Serious overheat - way forward?

  1. #1
    last year as a bit of a hobby I did a massive overhaul on my 03 vts, replaced most things serviceable and cleaned up all the underside as a tinkering project.

    as part of this I dropped a JP4 in there that was very low mileage.

    Like a nob I rushed getting it running late one night and basically ran it whilst full of hot air as I missed a coolant bleed nipple. left it running on the drive for ages until it conked out. devastated, the gauges were not working either at that point. annoyingly a battery disconnect reset fixed that. It did run the next day but had very little power when the revs climbed.

    Also when I tried the following day after the overheat I definitely had little air bubbles brimming in the rad cap, and after the engine had run (now with coolant flowing properly) not long after you shut down the engine coolant burst out the closed rad cap, like pressure was building whilst it was running.

    My original idea was to make sure the conversion worked fine, run it a couple of months then during this winter to put the cams etc from the 86k j4 head into the jp4 head. I left it alone for the last 5-6 months but already thinking about a second wind this yr.

    What would most do given the options below. I don't really want to take the block out again but if its more than likely to be shagged I don't want to try and polish a turd either.

    1. Is it worth attempting to save the engine that's in there? (preferred if there is a chance its ok). Is it possible to identify any or all damaged parts? ie just change the head / take the head off for inspection. what can be done to check?

    2. Alternatively I have another 17k JP4 or the original J4 laying around that I could use all or any of the parts from to start again this year. least favoured option, feel like I would prefer option 1. has anyone saved an engine from this bad a heat prob before.

    cheers
  2. #2
    engines are cheap dude, if its baked itself i would consider dropping it out and putting another in.
  3. #3
    Sounds to me like it could be the head gasket has blown causing exhaust gasses to enter the coolant system. If it were me, I would take the head off regardless as its not a big job.

    You'll then be able to inspect the head, headgasket and block thoroughly and find the cause of the issue, but my money would be on the head gasket, especially if its been overheated.
  4. #4
    Personally I wouldn`t bother stripping it down,i`d just buy a low mileage c2 engine & change the cambelt,then drop it in.
  5. #5
    Inspect it first and pull the head off, you've got nothing to lose by doing that
  6. #6
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gandi699 View Post
    Inspect it first and pull the head off, you've got nothing to lose by doing that
    Exactly... i'd at least like to know what the problem was so it could be avoided in the future
  7. #7
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gandi699 View Post
    Inspect it first and pull the head off, you've got nothing to lose by doing that
    I agree with gandi, i mean what have you got to lose, half a day? You can compensate for that with a few cups if tea and a fat dinner lol

    Sent from my GT-I9205 using Tapatalk
  8. #8
    can pull a head off in an hour give probably less if you are quick. Makes it easier to drop the bottom end out anyway too really. I'd say its not making good compression due to a failed head gasket from the over heat, that is unless you've managed to bork the bottom end by really cooking it
  9. #9
    Thanks for the replies. my worry and main query was that I would get the head off and wouldn't be able to tell if the bottom end is knackered or not , or worse have seriously shortened its life and not be able to tell. really don't want to take the engine out if I am honest again, was a right job before because I cleaned up and painted everything almost including the bay.

    Seem to have a thing for collecting engines at the minute and have just bought a JP4s. I'm going to take the head off and as you suggest inspect the bottom end then maybe just drop the JP4S head on it if it seems ok to avoid the block change, will see how I feel when I get to it. Might be looking for a willing mechanic in doncaster to slip a few quid when I get round to it to help as I would be having a citroen bonfire if I balls up like that again!

    cheers
  10. #10
  11. #11
    just wishing I had my previous vts to drive!