Million Mile Montego

[Doctordiesel77]

Just done its 1,250,000 mile service, since it is run in now I treated it to some Slick 50 which my old SD1 seemed to like. Be interesting to see if it makes any difference in these days of modern oil. The fan belt looked a bit tired, so changed it, annoyingly I have several of the longer (bigger alternator pulley) belts, but this takes the shorter one, must restock!

[Jeff Turbo]

Used to put slick 50 in my mk3 zephyr 4 many years ago.
Good to know the car is still going with those miles. Knew it when it was in baby miles lol

[Doctordiesel77]

Used to put slick 50 in my mk3 zephyr 4 many years ago.
Good to know the car is still going with those miles. Knew it when it was in baby miles lol

I didn't know you could still get Slick 50 until recently, I remember the SD1 used less fuel after putting it in, if it has the same effect on this I'll need a bigger fuel tank to store the diesel that the engine is creating! Think it had about 1,180,000 miles on when Mal had it, but he only found out about the million a while after he bought it, seller must have forgotten to mention it

[Jeff Turbo]

I didn't know you could still get Slick 50 until recently, I remember the SD1 used less fuel after putting it in, if it has the same effect on this I'll need a bigger fuel tank to store the diesel that the engine is creating! Think it had about 1,180,000 miles on when Mal had it, but he only found out about the million a while after he bought it, seller must have forgotten to mention it

Yeah I mean't when Mal got it with only that mileage before it got butchered by a so called friend who also stole off him

[Doctordiesel77]

Yeah I mean't when Mal got it with only that mileage before it got butchered by a so called friend who also stole off him

Yes, I saw some of the butchery first hand, half a tube of red hermetite blocking the cylinder head waterways & an 'accident waiting to happen' blend of metric & imperial brake fittings were the least amusing...the b pillar tiger sealed to the sills was quite an impressive piece of bodging as well, probably took as long as doing it properly. Might find some more when I finally get around to the respray

[Jeff Turbo]

Yes, I saw some of the butchery first hand, half a tube of red hermetite blocking the cylinder head waterways & an 'accident waiting to happen' blend of metric & imperial brake fittings were the least amusing...the b pillar tiger sealed to the sills was quite an impressive piece of bodging as well, probably took as long as doing it properly. Might find some more when I finally get around to the respray

Don't think he knew what he was doing to be honest

[Doctordiesel77]

Did a bit of welding in the roof/screen pillars, painted the roof, replaced the passenger front door and fitted a heated windscreen.... The heated windscreen was the same thickness as the one I took out, but must be thicker than the original. I had a genuine NOS seal and a set of genuine spacers which I got from XJ Rover, the only possible source these days! The seal was for a thinner screen & if I'd used the spacers without checking sizes and juggling the kits, the screen would not have been as flush as I'd like it to be. The L shaped spacers for the bottom of the screen are the most useful ones as they take the guesswork out of the gap at the top. Was worth the effort I think, now to wire it up.....

[Jeff Turbo]

Looking good John

[Doctordiesel77]

Looking good John

Cheers! Close inspection reveals a few imperfections, but my main aim is to make sure it doesn't drop to bits, something that seems not to have been of interest to the comedian that had Mal over...one day I'll get the last of his bodges undone..I'm still finding them now! Hopefully you'll be able to have a closer look in the not too distant future

[Doctordiesel77]

Got the switches for heated screen wired up. I took the heated rear screen buttons off some spare switches and fitted them to ones that latch in as I'm not using the timer relays. When I was doing this I noticed that the clear plastic covers for the illumination had melted and bits of them had fallen inside. I didn't worry about this, just chucked the bits out and carried on. I replaced the clock with a Zemtec fuel computer (which also has a clock function), this involved a bit of pruning with a die grinder. Having wired everything up and put dash back together I tested everything...all ok bar the passenger electric window and rear fog lamps. Window was easy, bad connection on door multiplug. Fog lamps were a bit harder, shorting connector to switch made them work, as did shorting the contacts inside the switch after I took it to bits. Didn't work when reassembled though, despite innards of switch looking ok. Eventually turned out that the clear plastic cover had fallen to bits & a sliver of it had got into the switch & stuck to the grease on the moving contact, I'd not seen this as it was transparent & shiny, annoying, but fixed now.

[Doctordiesel77]

The heater illumination didn't work bar one bulb, so thought I'd fit led bulbs, which should last longer and run cooler. They were a bit small, so I had to solder them in, all 3 used less power than the single old bulb, 3 hundredths of an amp would take about 3 months to flatten the battery! The tailgate wires were a bit mashed, so I fitted a new rubber protector, not an easy task, even with the wires snipped off ready to solder back together. I guess they must have put the wires through the sleeve before putting connectors on in the factory, should last a good while anyway, even without the sleeve they'd lasted 9 years that I know of.

[Jeff Turbo]

Nice mod that John. Have you also sorted it's incontinence issue? lol

[Doctordiesel77]

Nice mod that John. Have you also sorted it's incontinence issue? lol

Not yet, I stopped a few small leaks, the fuel pump is a common one on the diesels, they seem to work loose every 80,000 miles, but having fixed that the self rustproofing is still operating. I think the leak is small, but oil is collecting somewhere when driving, then dribbling out.With engine ticking over I couldn't see any drips, I might need to steam clean it & use a uv leak detector..

[Jeff Turbo]

Not yet, I stopped a few small leaks, the fuel pump is a common one on the diesels, they seem to work loose every 80,000 miles, but having fixed that the self rustproofing is still operating. I think the leak is small, but oil is collecting somewhere when driving, then dribbling out.With engine ticking over I couldn't see any drips, I might need to steam clean it & use a uv leak detector..

Messy job and no doubt you'll find a few more leaks lol

[Doctordiesel77]

While the car was getting a bit of maintenance I thought I'd best change the timing belt, it has been on for 9 years / 42,000 miles. Recommended interval is 80,000 miles or 8 years, old belt didn't look bad, but there were tiny cracks on one side of the teeth, so glad I did it now, timing belt failure is not something I want to experience on a diesel... One of the former Perkins engineers that was at the NEC suggested that it had probably had a few turbos in its life, as far as I know it hasn't, so thought I'd best put a new one on 'just in case'. This seemingly simple task did not go entirely according to plan....induction heater, die grinder, sds drill and hammer and chisel were what I ended up using to get exhaust elbow off turbo and turbo off manifold, still snapped one stud, then noticed that manifold was a bit warped.....