Yet more woes - strange noise and an intermittant oil light :-(

Discussion in 'Mech Tech' started by Dubweiser, Oct 21, 2013.

  1. Quick summary for those that don't know:

    The van went in for a tune up (T1 engine) and ended up with new barrels, pistons and cylinder heads (upgraded to 1641) plus all the bottom end bearings were replaced. New flywheel - due to elongated dowel holes, the crank was taken to an engine shop to have the dowel holes re-drilled (apparently in the middle of the previous ones?). In addition it had front brake fitting kits (as the pads were moving around) new rear drums (to cure a vibrating brake pedal - which seems to have worked) new steering pin and something to do with the gears which means I can now get into first with ease. Carbs refitted (twin 34icts) and all tuned up.

    Its safe to say it turned into a big job!

    Now I've driven her around for about 30 miles, she feels nice and smooth and is considerably quieter - I have a stainless 4 into 1 exhaust which apparently hadnt been fitted properly before and was blowing. I have noticed two problems, beofre I phone the mechanic I thought I'd see if anyone has any ideas to put my mind at rest

    Issue 1 - the red oil light of doom
    The light has come on briefly for about a second or two on about five occasions. It seems to happen as I am coming to a swift-ish stop at traffic lights

    Issue 2 - whuu whuu whuu noise
    The missus and I reckon this only happens when the wheel is turned to the left its more pronounced the tighter the turn. Its not a continuous noise, its more as above! and its speed does seem to link to the speed I'm travelling at i.e faster as I go faster. I've had the car jacked up the front wheel bearings are both fine and I cannot see anything obvious that may be catching, plus nothing has been done to the front (except the steering pin)
    The rears both need new bearings (I can rock the wheels which I'm told is a sign they need doing. The only real thing is that the Drivers rear is clearly binding and when in the air its quite loud and grating when turned. Could this be the cause of the noise? why would I only hear it when turning left?


    Thanks as ever, after 8 weeks in the garage I really want to go away this weekend :mad:
     
  2. Terrordales

    Terrordales Nightshift

    You've gone deaf in the right ear? o_O

    Sorry, but that's the best I can do at the moment.
     
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  3. bernjb56

    bernjb56 Supporter

    Issue 2 sounds like wheel bearing to me - Wombat was similar with the cornering making the noise louder. The cornering changes the stresses on the bearing. There is a fair bit of rock on the rear bearings anyway, even when good. It may also be brakes binding after a period of sitting doing nothing.
     
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  4. davidoft

    davidoft Sponsor

    Was all your cooling system reinstalled properly, thermostat flaps etc, is the engine getting hot? Was a new oil pump fitted?
     
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  5. MorkC68

    MorkC68 Administrator

    On the front whish whish noise, have a quick check on the disk backplate - Ive just lowered Major & his right hand front disk backplate catches on something - maybe a simple fix for you.

    wrt the rear right wheel bearing, it will make the noise when turning left as its putting side load onto the right hand bearing - vehicle body forces being transferred when cornering (the opposite will happen when turning right)
     
    Dubweiser likes this.
  6. Everything including the flaps were reinstated, not sure about a new oil pump though. The engine doesn't seem to be getting hot
     
  7. MorkC68

    MorkC68 Administrator

    Ahh just read new rear drums too - we bought some of those Brazilian cast drums, JPE or similar & we found that the lip on the drum did not fit the backplate lip correctly & had to be adjusted to suit, this could be the sound you are hearing
     
  8. davidoft

    davidoft Sponsor

    Hmm, then you need to get a mechanical guage and check what your oil pressure is reading
     
    Birdy likes this.
  9. I don't understand why it would only happen when I'm turning left though - its very strange :rolleyes:

    That sounds complicated, I really want to go away in the sodding van this weekend - I mentioned the light to my mechanic on the day I drove her home (I've had it back for a week now) - his first thought was it's a dodgy sender. Thing is I dont want to take the chance, I thought the one in our T25 was dodgy until I blew a massive hole in the case on the way back from Vanfest :eek:
     
  10. MorkC68

    MorkC68 Administrator

    Combined with the play in the wheel bearing when cornering left, the weight of the van is transferred to the right - it wouldn't take too much force to shift the hub and the drum (bearing in mind the drum backplate is fixed) slightly to cause the drum lip to grind on the corresponding recess on the backplate. It doesn't take much wear on a wheel bearing to cause it to move slightly, causing other issues, these bearings are far from precision ones :) HTH!!
     
