Evenin all.
Various issues here. I'll start from the top.
Running a 306 XSI (Phase 1) on a P plate. Had it for all summer and as winter closed in I realise it's no heater. Not uncommon for these animals. It's been bypassed.
So, Removed the dash and changed the matrix for another which came from a scrap yard but I belive not to be leaking. Could be wrong. Suddenly the fan doesn't work. It did when we put the dash on and tested but 30 mins later and nothing doing. Next I get steam coming through th vents. lot's of it. Sealed up with radweld (yeah I know) but it sealed... Until the first time I put my foot down.
A few hundred miles later and it seems to have sealed up so I start the next job. an oil leak, seemingly coming from the rocker gasket. it's running down by the front left engine mounting (as you stand at the front of the car).
Gasket changed and drive away, still leaking and now there's white emulsion on the oil filler cap. not only that it's pushing oil up through the spark plug threads. I assume the head gasket's gone and give up hope and park it up in the garage.
It's been parked 6 months. Now it's been driven, around 10 miles. Didn't overheat, engine seems to run ok, and it drives fine. Does still steam up.
The oil on the dipstick is clean but there is some more emuslion around the cap.
The spark plugs weren't tight and after tightening them the oil has stopped coming through there.
Oh yeah, around a year ago, before any of this it blew a spark plug clean out of the top of the engine. Caused i think by a ht lead that wasn't connected properly. Had a compression tes done then and all ok.
What do you think? has the head gasket gone?
Edited by Pugugly {P} on 16/01/2008 at 22:36
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jim
Various issues indeed!
Your internal steam is likely the matrix or a leaking hose connector.
The heater fan is probably due to a wiring issue caused by removal of the matrix.
Oil leaks aren't usually caused by head gasket failure. Identify it's source.
Plugs don't escape because of HT leads - it was not screwed in tight enough.
Mayonaisse on the filler cap is only one possible sign of a gasket failure.
Get the gases in the header tank sniffed for hydrocarbons with an exhaust gas analyser.
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rocker cover gaskets are a nuisance on most of the 306 engines and most of them leak at some point or another, the oem gaskets from pug seem to be better but it's vital the head and cover are spotlessly clean and the cover is torqued down evenly and to the right settings.
heater could be either the resistor blown under the bonnet or the wiring not been reattached to the fan, check the wiring 1st as it's easy accessible from under the glovebox.
the steam could be burning oil, my old xsi used to leak from the and onto the exhaust manifold and then through the vents, when you get the fan going hold your hand in front of the vent and see if you get an oily residue on it. if not the heater matrix you bought is likely dodgy, there only £35 new, you could of course bypass the system again to check if this is the cause of the steam.
could the spark plug 1st blowing be due to excessive pressure in the crank case? id remove the breather hoses and blow them through anyway, when you did the rocker cover was it raining at all, water could easily have got in the crank case causing the mayo, or more likely the fact it hasn't been very far lately and has condensation in the oil.
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I parked it up because of the mayo when I was using it every day but it did rain a bit while I was doing the rocker cover.
Checked all the wiring already on the fan, where's the resistor?
Cheers
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open bonnet, back right side behind engine is a black cross hatch grill type thing, pull it out maybe remove foam if yours has some, resistor is mounted inside on the top.
before you parked it up what sort of journeys were you doing? alot of stop start town driving or decent length motorway/dual carriageway runs
chris
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OK cheers...
Before I parked it I was doing 30 or 40 mins dual carriageways twice a day.
Come to think of it it did overheat once due to the steaming up (No water left). Didn't seem to cause any new problems at the time. Dropped lot's of water and oil (I think there was some of both) all over the hard shoulder at the time.
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Thanks...
Get the gasses sniffed? Is this a normal gararge kind of job or do I need to find a specialist?
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jim
Most garages will have an exhaust gas analyzer.
More concerning is the fresh info that this has run dry on a motorway, got cooked and dropped oil and water - that's never, never, good.
I'd have severe doubts about the ability of any engine [this side of an old A-series] to survive that unscathed. I'd be keeping an eye out for a secondhand engine.
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Cheers...
I've been looking for a second hand engine... just don't trust the scrapyards. Not even sure if it's worth it but that's what brought me here. Just don't wanna give up on the little beast either you know?
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OK so I've had the gasses analysed in the header tank and the machine says "Head gasket defective".
Thing is, the car's been run so many times recently including a decent "Exercise" on the way to the test and still it ticks over fine, runs smooth, accelerates hard and smooth, sounds good. Doesn't everheat, cough or splutter. Sounds very well in fact.
Is this test 100% Accurate?
Bearing in mind the water system has been plugged up with radweld, and I mean loads of it, you can see solid lumps stuck to the inside of the tank. Could it, under "exercise", have burnt some of this off on the way to the test causing Co's in the header tank?
or should I give up on it even though it seems fine?
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If done correctly; the hydrocarbons sniff test is pretty conclusive. Radweld shouldn't contain anything that would fool it.
Most head/gasket faults run fine - it's got to get very bad indeed before they start to miss.
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[this side of an old A-series]
Or a Ford Pinto ;-)
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Really..?
I always thought they'd overheat quicktime and spit and cough if I took the oil filler cap off while it was running.
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Or a Ford Pinto ;-)
Not sure about the Pinto (done a few head gaskets on those) but the old Kent x-flow could take some abuse!
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