The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Well, the thermostat seems to have died, and it's blown the head gasket, and the rear diff seal has also sprung a leak. This being added to the list of problems it had when I bought it and ones discovered since, I can't keep up with it...

I'm starting to doubt classic cars are for me, the fact it's died a few days before the biggest show of the season in this county (out of about 4 shows) doesn't help. Completely lost motivation with the damn thing, I know these aren't big issues but it's barely using a tank of fuel between breakdowns, and at 30mpg a tank doesn't last long!

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1976 Triumph Dolomite 1850HL "Trevor, the Tenaciously Terrible Triumph" - Off the road for many years, currently being fixed very slowly.
1977 Triumph Dolomite 1300 "Daisy, the Dilapidated Dolomite of Disaster" - Engine exploded, still a dilapidated disaster, being repaired for 2019.
1983 Triumph Acclaim L "Angus, the Arguably Adequate Acclaim - On the road as a daily driver.

I feel your pain. For the last six months I felt I lost the "mojo". Just walk away and come back to it later on. Don't give up! Are you sure the head gasket has failed? Your previous compression readings were fine. Whatever the problems are draw up a list and tackle each job. The satisfaction of crossing each job off the list is a big psychological boost. The enjoyment you get out of the car outweighs the grief.

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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 Old Brickworks, Wakefield Road, Drighlington, Bradford, BD11 1EA
****Meetings are currently on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic****
1972 Dolomite 1850 auto (NYE 751L - Waiting for me to give it some love)
2008 Citroën C4 Grand Picasso 2.0 HDi Exclusive (MA08 WCL - the workhorse)
1995 BMW E36 318i (M265 PNC - Project Bimmer, the 2nd car)
1991 Toyota Celica GT (J481 ONB - the current project car)
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

I think Anthony that your car has suffered from a lack of regular maintenance in the hands of the previous owner(s). This was born out by the pictures you previously posted of the oval valve gear.

Please stick with the car, all Dolomites need friends, especially "young" ones like yourself.

If I was in your position then I would begin looking for a replacement engine, they are generally (relatively) cheap to buy (secondhand) and (normally) very long lasting and durable. I am sure with another (better) one installed under the bonnet your car will become the car you hoped it would become.

I am only sorry that you are paying the price for someone else's poor maintenance schedule.

Please give my words some thought before giving up on the car mate.

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Dan Brown

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

Well I completely gave up. Sold the car to Dad.

He'll probably fix it up and sell it on as he wants the garage for a sportier car of his own and he enjoyed fixing it with me more than I did. 5 years of planning and saving money, 7 months of ownership, about 10 days of the car actually being on the road. Don't think this'll be something I'll try again, it's money better put towards a mortgage or a better modern really.

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1976 Triumph Dolomite 1850HL "Trevor, the Tenaciously Terrible Triumph" - Off the road for many years, currently being fixed very slowly.
1977 Triumph Dolomite 1300 "Daisy, the Dilapidated Dolomite of Disaster" - Engine exploded, still a dilapidated disaster, being repaired for 2019.
1983 Triumph Acclaim L "Angus, the Arguably Adequate Acclaim - On the road as a daily driver.

Erm, so. I bought it back from dad, guess I'm a glutton for punishment.

Car is running now and quite well (shock, horror!), although it's not been above 50mph as the slow leak from the rear diff became a puddle while it sat for a month so I don't want to take it out of town (or indeed drive it much) until that's sorted as there can't be much oil left in there. I've just ran it down to the shops and the beach to get the coolant level settled and make sure nothing else had broken while it was sat.
(Something has, the cable connecting one of the dash levers to the heater blower, can't be the fan 'cause that still works, temp control?)


Current plan is get it MOT'd at the end of this month and have it ready for a 800 mile round trip to Manchester for the The Footman James Manchester Classic Car Show in September. This'll probably be the last year it has it's current engine as although it is still running the worn crankshaft is skewing the valve timings so it'll never run quite right without a rebuild.


God I'm an idiot...

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1976 Triumph Dolomite 1850HL "Trevor, the Tenaciously Terrible Triumph" - Off the road for many years, currently being fixed very slowly.
1977 Triumph Dolomite 1300 "Daisy, the Dilapidated Dolomite of Disaster" - Engine exploded, still a dilapidated disaster, being repaired for 2019.
1983 Triumph Acclaim L "Angus, the Arguably Adequate Acclaim - On the road as a daily driver.

