David Brown Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Having had a problem with the speed humps at a hotel we were staying at last weekend, I had to borrow two wooden planks and send my "glamorous assistant" ahead to get the car over. Decided to raise the car by an inch but can only slacken off three collars. Finally tried to move the remaining one with an18" set of Stillsons without any luck. Am reluctant to use any more force using a tube to extend the handle. Have soaked it in wd40, there is no corrosion on the assembly just the two collars locked tight. Would it be safe to use some heat or any other suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jonathan Kay Posted August 17, 2016 Member Share Posted August 17, 2016 Next step is penetrating fluid rather than WD-40.Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shn7 Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 Are you trying this with the car jacked up so the weight is off the suspension? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Durrant Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 I would remove the damper from the car and soak in penetrating fluid, applying frequently over 24 hours then use C-spanners to unlock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elie boone Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 If the shock absorber is still on the car put your jack under the DD tube to keep the load on the shock absorber. Use a old screw driver and hammer to undo the lower ring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SM25T Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 PlusGas is the best. Once you get it free .... put some aluminium grease or Copaslip on the threads so they don't seize in future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SM25T Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 If they are just binding together ... do you mean they are both rotating up and down the sleeve ? You need c-spanners to turn then .... Stillsons will only crush the ring on to the sleeve and grip it tighter. Leverage is good .... so tubes on both c-spanner handles until rings separated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Brown Posted August 18, 2016 Author Share Posted August 18, 2016 Thanks for replies. Weight is off the suspension (CSR), they are not rotating and had come to the conclusion that removing and doing it on the bench is the best bet. Presume the CSR top mount is the same as de dion with a bolt accessed through the rear bulkhead? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Brown Posted August 18, 2016 Author Share Posted August 18, 2016 Thanks for replies. Weight is off the suspension (CSR), they are not rotating and had come to the conclusion that removing and doing it on the bench is the best bet. Presume the CSR top mount is the same as de dion with a bolt accessed through the rear bulkhead? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Brown Posted August 18, 2016 Author Share Posted August 18, 2016 Already tried with a hammer and drift. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon.Rogers Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 Been there as you can imagine.Yes soak them but the real answer is HEAT and MORE HEAT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Brown Posted August 18, 2016 Author Share Posted August 18, 2016 Simon, concerned that heat may affect the damper despite wrapping with insulation blanket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David aka Blue7 Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 Which hotel were you at David, so we can all avoid it and speed bumps? Instead of adjusting suspension I would be inclined to get Judith to carry all your luggage from the start of the driveway up to the entrance of the hotel so you have more clearance over the speed-bumps ... I'm sure she will understand your dilemma ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon.Rogers Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 Plenty of direct hot heat from plumbers blow torch or similar just to the collars. The threaded sleeve will protect the damper.Dampers will be running around the 100 deg mark anyway while in use. Don't keep the heat there for to long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Brown Posted August 19, 2016 Author Share Posted August 19, 2016 Thanks Simon.Dave, unfortunately was still happening with Judith and luggage out the car, so perhaps we should swap drivers (on second thoughts ...). Was at Stonefield Castle outside Tarbert. Do you ever bottom your car, I remember noticing it ran fairly low when we were at Altnaharra where my concern was the crown on the single track roads. Do you know what clearance you have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David aka Blue7 Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 I have not had any recent grounding problems in the CSR, the last time was along that single track road a few hundred yards north of Altnahara which heads east but it was due to the convex shape of the road surface, logging traffic had obviously caused the sides of the road to sink.I can't check the clearance at the moment because my car went back to Caterham Cars on Tuesday because of the judder / shunt issue at 3250 rpm, which is 60 mph in 6th gear. I was so fed up with it that I had it booked into a local garage (Ricky Gauld), for ecu diagnostics on his rolling road. However, CC protect access to the ecu with a pin number and after some further discussion with CC, they said they would collect it for return to the factory. There are a couple of other issues also, a leak or more like a steady trickle of fuel from the tank from somewhere above and right of the rear near side wheel but only usually when the car is at an angle. Having said that, there has always been strong smell of petrol in the cockpit so something is wrong. The other issue is the speedo dropping out to zero, which can be corrected by turning on the heater blower :) There is a CC Workshop fix which is making a better earth at the sensor by the rear off side wheel. The wires are just 1mm thick and I can't cope with that myself, but why should I.The judder is at 3250 rpm but only under light throttle ... just when the throttle bodies are opening, so I can't follow anything at 60 mph, it has to be either 55 or 65. Returning home from the Durness run last week, we were driving into a gale force headwind so to drive at 60 mph required more throttle and the judder was not present. CC seem to think it is a throttle body issue and I have heard unconfirmed reports that there have been other recent throttle body issues. Our support vehicle (Caterham Crossflow) is driven by our ace mechanic Barry who owns Braemar Garage and services all the Queens vehicles on Balmoral Estate. He followed me on part of the recent Durness run and thinks the CSR is running on a lean mixture ... he said he has a nose for exhaust fumes after years of servicing cars :) There is a video of the run here ... my loved one wouldn't let me overtake the RS8 so I just teased him a wee bit ;) On our return the following day in the above mentioned gale force headwinds, a few miles north oof Grantown the winds had brought down a pine tree across the road. An artic' traveling towards us was stopped in its tracks but our 4 Caterhams were able to drive straight under the tree ... :) ... how I wished I had fitted the camera to the roll bar to get that video!We have a Lotus 7 Club space at Grantown on Spey Motor Mania event on 04 September, I have been told that I should have the CSR back by 1st September so I hope this happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jonathan Kay Posted August 19, 2016 Member Share Posted August 19, 2016 However, CC protect access to the ecu with a pin number and after some further discussion with CC, they said they would collect it for return to the factory.IIRC some Members have a workaround for that.Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David aka Blue7 Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 JonathanInterestingly, the guy that was going to carry out the diagnostics inferred that he had or could get a master code to override the CC code, which I suppose would make sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon.Rogers Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 No there is no work around. It is locked down - not even SBD -the MBE distributor have access,The work around is a new ECU which is what we have completed for another CSR owner recently for similar problems. Then with the new 9A4 you have full access to everything - a faster and higher spec ECU and can get it mapped properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Mackenzie Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 Always been curious about the locked MBE ECUs, are you even locked out to reloading the firmware? I appreciate all the Maps would be gone along win the sensor configurations etc..... But at least it could then be retuned from scratch? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Brown Posted August 19, 2016 Author Share Posted August 19, 2016 Jammed collar now resolved after 3 hours of hammering. Why would anyone put Locktight on them? Perhaps now have too much clearance but will see how it drives. I don't have any problems at 60mph but experience kangaroo petrol at very low speed. Wondering if it's worse since. I filled with 95ron fuel. Will try 98 for my next tankful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SM25T Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 Ouch ..... that's a big area for loctite to get a grip !! Well done for persevering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon.Rogers Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 Yes the ECU is completely blocked. You can not even wipe it and start again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David aka Blue7 Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 That's interesting Simon, I will bear complete replacement in mind. Our nearest CC Agent is Dreadnought Garage, who suggested that CC send them a replacement ECU, which they could fit, if it solved the problem they would return the old one, if it didn't then return the new one but CC refused and decided just to come and collect the car for diagnostics back at Crawley. They still think it is a problem with the roller barrels. Well they have it now so I await a progress report.BTW ... apologies for hijacking your thread David. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Hardcastle Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 I was advised to raise my ride height by Nick Potter. All was going well until I tried to adjust the rear offside, exactly the same issue as yours. It makes me wonder if there's some strange 'advice' going about!My adjustment would have been a fairly quick job, but for that one unit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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