Titanium_Man

Things are starting to get in motion. I’m being taken to the dental hospital at 11, which is par for the course with heart surgery. Once that’s dealt with I should then be given a date of when the saw will be dusted off 🤣 On another note, found out yesterday that an 18 yo barman at my local pub will be joining me here next week as he also has a severely knackered Aortic Valve that has to be replaced. Trying to get his contact number so I can offer some support as I remember just how scared and confused I was for op number 1. Still no sign of infection in any of the bloods and cultures they’ve taken since Friday….. yay 🤘

Just found this thread whilst thinking up ways to spend three months recovering from surgery ...... Grand T 7 is a winner (always played them from the very first one on PS1) but always used the controller. Fancy getting a wheel and pedal set, which I've been looking into this morning. I can't really justify £300 on the G29 (brand new) or even £180 on a used one if I'm honest, which is a shame as they seem to be highly rated. Anyone tried a Superdrive SV750 Pro Sport wheel??? Found one on Ebay local to me for £100 (item 203924833228 for anyone interested to see it) that has a stand for it.

Thank you guys. I wouldn't normally spill my guts to the internet, but I had to do something in order for me to move past the initial fear and become the positive, cheeky chappie I need to be to get through this. Normally, I would bounce stuff off Zee, but with her being in work I felt it wasn't fair to drop it on her at that point. A positive mental attitude does great things. Much more than some people realise. After getting all that off my chest, I felt much better. Even more so after bumping into my consultant cardiologist on my way out for some fresh air. We had a very good and frank chat about all manor of things, which reassured me further. I also now understand that the deterioration of the Aortic Valve that was put in back in 2015 was expected due to they type they had to use for the emergency surgery I needed at that point. No time to prepare and / or set things up like they are able to this time. Shame they didn't explain that to us at the time as that would have saved a lot of worry and would have prepared us much better for the news I got yesterday. Oh well! @mac11irl Your post hit the nail on the head That's exactly what was explained by my consultant later yesterday afternoon after my above posts. And you're also bang on abut us men all too often putting on a brave face when we are feeling our worst. That is what nearly cost me my life back in 2015, which of course I learnt from and am now much more open about my thoughts and feelings. Not everyone likes that new side of me Thanks for sharing your experience @TMB and sending me some positive vibes 👍 That is also a very unpleasant and worrying thing to go through. Glad it all worked out for you

I fitted the red Powerflex dog bone mount a good number of years ago and I personally do not believe that the vibration is beyond acceptable? Yes, it has slightly increased the vibration but not to levels that make me wanna swap it out.

Thanks guys. Not gonna lie and happy to admit that I’m actually scared this time and there have been tears 😭 Can’t wait for Zee to get here to help me through this right now. Gonna be a very long and technically challenging op by all accounts, and a few months out of work due to the physical nature of what I do.

ignore me then

I've seen Flexi brake lines that look ok to the naked eye but were knackered when I actually tested them. Maybe the sudden bang and perhaps momentary stopping of the wheel has caused the ABS to kick in and maybe stick?!

Frustrating day today.....didn't have a CT scan this morning that was meant to determine if I could have my valve replaced by going up through my groin (called a TAVI), which has a 2-day recovery time vs up to 12 weeks for open heart surgery (OHS), but no update as to why. Spoke to several nurses who could not tell me anything. grr! Decided it was a nice sunny day so would take myself for a coffee and some "fresh air" 😛 Went to get dressed then realised that the cleaner has taken my T-shirt thinking it was a pillow case Eventually I had a visit from a consultant, an hour after the planned meeting where they were gonna discuss my case, and was told that the aortic valve currently in my heart is too small to be replaced by the only type of valve they can use for a TAVI procedure 😞 So, as it stand at this minute my chest is gonna be sawn open again, most likely this coming Friday. Far from what I wanted to hear, but I have been reassured that due to my (usual) level of fitness (6 months ago I would be running rings around 18 year olds on a football pitch despite being 41 ) my body will be able to take another OHS, but I will need this new valve replaced in the next 20 years so they plan to replace the Aortic valve with my Pulmonary Valve as this will enable them to do the TAVI procedure when it needs to be replaced again. Gonna be a very loooong operation, which scare the $h!t out of me if I am honest.

