Practically Classics Forum

You should be able to remove the head restraint on the passenger seat of the red Princess. Take the seat out of the car, get a helper to sit on the seat, give the head restraint a good yank and it will come out. I did this on one of my Triumph Dolomites. Believe me, it works.

ahh, ok. that makes more sense now.
I can understand not wanting the car out of action for long periods if you don't have a backup but if your second car is a fair way off, it would make more sense to fix the niggles while they are niggles rather than leaving it for 3 months and end up coming home on the back of a low loader needing an engine rebuild.
With the mechanical skill you have demonstrated so far, it shouldn't be a major headache for you to fix one thing at a time getting the various gaskets replaced.

I can tolerate a minor oil and water leak, it's an old car it's what they do. Removing the head restraint is usually really easy; push down into seat, give it a firm yank and off it pops. For some reason, the passenger seat head restraint in the beige one which has been removed before is just being stubborn, doesn't matter for now.

I know the 'proper' way to do things would be to haul out the engine and rebuild everything but in all honesty I really don't think it's worth doing at this point in time. I'm not leaking enough oil for it to be an advisory on the MoT and I'm leaking less now than I was when I went for the last MoT so I'd say it's not an issue.

In another six months I hope to be in a position to get it all resolved and get the bottom 6" or so sorted as there's some minor corrosion and welding needed on door bottoms and one spot on a sill I'd rather see looking better than it is. Of course, if I come into a couple of grand for no reason I'll ship the Princess off to get someone else put everything right but that's not going to happen.

Old cars certainly shouldn't leak oil and water. If they do then it is a sign that something is broken.
I do understand where you are coming from but leaks are an indication that something is wearing out. If you ignore them they will just get worse and sods law dictates they will fail at the most inconvenient time imaginable.
You shouldn't need to pull your engine to change all the gaskets. I'm not sure of the sump / gearbox arrangement so you may need to pull it for that but all the rest should be doable in place.
Your plan to clean the bottom off is a good one and will let you isolate where the leaks are originating. I found I needed to replace a PAS line (rather than the pump I had suspected) in my focus by giving it a good clean at my local garage just before Christmas. handy things jetwashes
If you do decide that you need to pull your engine, I have a hoist you can borrow if you need.

Before you worry about the Princess exploding in a shower of poor maintenance and neglect, I must point out that what I consider to be a leak others wouldn't notice at all. The water leak is little more than a damp stain on the thermostat housing, caused by the damaged housing which I've been thus far unable to replace so I keep an eye on the water level, usually it doesn't cause me a problem. The oil leak is a minor spot when I stop and is from the passenger side of the engine, I just don't know where exactly, and there's a very minor weep from the sump gasket, the distributor and the fuel pump... I'm aware of these and I'm not pouring oil out Exxon Valdez fashion so again I normally check the levels and all is well.

In the two years I've owned the car, bar the first month or so working through niggles, I've only been stranded twice. The first was a failed fuel line I'd replaced not knowing the clear pipe would go porous and the second was the head gasket which, to be fair, can happen to any car at any time. Hopefully that offers some peace of mind that I don't abuse the car, though it's far from pampered in the way I'd like due to a rather meagre budget.

The offer of a hoist is very kind and had I somewhere to work on the engine out of the car that wasn't the garden I'd very likely take you up on it. At the moment there's no alarm bells ringing with the engine so keeping it going for another few months until I've moved house and will have access to a workshop makes more sense. I'm hoping to get the engine out for a sort and clean at the same time I get the bottom 6" or so of the bodywork tidied up where needed but I really will need the Renault to be usable by then and at the moment that's still on target for mid-May.

Copied from a link on another forum - saw this and thought of you

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/141197240775

and it's in Wales - which if I remember correctly is where the Renault is - could you get both on the same lorry

Mike

I'd love to, but I can't. Instead I've sent the link to a friend in Ireland who's after a Princess and might accept an Ambassador but I suspect he's after something he can actually drive home. He wants it to keep his Allegro company.

Don't keep asking me 'Why?', Reg, it just 'appens to be that year.

I may have done a little victory pose at the top of the drive today.  After clearing some work out of the way and waiting for the driveway to be clear I decided to take a brave pill and get in the red Princess and see if I could get it to move under its own power.
 
First issue was a reluctance to start, this is probably down to the ancient fuel still in the system.  Second issue I expected to be clouds of acrid smoke but that's all cleared now, the exhaust is either blowing at the front-to-downpipe join or at the middle join so I'll get the exhaust off and resealed to cure that.  Idle speed is quite high too so the carb needs setting up properly since the rebuild.
 
So....
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
Getting back down the drive with only one connected rear brake and front brakes that pumped fluid out the cut hose was interesting. The gear selection is lovely and smooth, the seats are absurdly comfortable and supportive, the power assisted steering is light but not overly so, the brakes surprisingly competent given their current state and the engine has bags of torque.

I am delighted at this minor victory, especially since I've been a bit grumpy about my back stopping me doing the other jobs on the car at the moment.