Servicing the DHC

With the 2014 edition of Club Triumph's "Taith O Amgylch Cymru"  getting nearer it was time to take the car out of hibernation and bring her home so I could do some work on her in the evenings. She needed a bit of persuasion to start but in the end she did fire up. And as the weather was fine I decided to drop the roof and enjoy the car for a bit. It was good to be out in the open again. But that wasn't the reason for the exercise. So over the past two weeks I have been tinkering a bit on the car.

First thing on the checklist was the rather intermittent fuel gauge. Only thing I hadn't checked so far was the low fuel delay unit. Changing that one for a known good one didn't change anything. When the ignition is switched on the needle of the fuel gauge slowly rises to the empty mark, but not above. Bearing in mind it's erratic behaviour since it was fitted, it looks like there is a problem with the (new) fuel sender unit. Looks like it is sticking, but that has to wait till somewhere this summer when I feel up to it (actually I hope it will solve itself 😏)

After that I checked the front bearings. There were no funny noises and no play. Also the front pads were fine, as were all other components of the front suspension. And with the front suspension taken care of I continued under the bonnet. The standard check of the coolant system revealed no visible leaks and a correct coolant level.

Next item on the to do list were the spark plugs. They had been fitted 7 years and 23.828 kilometres  ago. And if I remember correctly I pulled them out somewhere in between to check the gaps. So time to relieve them of their duties and fit a new set of four NGK BP5ES'. Always good to study the colouring of old spark plugs and these looked pretty good. Nicely brown, with only a slight deposit build up. So no worries for the engine and carburettors condition ... 

This couldn't be said of the oil level. When I pulled the dip stick from the engine the level was well above the maximum mark. But after wiping of the oil and putting it back in it showed a level just underneath the maximum level. But after a few minutes it seemed like the level had risen almost an inch. Repeating the dip stick exercise proved something was dripping onto the dip stick. And there is not much above it, only the fuel pump.

Removing the pump indeed revealed a fuel leak through the pump. Can't really blame the pump for that because it was put into action last September, after hibernating in the attic for almost 20 years. And it performed faultlessly during the 10CR. Time to get a new one and fit it. Sounds easy and it is once you remember to turn the engine so the cam on the jackshaft is pointing away from the pump!

Needless to mention I also renewed the oil (Valvoline Racing VR1 20W50) and oil filter as it smelled of  fuel. And with the fuel lines closed of for the pump removal I thought it would be a good idea to inspect the inline fuel filter I fitted between the tank and the fuel pump. Clearly some water has gone through it in the past...

And because I like standardisation I decided to adapt the bracket so I can use the same filter I use on 't Kreng, a nice big ø55mm Peugeot injection filter. Good thing is that it fits inside a (Bosch) coil bracket ...

Remained the back end of the car (gearbox and rear suspension). As the 'box was only rebuilt just before the 2013 edition of the 10CR, I decided to renew the oil after running in for almost 4000 kilometres. Well there was a bit of a problem with the order but in the end the oil arrived just in time (yes this afternoon ...). Have to admit that I toyed with the idea to leave the oil change till after the Wales Tour. But after draining the old oil I was glad I didn't, as it looked rather murky with a fair amount of swarf on the magnetic tip. Glad there were no signs of swarf in the oil itself.

For the new oil I choose Castrol Syntrans Multivehicle 75W90 which is the successor for Castrol SMX-S, which I have been using for a fair number of years in my cars. And it gives a reasonable gear change from cold, which gets pretty good once on temperature. Will see this weekend in Wales what effect it has on the gear change ...