Did you check to see if the brake lines had damaged? Any contact marks on the callipers and / or carriers? Have you buckled the wheel really badly??

Cheers guys. You’re helping me stay positive

So, spent last night in hospital and have a much better idea what’s going on. The aortic valve that was put in back in 2015 is now so messed up that I have dangerously low blood pressure. This will have to be replaced, probably next week. Got to have an MRI and CT scan on Monday to see if they can avoid a third open heart surgery as that would be number 3 and risk of me not waking after being put so far under is much greater than it was for op number 2. (Twice as risky) This is the last, relatively less risky open heart surgery I can have as number 4 comes with something like a 50% chance of not waking up due to how deep they need to send me to sleep. Obviously, I’m touching all the wood I can get my hands on that key-hole is the way forward. Monday is gonna be a big day

Today is not a good day 😞 Had another hospital checkup this morning. First, full heart checkup in the best part of 3 years due to covid. Was told that the aortic valve is deteriorating again, but were happy for me to go home. Decided that as it could be mostly motorway and ring-road to work (the long way, but much more fun 😛 ) I would properly open the taps. Pulled off the motorway and on to the ring road and floored it through first and second to 4k, the into 3rd. It felt good and strong, no noises I could hear over the turbo. This was until it hit 5k then lost power and lots of blue smoke. Engine was still running, so cambelt hasn’t snapped on me again(!) but didn’t feel like limp mode as the turbo was felt like it was trying to do its thing. My second thought was that it could be a pipe that had popped off, but no loud pop that usually comes with this. Maybe the vac like off the turbo had come detached? No lights on the dash. I really wanted to turn the engine off and on again to see if things sprung back in to life but decided against doing it at traffic lights on a ring road! I limped the last 15 minutes drive back to work and parked up out the front of the garage with a view of putting on the ramp once we had finished for the day….. but no; had a call from my consultant cardiologist telling me I have to go back to hospital with a weekend bag as she had seen something on this mornings scan that could explain the black-outs. Also, my 7 year old aortic valve has also deteriorated significantly since the last scan in 2019, along with the walls of the aorta tunnel that have also become much narrower. Finally, the valve itself is now leaking significantly, which coupled with the symptoms I’ve had since I recovered from having covid, may mean I have to have open heart surgery number 3. Could be a while before I get chance to see what’s going on with my motor and even drive my beloved car again 😞

Just finished checking her over again. All good, apart from the very small oil leak from the turbo 😞 Not gonna lie, I’m starting to worry that a stem seal hasn’t been fitted correctly. Gonna keep running her, change the oil and see where we are in a week. First up; connect up my VCDS cable to check some bits Injection timing as it should be and aircon compressor is working. Want to check the torsion value, but can’t find it. Will take a other look when I’ve got a bit more time. Decided at this point to disconnect my lead and put on the Snap-On machine as I remembered that I could use it to activate the fans to check they work, which they did. Guess I’ve not got the engine hit enough to force the fan to kick in for itself. Happy it’s working nonetheless. Attached the aircon machine and set it to go. No leak detected but only recovered 75grm of refrigerant, so probably why the fan wasn’t kicking in when I turned on the aircon. Can’t grumble as I’ve owned this car since 2011 and this is the very first time I’ve regassed it since I got the aircon to work again a few years ago now. Once the machine has run through everything it was time to test it ….. beautifully cold! Then it was time for the bomb to try and get rid of the bad smell when I turn the system off. Blowers smell nice again Once that had run it’s course, I put on my new car seat cover, which feels nice and thick so should keep the oil at bay. Smoke levels today seem to be worse, but I’ve just been pootling to work. Seems much better once I’ve spanked her for a bit. Gonna take her for a decent drive tomorrow evening and see what happens.

