Fail

23rd February 2013, 23:07

So my car started misfiring running on 3 cylinders. Done a compression test cylinder one not showing a reading. When cranking cams are turning fine and valve movement, but oil in cylinder 1. I'm going to start taking the top end apart tomorrow but does everyone agree this is headgasket failure?

23rd February 2013, 23:13

I'm presuming piston is moving right...? Most likely gasket or cracked valve seat / valve.

23rd February 2013, 23:18

Yes Ross it's moving fine. Looking foward to stripping it back.

23rd February 2013, 23:19

sounds like youve lost a valve to me mate.

23rd February 2013, 23:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by blackie_2k5

sounds like youve lost a valve to me mate.

Maybe mate. Forgot to mention, this all happened as I was slowing down into a turning no more than 15mph, lost all revs and began to sound like an insane scooby. Got it home really slowly but would stall unless revs above 1000.

23rd February 2013, 23:30

Valve or valve seat then I think. Unlikely to be head gasket more I think about it.

23rd February 2013, 23:42

yeah defo sounds like a dropped valve mate

sound anything like this?

23rd February 2013, 23:55

That sounds very similar blackie. Here's a very bad short Video.

23rd February 2013, 23:57

bad times mate

24th February 2013, 00:09

Dropped valve means damaged cylinder also?

24th February 2013, 00:18

not normally, youll probs have some dings in your piston.. but in 9/10 cases thats as far as itll go

top end rebuild, get the head whipped off and check the state of the valve seats on the damaged cylinder..may get away with a rebuilt, but may be better to buy a new head and give that a rebuild before fitting. as youll at least need a new valve/s anyway

at this day and age, it could be cheaper to replace the engine lol, but its up to you, if you rebuild the top end and it was a decent engine before hand, youve got some peace of mind

you could just by a second hand head, give it a light skim +/- £30 and fit it.. but i like to replace at least the stems..as for a couple of £ if theyre fucked and leak youve wasted time and money

second hand head £40?
stems about £6
gasket about £40
skim about £30

could end it there..but if its not had a belt and pump for a while you may as well do them, gonna add about 100-130 being an S

or find another engine for about £100-150 and take a risk?

edit- gonna need cam seals as well.. be about £10?

16v lads will have a bit better input on prices them me.. im just going off stuff ive looked at for plans in the past and what i know already

24th February 2013, 00:25

Thanks for that blackie. I think all the problems I've had have been building up to something like this. The engine has always ran really warm and never liked traffic,etc. Timing belt and pump and cam seals weren't done about 6k ago roughly.

24th February 2013, 00:30

no worries mate

if theyve been done already youll be fine using them again

youve done compression and got zero on one cylinder.. so next step is get the head off and see whats going on, you can move on from there

its not the end of the world, but it is a kick in the stots.. get the head whipped off and post up your findings

24th February 2013, 00:32

Will do matey cheers.

24th February 2013, 00:35

just to make certain though.. youve DEFO got no compression on a cylinder? as you dont want to whip the head off for no reason

it could be a few things if youve got compression across all 4,

but if not, youre not really gonna know the extent of damage till you get it off

24th February 2013, 00:58

Yeah mate I done it 4 times just to make sure lol.
Cylinder 1:0
Cylinder 2: 140psi
Cylinder 3: 140psi
Cylinder 4: 150psi

24th February 2013, 01:00

...

24th February 2013, 01:41

If you need cam seals, oil stem seals etc iv got a brand new set £12 posted

24th February 2013, 01:43

That seems a very low compression across the cylinders that do work tbh, you sure nothing else is wrong? They should be about 220 psi on the cylinders that do work

Plus if your just changing the head, it might be worth changing the piston that has been whacked by a valve, when a piston gets hit it can cause very small cracks that you can't see, which in the long run can expand over time and eventually ruin the piston. Only a small chance but I've heard of it happen before

1st March 2013, 14:50

Finally had the time to work on the car. So we've all had our guesses.

3rd March 2013, 07:18

Bad times buddy. But at least you've got to the source of the problem (and actually, it's not that big a deal just depressing!).