Index to Rolls Royce and Bentley tech tips

Bentley Arnage - (c) J E Robison Service

A rare Rolls Royce Corniche S - (c) J E Robison Service

I've written quite a few articles on Rolls Royce and Bentley, and I have begun gathering them together here.  One day I'll probably turn them into a book.  Till then . . . Feel free to comment or offer corrections.


Thoughts on buying a used Rolls Royce or Bentley - applies to Silver Cloud and newer series cars

More thoughts on Spur - Spirit - Turbo era car buying

Thoughts on restoration - applies to all cars

Evolution of the RR/B models - Silver Shadow through Arnage/Seraph - original article from the Robison Service website

Inspecting a Rolls Royce or Bentley - Applies to Corniche, Continental, Azure, Turbo R, Mulsanne, Eight, Turbo R, Silver Spur, Silver Dawn, Silver Spirit

More Things to Look For in a 1981-2000 Rolls Royce or Bentley - this is the original article from the Robison Service website

The last Crewe built Rolls Royce convertibles - applies to 2000-2002 final Series Corniche

Repairing convertible top hydraulics - Applies to 1996-2004 Rolls Royce and Bentley Corniche and Azure cars

Head gasket failures in Bentley Turbo cars - applies to Turbo R, Continental R and T, Azure, Arnage

Checking engines after head gasket failure - Applies to all cars

Checking and inspecting Rolls Royce hydraulic systems - all cars after Silver Cloud and print to Silver Seraph. Applies to all Shadow/Spur era vehicles

Case Study - brake failure in a Shadow - Silver Shadow era cars with RR363

Rear suspension gas springs - Applies to all 1981 - 1999 cars prior to Silver Seraph

Changing batteries in seat and ECUs, Applies to 1980s-1990s Silver Spirit / Silver Spur / Mulsanne /Eight / Turbo R

Changing alarm ECU batteries,  Applies to 1980s-1990s Silver Spirit / Silver Spur / Mulsanne /Eight / Turbo R

Servicing Shadow and Spur series brakes - applies to 1966 - 1999 cars after Silver Cloud and prior to Silver Seraph

Alcon racing brakes for Continental and Azure - Applies to all 1990s cars but most particularly to the final series Azure, which had these brakes fitted at the factory - a unique variant

Fixing Power Steering Leaks - applies to 90s cars with the reservoir above the alternator

Questions and answers on collector car storage - Applies to all cars

Evaluating paint - Applies to all cars

I hope you find these suggestions useful, and I wish you luck and success, keeping your Rolls Royce or Bentley motorcar on the road!

Best wishes

John Elder Robison

John Elder Robison is the general manager of J E Robison Service Company, independent restoration and repair specialists in Springfield, Massachusetts.  John is a longtime technical consultant to the RROC and other car clubs, and he’s owned and restored many fine vehicles.  Find him online at www.robisonservice.com or in the real world at 413-785-1665

Congratulations to...

The lucky winner of this heavy duty duffle bag was Vanessa Froese!

Congratulations to Vanessa! She won our most recent Facebook contest, guessing closest to the actual number of valve stems and then winning the three way tie! Like our "Crestview Auto Service" Facebook page to be notified about upcoming contests and your chance to win. 

Happy Thanksgiving 2014

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Mastermind Enterprises! 

Thank you for all you do for our family auto repair shop in Denver! We're thankful for you and glad that you're in the world! We hope you have a great day today and everyday! We'll be closed today to spend the day with our family and resting up tomorrow from all of the celebrations. We'll be back on Monday, December 1st to take care of your cars again! Have a great weekend!

 Blessings from our family to yours!

6 Ways To Damage Your Vehicle

The parking brake is there for a reason. It locks up the wheels so the car won't roll downhill. It also prevents stripping the parking pawl in the transmission when in "park". Your car is not meant to be held by the transmission and that is what your parking brake is used for so let's start using it people...Remember to always release the parking brake before driving.

You can strip the gears and bands in your transmission when you don't come to a complete stop before shifting gears. Eventually, you won't be able to shift into gears because they will no longer have teeth to mesh, nor any bands to apply tension to hold all of the necessary force in place for propulsion.

Don't ride the brakes, or rest your foot on the brake petal when going downhill. If you do, it could wear down the brakes pads faster then you wanted. Brakes are you life so this issue is one of the most important pro-active maintenance items on your vehicle.Get your brakes checked by Rick's Auto in Forestville regularly.

