Well that was fun...NOT

[davegttph1]

Just spent the last 3 hours in the boiling sun changing spark plugs, 4 poxy spark plugs and 3 hours :mad: ohh well must admit the car feels like it has a brand new engine in it.... smoother, quicker, quieter.. allround a good £60 spent

reckon if I had a ratchet I could have done it in an hour but I had a metal cross bar that I had to fook about with constantly... quarter of a turn at the most on each plug... seemed to take forever.


All that effort for spark plugs, hate to think what a more complex job on the rex would be like

Ohh well just took it for a test drive and rented out assault on precient 13... time to close the curtains and chill with a beer or 2  :cheers

[goose]

Tell me about it. Did you do it from below the car?

I\'ve found a good source for spark plugs though - the local motor factors does 9s for 7 quid each - how does that compare to your source?

[BlitzBoy]

Get yourself a decent 3/4 ratchet (about £20) and spark plug socket next time, jack the car up and do it from underneath, takes me 20 mins max

[davegttph1]

no did it from above the car... I payed £12 a plug from WGT ordered friday dinner time and arrived at 9:30 this morning total cost was £63 for spark plugs I found that rather steep...

Blitzboy, I broke my ratchet, will be buying another soon, I do already have a spark plug socket... just had to use a metal bar to turn it rather than the ratchet, was a nightmare. Will defo have a decent ratchet for the next job though... just a tad skint at the mo, bee a heavy month....

ohh wll Imhappy with the overall effect its had on the car, next job. an oil change...... co-incidently what oil do I put in these beasts? anything I can pick up from halfords or do I have to order it specially?

cheers

[shaunwil]

I\'ve just swapped the oil over and stuck castrol gtx mineral in. Spark plugs are my next job ! Quoted about 40 quid from local motor factors for the platinum plugs !
Did you use 7\'s and 9\'s Looks like it will need jacking up again !

Shaun

[shaunwil]

Oh and castrol was 15 quid for 5 litres from halfords too and the filter was even listed in the book at my local motor factors ! Seemed to only need about 4.5l to top it back up, read that most of the oil stays in the coolers !

Shaun

[goose]

Check out the stickys regarding oil. You\'ll be glad to know a champion filter is around 7 quid!

[davegttph1]

no used 9\'s all round thats what came out too....

oil.. seems a bit cheap??? Im used to the castrol RS stuff for turbo cars... £30+ is that right?

[grinder]

you want NO synthetic oil ( spellling )

mineral oil is best - i use castrol gtx - and i paid £10 for 5 litres last year

if you are chaning the oil - could be worth investing in an oil drain tap !!

have a look for a thread called "best $27.95 you will spend"

[Tintin]

You\'ll get quicker with more practise , can do the oil , filter and plugs in a hour or so now ,

do the plugs from underneath its much easier i find , you need to go under to drain the oil anyway , undo the sump plug ( or better get a drain valve ) change the plugs while it drains , drop it down to get all the oils out , swap filter , stop for a brew , jack it back up again , pop the sump plug in , fill it and your done  

You\'ll get plenty of practise doing the plugs if you flood the engine a couple of times

Next service I\'m doing coolant aswell , never done it before on the rex any tips

[shaunwil]

Coolant........... Easy to take out, alot harder to put back in ! Swapped it over when i moved my rad !

Basically there is a drain plug on the bottom of the rad for removal, plus another on the over flow tank (i think).

You have to remove the pipe connected to the throttle body to prevent an air lock as you are filling it back up. Initially fill the system up with both the rad and ast cap off. Fill it up until the ast is almost full. Put the ast cap back on and then carry on filling until the coolant is trying to come out of the back pipe that was disconected. You can then either blow into the filling point and push all the air out of the back pipe and reconnect or use a bottle to make a head of water above the level of the back pipe. Carry on filling the coolant up slowly until the cap is full. Check the level on the overflow and top it up to suit (slowly to prevent air lock). Fire the car up and watch the water temp. If alarm goes off check shut off imediately and check levels once cold. Recheck levels for the next few days !

Bit harder to do than the oil. I think i haven\'t missed anything out ! about 2 months since i did it !

Shaun

[cjr]

coolant there is a drain plug for the engine just above the oil level sender (below spark plugs) Plugs just practice

[davegttph1]

thanks for the tips, well Im quite relieved about the oil being cheap, thought these we\'re expensive cars to run looks like its evening itself out to me Anyhow, like you say I think it will get easier like you say, just getting your way around the car... with mine being low on the sideskirts and bumpers (veilside kit) and reading about how dodgy these cars can be when jacking them up I was put off that idea, to be fair if I buy a ratchet I thinnk the plugs will be done with some ease.... the hardest and fiddliest part was refitting the intake pipe... there is a triangle rubber washed which was a beatch to fit and hold in place whilst refitting the pipe.

I\'ll change the oil this week then, working on my other car 2moz though so I\'ll see how much time I have

[shaunwil]

I\'ve lately been using the temp jack on a block to lift the car just enough to get a block under the tyre to make it high enough for the main jack to do the main lift. God i wish we had a pit in the garage !

Shaun

[banned advertiser]

you want NO synthetic oil ( spellling )

mineral oil is best - i use castrol gtx - and i paid £10 for 5 litres last year

if you are chaning the oil - could be worth investing in an oil drain tap !!

have a look for a thread called "best $27.95 you will spend"

Not strictly true, there are several cars running  fully synthetic double ester oil, with some beifits.