The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Oil? What's oil?

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1976 Triumph Dolomite 1850HL "Trevor, the Tenaciously Terrible Triumph" - Off the road for many years, currently being fixed.
1977 Triumph Dolomite 1300 "Daisy, the Dilapidated Dolomite of Disaster" - On the road, still a dilapidated disaster.
1983 Triumph Acclaim L "Angus, the Arguably Adequate Acclaim - On the road as a daily driver.
2005 Honda Civic 1.6i Exec "The Honda" - Broken, rear brakes are seized on...

Indeed...well changing it anyway.

Looks like you may need a new set of cam followers as well. Jod will be along to tell you what to do...
As I change my oil regularly, my Spit has never done that sort of thing to me.

You may as well have the valves out and clean them up, but I wouldnt grind the exhaust valves in unless the seats look very pitted.
The "lead memory" effect sort of hardens the valve seats. You can fit harder seats but it means the cost of machining out the old ones and fitting the new stellite ones and dfferent valves....the full unleaded conversion in other words.

maybe worth dropping the sump out too and cleaning it all out with that about of muck about at the top end.

Jonners

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Note from Admin: sadly Jon passed away in February 2018 but his humour and wealth of knowledge will be fondly remembered by all. RIP Jonners.

Well, the top end of the engine has been cleaned up and a 2nd hand rocker assembly fitted, also some new hoses as the some of the originals fell apart on removal. Rocker assembly was toast but the valves and pistons were all well seated and in decent nick under all the coke.

Car now turns over properly but shows no signs of firing, it's getting fuel so I suspect something is amiss in the ignition system somewhere. I'm going to have to check it out sometime when I'm not working.

In other news, what on earth is going on with the exhaust?

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1976 Triumph Dolomite 1850HL "Trevor, the Tenaciously Terrible Triumph" - Off the road for many years, currently being fixed.
1977 Triumph Dolomite 1300 "Daisy, the Dilapidated Dolomite of Disaster" - On the road, still a dilapidated disaster.
1983 Triumph Acclaim L "Angus, the Arguably Adequate Acclaim - On the road as a daily driver.
2005 Honda Civic 1.6i Exec "The Honda" - Broken, rear brakes are seized on...

That's just classic!!!

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Vermilion Dolomite 1500HL
Mk2 Spitfire currently under restoration
Jaguar XJS
Rover 75

Riiiiiiiiiiight, update.

Bought a 2nd hand rocker assembly, didn't shell out for brand new parts as the casting is crap and the engine isn't really worth it. Flushed all the oil and coolant out of it, cleared all the coke from the pistons. Pistons and valves weren't badly seated or damaged so I left them as they were.
Put it all back together and it just wouldn't fire. Would turn over smoothly but no signs of life. Oh, and the starter solenoid would burn out if you turned the engine for more than a couple of seconds.

Bought a brand new solenoid, which arrived this Saturday. Ditted it, didn't work, starter wouldn't even turn. Re-fitted the one that sets on fire and double checked all the leads, then noticed the connection to the starter was lose and covered in crud. Cleaned that up and gave it a shot, it started!

Got it up to idle temp and then took it out for a test drive. 2/3rds of a mile later I pulled over to let some steam out and called Dad to bring out some water and coolant.
Not exactly sure what happened but I think the system was blocked or had an air pocket as when we poured more fluid into the tank there was a "clunk" from inside the engine and the tank drained straight away.
Left it overnight and topped it up this morning, sat it idling for a while and it got up to temperature and sat there. I used it to pop around town this afternoon and it kept temperature fine, not that it's all good news:

Oil leaks from the sump plug.
Water leaks from the radiator.
Fuel leaks from the fuel pump
Water leaks in through the quarter lights.
The electrics still prone to sporadic failure, especially the radio.
2nd gear is erratic in whether the synchro works.
The exhaust is a masterpiece of bodgery.
Bottom end of the engine does seem to have a bit of a rumble.

Also, rust spots all over the shop. I swear they weren't all there when I laid it up...

So, still a lot more work to go into it. Don't know how much longer this engine has left in it before it needs a rebuild or replacing...
Can't complain I guess, it's only cost me £150 or so to repair.

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1976 Triumph Dolomite 1850HL "Trevor, the Tenaciously Terrible Triumph" - Off the road for many years, currently being fixed.
1977 Triumph Dolomite 1300 "Daisy, the Dilapidated Dolomite of Disaster" - On the road, still a dilapidated disaster.
1983 Triumph Acclaim L "Angus, the Arguably Adequate Acclaim - On the road as a daily driver.
2005 Honda Civic 1.6i Exec "The Honda" - Broken, rear brakes are seized on...

What's the Mileage?
If there is a rumble I'd have a look at re shelling. Just paid my mechanic £150 to do mine (shells were £100).
So not too expensive a job.
I noticed with mine that rust spots started to appear when it was garaged for a year.
Good luck!!

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Vermilion Dolomite 1500HL
Mk2 Spitfire currently under restoration
Jaguar XJS
Rover 75

Expensive shells unless they're very high quality!

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Dan Brown

CA18DET Turbo Sprint - 290hp
Toledo Race Car
B16 Turbo Acclaim - 346hp

I left it to my mechanic to find them (who is an honest guy before anyone says anything!!).
I think they weren't the original so were a different size.
Plus this was two days before I moved to Isle of Man, so with no time to shop around I needed to get them ASAP!!

