MadManMike

I checked the PCV valve earlier, I hadn't done that before. Not that. I've heard the cam belt whine when it's too tight, this sound is different - with a tight cam belt it gets louder with revs, mine goes away under load. I'm starting to think the manifold gasket is shot, but then when I sprayed stuff around it there was no change in revs as you'd expect with a leak.

I know when it's time to give up and pass it to the experts... Now. I've tested everything I can think of and still can't stop the whistle. It's definitely not alternator or PAS related, but being so high pitch it's difficult to pinpoint exactly where it is. If anyone has any final ideas before I get a garage to take a look, I'd be massively grateful. It has a high pitch whistle from the engine bay which climbs in pitch slightly when you rev, then at about 3000rpm under load it stops. Car drives OK, but the whistle drives you nuts after a while, it's loud and very high pitch - must be hell for dogs I drive past

I've only had about 20 mins of day light each day after work, so progress is slow, but here's where I am so far... -------- Checked: -------- Intake Manifold - Tight Fuel Rail - Tight Alternator Belt - Tight, Loose & Off Crossover Pipe & Hoses - Tight Throttle Body - Tight Idle Valve - Tight --------- To Check: --------- PAS Belt / Pump - Injector Seals - Starter Motor - Sanity -

Nah I live in Bristol mate

Would that noise not change with the revs though, as it spun faster?

OK one more question. I've tried Google and other sites, with no joy... A squeal from the engine bay, that DOESN'T change with revs or clutch movement. What could cause that? Surely an air leak or loose belt would change pitch / frequency with revs? I took the car out for its first test run today and it developed that fault, loud enough to be embarrassing! Plan tomorrow is to check for vac leaks with brake cleaner and play with the belts, but wondered if anyone had any other ideas.

It was the release bearing, sorted it today. Dropping the box and putting it back in is a total b*****d. No doubt easier with a four post lift, but on the QuickJack it was a task - still better than normal jack and axle stand setups... Anyway, after a lot of swearing and getting coated in gear oil, she's all sorted

FB Purity extension for Chrome is great too, that was one of the main things that made my return to FB bearable. You can choose what type of photos you want to see (eg, tick to hide baby photos) and you can filter posts by keyword, so I rarely see anything about Boris, Brexit, May, Cameron etc... The odd one slips through the net, but generally the feed is clear of it. Also unfollowing those that post the most controversial crap helps too. And in some cases, just unfriending if we don't ever interact and I don't see them in real life.

Haha, totally forgot they used to be called that - at least when I lived in Hastings, they were referred to as that. Now I'm an adult and know more about bikes, I find it as annoying as you do

I'm doing a live mix on Twitch, probably for an hour or two, come and say hello https://www.twitch.tv/dropeightyfour

We've bled it twice already, using a pump, but yeah maybe it needs more bleeding. Would the release bearing make the clutch bite slightly at times, even with the clutch pedal pushed in? It's done it a couple of times, just like a little lurch forwards as if the clutch was engaged, but the pedal was fully down...

So, drove the car home last night and generally it's great - engine idles perfectly, steering feels tighter now that the rack is polybushed and it no longer does pops and bangs, with copious amounts of smoke. Also, because I flushed the coolant system, including a jetwash inside the heater matrix (Accompanied by many large brown chunks of crap falling out), the heaters are once again red hot. On to the slight negative, the clutch makes a horrible noise. Now, the clutch and release bearing were new not so long ago I'm lead to believe (Bought from an ex-member of this forum in good faith, no reason to think it was mis-sold!), but nonetheless there is an issue that needs diagnosing... When I press the clutch in, around half way it makes a bit of grind / squeal and sometimes with the clutch fully pressed down it'll make a constant squealing noise. Initially it was a little hesitant to go into gear, but generally it's driveable, albeit loud. Does this sound like the slave isn't bled properly, or the bearing is on the way out? Before I fitted the engine, it was all bolted together and hasn't been taken apart and previous owner reports no issues, so although everything leads me to the bearing, I find it difficult to believe it would suddenly play up when first fired up in my car... Is there anything else it could be?

Upped it to YT... anyone want to claim this work? 2002 style

GOT THE ENGINE STARTEDDDDDD It was the starter, in the end... b*****d of a job to do, purely because of the lack of space. My hands and arms are shredded and sting like shit, but the car runs. I ran out of time to get her home, but probably just a couple more hours work left - bleed clutch, bleed coolant, check PPF area for loose bolts (It's a bit clunky, so suspect the prop shaft may not be torqued up). Starts instantly, idles nicely... Very close now

... or as a more realistic & affordable trip, Bike Park Wales? I'd love to do Morzine, but budget doesn't allow and I'd imagine getting a few of us there at one time would be tricky.

