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| An 'artistic' shot of the Caterham R500 with opaque bonnet |
So the diff (and cage), prop shaft, and engine had to come out... This was all covered under warranty, which was definitely a relief... The guys at Caterham Midlands said that once the diff and prop were removed they had to steam clean the underside and the tunnel as there was so much fluid there! The engine and gearbox were removed, with the rear of the gearbox being sent off for repair.
With the gearbox repaired/replaced (I'm not sure if it was repaired or replaced in the end), the box was put onto the back of the engine and then eased back into place with a new prop shaft and diff cage - I just hope this diff cage is stronger than the last one... My diff doesn't have any mounting braces, whereas Caterham supplied braces with my kit, but the diff didn't have any mounting eyes and it was confirmed by Dean Francis (after he spoke to the workshop) that this particular diff didn't require the mounting braces (any comments about this welcome!)...
The car then had it's first annual service and was road tested. There was also a weep from the petrol tank, that just needed the gasket screws tightening, so that has been eradicated (for now!)
Last Friday (25th July 2015) Keith arrived in the Caterham Van and transporter with my car in the back! I was very much looking forward to a blat, but the first thing to do was to check the underside for fluids and thankfully it was clean!
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| Underside of my Caterham R500 Duratec looking nice and clean again! |
I gave Keith the thumbs up and the car was unloaded... but...
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| The R500 being unloaded from the Caterham transporter. |
It was still filthy! Now I don't expect all of my cars to be cleaned after a service, but Keith was quite embarrassed by it all - it looked a mess... And considering the service and parts cost me £588, I think a clean wouldn't have been out of the question.
So I took the car to the office, and the smile was back on my face once again - what a great feeling to drive after so long! I drove the car home, and put it in the garage... Took it out again on Saturday for a short blat, and everything seemed all in order, apart from a little bit of fluid I noticed on my garage floor... I looked closely, and hoped it was just the oil weeping out of one of the seat mounting holes...
But alas, it seems like it's coming out of the tail of the gearbox... again! This is the fluid on my garage floor after one evening:-
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| The gearbox is STILL leaking! |
Having kept and eye on it, my gearbox leak is still not fixed. I'm going to have to call the guys up at Midlands tomorrow to arrange for them to come and pick it up... again! As you can expect this is a right pain in the arse as I'm missing out on 'the season' for using the car - I'm not impressed right now.
Hi Daniel,
ReplyDeleteHaving followed your excellent blog for the last 8 months or so, I think it's safe to say that you're generally technically well informed and mechanically sympathetic.
So, with a swinging broken diff cage and a thrusting prop shaft grinding into the back of the gearbox, I don't understand how your ears and backside failed to hear and feel such a major mechanical catastrophe developing just inches away from you under the car! I know an R500 is noisy, but didn't you feel a loose diff clonking underneath you?
Keep up the great blogging,
Stelios
Hmm, 100,000 page views. A serious, enthusiastic and patient Blogger. If I were a company that cared about my customers and given those facts, that car wouldn't leave my garage until I knew the leak was fixed - I wouldn't be able to sleep. Clearly they are clowns - time for a visit to the Ariel website and a new blog, possibly with a company that can guarantee some elements of quality? Shocking, I wouldn't be as patient - the thing would have stayed with them when they couldn't finish it in a sensible time and I'd be pondering what to do with the refund cheque.
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