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Vermilion Dolomite 1500HL
Mk2 Spitfire currently under restoration
Jaguar XJS
Rover 75

Tim, I didn't get any rust spots on Brown when it was off the road and parked in the garage for the best part of 2 years.

Rumbling points to worn main bearings. It would be best to take the engine out and replace them at the same time as the big end bearings. You can get the crankshaft checked for wear at the same time. Don't forget to check the thrust washer which is a common problem on the OHV engines.

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Toledo Man

West Yorkshire Area Organiser & forum moderator
Meetings take place on the first Wednesday of the month at 8.00pm at The Britannia, 239 Swinnow Rd, Pudsey, LS28 9AP.
1972 Dolomite 1850 auto (NYE 751L - The rolling restoration)
2008 Citroën C4 Grand Picasso 2.0 HDi Exclusive (MA08 WCL - the modern)
1995 BMW 318i (M265 PNC - Project Bimmer)
2004 Vauxhall Corsa Design 16V (FE04 FKG - not mine! Being revived)
Former stable of SAY 414M (1974 Toledo), GRH 244D (1966 1300fwd), CDB 324L (1973 1500fwd), GGN 573J (1971 1500fwd), DCP 625S (1977 Dolomite 1300) & LCG 367N (1975 Dolomite Sprint) plus 5 Acclaims and that's just the Triumphs!

Check my blog at http://triumphtoledo.blogspot.com

"There is only one way to avoid criticsm: do nothing, say nothing and be nothing." Aristotle

well, what I should have said is that the first year I owned it rust spots started coming through.

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Vermilion Dolomite 1500HL
Mk2 Spitfire currently under restoration
Jaguar XJS
Rover 75

An indicated 24,000 miles or so, but it must have gone around the clock judging by the wear on the driver's seat and general state of the car.

I'm seeing tiny rust spots poking through that weren't there in November when I bought it, but that's life in a Scottish town by the sea in winter I suppose.

I really don't want to remove the engine this year if I can help it, I may try to source another engine in better condition, as mine has seen better days in all respects really.

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1976 Triumph Dolomite 1850HL "Trevor, the Tenaciously Terrible Triumph" - Off the road for many years, currently being fixed.
1977 Triumph Dolomite 1300 "Daisy, the Dilapidated Dolomite of Disaster" - On the road, still a dilapidated disaster.
1983 Triumph Acclaim L "Angus, the Arguably Adequate Acclaim - On the road as a daily driver.
2005 Honda Civic 1.6i Exec "The Honda" - Broken, rear brakes are seized on...

UPDATE!

Dd a compression test, results:

4 - 130psi
3 - 130psi
2 - 125psi
1 - 125psi

Not bad for a 124,000 mile engine that's lead a maintenance free life for a few years I think.

So, booked the car in for new tyres. The following day the clutch died on the way to/from work, the biting point slowly sunk to the floor to the point where I removed the front carpets for extra pedal travel, I got it home, just. It's a hydraulic clutch, the reservoir is empty, tried filling it, no luck. Wonderful, air in the system then. As I have nowhere to safely jack the car up and my Mother would rather I set myself on fire than go underneath it anyway I drove it to the local garage to have the system bled. (Involving a slightly hairy moment where I ended up out of gear stuck in the middle of a junction with no clutch).
£40 later the job was done and the clutch was usable, but the biting point was still at the floor, if I put the carpets back in I'd not be able to engage the clutch! So it was sent back today and is now finally at the level that it was before it failed. They also pointed out the reason the cabin stinks of fuel is because the tank is leaking and that I need a new nearside rear wheel cylinder.
Could a buggered cylinder cause knocking on cornering? The corner definitely knocks a bit on sharp bends but I'd have thought the cylinder would only cause an issue under breaking, suggesting something else is at fault.

My car has also gone from showing every sign of running too rich to showing all the signs of running too lean. Uneven spluttery idle, will pick up for a while when revved but if left sitting without choke I'm fairly sure it'll just stall out. It also died on me driving home today when I pulled over to take a photograph, as soon as the engine should have sat at idle it just cut out. Wouldn't start until it had cooled down, vapour lock me thinks.

I'm glad this isn't my only car or I'd be 7 shades of unemployed by now, it must have only spent about 25% of it's time drivable.

Here it is in it's natural state:


And on the rare occasion I get it started/moving.

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1976 Triumph Dolomite 1850HL "Trevor, the Tenaciously Terrible Triumph" - Off the road for many years, currently being fixed.
1977 Triumph Dolomite 1300 "Daisy, the Dilapidated Dolomite of Disaster" - On the road, still a dilapidated disaster.
1983 Triumph Acclaim L "Angus, the Arguably Adequate Acclaim - On the road as a daily driver.
2005 Honda Civic 1.6i Exec "The Honda" - Broken, rear brakes are seized on...

I suggest buying a colortune to get your carbs set right, and a balancer if it has 2.

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Dan Brown

CA18DET Turbo Sprint - 290hp
Toledo Race Car
B16 Turbo Acclaim - 346hp

Try the bay http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from= ... _Auction=1

Look at the rubber sections in the fuel line. If one is perished and leaking it will suck air leading to weak mixture.

Jonners

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Note from Admin: sadly Jon passed away in February 2018 but his humour and wealth of knowledge will be fondly remembered by all. RIP Jonners.