10 replies to this topic

[b80ven]

So,
I thought I would keep my previous post about timing methodologies and mixture adjustments separate to this, although the two issues may very well be related.
Taking the spark plug out of #2 cylinder, I can see signs of my green coolant. is my engine screwed, or is my engine irreparable ?

Can cracks in cylinder walls / my head, wherever it may be, be fixed ?
I have a vacuum gauge on my inlet manifold which is fairly steady at idle.

Apart from the timing and mixture, the engine is behaving fine.
if anybody can reassure me as to there not being a bad crack somewhere, I might sleep this week.

B

[sledgehammer]

Do a compression check - dry & wet , are you losing coolant ?

re torque head

is nos 2 dead -- if coolant was leaking in , it should be missing on that cyl

If it was me I would check comp , then whip the head off - & new head gskt

hopefully something simple

a steady vac needle , usually indicates a balenced engine

Edited by sledgehammer, 30 June 2012 - 02:04 PM.

[callum2464]

if its cylinder 2 then it sounds like it would be the heaterpipe gasket, i had the same problem on mine, i would try replacing the heater pipe gasket.

[b80ven]

thanks sledge. funny you mention the head gasket. I was just having second thoughts, I'm hoping it IS a blown head gasket, and just that.
i dont have a compression tester.
why would it be missing altogether though - I would have thought it would fire, just not as efficiently.
ok, the vac needle is steady, most of the time, there was a point it was jumping around 4 (mmHg - not sure what psi that equates to) at idle.

yeh I agree, hopefully something simple. at least i'll get some sleep tonight.

[b80ven]

thanks Callum,
what is the heaterpipe gasket though ? where is it located ? is it on the head ?

[sledgehammer]

normally if there is enough antifreeze on the plug to see it , I would expect a loss of power on that cylinder

I wonder if as callum suggests , it could be antifreeze on the outside of the plug running down the plug as you undo it

onto the electrode - you may not immediatly notice it

think cheap & keep fingers crossed

Edited by sledgehammer, 30 June 2012 - 02:28 PM.

[callum2464]

its on the head left had side on the engine normally bolted down to the head
http://www.minispare...36&prod_id=1457
the gasket for that i may be wrong but if its cylinder 2 then its on the same side and it may be running down onto the sparkplug that was what was wrong with mine

[b80ven]

nope Callum, don't have one of those.
My best guess is the head gasket is blown. Especially considering it was running a little warm a couple of times...
SLedge, no, there wouldn't have been coolant outside the plug, definitely came from inside the cylinder. It was on the electrodes..

[b80ven]

heRE IS A shot of what the inside of my cylinders / pistons looked like when I pulled the head off last Saturday.

 IMG_2049.JPG   86.8K   36 downloads

Edited by b80ven, 11 July 2012 - 06:59 AM.

[lrostoke]

Did you drain the coolant off before removing the head, that seems a lot of coolant in the bore

[b80ven]

Steve,
yes I did drain the coolant before removing the head to avoid making a mess.

If you look closely, yOu can see a bit of oil in cylinder #3. The engineer I took it to was saying oil was leaking via the valve guides, or, i have a blown compression ring. I really hope I don't have a blown ring, which would mean the engine will need to come out. Something I'm hoping to get away with for the time being, until I'm ready to rebuild it.