265 engine forging

Thanks for that Jamie, but an RST kit no thanks, i know what problems Big Uno had with his and the guy that owns it now

 

No

 

Hi all
A quick update.

I ran the engine up on Friday after almost putting everything back together, i only needed to fit the bumper and front wheels.

So after running the engine for about a minute, i wanted to check that the oil had got into the turbo etc, then ran the engine again to then get it up to temperature, checking over the engine i saw oil running out of the hole in the gearbox housing, turned the engine off at it kept dripping out.

So i drained the engine oil and removed the sump, i couldn't see exactly where it was coming from so it was engine out time again.

This morning I finished pulling the engine out, removed the gearbox, clutch and then the flywheel.
It was all covered in oil around the crank seal, thought it might have been the liquid seal that is needed for the rear crank bearing cap, but that looked okay.

I removed the rear main bearing cap and although the sealant hadn't fully gone off in the middle it was sealed on the outside.

 

The rear crank seal looked in good condition (it was new) cleaned and checked it, could not see any damage.
Cleaned the main bearing cap fitted and torqued it up, this time i used some silicon sealer, its very good stuff i use on boats.
Refitted the seal and fitted the flywheel, but i had a bit of a niggle in my mind.

Something didn't feel right, so was thinking of a way of checking the seal prior to fitting it back in the car, so the plan is...........
Pulled off the breather pipe on the rocker cover and found a length of 1/2 inch hose and put that on there instead.

The dip stick was in, all the crankcase pipes were fitted so should give me some back pressure, i blew into the pipe and there was no resistance, i could hear air leaking from somewhere, moved around the engine and it was leaking from the back of the flywheel, flywheel came back off.

Blew into the pipe again and air gushed out, had to fit the flywheel bolts.
Again blew into the pipe and it was seriously leaking, its leaking from around the crank and the seal and not the seal to the main bearing.

 

When i was sorting out parts in my office room i remember seeing a "Elring" box, went a found it, it was a seal i bought when i was rebuilding the 250 engine that was in my 225.

It was a crankshaft seal, fitted that and tried the pipe trick again and i have back pressure, no air leaks for the rear seal " Result".

Then started putting everything back together,.

The engine is now back in the car, it just needs the electrics connecting up and then i can run it again

 

I was a bit pissed to say the least, but that wasn't going to sort it, so out it comes again.

Did partially strip it out Friday, but was getting late so called it quits after i removed the sump and saw it was that area.

Didn't even bother leaving the house yesterday, saved myself for today

 

Run the engine late this afternoon and it keeping its oil inside the engine, result

Ran it without coolant, radiator or much else, only connected things that were required to start the engine

 

I am not going to be able to finish off putting it all back together just yet, I'm waiting for a oil pressure and an oil temperature sender to turn up, i fitted the sandwich plate that came from my stripped 225, this will then give me an accurate temp as apposed to the estimate on the sport monitor.

Once these parts turn up i can fit them, i could rebuild the rest but as we all know its bad enough to change the oil filter, let alone trying to get these little blighters in, so leaving the rad fan and rads off i can see what is going on.

 

I don't doubt it, i like the one on my Mercedes it right at the top of the engine, but then the spark plugs are an ass of a job to do, good job they don't need changing that often, 60k miles and 16 of them, £420 for a set of plugs from Mercedes

 

The oil temp and pressure sensors have turned up and now fitted.

Here is a quick video i took the other day after replacing the rear crank seal

 

Was going to wait till after its been mapped

 

I have not put anything up recently, the engine isn't running that great, must be in limp mode, i think it's due to the crank sensor being shot, Renault didn't have one in stock, said they have never sold one and at £53 i'm not really surprised.

So ordered one from my local parts company, they special ordered it from NGK and they haven't sent it twice now

I did order one from Ebay, bet both will turn up the same day.

Very strange though that the engine would still run with the crank sensor removed and it ran the same

 

Two new crank sensors delivered today, fitted one and still the same, pulled the front bumper off and now looking at the wiring loom

 

Well over the last couple of days i have been trying to get some answers / solutions to this ecu problem, nobody really wants to get involved, but there is a Renault garage in Saltash (just over the boarder into Cornwall) they are prepared to have a look and plug it in, the only problem is i'm going to have to trailer it over, so went to the place i normally hire trailers from and now they don't hire out, there too stacked out with caravans and motor homes, so i'm going to have to find another way to get it there

 

I took the Megane to the Renault garage yesterday, very helpful guys but alas they could not sort it, they scanned the ecu but they were unable to clear the faults.

So they did run a new map onto the ecu and it was still the same, maybe a bit worse.

I trailered it over to them as it wouldn't go, on the way back to the workshop i thought fuck it, already had a chat with Chris @ EFI, he said if they couldn't get it running good enough to drive up to him get it to him asap, so drove from the Renault Garage straight to EFI and left the car with him.

Will see what he comes back with when he's had a look.

Well at least the Nurburgring has been cancelled so i don't have to worry about that now

 

Once mine is sorted, it looks like i have a big credit to use up as the ring trip is now cancelled, so i should get a couple of trackdays in this year, was thinking of Spa later in the year, but i think i will keep the money in this county

 

Think i will leave it till at least next year before i commit to foreign trackday

 

Hi Andrew
I had a call from Chris about 10 minutes ago and he thinks he has found the problem, there is a problem with the flywheel, one tooth is bent in and another is damaged, so it seems the ecu can't count the right number of teeth per revolution, thus giving bad information to the ecu.

So the gearbox has to come out again

Chris is going to get someone up there to do it for me, by the time i drive up again with a trailer, drag it back and then go back again, looking at 1180 miles be looking at £350+ on fuel and at least 20 hrs driving.

I will keep you informed as to how it goes

 

I don't know, there aluminium so not that strong, took the gearbox off for the stripping, refitted it then off again for the oil seal.

Well at least the problem has been found, should have sent it up before, would have saved me pulling the engine out another 3 times.

 

I bloody hope that is the problem, i got the engine removal down to about 3 and a bit hours, would not just pull the box out myself, its extremely heavy against the 225/R26 box, so it would be a full engine removal, so lets see how much they will charge me

 

This is the only pic i think i have, its the bits above the ring gear.

 

Looks like i will have to host it elsewhere