tuvok4711

Thanks for the link! I did think about the valve as well and open/closed it a couple of times (without change in terms of the smoke/steam. Will continue to observe!

Jonathan: No, not smoking anymore because I turned it off and have not tried again since ;-) Andrew, Scott: water leak seems plausible; thanks for the hint! I will try again and will be sensible in terms of smell, though. I'd rather take steam without smell than smoke with smell... One should be able to disassemble the heater to a have a look inside, right? Anything that comes to your mind in terms of things to be careful about if I try to disassemble? Or is it basically just some screws and stuff?

Anybody an idea why there is a little bit of whitish smoke coming out of the top of that heat exchanger thing (in the engine room at the back of the dashboard) of my 1999 S3? Engine running idle for about 10 minutes; water temp was just about high enough for the fan to turn on. So nothing out of the ordinary in terms of hard driving or anything; rather the opposite. Or was it maybe just some dead bug which may have been caught there and the decided to finally melt its way into paradise...?

not sure if available in the UK but in Germany and Austria the "Pongratz L-AT 350 G-K" is quote common. Being just over 2meters wide and 5m long, it can carry a load of approx 1000kg plus you can tilt it so the angle to load lowflying cars is not a problem. e.g. https://pongratztrailers.com/anhaenger/l-at-350-g-k-2/

cheers, super advice! I did think of a new gasket in advance (which I recently received) but was not aware of the old gasket coming off so difficult. In that case, I will have another look at removing the alternator and by that maybe it might even be possible to reach to the housing from above. Always easier than lying on your back with approx 20cm of space above your body ;-)

Fair question. Answer: Because in fact I did try yesterday to do it like you described and could not do it (obviously due my incompetence and not your instructions ;-) I have to add that I did not disassemble the alternator altogether but just unscrewed the two screws facing to the front and then tilted that mounting bar thing. I hoped this would open up enough space but it didnt. I do have small hands but not small enough for that kind of work in a S3-chassis. So either I will try again with disassembling the alternator or just unscrew the complete oil filter housing altogether (access to these 4 inbus-screws seems easier than access to the screw in the port of the housing). I am thinking that this can possibly be done without draining the oil as the oil-pan is still lower than the oil filter housing) Further ideas very welcome of course!

I understand; sounds absolutely reasonable. I will discard the idea (too bad though; would have made the installation much easier...) Thanks, revilla!

no, not using a pipe. Idea was to put the T-shaped adapter directly in the horizontally facing threat of the oil filter housing and then put the electrical pressure sensor (or mechanical one) into that adapter up front facing horizontally and the temperature sensor facing vertically upwards (sorry for my English; I am not a native speaker) But, yes, I understand your point about there being no oil flow and therefore probably temp readings will be too low

I'd like to come back to the original question of how to fit the aditional sensor, please: As an alternative to revillas proposal (see post #3), what does the community think about using a T-shaped adaptor (e.g. this one: https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/p/oil-pressure-gauge-t-piece-1-8npt-tp-1-8npt), put it in front of the electrical oil pressure sensor and then fitting the temperature sensor facing upwards (because facing downward would probably be too vulnerable with ground clearance...). Do you think this a good idea and would there be enough space because of the mounting of the alternator could be in the way?

ah, sorry guys. I did not see the last two post before I posted mine. So: @aerobod: thanks; I will check tomorrow if there are at least 6 turns for stud to fasten. (my guess would say that it is pretty much the diameter of the stud as you said. My approx judgement was 15mm which should be enough; nevertheless I will take a look when being back at the car) @aerobod and SLR No.77: Yes, I agree that the spacer does not really look right. It also did not feel right, meaning it seems to sit rather loose on the studs; width of spacer is approx 2cm... Wheels are 185/60R13 with 6J Minilites. Do you feel I should rather get rid of the spacer? (but then I would have to fit 3 shorter studs again...)

Yes, nuts are closed-ended and the shorter one seems to have enough "space" within the nut (approx 15mm I would say). I think ScottR400D is probably right: wrong component. As there is a track extension disc (is that what it is called?) assembled (see photo in original post) I think that when back then fitting this, the original studs (i.e. the now shorter ones) were left and the three longer ones where fitted. Maybe whoever did that didnt have enough longer studs left so he had to improvise...

No; the previous owner managed to program and install a SCS Delta 400 and get the legal requirements necessary in Germany. I do not have any knowledge about ECUs whatsoever but this things works just fine so far and helps the VVC to some extra horses ;-)

so you are saying that as a security measure (prevention from unfastening in case someone might use the wrong nuts) one shorter stud was used on purpose? (it is only on the rear axle, though. The bolts/studs on the front are all the same length...) Funny things altogether yet to be discovered on Caterhams...

Any idea why on both of my rear wheels one wheel bolt is significantly shorter than the other three? (apart from the mechanic being clumsy when originally assembling...) Does not make any sense to me why you would have something like that as a original build. The nut for the shorter bolt still fits well enough; yet I wonder if this is correct or if I should try to sort it out correctly next time I visit my garage... Cheers, Steven