Well it seems like the water leak has been stopped. It was rapidly traced to the T for the heater on the LHS (looking at the front of the car) "pump to rad hose" with the water up to fan-on temperature. This T is a 15 mm OD plastic pipe bonded into the rubber and over the course of the 15 years the car has been in existence it gradually collapsed inwards under the hose clamp to the point where it would leak under high pressure. By pure chance, I had a piece of 13 mm OD thin walled steel pipe of the right length to hand that was a drive fit into the plastic pipe to reform its shape and prevent further collapse. The car has now done around 20 miles in traffic, albeit at lower ambient temperature but with the water up to fan-on temperature without any apparent leakage.
As a matter of course when dealing with water leaks I removed the plugs to see if there were any trace of water ingress into the cylinders commensurate with a blown gasket. No white traces on the plugs or on top of the pistons that I could see so probably all is well but annoyingly the thread on my compression tester was not long enough to engage with that in the head on a Silver top Zetec so I will have to make an adaptor to be on the safe side. I noted that the insulator on one of the plugs had cracked. This is the first instance of such a problem that I have encountered. I went to buy a new set of plugs only to find that the only suitable type at our local friendly Halfords was the Champion version, gapped at 1 mm whereas my Haynes manual says 1.3 mm gap for a Zetec. What gap do others use (1.8 litre 115 Ps Escort derived build) and has anyone found an advantage in using a particular plug type? What was also interesting was that the tip-in/tip-out issue has now diminished and I feel that it most likely relates to the air bypass valve (ABV) cutting in or out. Unfortunately the Zetec has a non-serviceable type ABV whereas on the 2.0 DOHC engine in my Beauford it is possible to strip and clean all the component parts. In passing, I was not able to purchase new engine mounts; probably as well as the apparent "separation" visible on the gearbox end mounts from above is a design feature and when the engine was jacked up all four mounts were found to be intact. Another Red Herring! Hamish -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Quantum Owners Group" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/quantumowners?hl=en IMPORTANT NOTE: All information presented herewith is provided on an "As Is" basis, without warranty or the implication thereof. Neither the Quantum Owners Club nor the individuals associated with the Quantum Owners Club or in the preparation of the above information shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to liability, loss, or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the instructions contained within this or related message(s). --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Quantum Owners Group" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