Had an hour between the end of work and needing to head to football, so good excuse to get her in and have a quick check over and rescan of the ECU for fault codes. Everything topside was good; coolant exactly the same, no splatters of oil and cam belt tensioner smack bang on the middle of the indicator. Hooked up the very expensive Snap-On machine and started a full scan whilst I chucked her up in the air. First up was to file down and exhaust clamp that is making contact on the near side rear flexi brake pipe to hard brake line union when the exhaust is hot. I had the same thing happen after the rolling road day down in Portsmouth a few years ago. Must have changed the final seated position of the exhaust after taking it off the turbo at the weekend. Anyway, the biggest reason I’m checking the underside is to see if I’ve stopped the oil leak. Had a hospital appointment before work this morning, 15 minutes drive there and no drip of oil on the floor as I left. So I was hopeful it was gonna be clean…. As you can see m, not quite the case. Compare the first image below against the last picture of the turbo above and you can see there is more oil on the shell of the turbo. No dripping, but still. My guess is the oil seal within the turbo is gone. I can’t replace the cartridge as I don’t actually know the technical data of this turbo, whi CNN is a shame as would be much cheaper than a new turbo! Still got a couple of codes in the ECU. Quickly checked the aircon and the system is empty, which could explain the code in that system. The other code I’m convinced is related to the alternator load wire. I actually cut off the entire mate and female connector block with extra wires so I can extend them and stop it happening again. Zee is out Friday evening so gonna have another check of everything, change the oil and filter, then crack out my vag-com lead and take a look at the aircon system data, then probably re-has the system if there are no leaks, then check how spot-on the timing actually is as it feels very eager to go.

I got to the point in life where I realised money isn’t the be-all, and now do something I actually enjoy

It does make it a hell of a lot easier f course, but have spent the last 20 years spannering on my cars without one! And yea, 22 months in to my apprenticeship:)

Walked in Sunday morning knowing what I needed to do; set the car up on the ramp as if I was doing the cambelt again so I could remove the engine mounts and get access to the cam tensioner, which I wanted to adjust back to where it should be. But, as I walked to the front of the car I saw the little heat shield that sits on the exhaust manifold 🥴 Gitbag! I had a quick go putting it back on but the inlet manifold was getting in the way. Put to one side for another time. It took me ages pratting around moving the ramp up and down to getting access each of the three engine mount to block, bolts and to get the mount itself out of the way. Once decent access was sorted I rotated the engine by hand (well, big ratchet!) a few times and set cylinder 1 to TDC to see it I could still pin the crank and cam. Happy days as both went in no problem whatsoever. Engine still in sync. Then sorted the tension back to where it was originally set. Once set, I could look in to the injector chuff, which was not totally unexpected. Full engine scan Misfire on number 3. Looked at some live data…. ….. not the best photo, but can clearly see that injector 3 is doing nowt. So; wiring, injector or other?!? Did some multimeter checks …. and decided it was the actual injector that’s the issue. Quickly whipped out #3 from the head I had not long removed and set about removing the duff injector from the head that’s now on my block. First up, rocker cover. Each time this has come off and been put back on it has been troublesome as it keeps getting caught on the opening to the inlet manifold After battling for waaaaay longer than it should have, it eventually came off. Didn’t take long to whip out the duff injector, replace, torque down and set about getting that pesky rocker cover back on. It went back on with a fight, as expected by now. I must be missing something….. Back to the computer to wipe out the various codes and start again; Quick flick of the key and back to running and almost sounding like it should 🤘The only thing I could hear that sounded off was what I usually end up finding to be an exhaust blow. Far from the end of the world at this point as the engine is running as it should be with no knocks or rattles, or the best a person with the hearing of a 100 year old can 🤣 In all honesty, I’ve had hearing aid upgrades recently that have made a marked improvement, so I would have heard it if it was there! Very smokey at this point, but no blueness. Left it idling for ages whilst tidying my tools away, periodically checking for warning lights on the dash and temp gauge, along with the live temperature reading through the snap-on ecu computer and occasionally grabbing the thermostat outlet pipe to check that the entire coolant system had opened. Nice and warm in the cabin, but fan yet to kick in. Probably needs a spin to get some decent temperature in to it. Maybe. Smoking the place out During one of my periodic check of everything I notice specs of oil on the rocker cover and underside of bonnet 😵 Seemed like the cam sprocket with spraying it everywhere. Panicked for a moment, then logic took over and quickly decided I must have snagged the rocker cover rubber gasket during the fight to get the cover back on. Not the end of the world, but to sort this I decided I needed take off the inlet manifold, then fit the rocker cover and manifold again. It was too late on the day for this, so conceded defeat and accept I had to come back Easter Monday. Back in this morning much to my surprise to see boss and mentor in the garage. Took the chance to start the car so they could have a listen and both agreed that despite being a little blowy, tue top end itself sounded good. Happy days and the validation (or more accurate, decent set of ears to confirm what I was hearing 😛 ) I started by cleaning all the oil off from topside. Checked the bottom and looked like the rear of the rocker had also been leaking as was all over the turbo, removed the TIP and inlet manifold. Once the rocker was off I could see my suspicions were correct. Gasket was clearly wet with oil. All back together and looking clean and tidy. Happy and confident all is well, I started her up again, this time fast idling with a bar on the accelerator. Again, periodically checking everything was a-ok. Then, out the corner of my eye another oil drip 😞 Quick feel around and I had somehow left the third, hidden Allen bolt of the exhaust to turbo bolt out! Sorted that, another spray with brake clean and blow out and time for a test drive Before so, check that the coolant level was ok, then saw this mess Moron didn’t screw in the oil filler neck properly! After a quick, friendly drive up and down the ring road I popped to my mentors house to discuss the smoke levels. He convinced me it will get better. The only nagging thing at this lint is that I’ve not heard the fan kick in, with a code seek in the aircon module. I have half a clue on this, but not critical at this point. I wanted to finally have some of the bank holiday weekend. Drive home to pick Zee up in my car. Smoke levels showing signs of reducing. Back to the garage to pick her car up, but decided to go for a walk beforehand… then the pub for a pint and some food 35 miles driven so far, not once gone above 3.5k. Will get it in the garage after work tomorrow for a quick check over, then change the oil and filter at the weekend, along with another visual. Still plenty more to do, but for now …..

