Page 109 - Car South Africa (February 2020)

tech

CASEBOOK

Garageman scratches his head at a Frankensteinian
Corsa and a beloved bakkie burdened with the slips
By: Garageman

In the interests of
protecting him from
CAM TROUBLE his troubles to our workshop. unwanted fame, for a high-mileage diesel.

In his home country, Dutchman Cornelius I asked him to get a list of stalkers and the Underneath the vehicle,
Scholtema was known as Kees, which is a everything the mechanic did to paparazzi, CAR cannot he found an extra transmis-
shortened version of his name. When he got his engine so that we could dis- reveal the true identity sion oil cooler, fitted in se-
of the resourceful
to South Africa, he discovered that in Afri- cuss the way forward. It became ries with the standard unit
Garageman.
kaans the word “kees” refers to a member of clear the cylinder head was re- and this raised suspicion.
the primate family. When he settled in our moved and later replaced with Bluebottle would have had
town, he soon became known as “Apie”. As no further attention. This led me this unit fitted only if there
time passed he grew fond of the name. It to believe some of the metal particles created were signs of the transmission oil overheat-
has overtones of being huggable and this is by fast-wearing parts were still inside the cyl- ing. This may have led to internal gearbox
one way of explaining why many ladies tend inder head and this caused the seizure. The damage, so he took the bakkie for a drive
to be very friendly towards him. He is also head would have to be stripped and cleaned, and concentrated on the performance of the
good-looking, which helps in these matters. the previous repairs inspected and the cylin- gearbox and torque converter. The converter
Apie is a maths teacher at the local high der block flushed again. seemed to slip far too readily and it seemed
school and does his job so well that private August removed the engine, stripped the the stator clutch was on its way out. On
lessons are seldom needed. This explains cylinder block and head, and sent all the his way back to the workshop, the gearbox
why he cannot afford anything other than a parts off to our clean-
six-year-old Opel Corsa. ing facility. The cam- The backyard mechanic
About seven weeks ago, the Opel devel- shaft and its bearings
oped an ominous bearing knock and Apie had to be replaced presented this Frankenstein’s
attempted to drive it to a local back-street with new parts while
purveyor of bogus automotive repairs. There everything else was monster to a happy Apie
were numerous engine parts all over the cleaned and inspect-
road when the car was finally towed into the ed before assembly.
mechanic’s backyard. As we say in the trade: stopped feeding power to the rear wheels
the engine put a leg out of bed. In plain STATOR TROUBLE and the vehicle had to be towed.
English, this means one of the connecting Bluebottle Bhele is one of those cheerful Hennie concluded the stator clutch had
rods linking a piston to the crankshaft had hail-fellow-well-met types who usually liv- completely failed. This caused it to coun-
shattered, most likely because the big-end ens up any party. He owns a local bottle store ter-rotate so the transmission of power
bearing was no longer functional. This usu- and is a familiar figure in the many camp- couldn’t take place. This happens when it
ally happens when the bearing does not get sites he visits with his caravan that he tows overheats as a result of too much slip over a
enough high-pressure oil or is fed dirty oil behind an Isuzu KB300D automatic of un- long period.
over a long period. known vintage. I chatted with Bluebottle about the future
Apie asked the backyard mechanic to try The faithful Isuzu has served him well of his beloved bakkie. Hennie and I surmised
and repair the engine as cheaply as possi- but, with more than 250 000 km on the his vehicle had long been suffering from unu-
ble and the latter certainly did his best. He odo, the performance and fuel consump- sually severe torque-converter slip.This led to
combined a scrapyard cylinder block with tion deteriorated so much that Bluebottle the gearbox oil overheating, despite the two
new pistons and conrods, plus a reground brought the vehicle in for a comprehensive oil coolers. He confessed his caravan was far
crankshaft, into a reasonable facsimile of an service. Hennie took compression readings heavier than the recommended towable mass
Opel engine and presented this mechanical and phoned Bluebottle to get some idea and he had the extra cooler fitted to compen-
Frankenstein’s monster to a happy Apie. of the oil consumption. He then checked sate. Hennie explained it should have been
The euphoria did not last long. Last week, the operation of the PCV valve and gauged fitted in series instead of parallel to make a
the single overhead camshaft seized in its the amount of full-throttle smoke. The worthwhile difference. Bluebottle agreed that
bearings and Apie was persuaded to bring engine’s condition seemed to be normal a reconditioned gearbox be fitted.

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