16 replies to this topic

[oli18]

Hi guys,

I have a CE with a 1098cc engine in it. I have purchased it recently and the history was not complete. When i drove it, it was fine.

It was only recently that a small ticking noise (as cars tend to make at some point or other) started to come from around/in the engine. My old neighbour in Bristol is a Morris Minor owner and said it might be the tappets and as the car's service history was incomplete, she helped me to give it a full service as I'm not a mechanic but am keen to learn.

So, yesterday we

Changed the oil (halfords 20w50)
New plugs
new oil filter
new HT leads
new rocker cover gasket
new airfilter
new distributor
and resetting of the tappets (as per haynes manual 0.012 i believe it was)

Anyway, did all the work to it and put it all back together and the engine still had the small ticking noise.

As the engine still seemed to run ok and had done for the past few weeks, i decided to try and drive it to Swindon where i currently live and where i need it.

I drove it 2 blocks from bristol and this ticking noise got louder and louder and i decided to pull-over where the engine cutout just before i managed to stop it.

Things i noticed that it was doing during that 2 min drive and after i checked it by the roadside:

Loss of power while driving
smokey exhaust
hard to put it into gear
the clearance on front left wheel vs the wheel arch was 1 finger high versus front right (3 fingers high)

Long story short, I spent my evening being towed back to swindon on the back of a recovery truck. I don't know if it was inevitable as there was already a ticking noise before my neighbour and I performed the service or whether it was something that we did wrong.

I'm SOOO gutted. I love this car and I NEED it to work. I was wondering if anyone has any clues (it may have happened to someone before) or what things i need my local garage to look out for??

Also, i have only recently moved to swindon and do not know what garage to trust and feel quite unsettled by someone I don't know look at it. Can anyone recommend a trustworthy place? If there are any experts out there that can help, i would be really grateful.

Is there a general rule of thumb that if a the price of repair is above a certain figure, it isn't worth repairing and instead finding a new engine?



-Oli

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[minimole]

is it white smoke?

The clearance issue could be that the suspension knuckle has collapsed and/or the doughnut might need replacing. knuckles are cheap about £5 and a doughnut is about £30 -40. the clicking could be another probem,


The clicking could be alot of things. if you can isolate where the sound is coming from it might help to find out whats wrong.

but to be honest i am no mechanic but from what you have described this is what i would check. the other guys on here might be able to help you more

also if you dont have a haynes manual it would be a very good idea to get oneas you will use it all the time

[oli18]

From the quick glance i got from my rear view mirror, it did seem quite white.

Does this indicate oil??

I bought a haynes manual and performed the service according to the Mini Service manual by Porter Publishing.

The noise came either from inside the engine or behind it. I looked under the car to find any rattling but was unable to detect anything.

THe engine might have sat a little off balance in the bay when I looked at it by the side of the road. I check the engine mount at the front right of the car (driver's side) and it looked pretty new....I couldn't find the other one (radiator side) but could it be broken? If so, could it cause the noise....and how much to get those sort of things replaced?

Cheers,

Oli

[dan__wright]

when you set the valve clearences was the engine stone cold?

[minimole]

white means it could be water getting in your combustion chambers indicating a dodgy head gasket. check you oil and see if there is any mayonase type stuff. also check to see if you are loosing any water from the cooling system.

on a mini there are 2 engine mounts one on attached to the clutch housing and the other is attached at the bottom of the rad. this would make sense as you are finding it hard to get in to gear this could be because the engine is moving as there is not a mount to secure it. also check the engine steadies. there should be one at the bottom of the mini from the front of the subframe to the gearbox (sump) and the other should be at the top just above the clutch housing.

[oli18]

Are valve clearance the same as tappets? I drove it 6 metres into the garage. Max engine time would be 1 minute at most and I waited atleast 20-30 mins before taking off the rocker cover and measuring the tappets clearances.

-Oli

[Jammy]

Mayonaise on the rocker cover cap doesn't always indicate a blown head casket, but I would be finding someway of performing a compression test on it if you can!

Does it smoke when you start it up? Can you definitely say its white smoke?

[oli18]

There was no sign of mayonnaise on the rocker cover or near the headgasked/head of the engine.

The smoke colour - if this was the 1,000,000 pound question on who wants to be a millionaire, i'd say it was white but would (if i still had a lifeline) like to call a friend just in case. ... 80% sure it would be white.

Yes, it does smoke when it starts up.

-Oli

[Jammy]

Well, white is water, blue would be oil and black is carbon and carp. If its white then it suggest the head gasket has gone. Try and get a compression test done before you go ripping the engine apart though.

[Sprocket]

Worn fuel pumps tend to 'tap' with the noise coming from the back of the engine and can quite easily be mistook for tappets. Another problem is that the plastic pad on the pump bell crank can come off, some times causing the pump to stop working altogether or cause and even louder tap and engine running problems.

May or may not be your problem

Also consider that the engine stopping and failing to start may or may not be related to the tapping. remember that the engine was serviced, and more often than not these days, wrongly. Not saying it is but it worth double checking, people in the know do get it wrong.

[Leonard]

a broken exhaust/manifold starts off as a ticking, then gets louder as it leaks more. it also causes loss of power, it will stall. its also caused by a too much engine movement ie broken mountings.

[Madmax]

when mine did EXACTLY THAT, it turned out to be the little ends, which then turned into big ends (louder tap/thump)

i dont want to be the bringer of bad news, but i seem to have had the same problem, and it was terminal for my engine

[Madmax]

then again it could be my dodgy previous engine...

[Steve@RetroDash]

http://www.ime.org.uk/ime/s/smoke.html

[minidaves]

i would go that the engine is shot its an 1100 these dont take kindly to reving i would say it was ends and its now broken.

find a late 998 unleaded from a mini or a metro

dave