First service, and other jobs (DIY)

[Driver+Passengers]

Time for my first service, and I fancy doing it myself (well, with a mate).

- Oil and oil filter
- Fuel filter
- Air filter
- Coolant and bleed
- ATF
- Check other fluid levels


As there's gunk on the driver's side of the engine and oil pooling up in the glow plug wells, I'm also going to:

- Drop, inspect and clean intercooler
- Replace rocker cover gasket
- Inspect/clean inlet manifold, replace gasket
- Connecting pipes, if neccessary.
- Fit EGR blanking plates


Other things I've noticed/need to do:

- Replace a couple of perished vacuum tubes
- Replace first exhaust section
- Repair cracked rear heater casing (after damage to bodywork)


Anything obvious I've missed - any top tips or words of caution? I'll try and post some photos as I go. Wish me luck.

First, I need to go and make room in the garage...

[wonkanoby]

brakes??????

[Driver+Passengers]

brakes??????

I'll get the wheels off once it's off the ramps...

BTW: when I say it's time for my first service, I mean both the vehicle and myself.

[Driver+Passengers]

I was planning to drive the front wheels onto the ramps and stop it, then PELA oil and later drain coolant with it up there, and do the rest of the underside work before refilling fluids and getting it back down.

Any reason (like gravity) that I shouldn't do this? If so, how do I get it back on the ramps? I've got a 2-ton trolley jack and stepped ramps, so I could rock or 'walk' it back onto the ramps.

Related - is bleeding best done on the flat?

[Velocette]

Check battery connections and condition
Check all lights and indicators etc
grease door hinges
check washers and wiper blades
check tyres for nails
check steering and wheelbearings for excessive play
clean exterior of rad if it looks mucky, remove leaves etc

I would also take all the mudflaps off and clean behind them they are crap traps especially the front ones. Also check body drain holes are clear especially the one from below the windscreen

[maxheadroom]

Don't forget the drain pipe under the bonnet

[Driver+Passengers]

Max/Velocette - cheers! Mustn't forget the little things, you're right!

Not much to report - removed bottom tray for fun and got air/oil/fuel filters changed, about 4,500 miles since it was serviced by the dealer.

I put in 6L of oil so far - I'll wait to get it on the flat before measuring and topping up. I got about 6 litres out of it, so I reckon I clearly can't trust the dipstick - I thought I was much lower than that. Pela did the trick, got a trickle out the sump plug only to find that some plonker had fitted the oil filter sideways. Tsk.

From reading the manual, I was expecting a priming pump above the fuel filter but there was none. I had two choices - open bleed screw and start, or leave bleed screw closed and start. Figured I'd try the latter to see if that worked first rather than risk a diesel fountain. It started on the button and conked out about 20 seconds later, after sending a slow waft of whitish smoke up through the driver's seat area - exhaust blown back through by the wind, or diesel off my hands evaporating off a pipe?? I don't know. It started again after just a couple of seconds turning over and it was fine from then on.

The air filter was manky!!. Caked in oily stuff opposite the intake. I'm going to remove the filter housing and all pipework prior to the filter, hose it out and inspect. And replace the filter sooner next time.

Dropped the intercooler. A small coating of oil inside but nothing pooling or dripping. If I was going to go to the bother of flushing it, then I'd have to do the pipe work as well, so I didn't bother. Not that I've ever seen the inside of an intercooler before, but it was clean enough for me. I put it back in place but couldn't be bothered doing the bolts up, so I came back inside.

[Driver+Passengers]

The air filter was manky!!

[mikeonb4c]

I'm not a fan of 2 ton jacks on Bongos - I saw one fail catastrophically (seal blew out) whilst trying to jack a Bongo. My own 2 ton jack did the job once, then groaned next time, so I didn't persevere. I now have a 3 ton jack. And you want axle stands of course. Its worth it (esp. having saved a load on garage labour costs) though, as you can quickly have 2 wheels off the ground allowing everything, brakes, droplinks etc. to be done as a balanced pair.

