44 replies to this topic

[BVY]

That is worrying. I assume the orange light is oil pressure. Hopefully is was just due to low oil level, and no serious damage has been done, but if I were you I would be budgeting for a full engine overhaul fairly soon, but first fit an oil pressure gauge and see what pressure you are getting. 15psi at idle, 60 to 70 psi at high revs, maybe falling to 50 or even 40 when really hot, is ok, but any less is bad news. The other problem, smoky start, is almost certainly valve stem seals and/or worn guides.

If it all has to come apart for a rebuild, I would recommend a very light skim of both head and block to eliminate any more worries in that area, as a new gasket, correctly fitted, should be ok for about 100k miles.

Yeah the oil was low due to leaky rocker cover and possibly somewhere else.... I've intended to do a full rebuild all along. But I need to fine a second engine as this is my daily drive/work vehicle. How hard is it to fit an oil pressure sensor?
It doesn't smoke on start up. Nothing more than any older car does anyway. The engine was warm when it coughed out a load of smoke. It must be something to do with the steap driveway.
I'll defo get both ends skimmed when i get round to a full strip down

[BVY]

I really should've paid £175 to get the car towed to my house and fixed it my self.

Or have some form of roadside assistance and recovery... I can think of one or two companies which do this service for an annual subscription which is considerably less than £175.

I had recovery through my insurance but the only do a 15 mile tow and then you have to pay per mile. I think i'll try to upgrade it before I go on a long drive.

[BVY]

What's the new problem?? The original head gasket wasn't 'blown' - although it may have been loose and weeping water..... What are the comp readings now?

Finally got round to doing a bit of tinkering tonight. The comp test was 158 160 160 160
1 & 4 spark plugs looked lean and 2 & 3 looked ok. I would assume the valve gaps are wrong on 1 & 4?? Which might also explain the rough sound and loss of power?

[BVY]

SPRAG - Thanks for the reassuring news!!! I did suspect it might be something along those lines.

The fuel leak has'nt happened very often since the overheating day. Just 2 or 3 times. The good thing is, i can check if its leaking while I drive cause I dont have and dash or lining on the bulkhead. When it does leak, some of the fuel runns down the heater control cable and I can feel it, and smell it obviously. So if it leaks I just keep the revs up a bit and it stops...

When i topped it up after overheating a fair bit went in before I could see water. It's a new rad and doesn't have a water level marker so I just fill it to near the filler neck. I know if i over fill, it will just come out of the overflow. It is still using water though. not at an alarming rate buIt I need to top a little bit every couple of days.

Oil wise, i re-aligned the rockercover gasket and it seems to have stopped leaking. So the oil which is all down the timing chain end and left drive shaft is easily explained. But I was checking my front sub frame, rear mounts because I'm now getting a bit of knocking which seems to be under the passenger foot well, and i noticed a lot of oil has been flicking of the right (fly wheel end) drive shaft.
I put new tappet cover seals on when i changer the head gasket so they aren't leaking now. I can't see where the oil is coming from to get on the shaft...

[tiger99]

Change all the subframe mounts for the solid type. The rear rubber mounts never last very long, and when they go, the shell will start to crack in various places, especially the inner wings. Don't mix solid and rubber in any combination, or again something will crack. You are best to put some strengthening plates around the rear mounts on the toeboard, just rectangles of 2mm steel, drilled correctly and welded round the edge.

But fuel leaking? I would not drive it like that.

[sprag]

Lean mixture in 1&4 is partly due to the siamesed port design of the a-series
Compression sounds good have you checked to see if the water pump is leaking when the engine is running ? you will see a dribble running down the front slope of the cam cover if you take the grille off and look under the alternator.

[BVY]

Change all the subframe mounts for the solid type. The rear rubber mounts never last very long, and when they go, the shell will start to crack in various places, especially the inner wings. Don't mix solid and rubber in any combination, or again something will crack. You are best to put some strengthening plates around the rear mounts on the toeboard, just rectangles of 2mm steel, drilled correctly and welded round the edge.

But fuel leaking? I would not drive it like that.

I was told that it's best to keep the rear mounts as the rubber ones to absorb the play/vibration otherwise is what will crack the floor.
But I cant remove the old ones at the moment anyway because some idiot has welded plates over 1 bolt head on each side so i can't undo the nuts on the mounts because the bolt is spinning. I'm gonna have to drill the floor to get to the bolts and then see what needs doing once I get the old mounts off. Might weld in some plates anyway.

The fuel leak doens't seem to have happened lately so hopefully it was just some crap in the needle valve which is gine now!

