66 replies to this topic

[blue redtop]

if you had oil in the coolant and low readings i would say head gasket.
but if there is no oil in the water or white stuff under the oil fill cap it could be a valve problem.

best thing to do is get a compression test done then get back to us and we can help some more.
with out the compression test we cant really comment.
as you have sparks on all 4 plugs and petrol.
jay

[blue redtop]

is there any oli in the coolant?.

hopefully not, that would just be discusting.

there is a reason i ask this.lol

[oli8925]

if you had oil in the coolant and low readings i would say head gasket.
but if there is no oil in the water or white stuff under the oil fill cap it could be a valve problem.

best thing to do is get a compression test done then get back to us and we can help some more.
with out the compression test we cant really comment.
as you have sparks on all 4 plugs and petrol.
jay

havnt noticed any white stuff anywhere but ill give it an extra close look tho.
ok ill do a compression test and hopefully post the results tomorrow.
cheers

[BoboGib]

is there any oli in the coolant?.

hopefully not, that would just be discusting.

there is a reason i ask this.lol

I know there is a reason you ask this. I spent 5 years working on cars and the past 6 fixing jet engines. If you read the bit i've underlined and put in bold it says OLI not oil. It was a joke as the person that started the post is oli8925. Was supposed to be a joke. A little light hearted humor. a little fun from your typo.

Edited by BoboGib, 18 December 2007 - 10:23 PM.

[blue redtop]

me bad me bad. its been a long day.
i didnt even notice that said oli.

[BoboGib]

did not think you noticed it. Anywho, hope it made you laugh in the end.

[miniboo]

rocker gaps are 12 thou not 15 thou on standard.

Also if 2 and 3 are not making a difference to the running then it could be a Head Gasket problem.

[strebblo]

This may be off the ball somewhat, but worth trying...
As you said Cyls 2&3 were not making much difference, have you checked they are wired correctly? It's a very simple mistake to make as I have done it recently after installing a new engine! It baffled 3 of us for hours, and one of the other blokes was an experienced (24yrs) mechanic!

I only say this as you state that you changed the HT leads recently, and it does't take much to get them wrong. Go through the haynes and make sure everything is done to the letter.

Other than that, the compression tester is pretty simple, the Gunson one I bought from Halfrauds a couple of years ago came with all the instruction you could need printed on the back of the box. One thing I would add to the comments here though (if it's not written on the box) is if you only unplug/do one cylinder at a time then make sure you remove the coil lead to the dizzy, as you don't want the engine starting up - only turning over for about 6-8 seconds.

[matty...]

If your were to take either plug 2 or 3 out then start the engine you'd soon know if the gasket had gone because you'd get the gases from one cylinder coming out of the plug hole in the next cylinder.

Strebblo makes a good point to check the leads..it takes 5 mins to check and could save you the cost of a compression tester.

[ginigwunkle]

the hole maybe very small indeed. and also if engine runs, which isnt advised then there would be petrol spurting out of the plug hole.

remove the oil filler cap to see if theres white stuff there, maybe there on any car if only just done short run due to condensation, compression test best way to tell.

check points gap

check the plugs gap(25thou) if ok try diff plugs if you can get hold, note the colour of the plugs, if 2+3 are petrol wet then its not firing

remove the plugs one at a time and hold just away from a bare metal part of the engine turn engine over see if it sparks


make sure the ht leads are ok as above

[matty...]

The oil can be a good indication but it can also be deceiving as the gasket can be blowing between cylinders but the oil and water may not mix.

[oli8925]

went to halfrauds today and it took them 10 minutes to find out what it atually was. anyway then they7 found out they didnt have any in stock AND its £19!!! but im in sevenoaks tonight so ill get one from the sevenoaks branch tomorrow morning and test the car tomorrow. ill also check the oil filter and for whte stuff anywhere.

as for wiring ill give it all another check but i and my dad have gone through literally everything outside of the engine block hundreds of times so im almost certain its correct. best be sure tho.

yeah was gonna ask about the dizzy-coil lead lol. i didnt see how the test would work if the engine ran so thanks for that.

points and plugs gap has been checked hundreds of times too but ill give everything another check just for good measure and theyre all new with spares available. all of them are sparking. 2 and 3 seem to be incosistent also in that a few times on saturday the plugs were wet but not always. did always get very sooty tho. 1 and 4 seemed to be fine. ive had this running problem for 3 months but none of the plugs were ever wet before

another thing odd to happen was that for 5 minutes it ran perfectly on 4 cylinders, i drove it just up the drive, let my dad in to go for a test drive, went to move off and it had lost all power again and back to 2 cylinders. its done this one or 2 other times during its problem months and just seems to make no sense at all!

id like to just send it to a mini specialist garage to sort out but im scared about the labour costs lol. or just a new second hand 998cc A+ engine but havnt been too many going around in my area so im stuck with my old rust bucket

[il-barba]

try cleaning the sooth off the sparkplugs, it could be that the spark is not jumping well due to the sooth.

[oli8925]

try cleaning the sooth off the sparkplugs, it could be that the spark is not jumping well due to the sooth.

cleaned them evertime i checked them but they just go back to being sooty everytime

[mike998]

have you run the compression test yet?
what were the results?