Same as my style - 30% posed, 70% discretely shot from a distance. As nice as it is to have a group photo with your nan, the ones where you capture some chaos at the bar are infinitely more interesting

I have a D750 and shoot RAW onto both SD cards. I also hire a spare, from D610 upwards... Usually a D750 if I can, as I know my way around it. I wouldn't shoot JPEG myself, I used to years ago but now I shoot in the best quality possible. If they're pretty chilled about it I wouldn't worry too much, but it's a steep learning curve with weddings that's for sure. If you're shooting one subject all time (track days, for example), the conditions don't vary drastically, but with weddings you'll be in and out of buildings constantly, with different rooms having different lighting and often not long to catch a moment... That's the bit that takes practice, knowing roughly what settings you need and being able to switch to them quickly. I'm not sure if the D610 has it, but on the D750 you can program two different settings on the wheel (auto, aperture, shutter etc..) called U1 and U2, I often get to the venue earlier and set up U1 for indoor settings and then set up U2 roughly right for the weather / light outside. It's a handy feature. I'm not a wedding pro, but I've done enough to roughly know what I'm doing

I've done quite a few weddings now (Average of 3 a year for the past 6 years) and honestly the first ones I did were pretty shocking - in most cases that was just in exchange for beer tokens, so no drama really. It's hard to give advice in terms of settings, because all venues are quite different. Some things I've learned: Registrars / religious folk can be REALLY difficult with photographers. No flash, don't stand near me, etc... If you get a grumpy one, there's not much you can do. Make a list of important things, discuss it with the couple first - what do they 100% want and what do they not care so much about - many couples, brides especially, will have a list in their head of what they want... Make sure they tell you, otherwise you might end up spending your time capturing the wrong stuff. Ideally, they'll give you a list, but if not just have a chat and make your own notes. Rings going on, first kiss, cake cutting, first dance and of course the stiff posed family photos are usually the must-haves. Have a backup camera and backup memory cards - ideally shoot with two cards in each camera. If you took 1000 photos and then the single card you're using packs up, what do you do? Always have a backup. Likewise, if your camera decides to give up at the ceremony, have another one ready to go. It's also handy to have two, so that you can have a long lens on one and a shorter prime on the other, saves switching lenses every two minutes. For your specific situation, make sure you stress several times that you're NOT a wedding photographer. They need to have the right expectations of the product before you deliver it.

Yes! 100% in.

We "hotwired" my spare starter by wiring directly to the battery, using a jump lead to earth it to the block and plugged ignition on it. Turned the key and that starter came to life... With all the other testing we did, we ran out of time to do much else (The joys of the car being so far from my place). We did push start it and confirm that it runs, but not long enough to do much other than reverse it back into the garage. Next available day to get over there: Saturday 12th. Jobs left to do - replace starter, top up / bleed coolant and also I think the slave might need bleeding, as it's currently difficult to get into gear.

The whole engine? Fook that. If that engine has to come out again, I'm sending Red to Eunos heaven.

So, on the troubleshooting front, I'm looking for more ideas just in case the plan fails tonight. As per original post, the starter sometimes gives one click but goes no further. Battery is OK. We will try and push start it to see if the starter is jammed and if that doesn't work, we'll replace the starter with my old one. If that doesn't work, any other ideas on what else we can check? Earth point that was the suspect has been checked and I believe is only on the 1.8, not the 1.6.

Yep same spec as the original. We swapped the engine 2 years ago and it was in worse condition than the original one, so I've been on the hunt for a decent one. A lot of the parts, like engine mounts, were new with the other engine so didn't need replacing. My friend is keeping the old engine to rebuild and fit into an old Mini

Spent all weekend working on my car with some mates - engine cranes, ciders and food. Got the new engine all painted and it looks awesome, fitted polybushes on the steering rack, replaced a load of gaskets on the front, rear and manifolds. Managed to get the new engine in, replace gearbox seal & oil, topped up with coolant (Twice, as my mate put the inlet gasket on wrong and it all pissed out...). Tried to fire it up and sprayed fuel everywhere (Same mate decided to mash the o-ring on injector 2 when re-fitting). We got as far as the starter doing one click and nothing else, which I suspect is a missing earth at the front of the engine - battery is good so it's not that. I'll try and locate the earth point and fit that, if no luck I'll use the starter off the old engine. It's a bit frustrating as the car is over in Wales, so I need a lift over to work on it again... I could take the BMW, but that doesn't really solve anything as Red will still be stuck over there even if she runs Anyway, almost there...

How many people are in the team? Skinnier, slicker tyres mate, as little resistance as possible