Morning all..... having a day doing maintenance on the van.. trying to take off the old filler cap rubber.... it aint happening. .... its the original and u think it has a clip holding it on... anybody got any tips please without having remove the bloody thing? cheers
Sorry for the late reply was having a nightmare. It's the filler cap rubber boot that fits through the petrol cap hole bit then over the pipe that leads to the petrol tank. Anyway ended up using a mini grinder to get the jubilee clip off that was holding the old filler cap hose on as could not get a connection to unscrew it..... Then took me 2 hours to feed the pipe on to the new filler cap but now can't make a connection to do the new jubilee clip up to secure the new cap... Nightmare... Took two of us, one outside and one in the engine bay .... Anybody done this before. I can't get my hand far enough up to screw it on... God knows how it was done originally.
Easy. Take out the engine. Take out the firewall. Take out the tank. Take out the filler in one piece. Put your bit on and put it all back together.
It's the sort of thing one does "while the engine's out". To get the filler tube out from the van you really do have to do the above, certainly on a late, late bay. I did it a couple of weeks ago. Then engine was out anyway, but it was annoying not to be able to get the filler out without removing the tank! The bit you're fitting is a tight fit on the tube which is slash-cut at the end. I found that to get it fitted on straight and tighten the clip it was going to have to come out. To be honest if you have a T4 engine you can pivot it down out the way in 20 mins and get the tank out. If you have a T1 engine you can get it out in less than an hour. Compared to the frustration and bruised arms you're getting...
Yep...I have cuts on hands and wrists..... The rubber tube is on but the jubilee clip is not on... I do try to do as much as poss... But taking the engine out is ambitious for me due to having little kit, knowledge, tuition and space... I would love to have ago though... Maybe do an engine overall....
It is. This makes it easier, sort of... Remove the air cleaner box. Take off the plastic part of the oil filler. Support engine with trolley jack. Remove the 2 M8 bolts each end 0f the engine bar. Get under and remove 2 m1o bolts that hold gearbox to it's hanger. Lower the engine and box (hinged on the front gearbox mount) far enough to remove the firewall. Remove the tank. Still awkward with the engine in the way to reach over - it's easier if you can squat in the engine bay... Then again you have an access hatch in the top of the engine bay which I didn't.
You need a long reach 13mm socket for the tank straps which you need to hold with mole grips to stop them breaking while you undo the rusty nuts.
The engine/box will tend to slip back a little, so when you jack it back in, two hands on bumper, feet on exhaust and push. You might want to do this from time to time anyway just in case. If you want to be extra careful and maybe save some grief later, disconnect the rear gear linkage coupling. I never do and haven't had trouble, but some have bent the coupling by leaving connected. Power to your elbow.
I managed to do mine without too much trouble without taking engine or tank out. I got the firewall pulled back enough at the top to get my arm through and then with one arm going through that gap and other through the paint tin lid hole managed to get the jubilee clips done up by feel. Did scratch my arms up badly, but wasn't too hard. Actually think this is proably easier as a one person job as you need to do it by feel and so would be very hard getting two people in sync. Nick.
