skeggyrik Posted June 4, 2009 Posted June 4, 2009 Thanks for the replies Dan and Jon. I've heard good things about Top Gear Automotive, will def give them a call if it's looking like something serious. The stalling thing is a weird one, never noticed it before, but as Dan mentioned, restart and it's fine, not too worried about that. I'd be v happy if my temperature woes are air locks - a nice cheap fix How quickly would the temps go up and down if it was? my temperature seems to gradually go from 88 to around 105 in about 10 secs, and sometimes take a while to come back down, when they do, it drops in about 5 secs. At the weekend I thought I might as well sort the oil out, so I drained the 10w40 from the engine and oil cooler, and replaced with the recommended Mobil 1 Motorsport 15w50.... and no more smoking Now, I'm not sure if that's an acceptable fix, or if it just means that the thinner oil has shown up a problem sooner than the thicker oil would. Any thoughts? Had they over filled it with oil by any chance? seen that casue smoking on other cars, albeit they had been topped up with a 4 litre can with the woman saying it still wasn't full to the top
innivodave Posted June 4, 2009 Author Posted June 4, 2009 Hot one side cold the other sounds like air lock to me, i've had it a few times due to faulty expansion tank caps not pressurising the system and allowing it to boil, get air in etc etc. Try it again, get the car properly hot - up to operating temperature, then reach in and open the bleed valve on the passenger side - it can take a long time for the air to come through, you might lose a load of coolant so make sure theres plenty in the tank, but the air will come out eventually. When its bled correctly the rad will be hot all over. Also, make sure its not parked on a slope nose down, if anything park it uphill.... Good call Dan, thanks I thought I had got the air out, but seems I hadn't. Managed to get some more air out and ended up putting another litre of coolant in. I obv lost some when bleeding, but that seems like quite a bit extra to get in there. The rad is now hot all over when at operating temperature, and so far hasn't over heated. Haven't been able to give it a good run due to the misfiring I'm getting under load (next thing to sort), but so far so good Had they over filled it with oil by any chance? seen that casue smoking on other cars, albeit they had been topped up with a 4 litre can with the woman saying it still wasn't full to the top I guess that's possible, but wouldn't that chuck out smoke as soon as it starts? When mine was smoking, it was very little, if any when it started, but got progressively worse as the engine warmed up. Shame I didn't check the oil level when I got it back, I just replaced with the good stuff.
innivodave Posted July 2, 2009 Author Posted July 2, 2009 quick update for anyone having the same problems: After my last post, the car was still overheating, still misfiring under load, and burning oil but only on a colder day. Also, water started to appear under the spark plug of cylinder 1, so something obviously wrong there. A mate of mine had suspected HGF from the beginning and he was up for doing the job, so we had the rear clam and head off and sure enough the gasket had gone, only a bit, but seemingly enough for it to cause these problems. The valves were lapped and all top end gaskets/seals changed, and just got everything back together tonight. Took it for a run and it's never been better No overheating, no misfiring, nothing coming out of the exhaust, and ticks over alot smoother than before - result...... finally
lummo Posted July 4, 2009 Posted July 4, 2009 quick update for anyone having the same problems: After my last post, the car was still overheating, still misfiring under load, and burning oil but only on a colder day. Also, water started to appear under the spark plug of cylinder 1, so something obviously wrong there. A mate of mine had suspected HGF from the beginning and he was up for doing the job, so we had the rear clam and head off and sure enough the gasket had gone, only a bit, but seemingly enough for it to cause these problems. The valves were lapped and all top end gaskets/seals changed, and just got everything back together tonight. Took it for a run and it's never been better No overheating, no misfiring, nothing coming out of the exhaust, and ticks over alot smoother than before - result...... finally Nice one! How long did it take you to do the head gasket?
innivodave Posted July 5, 2009 Author Posted July 5, 2009 Nice one! How long did it take you to do the head gasket? Thanks lummo, it probably took about 6 hours to get the clam and head off (Clam took a while to get off as it seems the 160 has fixings in different places to the guides I read, so had to figure that out as we went) and took about 8 hours to replace gaskets/seals and put it all back together. Head was skimmed and pressure tested while it was off too - cost £80. The job itself isn't actually that bad, it just takes a while and there are lots of bits to keep organised. Driving with the rear clam off is a strange experience too
AshGTi16v Posted July 5, 2009 Posted July 5, 2009 did you do the valve stem seals? wel done on hgf completion
innivodave Posted July 5, 2009 Author Posted July 5, 2009 did you do the valve stem seals? wel done on hgf completion cheers, yep did the valve stem seals along with pretty much everything shown in this kit http://www.eliseparts.com/products.php?product=236 (bought it from lotus tho)
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