[BVY]

Lean mixture in 1&4 is partly due to the siamesed port design of the a-series
Compression sounds good have you checked to see if the water pump is leaking when the engine is running ? you will see a dribble running down the front slope of the cam cover if you take the grille off and look under the alternator.

I checked the valve gaps and they were a quite loose on 1 and 4, but I rushed it a little bit so i'm gonna re-do them soon when i get the chance. But it's still better anyway. It's hard to tell if there's water running down that end because i have a bit of an oil leak from that end or the rocker cover so not sure if it's oil or water.

[sonikk4]

Fitting solid mounts at the back of the subframe will need a reinforcement plate fitting to help take up the loading otherwise it will crack around the mount area.

[tiger99]

But if you mix solid and rubber or poly mounts, you are guaranteed to get fatigue cracking in the shell, often in the inner wings, but it happens in other places too. It also happens when the toeboard mounts fail (a regular occurrence with the rubber ones) and it is not noticed and repaired soon.

You are correct to fit strengthening plates around the toeboard mounts.

I know it has not been suggested, but will mention anyway, just in case, do not even consider fitting a poly mount kit. Those currently on the market are useless, if not dangerous.

[BVY]

That settles it then! I'll cut the stupid plates that are covering the bolt heads out and weld in some new plates and fit solid mounts then:)

Should I plug weld the plates? or will stitch welding be enough?

[sonikk4]

If these are separate plates that have been welded over the mounting bolts inside the car then remove them. Check the existing structure to make sure all is well. If there is damage that will need to be repaired with seam welding or pulse welding. Either way it will need to be a continuous weld. The strengthener plate can be seam welded or plug welded.

I would suggest you use both methods.

[Simon A]

It's not true that you have no comeback against the seller. It depends on any claims they made about its condition, also if they were selling it privately, or as a dealer makes a difference. You don't have to go back to the garage, if they undertook to repair the car then that's what they should have done. You are entitled to a full refund - assuming they undertook to repair it 'n not just change the head gasket.

The onus is on you to prove your claims though, get it in writing and understand what it means, before parting with your money is the lesson.

I agree with Ethel. If you purchased from a dealer / trader then they are considered in law 'experts' and you've got a claim; if purchased privately you're gonna struggle. I'd say you've got much more chance of getting a refund out of the garage who charged you £380 to repair the car.
So long as you've got a receipt and they haven't put a disclaimer about skimming the head etc. on there you'll be fine. Get a formal letter into them!

[BVY]

If these are separate plates that have been welded over the mounting bolts inside the car then remove them. Check the existing structure to make sure all is well. If there is damage that will need to be repaired with seam welding or pulse welding. Either way it will need to be a continuous weld. The strengthener plate can be seam welded or plug welded.

I would suggest you use both methods.

Yeah will do! Yeah I meant should I do both, but it didn't really come out like that...

Cheers!

[BVY]

It's not true that you have no comeback against the seller. It depends on any claims they made about its condition, also if they were selling it privately, or as a dealer makes a difference. You don't have to go back to the garage, if they undertook to repair the car then that's what they should have done. You are entitled to a full refund - assuming they undertook to repair it 'n not just change the head gasket.

The onus is on you to prove your claims though, get it in writing and understand what it means, before parting with your money is the lesson.

I agree with Ethel. If you purchased from a dealer / trader then they are considered in law 'experts' and you've got a claim; if purchased privately you're gonna struggle. I'd say you've got much more chance of getting a refund out of the garage who charged you £380 to repair the car.
So long as you've got a receipt and they haven't put a disclaimer about skimming the head etc. on there you'll be fine. Get a formal letter into them!

I think the seller is, like someone else on this thread said, a trader selling as a private seller. I have managed to get hold of his boss/collegue's mobile number. I am gonna try and get in that way. Hopefully if I can get him on the phone again I can put a bit of leverage on him with the threat of trading standards or tax office etc. But to be honest i doubt i'm gonna have any luck.

Just had a look at the garage invoice. It doesn't have any kind of disclaimer etc. Also I didn't sign anything either.
And they didn't actually give me a quoted price before they started work.

i quote:

Labour quantity rate net

REPLACE HEADGASKET & WATER PUMP, REFILL WITH COOLANT
RESET THROTTLE CABLE & TUNE
PARTS, LABOUR, OIL & ANTIFREEZE 1 320 320


The actual cost was £320 plus £64 VAT



I didn't trust them from the start. I wasn't present when the car was towed to them. I got the feeling they were trying to make it sound like things were worse than they were.
When i phoned up to see if they had started work, the bloke said "yeah we've made a start. We finally managed to get it started!"
But there was no problem starting it before they had it. And as far as I'm aware the recovery driver would have driven it on to the flat bed.