The engine has metal pistons with round metal rings that slide up and down the cylinder walls. If oil is not maintained, the metal rubbing can eventually lead to some major issues. Regular oil changes can extent the life of any motor.

Don't forget to turn your AC off before starting your car; AC is connected to the serpentine belt, so it requires the engine to work a little harder when it is left on.

You probably didn't know that fuel in your gas tank actually cools down the fuel pump once submerged. If you are one that likes to wait until the gas light come on please don't do it. You may be saving a little money by not fueling up as often but you could be setting yourself up for bigger issues. Try to keep you fuel gauge at 1/4 or more full to avoid fuel pump issues.

 

“Why do wheels need to be re-torqued?”

Re-torquing wheels after vehicle servicing

When you bring your vehicle to our repair shop, if we have had your wheels off of the vehicle, we will ask you to return so we can re-torque the wheels. Your invoice will also have a statement on it advising that the wheels need to be re-torqued. You can do this yourself if you like, but if we were the ones to work on the car we do this at no charge to you. We always use a torque wrench to tighten your wheels when we re-install them. This is more of a safety concern now than it was 20 years ago. Vehicles are much more reliable today, but they are made with lighter materials and some of these are very fussy about how they are put together. Even a slight decrease or increase in the tightness of bolts and nuts can have adverse affects, in that they can loosen or they can break. 

Occasionally a customer will come into our auto repair shop with a concern of a noise; once in a while we find loose lug nuts that hold the tires and rims tight to the car. This usually happens shortly after they have had the vehicle in for servicing somewhere and the wheels were off or they have taken the wheel off themselves. Most automotive shops will use a torque wrench to tighten the wheel and this is the best way to make sure the nuts are tight but not so tight that the wheel studs break from too much pressure on them. Some vehicles are more prone to having the lug nuts loosen and will need multiple re-torquing to make sure they stay tight.

Loose wheels don’t happen often, but to be safe, have your wheels re-torqued within the first 100 KM after they have been put on. It is the responsibility of the vehicle owner/driver that this is done. Loose wheels can cause a lot of damage to your car and potential injury to you and others. It doesn't take long to re-torque wheels and could save you a repair bill and a big headache.

www.crestviewautoservice.ca
(306) 244-6522

Convertible Top Repair in Bentley Azure / Rolls Royce Corniche

Convertible top hydraulics are shaping up as a major weakness in the Bentley Azure and Final Series Corniche from Rolls Royce.  These cars were built from 1996-2004 (a newer Bentley variant remains in production today) and all are vulnerable to this issue.

The Bentley Azure and RR Cornice are fine cars but the tops are a weakness (c) J E Robison

Here’s the problem, in a nutshell.

The engineers at Crewe wanted to design a fully automatic convertible top for the new Azure series.  But they did not have the resources to do a new design; they had to adapt something else that was already out there.  The Mercedes SL500-type design was well regarded, and they chose to adapt it to the Azure body.

Unfortunately, the design didn’t work as well on the RR/B.  It’s remarkably reliable on the Mercedes, and astonishingly flimsy and incredibly costly to fix on the Azure.  What went wrong?

There are a few essential problems.  First, the systems use very high hydraulic pressures.  Older automatic tops used big cylinders and rams.  With several square inches of ram, you don’t need very high hydraulic pressures to generate the force to move the top.  However, the newer cars use tiny actuators hidden in the top. They are smaller, so the hydraulic pressure needed for a given actuation force rises.  Because the hydraulics are hidden, they are often at a mechanical disadvantage (leverage in reverse) and need to push harder to move the top.

The result:  hydraulic pressures on a 2001 Bentley convertible top can run almost 10 times as high as the pressures on a 1987 Bentley convertible top.  With that factoid in mind, it should not surprise you that the newer tops are not as reliable.

In addition, the newer tops use automatic latches instead of human power to pull it shut and locked.  Those latches are not as rugged as they should be.  Why, you ask?  Look at a Bentley Azure and then look at an SL500.  What do you see?  The Bentley top is significantly larger.  That multiplies the forces on every component and it’s one more reason a reliable Mercedes design didn’t work out the same on the RR/B.

The next problem probably started in Crewe’s engineering department, though I doubt they would admit it.  Mercedes uses plastic lines that are impervious to hydraulic fluid, but that material selection did not translate to RR/B. Someone there chose a hose material that deteriorated with contact with hydraulic fluid.  The result – when they get to be ten years old you see the black rubber casings falling off the hoses, and blowouts inevitably follow. 

