Roy Lewington

Oil Temp. I fitted a sump plug from Matt Lewis Racing (Dorking) which takes a temp. probe. Probe thread is 1/8th npt although I think an M10x1.0 is supposed to also fit. Plenty of gauges online, I fitted a KOSO unit under the dash which is easily removable if a future owner didn't like it. Works fine. Roy.

A complete waste of time and money. Trying to sell the idea to petrol heads is difficult. Maybe you should take up knitting. Roy.

OK Phil thanks for your advice, bin it I will. Not worth taking a chance on. Roy.

Looks like Phil has the answer here, needle crystals. I did put some in a metal dish in boiling water for 5 minutes but no change. I guess if Mobil put a warning on the container that this could happen you probably wouldn't buy it. Just to be on the safe side I have drained it off. On a slightly different note the oil I drained and filtered looks good again. Should I use this in my daily run-around or is it no longer a 'complete oil' with these crystals missing? Roy.

So there I am changing the oil in my Esprit, pouring it slowly into a smallish funnel to avoid any spillage. Having poured in about 2/3rds of the container I noticed some residue and saw crystals trapped in the funnel. I filtered some of the remaining oil and the pictures show about half of what I recovered. Compressed between thumb and finger the crystals feel like grit and do not seem to break down. This was a previously purchased new sealed container with a made date of 01/12/16. I am very disappointed to have poured this stuff into my engine, disappointed that it could have damaged my engine had I not spotted it and quite annoyed (apart from the cost) that I have to do the whole job again (not with Mobil). Did this pass quality control? If so a bit of a concern. Is this a feature of additives in full synthetic oil separating over time? If so a big warning should be on the container. Surely oil should not degrade in 5 years. Mobil, an American Company, has proved very difficult to contact in the UK. Phones not answered (one UK 0800 number had me talking to a person in Czechoslavakia), email addresses no longer in use and not monitored. When I did manage a conversation the mantra was basically 'take it back to where you bought it'. Not really the answer as it clearly left Mobil with this problem. I did fire off an email (with pictures) to their Techdeskeurope and what did they say? Absolutely nothing, no reply. I also emailed Customercare who acknowledged receipt (auto response), but no reply from them either. In a lot of years of oil changing I have never come across this before. I think in this case I was unlucky. The thought of having to filter fresh oil seems faintly ridiculous.

I have used Evans Waterless Coolant to great effect. Ok it is expensive but how much is no corrosion worth? Also it doesn't boil, it doesn't freeze, no pressure on the hoses, no corrosion, no problems in todays heavy traffic, it never needs changing. What's not to like? Roy.

Count me in if it's Newhaven... Roy OK didn't get to page 4. Next time maybe.

Workshop manual for my 1988 Stevens X180 turbo gives a charge for refrigerant 12 of 1.4kg (3lbs). The quick check procedure using the sight glass advised: Continuous bubbles ------- system low on charge Sight glass clear for more than 45 seconds after switching off before foaming and settling away from glass--------system overcharged Foams and settles away from sight glass in less than 45 seconds after switching off-------system correctly charged

I would use epoxy resin---much stronger. I have used West Epoxy Resin on boats with great results. Roy

Job done. I removed the auxiliary belts and lined the cam belt up. I tapped a soft nylon wedge into the crank pulley housing to prevent the cambelt moving and also zip-tied the belt to the distributor drive to avoid any ignition timing issues. With the cambelt tensioner slackened I was able to ease the belt away from the pulleys. I made a cam locking tool from a couple of soft nylon washers as the pulleys being alloy would be easy to damage. The tightening torque is only 25ftlb so I was hoping to undo the retaining bolt without too much trouble. All ok, it released and the cam sprocket came off without a problem. Using a cut down drill and a cable drive I had just enough room to drill 2 small holes in the old oil seal. I fitted self-tappers and eased the whole thing gently out. It was not damaged but had gone very hard. The new seal I fitted using a large socket and wound it in using the cam sprocket retaining bolt. The old trick of putting bearings etc in the freezer before fitting doesn't work with oil seals as the rubber goes too hard and is easily damaged. I've also had my exhaust bracket powder coated {Autoblast in Sussex 01903 877711) nice job at a good price.

