well the car is broken yet again, a week before the photoshoot for ppc mag! :mad:

a couple of days ago it started burning oil quite badly but i needed to use it as i was stuck without it, a day after that it developed a random miss-fire, but was only once every so often, and now today i came to start it up after work and there was a plume of smoke and was miss-firing badly and i had to limp it home (only 2 1/2 miles)

when we checked it out a few days ago cylinder 3 was wet with oil, as was the plug so that was obviously causing the plug not too fire from time to time

the compression test read just 1 bar higher then the rest 14 14 15 14

i know that without taking the engine apart and having a look ime not going to know the exact problem,

but just an idea of what i may be about to find may be good :)

car: mk2 saloon 1.4 16v engine conversion

Bump, anyone?

I can't rember properally but didnt you have a problem a while ago with it burning oil ? Think you Changed the valve guides ? Could be thinking of the wrong person so I apologise if I am . But I imagine this time it may well be your piston rings well mainly your oil control ring that are on the way out .

Yeh thats me, is there a way to check the condition of the rings etc?

a leakdown test might shed some light, although it doesn't seem to be losing compression, still worth trying.

A leakdown test? Never heard of it before :S

It sounds as if you have just done a leakage test!

This involves putting a small amount of oil into the cylinder and repeating the compression test. The idea being that the oil forms a temporary seal around the piston, if there is no difference in the readings, then the losses are probably through the valves. If, however, the compression increases with the oil in there, then it is quite probable that the fault is with pistons and/or rings.

As you have already said that there was oil in the cylinder AND the compression pressure was higher, it would appear to be saying that the fault is with the piston/cylinder/rings.

I would suggest that you don't run it until you have got the head off, otherwise you could damage the cylinder, which, in all probability, will still be servicable.

Regards.

if it turn outs to be the rings etc which it more than likely is going to be ime going to have the choice of either:-

(A) stripping the current engine and replacing the nackered bits (which i dont really fancy doing)

(B) getting a block off saf which is just £40, BUT it has had a cambelt failure and has some slight marks in the pistons (dont know how bad yet as i haven't seen them) but he says he would quite happily use it again

bearing in mind i have 8 days until the photoshoot which is a 3 1/2 hour drive away and not much money to get it sorted, what would you do?

arrghhhh :mad: bloody cars

if it was me i'd be winging my way over to saf with 40 notes in my back burner and a stiffy to slip his sister while i was there.

if it was me i'd be winging my way over to saf with 40 notes in my back burner and a stiffy to slip his sister while i was there.

ime thinkin that may be the way to go tbh, will have to see on thursday evening after i have stripped the biatch to pieces

i would happily use it again, as I'm a pikey! but as its been stored outside in a garden under a tarp, and has slight piston indentations, i wouldnt spend the dollar on the rebuild parts, on getting yourself roadworthy straight away.

you might aswell strip down your existing engine, find out whats wrong, bring it back to health and build it up again. that way you only pay for all the headgasket bits and fluids once.

I'm sure an engine builder could sort it out in a very quick turnaround, popdragin on here is local to you, id drop him a pm mate and see what he says. hes a top geezer

if it was me i'd be winging my way over to saf with 40 notes in my back burner and a stiffy to slip his sister while i was there.

ime thinkin that may be the way to go tbh, will have to see on thursday evening after i have stripped the biatch to pieces

you can keep the stiffy to yourself haha!

i would happily use it again, as I'm a pikey! but as its been stored outside in a garden under a tarp, and has slight piston indentations, i wouldnt spend the dollar on the rebuild parts, on getting yourself roadworthy straight away.

you might aswell strip down your existing engine, find out whats wrong, bring it back to health and build it up again. that way you only pay for all the headgasket bits and fluids once.

I'm sure an engine builder could sort it out in a very quick turnaround, popdragin on here is local to you, id drop him a pm mate and see what he says. hes a top geezer

But stripping my current engine is going to take far too long to do and I only have 2 full free days between now and the ppc photoshoot to get it done...

So it's all down to whether you are a gambling man!

I have to agree with grungeisdead with regards to an engine that has been stored outdoors with little protection.

As you probably know, I tend to have a bit of a 'down' on some of these engine rebuilders, but if there is a RECOMMENDED one in your area, why not give him a call and see if he can help you out within your timescale.

Regards.

well my prayers have been answered, a friend who has an afh he is stripping for a conversion has agreed to lend me his bottom end! until i get mine sorted !!

Edited 12 January, 201115 yr by dubownerbilco

Sorry for the delay Craig,maybe a bit late but i'll have my lil say

It dose sounds like rings too, as far as a leak down test(which i have access to) what you tent to find is that the oil will be in and around the ring and still cause them to seal, the main differance from a leak down a comperstion test is a leak down is done with the engine static, mean you can genrally hear where the leak is, valve seats, rings or guides or even a big dirty hole in a piston :p

PM me again if you wanna ask me any thing or if you need a hand get it sorted,

Ben

Sorry for the delay Craig,maybe a bit late but i'll have my lil say

It dose sounds like rings too, as far as a leak down test(which i have access to) what you tent to find is that the oil will be in and around the ring and still cause them to seal, the main differance from a leak down a comperstion test is a leak down is done with the engine static, mean you can genrally hear where the leak is, valve seats, rings or guides or even a big dirty hole in a piston :p

PM me again if you wanna ask me any thing or if you need a hand get it sorted,

Ben

any input is appreciated Ben!

ill be stripping my current block down anyway over the next few weeks so may need a helping hand there... :p

No prob man, i'll PM you my number. I'd be happy to have a look at it with you

No prob man, i'll PM you my number. I'd be happy to have a look at it with you

i think if ime going to have the bottom of the engine in pieces now then it may be worth spending some money down there, any idea where i can get the crank 'knife edged' of whatever its called?

TBF i dont think you'd notice ANY gain from knife edging the crank,and also they are a reallly pain in the ass to re balance after.

ah ok fair enough, anything you would recommend doing then?

As a crank balancer i'd have to say that, pretty cheap thing to have done while its in bits. wont give you a massive HP gain, but will make it rev easier and less harsh

Cost about £60