How do you check your convertible top hoses?  Look at the hoses in the main hinge area when the top is partly lowered.  Here are examples of hoses that are coming apart.

The upper photo is a closeup of jacketing peeling from a hydraulic hose.  Failure is imminent (c) J E Robison Service

If this problem is ignored you will see leakage, as evidenced by the leaked oil in these photos.

Leaked hydraulic oil in the convertible top well (c) J E Robison Service

Oil seeping from the convertible top hydraulic line bundle 

If you ignore it even longer, you will eventually be showered with oil when a line blows under pressure and the interior of the car is sprayed and damaged.

Header bar line with deterioration.  These are the worst if they blow

"Green showers" most often come from the header bar, when the lines above the rear view mirror blow out.  The reason those lines are the first to blow is that area takes the most beating from the sun. In a hot climate that area can be over 200 degrees all day, and the oil they originally used breaks down into a green jelly that won't pump, and causes pressure surge and blowouts.  Jaguar is known for having this problem too.

The new hydraulic oils are synthetic and they resist this, but the moral there is - change your top hydraulic fluid every few years, or else.

When the top is partly folded there is another thing you want to check – the cables.  These new automatic tops need to fold into a tight space to be hidden under the rear deck.  To do that they rely on cables sewn into the top lining.  Loops of wire around those cables pull the top fabric against the bows and fold everything properly.  If the cables break the top will jam in the bows, and if the bows bend as a result – you have big trouble.

Broken stay cable on Bentley convertible top

In most of these cars you will see leakage from the hydraulic actuators in addition to problems with the lines.  Here is a set of actuators removed for service.  We rebuild these units rather than replace them.

So how do you fix this?  You remove the trunk lining, and the pump and lines.  Open the convertible top boot and remove the top as an assembly. Remove the cover in the convertible top well, and unthread the lines there.  Remove the rear seat, both side panels, the right side floor covering, and the right side dash and windshield pillar trim.  Remove the windshield header bar covers.  Remove the lines and remaining actuators.  Replace and reassemble.

Sounds easy?  Look for a job time of 60-90 hours, more if you are not experienced or run into trouble.

In the next convertible top installment I will begin to cover the actual repair process.


This article is about the automatic convertible top system used in Rolls Royce and Bentley Azure and Corniche from 1996-2005.  Check out this article for thoughts on the newer Bentley GTC convertible top and its problems

And here's an article on 1997-2005 Jaguar XK8 and XKR convertible tops - they have some of the same issues but are simpler to fix

Good luck

John Elder Robison

Robison Service has provided independent service, repair, and restoration for Rolls Royce -Bentley owners all over New England for over 25 years. Founder John Robison is a long time technical consultant for the Rolls Royce and Bentley Owners Club. Our company is an authorized Bosch Car Service Center. We also service Mercedes, Jaguar, Land Rover, Porsche, and MINI motorcars. We have flatbed transport throughout the northeast region, and we work with Intercity and other transporters for greater distances. We also offer pickup and delivery for cars in  Springfield, Wilbraham, Longmeadow, Agawam, Westfield, Northampton, and Amherst.  Our drivers are available to pick up cars in Boston, Hartford, Greenwich/southern CT, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and New Hampshire.

Checking an engine after head gasket failure

Engines can have head gasket failure in two ways:

• They can leak oil or coolant onto the ground, with no internal failure
• The fire ring seal can fail, allowing combustion gases to pressurize the cooling system

Of those two failures the second is by far the worst because it’s usually associated with overheating and sometimes catastrophic engine failure.  The common dealership repair is usually to slap a new head gasket in place and send it down the road.  That works for some engines.  But on others, the result is a repeat failure – a month, a year, or three years later. 

A blown head gasket. Area in the red box is the coolant passage.  The half circle is the combustion seal 

Most of the cars we see are in this latter category.  For example, we get quite a few Land Rover engines that have a “history of head gasket replacements.”  No engine should have repeat head gasket failures.  When that happens, some repair step is being skipped, or there’s another root cause. 

Almost every engine we see needs some additional machine work when the heads come off.  That makes me wonder if the shops who are just slapping in a new gasket are ignoring that and trusting luck, or if we just see the “repeat offenders” because we are more a shop of last resort when the local mechanic could not fix the car.

