Ditched

Ouch

Glad to hear that.

Beer seems favourite - till inspiration dawns :)

So pleased you both manage to extricate yourselves without injury. Looks quite dramatic in the ditch. I'd have expected more damage.

On or around Mon, 8 May 2006 14:39:38 +0100, "Mark Solesbury" enlightened us thusly:

ooops.

that's the important bit

That rather depends. Will the insurance cover it? Not necessarily relevant as they'd be likely to write it off.

Your options range from "hammer it straight enough to fit a windscreen and carry on driving it" to replacing everything that's damaged.

The only thing I'd question in your list is the bulkhead. It might hammer straight but you might end up replacing it. The doors might straighten, though... what about bonnet?

If you do the work yourself, it's not gonna cost a huge amount, especially if you get second-hand panels.

'course, if I do end up building the transit/minibus hybrid I'll have a whole lot of 110 bodywork for sale :-)

-snip-

Commiserations and glad you're all OK...

How long was it running upside down? There could have been oil starvation if run upside down for any time. A friend rolled his car and thought all was OK, engine-wise. He proceeded to fit a completely new bodyshell (Nissan Silvia Turbo) then the engine blew up a few hundred miles later. This was a petrol engine, so I don't know the difference between that and yours.

Where's yer ABS when you need it ;-/

Commiserations - at least you're both OK unlike a couple of kids I came across in a similar situation almost year ago to the day - metal you can repair!

Sorry about the landy, though i'm sure it can be fixed! Te only complicated bit is going to be the bulkhead. I'd be tempted to see what a big hammer or a bit of heavy duty lifting/pushing/pulling can do to it.

Regarding the engine - oil cant get to many of the wrong places can it? Letting it sit for a while to drain back to where it should be (as you have done) sounds like a fairly good plan. Check the levels and see if they are all where they should be.

Can oil get into the bores if you leave it upside down? If so it just a case of turning it over on the starter for a while with the plugs/injectors out and evicting it.

Only if the piston rings are bolloxed ?

Steve

->Tom Woods wrote:

->

->> Can oil get into the bores if you leave it upside down?

->

->Only if the piston rings are bolloxed ?

We are taking about a Land Rover are we not, I would pull the plugs and turn it over to get the oil out before trying to start it, it's a lot cheaper then the alternative.

Then check all the other oils have not drained thru the breathers.

Is it a case of takign the injectors out, turning it over, screwing them back in?

Do they have to be pressuriesed?

Mark

No.

Steve

->> Then check all the other oils have not drained thru the breathers

->

->Is it a case of takign the injectors out, turning it over, screwing them

->back in?

I would take out the glow plugs.

Well its a landrover so stranger things have happenend!.

If 2 of the pistons were at the top of the bore, and the engine was upside down then those 2 pistons could have sat with the bottom of the bore full of oil from the sump and sitting on the bottom of them (if that makes sense) - so it would surely test the seal of the rings?

What happens to the splits at the ends of the rings? Is there not a tiny gap there? Do these seal up when the engine is running and warm?

If my landrove engine were upside down all the oil would leak out of the oil breather on the top of the rocker cover!

Like geoff says - it might be easier to do the glow plugs instead.

I'd also disable the diesel feed while doing this. remove the power to the fuel cut off solenoid on the pump (presuming all diesels have one of these like my 2.5 n/a?) so that you dont get fuel in there for now.

turn it over and see what comes out! (might be worth putting a big dust sheet or rag over the top while you do this to catch stuff)

Have you checked the oil level? thinking about my engine, if upside down the top breather would leak lots and also get quite full of oil. Worth checking if it has leaked on yours and cleaning the oil out of where it shouldnt be.

It's always safer to turn the engine by hand initially after long periods of inversion. It'll give you some control over events.

That does make sense! I will bear this in mind for when i ever drown or roll a car! ;)

Took the plunge before the insurance picked it up.... Checked the air filter, and it was clean so i turned it over. It started 1st time - Only ran it for literally 3 seconds.

It smoked like a bastard. Lots and Lots of white smoke

If it is written off, and i do buy it back - whats the best way of sorting this?

Mark

Let it run - it's only burning off misplaced oil - it'll settle down perfectly given a wee bit of a run.

Thanks for that - Its what i wanted to hear.

What pissed me off the most is that i spent £600 on a cam belt change and a full service on Tuesday, and ditched it on Saturday. :(

At least its fresh oil that went everywhere!

Mark

Murphy's Law.

Incidentally, if it's managed to get any significant amount of oil into the exhaust it could take quite a while for the smoking to stop (been down this track recently with a client's vehicle). Don't panic if that is the case - just keep driving it until it clears.