Club 80-90 Forums

Hi guys,

Im new here after buying a 1980/81 1.6 a/c van off merc trader, complete with dead engine hehe. We have got a new 2.0 litre a/c to go in, but i am keen to see if i can get the old one running. As it stands, the 1.6 engine will only turn over/rotate a certain amount before coming to a stop. Although i havent taken the engine out yet Merctrader says hes rotated the engine by hand with a wrench when he had it out and it only rotates a certain amount. He recons it is a stuck valve, but what other causes could it be? Is it possible its the starter motor/solenoid? Apparently the lady the van came from said it was working fine untill it was parked up for a while (3 years).

Any ideas?

take the rocker cover off and rotate the engine to see if the valves are moving/stuck

or just take the heads off

I'm guessing a stuck valve too for this to happen. Won't be a starter or solenoid issue if turning it by hand as the two won't be in contact.
Try taking off the rocker covers and looking for a gap between the top of the pushrods and the valves. The valves should all stay in contact with the pushrods if they are not stuck. If there is a gap at any time then that will be the valve that is sticking.
The easy way around this would be to take the rockers off and gently tap the top of the valve stam that is sticking. Hopefully it will free it enough for it to pop back up.

Hope this helps.

do you know any history of the engine? part of the reason the CT's get a slating is that they killed heads - am thinking possibility of a valve seat that has come adrift and jamming open a valve.

It's also worth removing the spark plugs as there are 2 types used in the CT's - a long and a short; if someone put long plugs into a short plug head they will hit the pistons.


Remove the dizzy (leave the clamp on the dizzy so the timing aint disturbed) as I have heard of dizzy's and dizzy drive's locking up an engine.

If the engine is out and the tinware/fan housing is off for the sake of 4 nuts check the oil pump out too