Although the title says 30 months, it actually is 34 months, the essential work has spread out over the last 4 months. 2 of these months because of building work, and the rest was just finding the time to do the work. Also after each day of working on the Zero I made sure it was back together and running ready for any run outs that may have arisen over the summer months.
While doing a nut and bolt inspection and my head inside the zero quite a bit I kept getting a slight whiff of petrol ? not all the time, and usually from the drivers side where all of the fuel lines and swirl pot are located. While driving an occasional smell as well ? but again not very often. Took a run over the GBS mainly to ask some questions on the ECU/map/emissions ready for the MOT test, as a few owners have had some problems with getting their Zero's through the test. Spoke to Richard and he gave me a few pointers to help me out, BUT on inspection of the Zero found what could be the petrol smell issue... Fuel lines ... all of them had surface cracking ? So another job, replace the fuel lines !
Richard also noticed that the wires to the temperature sensor where just touching the throttle linkage, so a tidy up of the wires required. (think a broken/missing ty-wrap is the culprit ?)
On the ECU/map/emissions side of things Richard recommended fitting a narrowband Lambda sensor. The wiring is there ready for it so shouldn't be hard ?
Back home after a rather frustrating search for a Lambda sensor ? 4 major auto parts suppliers in town where totally unhelpful in the lambda sensor area. All of them could not help because the make and model of the Zero is not listed and/or my registration number did not mach anything on their database... totally useless ! I was just asking for a universal 4 wire lambda sensor with an 18mm thread ? not hard you would think ?
So a 10 second search on Ebay turned up a selection of sensors, found one which hopefully is perfect, and its local, in my town, however no contact details available so just cannot go and pick one up, but its post free anyway, just got to wait.
Sensor arrived 2 days later, now to fit...
First thing is to remove the blanking plug from the exhaust, Richard said it could be a bit difficult, he was not wrong, abandoned day 1 of sensor fitting, now the garage smells of WD40 as I have the thread soaking over night.
Day 2 ... lets have another go at the removal of the sensor plug...
As you can see from the photo my first attempt of removing the blanking plug, I have slightly rounded the hex insert ? think it was too much for the hex drive and a breaker bar. So next is the impact driver... success !
A quick clean with a wire brush around the threads before inserting the sensor
All went very quickly ? hope it works.
A 10mm hole was required for the sensor wires, as I was drilling through stainless steel I used a 4mm cobalt bit first, followed by a standard 10mm bit. Inserted a grommet to finish.
Wiring up the sensor to the loom was a simple case of removing a plug from the loom and crimping the wires together. The instructions that came with the sensor where as clear as mud ! so it took a bit of head scratching and google searching...
Lambda Sensor wire GBS loom wire (Lambda sensor plug)
White (heater control) Green
White (heater 12v) Black
Grey (Signal ground) Blue
Black (Signal) Red
Now onto replacing the fuel lines with new ones. While at GBS I picked up a couple of meters of new fuel line. Just cut to length and replace.
Photo shows new and old fuel lines.
TOP TIP... when replacing the fuel lines have an empty or part filled petrol can close by the fuel lines, its amazing how much fuel is in those hoses ! and it goes everywhere ! just pop the line into the can a save the petrol, instead of going all over the floor, my shirt, my jeans, down the side of the engine bay, etc.
Hopefully I've done all ready for its first MOT.
Fuel line x 2 meters £9.60
Lambda sensor £16.95
