In fact - it feels as though the front ones are possibly a bit weak now!
Took the kids for a swim in the local lake last weekend - in the green beast. Was a bit of a squash getting everything in (we normally go in the people mover), but we managed.
I'd been listening to what I thought was a tappet slowly loosening up, and was a bit surprised at how mush worse it was getting. Anyhow, one refreshing paddle later (gloriously hot day, b----y freezing water), we were burbling home when I decided to unleash the horses on a long uphill. A bit embarrassing really, I was trying to get past a Ute (Utility) - and after wellying up the hill at about 65 mph in second, I managed to squeeze past the Ute (Rover V8 gives wonderfully smooth and torquey shove-in-the-back, but it is no Ferrari) I bounced into top, more-or-less at the top of the hill and then there was a sudden bang from below the bonnet, a bit of a power loss and quite a lot of 'bad vibrations' from the drive train.
Looking under the bonnet the problem was quickly apparent. The rearmost right hand plug lead and plug were dangling free.
I realised that the loose tappet had in fact been a loosening plug - mustn't have been fully tightened last time it was put back in - so it had gradually worked its way loose and finally had succumbed to the laws of physics and shot out after the strenuous exertions of hurtling up hill at high engine speed in second gear.
The plug thread looked fine, so all I needed to do was screw it back in and we'd be on our way. The only problem was that the plug, and the engine, were very, very hot. And anyone who knows the P6B engine bay, will know that the right hand rear spark plug is impossible to reach without touching the engine - the access space is very tight.
Oh - and I didn't have a plug spanner. Tried improvising with a plastic funnel and a squee-gee, with fairly predictable results.
S-o-o-o drove home fairly gently, sounding a bit like a badly tuned helicopter crossed with an unsilenced Harley, with fairly embarrassed kids.
Later, when the engine had cooled and I'd found a plug spanner, I put it back in. That was a few weeks ago now, and there have been no ill side-effects, it seems.
Funny thing happened the other day - drove the P5 to work (still needs an Alternator recondition, so charging the battery every 3 days) and saw a similar car parked in the street near the office!
Had to take a photo, so here are the two of them, just on the very edge of the Melbourne City Business District (CBD.
The other car (the front one) is either a series II like mine, or a series III. It has individual front seats (mine is a bench) - is also an automatic like mine. It (like mine) is in original 'survivor' condition and fully registered for daily use.