  11. Oil light sounds like your tick over is to low if it only happens when your coming to traffic lights ,try giving it more gas in neutral and see if it goes out :thumbsup:
     
    Joker likes this.
  12. rickyrooo1

    rickyrooo1 Hanging round like a bad smell

    have they got the correct grade of oil in it? if it's too thin and light comes on when it's hot/slowing down that could cause it.
     
  13. Oil light coming on when braking sharply is quite possibly because the level is low. It'll slosh to the front of the "sump" and the oil pipe can be temporarily sucking air.

    Is the oil up to the dipstick mark AND does this genuinely mean there's 2.5 litres in the casing??
     
  14. This, your engine can't maintain oil pressure if its not turning over. Check this and your grade.

    Did your mechanic not check the oil pressure before giving you the van back? You should have it somewhere on your paperwork to say its been checked and a reading.

    I've had lots of leaking senders but never one which has failed to work. With the work done do you know if your mechanic pulled the oil pump apart and check it for wear and refit with new seals etc? Simple thing to try is disconnect the coil and with the engine cold (overnight) crank the engine over and see how long it takes for it to build pressure. If it takes an age it could point to a knackered pump.

    Was it you told not to drive over 40mph?
    :)
     
  15. Tickover is ok, if anything the trottle is sticking slightly so have to put my foot under the pedal to pull it up and slow it down, even then it seems a little high to me

    Oil is up to the mark, if anything its about a mm over the top

    Not sure if he checked the pressure, my paperwork doesnt mention this, but given the amount of time he had it I would assume he has!

    Yes I was told now to go over 40mph but after advice on here i've just been driving it carefully through the rev range - still not took it over 45mph though as I've just pootled locally and avoided the motorway (except for that initial painful 10 mile journey home at 40mph :oops:)
     
  16. If you're not driving it properly you won't be doing the engine any favours and will just be undoing all the work you've had done. Driving it too slowl and taking it too easy will actually put the engine under a greater undue load as opposed driving as it should be. You need to get the revs up and this will build and maintain oil pressure and provide the right amount of cooling. The advice is basically don't thrash it as its new but drive it how you would normally. You're mechanic seems to have given you some bad advice but you've got other problems which, if it were me and had paid to have it done, should be resolved by the guy who did the work.

    Don't assume anything, if its not on the paperwork to say they've checked it I would assume that they haven't
    :)
     
  17. I'm going to give him a call this afternoon, I've driven her as I would normally do the only thing I havent done yet is take her for a faster run on the motorway, I'll see what he says later

    Cheers all :thumbsup:
     
  18. Master Mark, you sir have the right answer, it is indeed the lower left bit of the RHS backing plate catching on the drum when the bearing is under load :)It turns out he knew about the noise and it's cause and he told me it needed new bearings, I just wish he'd gone one step further and said by the way because of this it'll make an annoying noise - this would have stopped us both worrying about our presumed imminent big engine bang :rolleyes: Lol

    As far as the oil light is concerned he's of the opinion that it is a dodgy sender, he checked the pressure which was fine and it had a new oil pump fitted.

    Ok panic over (until the next noise:rolleyes:) thanks for everyone's help.

    :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
     
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  19. bernjb56

    bernjb56 Supporter

    :)
     
  20. Zed

    Zed Gradually getting grumpier

    This does happen, I cured a friend's van's worn bearings with a new switch recently, but I would get it changed asap in case that isn't the problem.
     
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