The leak is most likely the pinion oil seal if the oil is right underneath the diff. An easy enough job but make sure you don't crush the collapsible spacer when you do the nut up.

_________________
Toledo Man

West Yorkshire Area Organiser & forum moderator
Meetings take place on the first Wednesday of the month at 8.00pm at The Old Brickworks, Wakefield Road, Drighlington, Bradford, BD11 1EA
****Meetings are currently on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic****
1972 Dolomite 1850 auto (NYE 751L - Waiting for me to give it some love)
2008 Citroën C4 Grand Picasso 2.0 HDi Exclusive (MA08 WCL - the workhorse)
1995 BMW E36 318i (M265 PNC - Project Bimmer, the 2nd car)
1991 Toyota Celica GT (J481 ONB - the current project car)
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

Diff now sealed, along with a leaking rear hub that was spotted.

Went for it's MOT yesterday, needed a brake cleaning out ( I let the garage do that) and a bumper side mount bolt had sheared resulting in "unsecure bodywork). I only remembered this 20 mins before it was due to be dropped of and the bolt was stuck in the bumper so I whipped out a tub of fiberglass...

Other than that it passed, only advisories were that is could do with a new handbrake cable and brake shoes soon rather than later. Put about 60 miles on it today at 45-50mph to start bedding in the new gaskets and it's going fairly well. Certainly smoother than it's been in a long while but the crankshaft is still deffo on it's last legs and it does drink a fair bit of oil.
Now to run it in and get it doing some longer runs in preparation for Operation Manchester, if it makes the trip it'll be rewarded with a new engine and some bodywork before next Summer.

Fingers crossed...

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1976 Triumph Dolomite 1850HL "Trevor, the Tenaciously Terrible Triumph" - Off the road for many years, currently being fixed very slowly.
1977 Triumph Dolomite 1300 "Daisy, the Dilapidated Dolomite of Disaster" - Engine exploded, still a dilapidated disaster, being repaired for 2019.
1983 Triumph Acclaim L "Angus, the Arguably Adequate Acclaim - On the road as a daily driver.

Great news. Remember.. a good quality 20w50 oil is what they like.

Well, this has been sitting in the garage all winter while I attempted to deal with some personal issues...

I'm now going to pump it full of EasyStart hopefully get it running long enough to be turned around in the garage in preparation for taking the engine out. It's not really possible to get another engine this far north as driving to the border and back will cost too much in petrol and time with the result being a engine of unknown quality, so I'm looking at a full rebuild...

The engine isn't in great shape, not sure if I'll need a new crankshaft yet but I suspect it'll need replaced as the bottom end has been making bad noises for quite some time. It deffo needs new valves/seals, rocker gear is already replaced, albeit with 2nd hand bits ,and the compression was alright last time I checked although damage to the piston rings etc isn't unexpected...

Really need to crack on with this as the 1850's engine has rapidly disintegrated in the 2000 or so miles I've done in it and it is now not really fit for driving. It's also all set to fail it's MOT in a month so really I need to get the 1300 into a state where it is worth making road legal and not garage bound. I don't want to fork out £500+ for the tax/insurance to have a car that can't be driven given I'm already doing that with the 1850... It doesn't need to be perfect, but if I can get an engine that'll last more than 5000 miles that'll be a new Dolomite experience for me...


Got to say, not feeling the Dolomite love as of late. I imagine the niggling voice in the back of my head saying "you should have bought a Datsun" was one shared by many BL customers after getting their new cars home...

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1976 Triumph Dolomite 1850HL "Trevor, the Tenaciously Terrible Triumph" - Off the road for many years, currently being fixed very slowly.
1977 Triumph Dolomite 1300 "Daisy, the Dilapidated Dolomite of Disaster" - Engine exploded, still a dilapidated disaster, being repaired for 2019.
1983 Triumph Acclaim L "Angus, the Arguably Adequate Acclaim - On the road as a daily driver.

