After some recent troubles with my Coupe, from a
banging noise, to a
twanging and finally after an aux belt change a
ticking noise, at which point I decided I didn't have the patience to continue working on her and handed it over to my trusty mechanic Matt at Holloway Motors.
Joe @ CC came to the rescue with a replacement alternator, and Matt rung me to say he thought the easilest way to replace the alternator was to remove the rad, which would give him perfect access to the bolts for the exhaust manifold. Since I was planning on having the cracked manifold replaced next month we decided to combine the jobs.
Naturally my Coupe threw up a few issues, the main one being the stud closest to the aircon compressor had been snapped clean off, by some previous owner / mechanic. This meant the exhaust manifold was blowing at the 1st branch as well as the cracked 5th branch. Spot the blow in the gasket:
Cracked right the way round:
and a 3mm diameter hole that would never seal!
That hole has been there for well over a year, and even with it, it still passed the MOT every year!
So the total work included:
Replace the exhaust manifold & gasket
Fixing leaky radiator - traced to the L-shaped pipe at the bottom passenger side.
Oil, filter and coolant change.
Replace water rail gasket.
Replace alternator.
Replace turbo to radiator hose with silicon item.
I had previously replaced all the aux belts and tensioners.
So for the first time in 4.5 years I have a Coupe which does not sound like a tractor, doesn't leak and has better power delivery. A slightly unexpected benefit of driving it for the past week or so, is I seem to be getting better fuel economy, up to 25mpg rather than 20mpg in the city.
I've given her a good clean, swirl removal and wax. There's plenty left to do, but for now I'm enjoying silent motoring, at least until I step on the loud pedal...
For now 
