Knocking and banging, low power

[itchyfeet]

Could be two faults
Did you touch the waterpump?
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A failed pump bearing makes a terrible noise as the impeller hits the block I would describe it as knocking and banging

Remove the belt when cold and start the engine don't run for more than say 10 seconds or so but that should tell you if its the waterpump

[kevtherev]

would that make it run rough though?

[itchyfeet]

Could be two faults

No I'm working on the assumtion that its more likely two faults if all that has been done is the crank puly has been played with

[oddnumber]

Thanks for all the replies chaps, I'm very grateful.

I've had drained tappets before when I parked on a weird angle on the drive. This felt a lot more severe, almost like it was running on three cylinders.

I've not fettled the waterpump at all. One thing I did notice is that the engine ran at 12 oclock on the temp gauge, and didn't get any hotter at all. Hopefully a good sign.

I'll not have chance to investgate tonight unfortunately, but fingers crossed it's nothing major as we're going away in it on Saturday

[AdrianC]

would that make it run rough though?

It didn't when ours went. I s'pose it's possible if it's so knackered that it's spraying water onto the distributor. But, surely, that'd be easily noticed?

[itchyfeet]

That could be an ht lead disturbed or broken as I say the noise may not be directly related to the loss of power
Keep an open mind when you investigate

[BOXY]

almost like it was running on three cylinders.

Have you tried pulling one lead at a time to see if it is actually running on three? Plugs & leads don't last for ever.

[steve8090]

Is this the one you phoned me about this morning? What was the verdict from the garage you took it to?

[oddnumber]

Hi Steve, they didn't have chance to look at it, so I'll have a look tomorrow after work.

Boxy - the plugs and ignition leads were new just before I bought the van, so only a month or two old. I guess it's possible one has broken down already, so I'll pull each one and see if there's a difference to the running. Definately has a feel of running on three. Unfortunately I had to get to work so didn't have much time this morning.

[Iridium]

Hello,

my 1984 1.9 DG had the same symptoms as yours on two separate occasions; ran fine in the morning and ran like poo in the afternoon, knocking, clicking, low power and the odd back fire.

First time, the HT leads gave up just like that, in an instance. Replaced them and all was good, it ran great until...

Second time, a replay of these symptoms about 3 months later, the coil gave up the ghost in the afternoon whilst out, replaced it and the prob disappeared.

This post may help.

Iridium

[oddnumber]

Thanks Iridium, the post certainly does help.

As i mentioned it definitely feels like it's running on three, and short of there being anything wrong with a cylinder/piston (and there's no smoke) it's got to be electrical hasn't it? For the sake of completeness I'll check leads and plugs, too.

[AdrianC]

short of there being anything wrong with a cylinder/piston

Easy enough to check if you've got a compression tester.

[oddnumber]

short of there being anything wrong with a cylinder/piston

Easy enough to check if you've got a compression tester.

Yup, got a tester. Next step if poking about the ignition fails

[bloggs]

Not dislodged the dizzy cap, or cracked it. It is possibly the weakest thing in the area when wielding spanners around the pulley.

[oddnumber]

Right then, fortunately the garage that the van was left had have managed to have a look at it - they compression tested it (which I'd not really asked for but saves me doing it later), and all cylinders were 150 - 170 apart from cylinder one which was at 110. Apparently there were flames popping up through the carb which sounds alarming.

Any ideas chaps? Is the valve not seating properly on that cylinder? Whatever the cause, it sounds fairly terminal for that engine