You don't seem to be having much luck with these Dollies. The 1300 engine is easy enough to rebuild although some work has to be entrusted to the professionals. You will have to strip it right down and get the crankshaft and the bores checked. If you're lucky then it might just need new bearings and piston rings. The thrust bearing is a weak point on these engines and if this has dropped out then the crankshaft can move back and forth and the resulting wear can render the whole block as scrap. You will need to check the endfloat on the crankshaft. You can either try pulling and pushing on the crankshaft pulley or get somebody to operate the clutch while you check to see if the crankshaft pulley moves. I don't know the exact amount of endfloat but anything visible is probably not a good sign. A simple test with the head is to turn it upside down with the spark plugs still screwed in and fill the combustion chambers with petrol. If the valves leak then work will be needed. If you're lucky then you might get away with just grinding the valves. It would be a good opportunity to get the head converted for unleaded petrol while it is off the car. The exhaust valve seats are replaced with a harder material that is suitable for unleaded fuel (this has to be done by the professionals and isn't cheap). Before you do anything with the engine do another compression test. If the figures are within 10% of each other then that's a good sign. Once you've done the compression tests take another set of readings but put a teaspoon of engine oil in each cylinder just before you take the reading. If the readings are the same then the engine is in reasonable shape. If they go up then expect the worst.

Hope this helps.

_________________
Toledo Man

West Yorkshire Area Organiser & forum moderator
Meetings take place on the first Wednesday of the month at 8.00pm at The Old Brickworks, Wakefield Road, Drighlington, Bradford, BD11 1EA
****Meetings are currently on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic****
1972 Dolomite 1850 auto (NYE 751L - Waiting for me to give it some love)
2008 Citroën C4 Grand Picasso 2.0 HDi Exclusive (MA08 WCL - the workhorse)
1995 BMW E36 318i (M265 PNC - Project Bimmer, the 2nd car)
1991 Toyota Celica GT (J481 ONB - the current project car)
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.

Tried to start it, failure. While I was at work Dad fitted the 1850's battery as the 1300's is knackered, mixed up the terminals and fried the alternator, oops.

So, new alternator, battery and electronic ignition fitted! Car came very close to starting but the starter kept cutting out, we tightened the electrical contact on the end as it was very loose and it died... Now there is a click and the solenoid starts smoking instantly, gooooood.

So, took out the starter motor to have a look at it, sadly I know nowt' about starter motors but I'm guessing these grooves shouldn't look like this?



The bushes look less awful than I expected, but the wires don't look too healthy:



As you can see, the cable for the solenoid is bulging/melting:



I bought a replacement solenoid a while ago but when fitted to car it didn't seem to work at all...

So, thoughts? When the starter motor DID work it was pretty lethargic and took a while to get up to any speed, I'm not sure if it is possible to repair or rebuild or if it is required/worth buying a new one when there are new hi-torque ones on the market?

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1976 Triumph Dolomite 1850HL "Trevor, the Tenaciously Terrible Triumph" - Off the road for many years, currently being fixed very slowly.
1977 Triumph Dolomite 1300 "Daisy, the Dilapidated Dolomite of Disaster" - Engine exploded, still a dilapidated disaster, being repaired for 2019.
1983 Triumph Acclaim L "Angus, the Arguably Adequate Acclaim - On the road as a daily driver.

That is quite possibly the worst starter I have ever seen.

I think finding a new one would be your best bet. Same as for Spit 1500 and MG midget, so quite common.

Not surprised it wont start - to turn it would be loosing so much electrical power in the burnt commutator there would be nothing left to fire the ignition...

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.

Duff engine earth strap?

Steve

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'73 2 door Toledo with Vauxhall Carlton 2.0 8v engine (The Carledo)
'78 Sprint Auto with Vauxhall Omega 2.2 16v engine (The Dolomega)
'72 Triumph 1500FWD in Slate Grey

Maverick Triumph, Servicing, Repairs, Electrical, Recomissioning, MOT prep, Trackerjack brake fitting service.
Apprentice served Triumph Specialist for 50 years. PM for more info or quotes.

Starter does not look too bad - worn but nothing that should prevent it working.
You say you tightened the nut on the end and then it started smoking - could you have moved the lead round as you did this so it is now touching an earth point?
If the solenoid is clicking and smoking it suggests a dead short, not a starter fault.
Matt.