Whilst I’m waiting for the thermostat to open, why not update you all ☺️ Arrived at the work Saturday morning and grabbed the replacement tandem pump, only to find that was also broken. FML Luckily, GSF we’re open. £263 and an hour later and o had a new, Bosch pump. Whilst I was waiting I stripped all the old pipes off the original pump, which was a PITA as of course they had not been off in the 17 years since they were put on 🤦‍♂️ No problems getting it to line with with the cam without all the pipes restricting movement, which could well be the cause of me balls putting the original back on in the first plate 😛 New pump back on, as is the inlet manifold, turbo and intake pipe etc. Once that was all back on it was time for the new water pump, tensioner, guide and cambelt. All timed up and tension set perfectly. It felt great getting the engine mounts back on and off the axle stand for the first time in a couple days Once all the underside stuff was complete, I chucked in some oil then tried to put the rocker cover back on. All back together looking spic and span Once all done, I changed my pants then stuck the key in the ignition and switched on and off a few times to prime the pump, but couldn’t hear the usual swirl of fuel?!? Not put off, I stuck a battery back on the car battery as I knew it would take a while to fire up, then turned the key to crank the engine for the first time 🤔 TBH, it didn’t take as long as I thought it would to fire in to life. I’ve changed just a fuel filters on other cars that took waaaay longer to start again! Whilst I was very happy that she started, I could immediately feel and see an injector chuffing / misfiring. I walked round to the engine bay and could see it was trying to leap out of the bay. Turned it off and had a quick check of the cam tension. …. which was not where it was before I started the car 😞 I decided to down tools as this point and get my diagnostic brain in gear in the morning.

