Engine Trouble , 2L 8V

[C-S_Cormac]

As most of you know i have a 2L 8V nova, was driving round town last nite when i notice a lot of smoke coming from the engine bay, stopped to investagate, Theres smoke puffing out of the rocker cover breether pipe, pulled the dipstick out too and its the same,

Went out this morning and it took ages to start, also looked and its now spitting out a creamy white colour of oil which indcates that its mixing the water into oil...

wats the verdict then guys?? gonna do a compression test on all 4 cylinders today, what should they be reading??

cheers

[david dixon]

head gasket.

[C-S_Cormac]

The oil mixing would deffo indicate a head gasket blow but what about the puffs out of the dip stick , a cracked ring maybe?

[david dixon]

probably steam from the burning water.

[paulwar]

Mine just went on a 1.2 nova. Had it back pressuring through the wat bottle. If the gasket has gone when you take the head off and replace gasket MAKE SURE YOU DRAIN THE OIL OUT and wash it through with parafin. What I had to do was drain oil out pour a gallon of parafin in and turn it over a couple of times to clean it up. Drain iparafin out and then change oil filter and put new oil in. If it still has water in the oil you will need to do it again. Oil n Water don't mix at all :(

[C-S_Cormac]

parafin the best stuff to use to clean engine out with????

Im not sure which head gasket ill need as i have a 20ne bottom end with a mk 1 astra GTE head..

[paulwar]

Well I did question that. According to my mechanic who has been fixing cars for years yer its ok to use. I still not to sure about it. Maybe someone else can confirm / deny it. I run it through my car and it started fine today so I would have said yes its ok

[S_Gault]

parrafin leaves residue, thinners doesnt.

Id need to do a leak down on it Cormac to be 100% sure the bottom end is good too.

Steven

[C-S_Cormac]

surely a compression test would show up any excess blow past..

[S_Gault]

sometimes, not always.

a leakdown shows it ability to hold compression. I use it for racecars all time as it traces problems like valve seat not sealing properly.. which all leads to a drop in power.

Id have been doing it to your car anyhow when you brought it down. I'd rather do things right

Steven

[C-S_Cormac]

No probs stephen, gonna put a gasket on er in the mean times, would i be as well getting the head skimmed or would it be fine without, the engine wasnt overheating..

After wat happened with Keiths engine i nvr got down to you but will be still leaving her down..

Cheers

[S_Gault]

just make sure the valve timing is right when you put it back together, I would have been checking that on your car too.

If you heated head then yes Id be skimming it-

I can skim it for you as it doesnt take that much time and ive acouple to do anyhow

Steven

[C-S_Cormac]

Ill mark it the way its timmed as it is.. I think ive cought the gasket blow early so hopefully it'll be fine without a skim..

Need to get the carb sorted tho, its only opening the 2nd choke the odd time, Can you recon varijet carbs stephen? + can bigger jets be used?

[S_Gault]

in my experience they warp very easy.. prob be best to give it a slight reface to sort it.

you dont want to have to do the job twice.

recon carb, havent doen one in a few years, best to send it to Royat MSS as he has more time than i have .. especially during race season.

Ive a group A 1600 to have finished for next round for one customer, not to mention everything else of recent.

[C-S_Cormac]

No probs stephen , i understand ur busy..

[S_Gault]

not too busy for you guys.. just under pressure!