How can you tell if a gasket alone will fix your problem?  You measure.  Read on, and I’ll show you how we check for problems and what we do when we find them. 

The first things we do are tank clean the head, and then blast it with walnut shell grit to get it as clean as new. Next we measure the head for flatness with a straight edge.  When aluminum heads are removed from an engine, they are usually slightly out of flat.  In addition, they can be corroded.  Sometimes we see damage from coolant gone bad, and we occasionally have to weld that up.  We also see cracks on some engines.  Cracks are typically repaired by welding too.  When all that is done, the surface of the head is machined flat.  If the engine is a V6, V8, or V12 we surface both left and right heads equally so as not to cause a compression imbalance.

Repaired cylinder heads for a Bentley (c) J E Robison Service

If an engine has more than 75,000 miles the heads will always benefit from freshening up.  In that, we reseat the valves, check the guides and fit new seals, and clean the ports. We check for valve seat damage, which will lead to burnt valves.

A burnt valve as seen in the head (c) J E Robison Service

Burnt valve removed from the head (c) J E Robison Service

If the owner wants his engine blueprinted we will also measure each combustion chamber’s volume and increase the size of small chambers to match the volume of the largest chamber.  This is typically done by grinding material away and by recessing the valves deeper into the seats.

The heads are the easy part.  Now we check the block.  We use a straightedge to measure the deck surface for flatness.  Sometimes we find broad warping, while other times we find depressions or valleys.  The head gasket can take up a few thousandths of warp, but a block with 5 or 10 thousandths has to be taken apart and repaired.  The reason:  major warpage of the deck often means the bearing journals are warped too, and if that is ignored the engine will have a lower end failure at some point.

Significant deck warping is a sign of major overheating. 

Illustration of a low spot in an aluminum block deck (c) J E Robison Service

The next thing we look for is out-of-round in the cylinders.  We measure the cylinder bore front to back, and inside to outside.  The difference between those measurements is called “egging.”  We don’t want to see more than .002 inch.  More than that and the piston rings won’t seal well, and the engine will use oil and possibly lose compression.  Egging is another sign of overheating.

We also make those measurements at the top and bottom of the cylinder.  Again we don’t want to see more than .002 difference.  Top to bottom difference is called “taper.”  When a motor has too much taper it may know, and that’s a sign it’s worn out.

Measuring cylinders for taper and egging, BMW V8 shown (c) J E Robison Service

Finally, we test the studs or the head bolt threads, particularly on aluminum engines.  We look for evidence of stripped or pulled threads, and we repair any damaged ones with inserts. An insert repair will be stronger than the original in most cases.

Repairing damaged head studs with oversize inserts Bentley V8 shown (c) J E Robison Service

If the block is out of spec in those areas it should be removed and overhauled.  We can fix dimensional errors like that in most cases.  The other thing we look for is corrosion damage.

If you think this sounds like a lot of work compared to slapping in head gaskets, you are right.  The gasket slap is a strategy for dealerships working on factory warranty (where it just has to last to the end of warranty . . .) and new cars (where corrosion and wear are seldom issues)  If you work on older vehicles, or if you want your repairs to be at least as good as original (as opposed to almost as good as original) this is the only path to take.

Quality engine work takes time, and costs money.  Jobs done correctly last, and the price is soon forgotten while poor quality never goes away.  

Also see this related article: Head Gasket Failures in Rolls Royce/Bentley engines

If you're wondering what's below the heads, read this story about liner failures in Land Rover V8's and how we fix them.

Good luck

John Elder Robison

Robison Service has provided independent service, repair, and restoration for BMW, Land Rover, Jaguar, Mercedes and Rolls Royce -Bentley owners all over New England for over 25 years. Founder John Robison is a long time technical consultant for the Rolls Royce and Bentley Owners Club. Our company is an authorized Bosch Car Service Center. We also service Mercedes, Jaguar, Land Rover, Porsche, and MINI motorcars. We have flatbed transport throughout the northeast region, and we work with Intercity and other transporters for greater distances. We also offer pickup and delivery for cars in  Springfield, Wilbraham, Longmeadow, Agawam, Westfield, Northampton, and Amherst.

In Everything, Give Thanks

We have decided to make Mondays even better by making them "Mastermind Mondays" at our family auto repair shop in Denver. What does that mean? Well, let us start from the very beginning.