Pictures will make this much more interesting

Today didn’t exactly go to plan as it’s not back running as yet. Three stupid mistakes put a stop to that happening today 😞 Started the morning by cleaning bolts, mating surfaces etc and making sure I had everything I needed. Mistake number one being I changed my mind at the last minute when I bought tue head kit and ended up with a kit that did not include the metal tandem pump gasket. Mistake number two was realised the very next moment when I couldn’t find a new oil filter. Stupid me. Anyway, glow plug aperture and outside of the head itself before and after; Then it was time to check my timing marks were correct before pulling off the cam belt, tensioner, guide and water pump The plastic cover was a right PITA to remove in situ and actually ended up leaving the plastic cover unbolted, but still hooked onto the head when I took off. Before I got there, I quickly took off the rocker cover, unbolted the coolant temp sensor and housing along with the tandem pump. That meant the head was free to be pulled off, once I had removed the head bolts. I cracked each bolt + 1/4 turn in following the tightening process. Once they were all cracked I went back to bolt number 1 to remove it, then 2 etc. Voila This then gave me room to clean up the tandem pump and replace the rubber o-ring on the CTS housing. Pretty obvious where the oil leak was coming from I then spent an absolute age over-thinking how I go about setting the camshaft on the new head so that it could be dropped straight in, but got there in the end. After cleaning the blocks mating surfaces, I blew out where the head bolts screw in to, then sprayed in some brake cleaner and blew out again so to make 100% sure they were clean and dry for the new bolts. New head gasket was fitted and then very carefully put on the new head. The ARL / PD150 head bolts were lightly oiled and dropped in. I had read that the last 90 degree turn for these bolts was gonna be tough, so cracked out the 3 or 4 foot torque wrench! The built-in angle gauge, along with the vibration and beep when you hit the mark you set on this wrench again was a godsend as even with it being so long getting that final 90 degree turn was in fact as tough as I had read! I certainly wasn’t able to keep my eye on the digital display whilst pulling as hard, but as steady as I could to get the final angle needed. I quickly popped the turbo with new gasket and copper nuts back on head, but not torqued down at this point. Next up was to get the tandem pump back on, which I thought was gonna be a doddle as everything was pinned and therefore in the correct position when I took it off. But no, it wasn’t gonna be that simple! I tried to coax the pump back in to position, tapping it with the palm of my hand to locate it on the cam. It looked like it had got in position, so with my fingers I started the top two #6 Allen bolts. Concerned of over tightening, when I I switched to the ratchet I grabbed the small 1/4” one. Mistake number 3; As I screwed them in, often jumping from one side to the other to try and pull it on straight, one of them within a 1/4 turn went from feeling good to tight, then snap 😞 Not the end of the world as I was pretty sure I kept the one off the doner car, but couldn’t ask Zee to go check as it could be in one of several places in my very packed garage. I decided to call it for a day rather than taking an hour to pop home then subconsciously start to rush trying to catch up and F’ing something else up in the process. As it happens, I found the pump from the doner in the very first place I looked once I got home Will stop on the way in the morning to pick up an oil filter and call TPS for a tandem pump gasket, then get back at it until it’s done and running again.

Cheers mate. Just arrived with me McDonald’s brekkie and will get going. Couple more pictures won’t hurt ☺️

Started the strip down yesterday. The first job was to take the car for a blast to get it warm to make the glow plugs and exhaust bolts easier to remove. Tested all 4 glow plugs that came out the head attached to my car, which were all good. The 4 that came out the doner we’re also good, so got me some spares At this point I decided against pulling off the exhaust as there was too much in the way for my liking, so set up the DTI gauge so to set the injector lash. I also swapped the front left engine cover bracket as the one on the doner was all rusty. I did consider painting the new head whilst it was off, but this isn’t ever gonna be a show car so why bother!? After procrastinating for a while, I made a brew and got on with the topside stuff; removed the battery & tray, air box and pd160 intake pipe, the intake manifold, egr delete and boost pipe, unscrewed the vacume box so I could take the coolant expansion tank off its bracket and move it right out of the way and fuel filter pipe work. Raised the car halfway to remove the drivers wheel and arch liner, then took the ramp to the top. Immediately saw lots of oil that needed cleaning up 😞 Removed the boost pipe from turbo to behind the fog, then took off the bottom radiator hose and drained the coolant. The back topside to take off the TIP and unbolt the CTS on the passenger side of the head. Once everything was out the way I set about getting it all set up to pin the cam and crank and remove the cam belt. I’ve done a few cam belts now and these are fairly easy compared to some, with the added safety net on being able to pin cylinder 1 at TDC. I’ve been forced to get in to the habit of using tipex even though I can pin it all in place 😛 To get at the cam you obviously have to remove the aux belt. I had heard the odd squeak from it in the last couple of months, but does look like it was on its last legs! New one sat on the side ready to go on. Once I removed the cam cover there was evidence I’m doing this just at the right time; Yup, water pump had just started to leak! Finished the day not quite ready to remove the cylinder head yet as I wanna re-check everything before I pull the head off, plus, I need to take off the tandem pump and fuel lines attached to the rocker cover, but a productive day at the office

