Motors How do you know if you need an oil change?

i could do a Nissan truck, but they are pretty much all the same. someone tell me if they are interested, i've been itching to show off my new digicam

 

Ok ill see what I can do.

 

Just read the haynes manual tbh.

Use a monkey wrench or suitably sized octagonal socket+torque wrench on that square headed bolt.

If you're bothering to change the oil, oil filter and air filter, change the spark plugs/coilpacks and check the condition of the old ones, change the HT leads, and if the car has a distributor, change the dizzy cap and rotor arm aswell, should be under £30 for the extra stuff i said from a decent motor factors (Halfrauds does not count!).

As for the gear changes, could be the gearbox or clutch, but don't rule out the clutch cable and gear linkage .

 

Doesnt work with anything other than a square. Tried all sorts of octa's and they slip out. Wrench or pliers dont grip anything either.
Hayes isnt actually that useful, the diagrams are pretty ******.

 

Thanks for the link to cliosport, now after a quick enquiry there after reading Nihilist's thread about strut braces I've been given a link to this:

http://www.strutbracer.co.uk/images/big/0366114.jpg

Im in desperate need of something like this for them country roads.

 

Get some decent tyres first.

 

Yeah, definately the best and easiest (and possibly cheapest) upgrade to any car.

 

And a suspension kit apparently

 

Just got some new Goodyear Eagle F1 DS-G3s.. what a fantastic tyre. They're a little bit noisy, but the grip is phenominal. Tread pattern looks sexy too.


linkage

 

For WW:






As far as Ive got, it's still draining.

EDIT: Done:







Works fine but still sounds like a diesel though but the colour difference from midnight-black to olive-clear in the oil is pretty nuts.

 

At least it's done now. The noise is obviously worn valve gear then.. cams, and/or followers, or worn hydraulic tappets. That's a head off job, so you need to work out if the car is worth the investment.... unless you do the job yourself.

At least new oil will minimise further wear. If it's cam wear tho, once you've worn past the case hardening of the cam lobes, they deteriorate pretty quickly. If you're lucky it's just worn or leaky tappets, which is just annoying, and far less to worry about, especially if you don't plan on keeping the car too long.

How did you find the job? Easy? Once you get into it, most jobs on cars are easy if you have the correct tools. That's the only thing that stops me doing everything on my own car. If money was no object, I'd have a garage with a 4 post lift, and a full snap-on kit, and a decent engine hoist. I'd never take my car to a dealer or mechanic again... except for tuning purposes, and then it would go to my good friend Stu here.

 

Yea, once you have the tools it's pretty damn easy. Ive taken off the front bumper today cause it needs reseating and was only held on by 2/5 bolts with a 1" gap between it and the bonnet. That was simple too. And I have to resolder my horn :/

Im just gonna run it into the ground tbh. I dont know whether it was the previous 4 owners doing, or my hard running of a "shop/school run car", or that it actually HASNT done 65k which means it should be what it shouldnt.

Pook, if I had the tools and the space Id attempt to do everything myself. Even if it's just for the learning curve and KNOWING that the work has been done (properly). It's piece of mind knowing that you put something together, that it will stay on.

I came to the conclusion that it's not worth putting the money in to get a little better out of it considering what potentially is on the way out. For starters I know it will need a new clutch in the near future, then possibly a new gearbox after that, then how long until something in the engine goes? I dont know. I dont think it was made for doing long distance in high revs down the motorway.

 

Clutch is £40 parts and £40 labour on a small car usually. or £40 parts and an afternoon faffing around to do it yourself.

You should be able to guage the milage by the condition of the interior. Drivers bolster, steering wheel wear etc...

I've got the G2 version of the eagle F1's on the front of the nova, they made a phenominal difference, I really need a set for the rear though because I can really feel the back coming out now. The tyres cost me £57.80 each all in locally, but you could try blackcircles.co.uk or easytyres, blackcircles arrange local fitting, and I think easytyres come out to your home/place of work.

While you're at it, check your CV joint gaters:

before: http://www.xen0phobiak.f2s.com/novaload/diamond/tyres2.jpg
after: http://www.xen0phobiak.f2s.com/novaload/diamond/tyres4.jpg

If they're failing like that one was in the pic, it'll cost around £35 to get put right, but if dirt gets in your CV joint, its more like £100 to put right.


Change the oil+filter again in around 1500 miles this time, then every 3000 afterwards, judging by that sludge there'll still be a lot of particles floating around your engine.

Also, have a browse at http://www.cliosport.net/forum/index.php , I use the Nova equivalent forum and I've learned loads.

I plan to service the Nova this week if I get time.

 

It's had 4 female owners previous to me, so the internal condition should be immaculate, but the drive may be less than.. Having said that, it's probably my driving style that does the most damange: quick shifting and slight wheel spinning in every gear pretty often.

I dont see the difference between the pics tbh apart from a new wheel

Ive been posting on cliosport most of the w/e, they've quoted me typically at 300 for a clutch, or 250 if I source one myself.

I only get paid 3 monthly, so savng for something is problematic. Im gonna save new tyres for my next oil change.

 

The glaringly obvious knackered rubber gaiter on the end of the driveshaft where it meets the wheel in the first pic . (you can see the old one leaking grease).

Quick gear changes arent a problem if you do them properly imho. If you're wheelspinning all the time then you need to work on your throttle/clutch control .

Make sure the tyres are legal else its 3 points each. Even if you only get remoulds to make it legal , the one in my first pic was borderline (also the inside edge was heavily worn like yours).

 

I do need to work on my clutch/throttle control but it's only tiny tiny biting spins, not fully blown ones. It's either that or dont get anywhere, my tires arent made for anything bar shop/school runs.

The gater just looked dirty and wet. Same as what mine looks like, just not wet.

Ive got a good chunk of grip throughout most of my tyres I can get a nail into still, and in heavy rain the steering still feels generally soild.

 

Clutches are an utter sod to get replaced. The one on my Punto went last year and it was about £200 to fix.
Great car other than that though, I think I might need an oil change too, after reading what all you lot have said, it's been 5 months and about 4500 miles since the last one, with it sitting on the drive for a month at a time while I'm at uni.

 

Thats why I love older vauxhalls .

I test drove a P reg clio the other day (mum is looking for another car, it was there), the clutch was literally on or off :s. If yours is the same just go easy on the throttle until the clutch is all the way up, that'll also make the clutch last much longer.

I hope to be changing my/our engine block soon, so I might do the clutch at the same time seeing as the gearbox has to come off anyway.

 

Ooh thanks for the pics Bindi should be useful but I might as well get my garage to do it since I had a bit of an accident last week on a field, drove over a tree stump without realising and ripped off part of the underside, exposing what looks to be the brake lines .

 

That's exactly it. If I dont put quite a lot of throttle down it just stalls cause it has virtually no torque. Even when it gets underway it sometimes shudders, but then, due to uber-uber **** tyres there's an extremely fine line between stalling and wheel spin, especially in the wet. Ive taken to perminantly driving with just my socks on cause that gives me toe-tip control that reduces the above a lot. Like you say, other cars (my mums Micra) have a smooth gradient of clutch bite.