We changed our business name in 2008 because we changed from a mobile auto repair service to a full service auto repair shop in Denver. We chose Mastermind Enterprises for our business name for many different, amazing reasons. The most important of these reasons being that God is the Mastermind of our universe and Norm has been given a remarkable gift from God - he is a mastermind with cars. Enterprises simply means company. Essentially, we are God's company blessed with talent for serving others by taking care of their auto repair service needs in Denver.

We have heard amazing compliments from, "You made me so happy that I cried." to "You are the best mechanic I ever had” to “it's like driving a new car." It's a blessing to use our talents to honor God. We realize that we have more to share with others than just an auto repair service. We have the love of God to share with everyone who comes to our family business.

Recently, we put up something new on the walls in our office. It says, "In everything, give thanks. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18" It is a great reminder to us at our shop everyday - for the difficult days and for the easy days.
God is ALWAYS with us. 

It's easy for us to give thanks when everything is going our way, our family is healthy and happy, our car is running smoothly, we have a job, and life is going according to plan. We can give thanks for good things like these most days. But giving thanks for things when life gets rough? This doesn't always come so easy. We get so distracted by trying to figure out the problems ourselves that we forget to turn to the one who can help us figure it out the best way.

Do you give thanks for pain, disappointments, losing a loved one unexpectedly, a check engine light coming on, the car not shifting smoothly, worrying about enough money to make ends meet? In moments like these, we can be thankful we are still alive to feel the pain and disappointments, that we have a car to have problems with, and a great mechanic to help us take care of those pesky car problems! We may not always get the answers we want to hear, but God knows. He knows everything and will work all things for good when we trust in Him and give Him thanks.

Be joyful always; pray continually;

give thanks in all circumstances, 

for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 

~ 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

It may even feel at times that you have nothing to feel thankful for. How do you give thanks in everything? For everything? Give yourself time to feel thankful. A great healer of all wounds is time. It may be painful now, but joy will come again. You may not be able to even think about it now, but if you experience your feelings today, not judging yourself for being less thankful than you should be, then you will be able to see God's Hand in everything in your life. This will start to change how you feel. We've been there, too. One day you will discover yourself giving thanks for the same things that were the most difficult experiences of your life. This is a mystery that only God can speak to you directly about in your heart. What you resist today, you welcome back to you tomorrow.

With Thanksgiving upon us, we instinctively give thanks for everything out of habit. But we don't have to. We can give thanks because we WANT to or not give thanks because we don't want to. God knows our hearts. He knows where we are at with the mountains and valleys we are experiencing in our lives. Knowing God loves us through it all is enough to make you feel just a little more thankful. Isn't it? Think of it as the first step to feeling thankful for everything.

We can do this by praying continually and being joyful always. We can always rejoice because we know what is true about God and His plan for our lives, so we can be thankful in all circumstances. When we know God is working all things for good, we can be joyful, no matter what our situation is. We can pray about His merciful and gracious plans in our daily lives for our spiritual and physical needs. We can give thanks in everything that comes along in our life, even if it's something that we aren't happy about or is unpleasant.

It's not always easy for us to be thankful when running our auto repair shop. Some days it seems like everything is going "wrong" - we get the wrong parts and have to re-order them over AND over again, we have a misunderstanding with a customer or we can't help someone because the part is unavailable. Everything that happens in our life happens for a reason and helps us to spread God's grace in a generous way. We have gotten wrong parts because we were able to find a better option for our customer with just one more phone call to the last possible vendor that could possibly carry the specific part that we need. Our customer gets to know their car better because we have to take a little more time to explain things to help them understand what is going on with their car and what needs to be fixed and why. When you have problems that cause you worry, like that pesky check engine light that you don't have time to take care of until next week, just start praying about it, and be thankful. God will work it all out.

We operate our family auto repair shop with thankfulness for our customers. One of the ways we do this is by giving 1 hour of free diagnosis to our customers when they fix their car at our auto repair shop. This is our way of saying "Thank you for doing business with us!" We are thankful for each of customers because without them, we wouldn't be here.

We are blessed to serve others and help you be safe on the road. We are thankful for our vendors who serve us by bringing us the parts we need to take care of our customers. We are thankful for the kindheartedness of people towards our children when they visit our shop. Thank you for letting our family serve your family's auto repair service needs in Denver!

We wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving 

surrounded by your family and friends! 

Blessings from our family to yours!