Didn’t get any time on my car over the weekend as was offered complementary box seats to watch Arsenal vs Brighton, which of course I couldn’t turn down Great day out but glad I didn’t have to pay the £540 per ticket for me and Zee to go watch, especially as I’m a Liverpool fan 😮 Anyway, the issue with the valve lifter has been resolved. Had a chat with the engine shop and explained my situation. The advise I was given was that as long as the lifter can be pressed down it was all good. Winner. So I cracked on with getting the head rebuild starting with re-oiling everything as I should really be using the assembly lube but as I’m reinstalling the original cam, lifters and springs I’ve been told I’ll get away with just oil. So I soaked it all! The cam-caps were reinstall with new bolts, torqued to 12nm + 270 degrees. Obviously, you can’t just chuck them on in any old fashion and simply torque them down as you could bend the cam. So, I started with the outer caps first, tightening as far as I could with my fingers, then onto the middle two. Although the bolts felt tight, the caps were miles away from the final seated position, so grabbed a 3/8 ratchet and the #10 multi-spline socket. As I screwed in the bolt I could feel when there was resistance and moved on to the next bolt. I Kept doing this until the caps were just about flush with the head, then swapped to a torque wrench. The fancy torque wrench I have access to has a degree function, which made life much easier. Before I put on the cam rockers, I grabbed a spanner to make sure that I had put it all together correctly and that everything spins and moves as it should, which of course it did Next up was to put back on the cam rockers, which like everything else was put back in the same position it was taken from during the strip down. The big bolts weren’t stated as needing to be replaced, so reused the old ones. The were torqued down to just 10nm. Again, have the cam sprocket a few turns to make sure everything is still a-ok. As the injectors have been removed I need to adjust the injector lash. Nice and simple job, but I could only have a little practice using my eye as I couldn’t get my hands on a DTI gauge at this point. I reattached the three black brackets, along with the tandem pump bolts just as a exercise to try and reduce the pile of nuts and bolts I still have left Cambelt & waterpump kit was bought today, along with a new auxiliary belt ready for Friday when the install starts. We’ve only got 4 cars booked in for tomorrow, so I’m hoping I’ll get a good start on the strip down tomorrow afternoon. The plan is to get everything ready and stripped off my car tomorrow afternoon / evening so that Friday morning I can walk straight in with literally the first job being to take the cylinder head currently on my car off. Once it’s all off I should have a much better idea as to where exactly oil is leaking from and get a parts list together, if necessary, as the local motor factor is open on good Friday I’ll also clean up the oily mess whilst everything is out of the way, including the battery and tray etc. That’ll give me Friday to reinstall everything and work through any problems …..

Had planned to finish rebuilding the head this evening after work, but ran in to a problem that needs 100% concentration and more knowledge & experience than I have right now ☺️ Started this evening off by taking the cam sprocket off the camshaft to fit the new seal. Thankfully, I seem to have thought more about what I was doing when I stripped the head than I gave myself credit for as the bolt holding the sprocket to the shaft itself was already loose! Undoing a bolt torqued to 100nm whilst the head was free on a stand would have been fun! Once the centre nut was out, a nice tap with a rubber hammer and the sprocket was off. No need to make any marks as the sprocket as it is keyway’d and can only go on one way. Before putting on the new seal I grabbed an old and used scotch cloth to give the camshaft a bit of a clean The old seal was pretty loose and pretty much fell off the shaft and felt a little brittle. The new seal comes on a handy plastic fitting device that simply gets lined up with the shaft and you push it in place. I oiled everything, so it slipped on easily. I then pressed hard on the sprocket with my hand whilst holding the camshaft and used the new bolt on a ratchet to pull it on to its final position. This will eventually be torqued to 100nm at a later point. I put this to one side and grabbed the camshaft caps and the used scotch pad to clean all the contact points up. Once wipe clean, I smeared some oil where the new bearings would sit, both in the head and in the camshaft caps. New plain bearings were pressed into their position connecting the tabs on the bearing to the recess in the head and caps and oiled. Next up was to grab the well-oiled camshaft, place it in position and torque down the caps and shaft. But before I did all that I had a final check that the lifters were free on their bores. When I pressed in the lifters all four went in with no fuss whatsoever. Despite this, I could only spin 2 of the four 😞 It was getting on at this point and I was dying to get in the shower and have some food. So not wanting to rush trying to find out what’s going on, I placed camshaft and caps in position and covered it all up until tomorrow…..

This, all day long. I always take a scanner when I’m looking at a vehicles for mates. Only 1 place huffed and puffed a bit, so I told my mate I wasn’t willing to go any further and we ended up waking away.