Overheating damage

[HappyCamper]

Hi Guys,
Over Christmas I travelled 250 miles to Essex in my 1600 normally aspirated diesel. A few days later on the way home, I'd covered around 180 miles, the heater started blowing cold. The hose from the head to the heater had parted where it reduces. The AA sent a local garage out and he presumed it was just an old hose that had failed. He folded over the end of each hose and filled it up with water. All seemed okay for another 30 miles then it was overheating again. It had split the hose from the water pump. I managed to cut it and reattach, filled it up with water again, but only managed around 1 mile before the large 4 brach hose split wide open, about a 4 inch tear. Got the van relayed home, but it was difficult to start to get it on and off the transporter. I haven't had the heart to start looking at it yet. Pressume the coolant system is being pressurised and not sure what damage has been done. Is a blown head gasket the only reason for exess pressure.  Thanks.

 

[colinthefox]

If the engine won't start, the symptoms do seem to indicate some serious damage like head gasket failure. 
I have a CS 1.6NA diesel engine here, which is for sale. It's a Vege recon which has done approx 20K miles and was working fine when I removed it to upgrade to a 1.9 engine. It has a slight oil leak from one of the blanking plugs at the front of the cylinder head, but that doesn't affect its operation. It has always been stored in a dry, clean conditions, with the injection pump full of lub oil.
Once you know what the problem is, if you are interested in my engine, please PM me, and we can discuss.

[Rik]

If you find out what the problem is, i'd love to know. Had two hoses and the waterpump fail on my CS too this year. Still hoping it isn't the headgasket...

I've started by replacing all coolant hoses, including the heater ones under the dashboard. They definately were old. Has worked so far.

Also, the dalek cap should prevent too much pressure building up, right?

[HappyCamper]

I'll hopefully get to look at it next week. Maybe do a pressure test on the cylinders first. Thanks

[HappyCamper]

Hi Rik, I've put stuff on another thread under mechanical. I did a pressure test on my cylinders yesterday and not good. No 1 was around 18 bar, no 2 was 6 bar, no 3 was 5 bar and no 4 was around 15 bar. All pressures were cold, as I cant start the engine. The Wiki says the warm pressures should be 28 - 34 bar, with a max difference of 5 bar and a minimum compression of 11 bar. So it's either a full rebuild or engine swap for me.

[cobblers]

Possibly a dead head gasket between 2 and 3.
However, realistically if it's been repeatedly cooked til it won't start anymore, fixing it would be
1: throwing good money at what is fundamentally the worst engine fitted to one of these vans.
2: throwing good money at what is quite likely a terminally damaged example of the worst engine fitted to one of these vans.

I'd just keep an eye out for an NA 1.9 out of a mk3 golf etc, or maybe drop a JX in. Either would be a massive upgrade.

[mrhutch]

2: throwing good money at what is quite likely a terminally damaged example of the worst engine fitted to one of these vans.

[R0B]

I thought that accolade belonged to the CS engine.

Possibly a dead head gasket between 2 and 3.
However, realistically if it's been repeatedly cooked til it won't start anymore, fixing it would be
1: throwing good money at what is fundamentally the worst engine fitted to one of these vans.
2: throwing good money at what is quite likely a terminally damaged example of the worst engine fitted to one of these vans.

I'd just keep an eye out for an NA 1.9 out of a mk3 golf etc, or maybe drop a JX in. Either would be a massive upgrade.

 

[cobblers]

2: throwing good money at what is quite likely a terminally damaged example of the worst engine fitted to one of these vans.

admittedly it is a very competitive field

[HappyCamper]

Just did a dry and wet test again today, all readings in bar. 

Dry        No 1 - 16b   No 2  - 10b   No 3 - 6b    No 4 - 19b
Wet       No 1 - 38b   No 2 - 36b   No 3 - 35b   No 4 - 38b

These are all cold readings and higher than the readings in the wiki ( 28 - 34)
I was expecting it to be a blown head gasket or warped head, but unless I'm misunderstanding this it would look like the rings.
I did have a Triumph Dolomite Sprint, when they were current. They used to suffer overheating problems and I did melt one piston and the others the rings seized into the piston grooves, giving no compression. 

I have been looking for other engines, but the 1Y engines are so old now, all the cars with that engine are gone. Everything for sale now is TDI, which isn't going to be a quick fix.


       

[Rik]

There seem to still be some Sdi's around. Also the hassle of electrics and gearbox but perhaps a simpler swap than a Tdi.

Maybe you're in luck and there is a cheap rusted out van somewhere with a healthy JX that you could just swap over.

[HappyCamper]

I started disconnecting the engine ready to remove it. A couple of things were crazy. I tried to remove the starter, but the bracket for the clutch slave cylinder was in the way of one of the bolts. I removed the slave cylinder, which again was crazy, the rear nut is inside a shaped bracket. I was lucky I had a short 13mm spanner to put inside to hold the nut. I'm not sure how it will go back. Once the slave cylinder was out of the way, the bracket still had an upstand which was in the centre of the bolt head. After taking out the bellhousing bolt and the support bolt for the bracket a managed to force it over to allow a 19mm thin walled socket to get it from underneath. Surely you don't have to do this kind of stuff just to remove the starter motor.
Before I split the engine and box, is it better / easier to remove them together or better to split them.