help please, newbie needs advice after overheating

[tandemsandy]

Not a cheerful first post sadly. B reg 1.9 petrol which we've only had for a week had a major overheat on saturday night.
Here's the story: left friday morning to drive 80 miles to fort William. Just before leaving home found a coolant leak from a corroded hose clip on one of the main rad hoses under the cab. Clip replaced, coolant topped up, all fine to fort William. Temp gauge and red led historically a bit erratic, either normal mid-way or right off scale, then nornal again, which I suspect is an electrical fault.
Expansion tank topped up fri night and after a 10 mile drive saturday.
Saturday evening driving back to where we staying and the temp gauge was mis-behaving off the end of the scale. Turns into driveway, sudden loss of power, white smoke/steam everywhere, engine runs on for a few seconds after turning off.
After leaving him for a day have found: water pissing out of water jacket seals as fast as I pour it in. Cylinder head nuts loose, no coolant at all.
Is the engine dead or repairable?
Thanks, Sandy and Rob

[Aidan]

possibly but if it seized then probably not economically
Laurie Pettit if he's still about rebuilds them in Scotland
what was the history with the previous owner ?

[tandemsandy]

Previous owner (friends of ours) had him well serviced and looked after. New water pump a few years ago, coolant checked weekly. No such problems before.

[Aidan]

if nuts loose can they be pulled out (ie broken stud) or turned, is there any oil in the water leaking out of the water jacket seals and any trace of water in the oil

[Rich Tea]

Hello Sandy and Rob,

This sounds quite similar to what happened to me about a month a go, so I know exactly how you're feeling.

After your leak did you bleed the cooling the system properly (there's a WIKI on the subject). I know that when I bought my van it was very low on coolant, the levels in the bay looked fine but once the thermostat opened there was no water. I managed to get something like another 6 litres into the system but luckly no damage that time.

My more recent failure, I now believe was due to a large crack in the distribution junction.

The engine got very hot! the oil breather and thermostat matrix melted, It blew the water jacket seals and shot a load of oil up into the carb, as it was so hot the enine kept on running for about a minute after I'd turned it off. The oil was so overheated it absolutely stinks to high heaven, and the slightest whiff make you feel ill.

Look up this thread for more on my experience https://club8090.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.p ... 4#p7619767" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

I took the advice that it wasn't going to be worth rebuilding and have bought a second hand engine to fit.

Rich

[kevtherev]

reads like a busted head stud to me
if the broken stud can be removed then have them all replaced, if not ..replace with an Elite engine or a reconditioned engine from a reputable source

either way it's all a bit expensive

[Ian Hulley]

An expression involving the words 'Poke' and 'Pig' are springing to mind.

Known good engines turn up all the time in For Sale forum ... I'd buy one of those from one of the breakers on here rather than risk buying an unknown unit from an unknown ebayer.

Ian

[ghost123uk]

Known good engines turn up all the time in For Sale forum ... I'd buy one of those from one of the breakers on here rather than risk buying an unknown unit from an unknown ebayer.

Totally agree.

I got lucky and got my current very good engine off here 2 years ago.

[tandemsandy]

Thanks for the replies so far. Vinnie was trucked home late last night across a very wild Glencoe! A bit more info:
Engine hasn't seized, it turned over on the starter ok this morning.
There's no evidence of water & oil mixing anywhere, just water leaking out from the water jacket seals.
Head nuts on the right hand head could be tightened ok, so no obvious broken studs.

Rob

[Ian Hulley]

Perhaps the jacket seal going has allowed some play in the nuts ... seals are still knackered though.

[tandemsandy]

Am glad to report, in many ways due to the masses of useful info on here, that Vinnie is up and running and doing fine.
I took the engine out ( a very scary prospect but actually very easy) and took the heads off & liners out. One liner was stuck in the crankcase but eventually was persuaded to come out. Amazingly I only had to cut off one engine hanger bolt, one exhaust clamp, one exhaust manifold nut,and one thermostat housing bolt, everything else came undone Have replaced most fasteners & pipe clamps on rebuild. New piston rings fitted, liners honed, everything cleaned, then rebuilt with new seals everywhere. When refilling the coolant found a hole on one of the big steel pipes to the radiator, it had rotted on top. Fortunately it was near the back wheel, so I could cut it out and a 1m length of hose was long enough to run from the engine bay to the good pipe.

He's now running a treat, though I'm a bit paranoid about checking for leaks every day and watching the temp gauge like a hawk! Only leak I have found is from the clutch slave cylinder, so that's next weeks job. Treated him to some new gearbox oil, repainted the wiper arms and front grilles, removed and resealed the skylight, and got new engine mount rubbers on the way too.

So many thanks to everyone for putting so much useful info on here. In the end all it cost me was a seal kit, piston rings, thermostat, fasteners, hose & clips, filter & fluids, so just over £200. And me and Vinnie have got intimate and had a good bonding session, though he has been warned to behave from now on!

Rob & Sandy, and of course Vinnie

[Ian Hulley]

Well done and thanks for the feedback, it should help others.

Watching the levels is the key with these old girls, the 4.5 litres of oil will usually find a happy level 1/2 way between the marks on the stick but the coolant is the critical one to monitor. You'll soon get a feel for how things are though.

Ian

[ghost123uk]

Great stuff Rob & Sandy

Have you checked that your low water level sensor is working ? (2 wires going to the top of the expansion tank)

[tandemsandy]

Holy thread resurrection Batman!!!!
Just a wee update, a year on from the original post.
Vinnie is now 8k miles since rebuild, and never been better. No coolant leaks, not using any oil, and in all the sweltering heat he is fine and running like a good un. This weekend he was back in Fort William for the "10 Under the Ben" mountain bike race, the scene of his demise 12 months ago. Was a bit nervous till we got safely back home though!!

So I guess the moral of the story is that with a bit of good fortune that the head studs were in good condition, and the knowledge of club 80-90 to help, an overheated engine can come back to life

Rob

[kevtherev]

I took the engine out ( a very scary prospect but actually very easy) and took the heads off & liners out.

..and promptly saved your self a fortune... a good advert to the "I don't do mechanics" brigade.