My experience of almost anything from China is very poor quality and a waste of money and effort. There is a morality issue as well, I would not buy from China because of the human rights issues even if the quality was ok. I got my alloy rad through SJS, absolutely superb. Apparently the makers also supply F1 teams so what else do you need to know. A bit of a pig job so you don't want to do it twice if you can avoid it.

This is the family round-robin that you just love to get at this time of year. Well, it's been a busy year for us. In January I went to collect coal for the fire and slipped on a patch of ice. Went down with a bit of a bang and lost most of my teeth. This continues to be troublesome (see pic) so looks like turkey soup this Christmas. After 3 days my wife started to get a bit anxious and came looking. She slipped on the same patch of ice and ended up in hospital with a broken hip. The staff were good but after several visits I noticed her medical notes referred to her as Mrs A. not Mrs L. I mentioned this to a nurse but nothing changed. I mean, you don't want medical notes getting mixed up between patients do you, so I put in an official complaint. No! Not Mrs A. The wife had caught MRSA! In April we drove down to Switzerland to see some friends but they weren't in. As you know the Swiss are famous for their cheese and as we had finished our sandwiches we shared a nice cheeseburger on the way back. We called in on a French Street Market where we met a very friendly Italian called Ivor Gottcha. He was selling Chateau-Neuf-De-Crap for only £30 a bottle. It seemed amazing value, almost too good to be true. We had spare Euros and ordered 10 cases. He promised it would be with us in time for Xmas so I'm really looking forward to that. This start to the year caused a bit of friction. After 12 years of happy marriage (she said the other 37 I could have tried a bit harder) the wife left me and took the dog----I really missed that dog. She did return so we decided as a celebration to embark on a World Tour taking in the Americas, Australia and New Zealand and back up through Europe. Unfortunately the guy in the travel agent trousered the money and disappeared. Luckily we found a broker who specialised in not only refunds but also serious amounts of compensation. As he explained the reason for emptying my bank account and leaving only £1 was to ensure there wouldn't be any problem when the refund was processed. Nothing yet but I'm sure that when he gets his telephone fixed (a Nigerian number) it will turn out to be a minor computer glitch. With all this going on I had forgotten to pay the hospital parking fine of £30 which had now morphed into £1730.80 I did send a cheque but it bounced (see previous paragraph). They sent a vey nice man round to collect the debt (Mr. Bailiff). He said they wouldn't take the Lotus as it was such a mess it wouldn't even cover half that amount. Some good news, the Lotus seats are now in the lounge as the furniture has all gone. On a more serious note those of you who know me will be saddened to hear that I lost my wife at the beginning of this month. Such a sweet cheerful thing, I was traumatised. It hit me very hard, and it was a very difficult time for me, huge amounts of stress and worry and loneliness. I tried but I just couldn't cope and I took to the bottle (whisky) almost immediately. I know you will judge me as weak but you just won't understand the feeling of hopelessness and desolation unless this has happened to you Eventually I found her waiting for me at the checkout, but I still hate these huge Supermarkets. Due to the drink we had a minor car crash on the way home and the case comes up in January! Ah well, mustn't grumble-----Merry bleeding Christmas. Roy and Sylvie.

I hadn't really considered taking the towers off but it is a sensible option. However the car is running really well, no tappet noise, no oil leaks from the cam covers so it seems like a lot of extra work for a £5 seal. I'll try doing it in place and see how I get on. Thanks Roy.

One of my winter jobs is to replace the front camshaft oil seals (910 engine) which I have been assured can be done with the engine in place. I see they are only torqued to 25 ftlb but will I have a problem releasing the bolt? So I have some questions: 1 Can it be done, engine in place. 2 Can I buy a cam locking tool. 3 Would a wedge shaped piece of wood tapped in between the two cams sprockets work. 4 Should I make a bar to bolt between the two sprockets. Any advice gratefully received. Thanks Roy.

Lotus Mediterranean Blue, glad you like it. Nice interior in red/dark blue leather. Still looking good after 94000 miles.