IT's all just crazy! thoughts on a postcard please!!! Answer: Pressure is the resistance to flow. The higher the flow, the lower the pressure. This is a good thing as your turbo is just moving the air rather than forcing it through the restrictive standard carb top. I take it there is no power loss, just pressure loss????? |
| ID: 859 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: Bizarre Noize Question: Wiz, Hope you can help me. I have a strange noize coming from the bottom of my engine, it's like a deep groaning kind of noize, I've just put a new turbo on it, but I'm paranoid that it's the bottom end or something that's gone. Any suggestions??? Answer: Check the oil level is correct and the pressure on the gauge is ok. This could be bearing wear. |
| ID: 860 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: re Electric window switches Question: Sorry Wiz but I have done what you suggested but the winder still won't operate. Do you need to switch a ground as well as a live? I would have thought the motor was grounded out on the body work of the door but maybe its not? Please help as the current switches are sooo boring! :) Answer: I am no auto electrician, I am a turbo wizard! ;-) Try contacting an auto electrician for more assisstance in this matter. |
| ID: 861 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: Carb top - re, re-visited! Question: Wiz, no this is NOT gud!!!!!!! Yes there is performance loss, lots of it, infact it feels standard, like 10psi and 120 odd horses rather than 150 which i hav at 16psi. So yes, there is a performance loss, not just a pressure loss Answer: It must be restrictor orientated. Try replacing the plastic top with another standard one form someone elses car to see if this makes a difference. |
| ID: 862 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: Non Return Valve Question: Hello butt, how important is it to have an oil non return valve in the oil pipe that feeds from the block to the top of the turbo?? could this cause oil starvation to the turbo when started up when it's missing? How reliable are they do they clog up easily? please help as i haven't got one on my car nor has my mrs's and we've both got expensive turbo's which we don't want to wreck. cheers wiz man Stu Answer: You are correct in thinking that you need the non return valve to prevent oil starvation. It can block up if the oil isn't changed often enough and becomes sludgy. Other than that they are fine. The only reason i can see for removing them is to get more flow after they have been partially blocked. |
| ID: 863 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: Passenger seat in Drivers side? Question: Hi again! Is it possible to fit a passenger seat on the drivers side? Whats the difference? Im unable to find a good condition second hand drivers side seat and want a replacement for my worn item! Cheers, Luciano Answer: It should fit but if i remember rightly the handles are obstructed by the door pocket. |
| ID: 864 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: Anti perc fan Question: dear oh wise one!!! i read in one of the normal car mags that the anti perc fan is supposed to blow cool air onto the bottom of the hot carb for 15 mins after the engine has been switched off but it does nothing on my 5 what d ya reckon is the most likely thing wrong with it cos shes a pig to start sometimes cheers fella!! Answer: The perc fan is temperature controlled not time delayed. There are two sensors, one on the carb and one on the turbo heat shield. Make sure both these are fitted and the wiring is connected in parallel between the two. There is also a relay and in line fuse that cause problems mounted behind the drivers side headlight. |
| ID: 865 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: adjustable booooost!!! Question: i am considering the in-car adjustable boost my 5 is standard apart from air filter,exhaust system and dump valve wat do ya reckon is it worth it and if yes how do i fit it???? cheers Wiz Answer: It will be worth it if you have the boost turned up to about 12-14psi while you are at it! You will need to fit the bleed valve in the actuator pipe to the front of the car. You will need to fit either a restrictor or an adjustable max boost limiter to prevent accidental over boosting, run the pipework into the car to the adjuster. When you purchase the kit it should come with fitting instructions anyway. If not get back to me and i will go into more detail. |
| ID: 866 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: oil breather filter Question: hey turbo wiz which pipe is it you put the oil breather filter in as sold by bb tuning to rid your boost pipe of oil vapour??? help would be much appreciated as i am fick!! Answer: Remove the hose that goes from behind the rocker cover to the ""U"" shaped pipe that goes from the air filter to the turbo. Block the hole in the ""U"" pipe. Fit the breather filter to the end of the breather pipe. You may want to cut the pipe to shorten it and put the breather filter in a better location. |
| ID: 867 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: WHITE SMOKAGE! Question: DEAR WIZARD PLEASE HELP ME WITH MY LITTLE PROBLEM.WHEN I LET MY CAR IDLE AFTER GIVING IT A BIT,WHITE SMOKE APPERARS AND GOES AWAY THEN APPEARS AGAIN. ANY ADVICE WOULD BE GREATFULLY ACCEPTED TO MAKE MY 5 BETTER.CHEERS GRINGO GAV BUTLER Answer: White smoke normally means burning coolant but it could be oil burning as well. Remove the turbo to intercooler pipe and check it for oil. If there is some in there then it could be turbo leaking. If there isn't any, then get a compression check done as it may be the start of the head gasket leaking. |
| ID: 868 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: Questions ? Question: Ey oop Wizard, As usual, I seek your advice on some things that I need advice on !? I was wondering : 1) Im thinking of getting a Twin Ram Piston D/V - as long as I keep it lubed up to the max (oo er), would it be OK to use ? 2) What is the correct tyre pressure for 195/45/15's ? 3) When I give it a large one over a roundabout, the left front of the car clunks and starts to vibrate, go over another and it clunks again, and starts to drive normally again - and then the cycle repeats itself ? What component could it be - track rod end ? 4) Do you know which model of renault the 75 degree thermostat came from or the low temp fan switch ? 5) Would it be worth my while uprateing to the NGK EV9 Plugs from the 8's - I dont drive it slow and dont care about cleaning em each month. Many thanks as always Rik Answer: 1) Yes 2) 28-30 seems to be the general concensus, see what works for you. 3) Check all suspension componants, drive shaft and steering joints. 4) No 5) Probably not but you could always try it! |
| ID: 869 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: turbo grief. Question: Recently I have noticed that the turbo gauge has been running higher than previously and today while overtaking, there was a loud pop/bang noise and all boost was lost and no reading on the gauge. Car still idles fine but has no guts. The intake hose to the turbo has been split for some time and the oil feed to the turbo has also been leaking. Is the turbo charger finished or are there any other possibilities? Cheers. Answer: It could be the turbo has gone or it could be a pipe or the intercooler has split. Check all pipework and the intercooler (fill it with water off the car???) before condeming the turbo. |
| ID: 870 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: Sump plug thread scored Question: Hi Wiz, for a while now i have had a constant oil leak and i have decided to do something about it, only problem is the sump will have to come off as the thread on the sump has been abused. I have tried using sealant but it still leaks.... Are there any nasty suprises i should know about or is it as simple as it sounds (off and on with a new one) Cheers Steve Answer: The sump can be awkward to remove but is simple enough. You may need to jack the engine up a bit to get clearance from the front engine mount. |
| ID: 871 | Date: Archive | Member: Archive | Wizard: Archive |
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Subject: boost gauge Question: dear turbo wiz sorry to bug you again but i am always seeking info on my 5!!! how will i fit a boost gauge so i know how much boost i am running with the adjustable boost fitted? also cos they liven up the interior a bit too dunnit thanks again your a star!!! Answer: You can fit a boost gauge into the slot where the clock normally fits and you can either buy or make a surround for it. Alternatively use an A piller pod or dash pod available from any good accessory store. As for connecting it, if you just want to see positive boost then you can tap into the standard boost gauge pipe behind the dash or ""T"" into the ignition module vaccuum pipe for positive pressure and depression readings. |