[Driver+Passengers]

I'm not a fan of 2 ton jacks on Bongos - I saw one fail catastrophically (seal blew out) whilst trying to jack a Bongo. My own 2 ton jack did the job once, then groaned next time, so I didn't persevere. I now have a 3 ton jack. And you want axle stands of course. Its worth it (esp. having saved a load on garage labour costs) though, as you can quickly have 2 wheels off the ground allowing everything, brakes, droplinks etc. to be done as a balanced pair.

I've got axle stands. I've also read about seals going and would already think twice about lifting a whole end. A 3-ton jack is on the cards at some point. In fact, the 2 ton is sitting, as yet, unused.

[mikeonb4c]

I'm not a fan of 2 ton jacks on Bongos - I saw one fail catastrophically (seal blew out) whilst trying to jack a Bongo. My own 2 ton jack did the job once, then groaned next time, so I didn't persevere. I now have a 3 ton jack. And you want axle stands of course. Its worth it (esp. having saved a load on garage labour costs) though, as you can quickly have 2 wheels off the ground allowing everything, brakes, droplinks etc. to be done as a balanced pair.

I've got axle stands. I've also read about seals going and would already think twice about lifting a whole end. A 3-ton jack is on the cards at some point. In fact, the 2 ton is sitting, as yet, unused.

The nice thing about a 3 ton hydraulic is you can lift the whole back (or front) end in one go. Mind you, having got one, I found it doesn't go low enough to slip under the rear diff lifting point so I have to get the job started by another means. So check more carefully than I did which one you buy (mine was from Machinemart).

[Driver+Passengers]

The air filter was manky!!. Caked in oily stuff opposite the intake. I'm going to remove the filter housing and all pipework prior to the filter, hose it out and inspect.

I got the front section intake and the filter housing off, but the middle section wouldn't come out. Felt like it just about might, but I wasn't going to force it for the sake of removing a dusting of muck/soot. So I didn't wash any of it out and just put it all back in again. Oh well.

[Velocette]

I'm not a fan of 2 ton jacks on Bongos - I saw one fail catastrophically (seal blew out) whilst trying to jack a Bongo. My own 2 ton jack did the job once, then groaned next time, so I didn't persevere. I now have a 3 ton jack. And you want axle stands of course. Its worth it (esp. having saved a load on garage labour costs) though, as you can quickly have 2 wheels off the ground allowing everything, brakes, droplinks etc. to be done as a balanced pair.

I've got axle stands. I've also read about seals going and would already think twice about lifting a whole end. A 3-ton jack is on the cards at some point. In fact, the 2 ton is sitting, as yet, unused.

The nice thing about a 3 ton hydraulic is you can lift the whole back (or front) end in one go. Mind you, having got one, I found it doesn't go low enough to slip under the rear diff lifting point so I have to get the job started by another means. So check more carefully than I did which one you buy (mine was from Machinemart).

If you lived around our way, you could just put the jack in a pot hole

[Driver+Passengers]

Pela'd the (cold) ATF out (slow - should have warmed it first). Dropped the pan. Fluid was clean as you like. I didn't expect to see submerged wiring in there, but now I know. Some interesting growth on the magnet (about 1/4" on top), but the rest of the pan was spotless - wiped my finger along the bottom and only got transparent oil. Leaving it to drip overnight and will check the filter tomorrow, just because it's there. 5.5l out so far. Only have 4.55l of Carplan ATF-Q3 (Dexron III) so far to put in.

I've no idea if it was done at the pre-service sale. The "invoice" is as vague as my knowledge was at the time. Judging by the colour, it's been done since import (2 years). Figured I'd learn something by doing it, anyway.

[dave_aber]

Matt, don't forget to blow through the lines to the radiator - there is an oil cooler built-in to the bottom of the rad.

To properly clean it, you'd need to fill it with solvent and agitate it, but blowing through should shift any accumulated gunge in the lines.

When I did mine, I couldn't blow through them myself, so I connected the compressor turned down low, and slowly increased the pressure. IIRC it took about 15psi to shift whatever was in there! Can't be sure, but I suspect that the fluid wasn't circulating to the cooler.

The filter had a few wee metal flakes in it - about the size of tea leaves.