Engine trouble :(

Dave.

Dave.

Member +
Alright folks,

I've had a spot of trouble (the first in over 2 years of ownership!) with my starlet :(

I was driving a fairly long journey (about 200 miles) to go on holiday, and I've always loads of confidence in my car, so I took the scenic route...

Anyway, about 100 miles into the journey, the car started to fel really laboured and low on power, I thought it was just me, but it started to get worse and worse.

I stopped and checked all the fluids etc, and they were all fine, if a little low on oil (still well up the dipstick though), so I gave it a little topup and carried on.

Then it felt like it was getting considerably lower on power, and developed a faint tapping noise, although it was fine on idle (silent and idling smoothly).

Then, as the journey went on (over the next 50 or so miles) the tapping got MUCH louder, and the car started sounding like a subaru (definite loss of 1 cylinder, but no smoke at all). Again, the tapping wasn't present at idle, but the 3 cylinder burble was. I stopped to check the car over again, with a little concern and there was oil ALL over the engine bay, and the level had dropped quite a bit. Now on idle, the car was VERY laboured and was struggling to idle at all, driving below about 3000rpm was almost impossible as it just wanted to cut out constantly.

I had 50 odd miles left and limped the rest of the way (no phone reception to call out the AA :( )

I have no idea what could cause this, but i was thinking along the lines of a sticky valve, or even a bottom end problem??

Although I'm on holiday atm (Vegas ROCKS) I'd like to have a rough idea what I'm talking about when I get back and book her into a garage.

(Oh, and I let the car sit before topping up, and it only took a litre or so, and wasn't overfilled :) and the oil pressure light was never on)

Any input appreciated :)

Dave
 
M

monka

Member +
big ends it sounds like mate

not to hard to do,

my miss's has just done them on her almera gti, lol, thats, my miss's, not me on the miss's car, my miss's working on her car, lol
 
R

Rob fulham4eva

Member +
big end very possibly, id b thinkin bout the gaskets though .take it to andrews garage m8 theyll sort u out.

or swap with a recaro spec'd gt like mine;)
 
lingl9z

lingl9z

Member +
could have shat a ring if its running on 3 cylinders + oil over the bay, was it smoking from the breather at all? (same thing happened on a mates)
 
Dave.

Dave.

Member +
Rob fulham4eva said:
big end very possibly, id b thinkin bout the gaskets though .take it to andrews garage m8 theyll sort u out.

or swap with a recaro spec'd gt like mine;)
Click to expand...

I'd sooner torch it than take it to andrews lol! She'll be going somewhere decent. Didnt know yours was Recaro spec, hasn't been anytime I've seen it :haha: Any specific gaskets or should i just check the whole engine. Thanks for the constructive reply :haha:

To everyone else - I thought rings, but there wasn't any smoke at all, from either end. I thought it was really obscure, which is why I posted it up here rather than just blaming the rings/bottom end myself.

I reckoned it would be more likely a sticking valve - explains the tapping and the lack of one cylinder. That or a bottom end problem:(

Hopefully it's something straightforward - if not though, I'll just put her off the road and buy a run around till she gets forged :D

Cheers for all the input, it really just confirmed what I thought!

Dave
 
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W

weakboy2

Member +
Yeah sounds like fooked piston matey.

Oil out of the breather is because the crankcase is becoming pressurised too much, usually caused by a cracked/holed piston or worn rings. Usually piston on these engines though.

I would say the knocking was just the massive missfire caused by no compression, i would hazard a guess that the cylinder that has gone down after a compression test would be reading zero!
 
R

Rob fulham4eva

Member +
dave-gtturbo said:
I'd sooner torch it than take it to andrews lol! She'll be going somewhere decent. Didnt know yours was Recaro spec, hasn't been anytime I've seen it :haha: Any specific gaskets or should i just check the whole engine. Thanks for the constructive reply :haha:

id check the whole engine, it is recaro'd now:haha: , was up the top of helensburgh earlier got to the small roundabout 2nd turn boosted it ,BANG ohh fuk was whailin like fuk wen ya put the foot down no boost at all thought shit turbo gone pulled ova, the tmic had come clean off, i didnt fasten it up properly:( , mayb not a straight swap as i do all the work on the car myself:p
giv us a bell wen ya find out whts rong wiv it m8:cool:
Click to expand...
 
Dave.

Dave.

Member +
weakboy2 said:
Yeah sounds like fooked piston matey.

Oil out of the breather is because the crankcase is becoming pressurised too much, usually caused by a cracked/holed piston or worn rings. Usually piston on these engines though.

I would say the knocking was just the massive missfire caused by no compression, i would hazard a guess that the cylinder that has gone down after a compression test would be reading zero!
Click to expand...

Interesting theory about the knocking noise, I'll investigate it fully when I get a chance! :)

Like I said though, no smoke from either end at all, but I'm thousands of miles from the car the now anyway, so I'll update this when I get back! :)

Rob fulham4eva said:
id check the whole engine, it is recaro'd now:haha: , was up the top of helensburgh earlier got to the small roundabout 2nd turn boosted it ,BANG ohh fuk was whailin like fuk wen ya put the foot down no boost at all thought shit turbo gone pulled ova, the tmic had come clean off, i didnt fasten it up properly:( , mayb not a straight swap as i do all the work on the car myself:p
giv us a bell wen ya find out whts rong wiv it m8:cool:
Click to expand...

I think the gaskets are all ok in all honesty, fully replaced within the last few thousands miles so it'll be all good! :)

Gutted about yours, but that's not a big fix at all, good to hear the fmic is piped up too, and nice one with the seats! :) I'll let you know how she is for sure :D

Thanks for the replies everyone, really just confirmed what I thought!

Cheers folks

Dave
 
J

jam

Member +
Take out the spark plugs and check if its emerge with oil if its the case your oil piston ring need be change mate. Do a compression test to be sure can be head gasket also.
 
HYBRID

HYBRID

Super Moderator <a href="http://www.toyotagtturbo.
spuddy said:
Would you get oil in the engine bay with big ends gone? Could be a piston prob.
Click to expand...

no... you wouldnt, imho a ring got stuck, thats why it started tapping as the piston had play in the cylinder, on idle it wont do this, after the ring got stuck, obviously it broke after some time & caused ringland fauilure...

so safe to say its a piston 1 or more.. why dont ask, but id say just age mate, it happened to a mate of mine, jsut normal slow traffic driving & bang, 2 pistons gone :rolleyes:

kon
 
Dave.

Dave.

Member +
Alright folks, just thot I'd follow this up! Turns out it was the headgasket, which had just been done...

The previous garage put copperslip(sp) on the headbolts before fitting.

Has anyone heard of this before? The garage its at just now are disguisted lol

Dave
 
R

Rob fulham4eva

Member +
dave-gtturbo said:
Alright folks, just thot I'd follow this up! Turns out it was the headgasket, which had just been done...

The previous garage put copperslip(sp) on the headbolts before fitting.

Has anyone heard of this before? The garage its at just now are disguisted lol

Dave
Click to expand...

i was right:haha: , but not good for sure least its an easy fix where is it booked in now????? and was it in murray motors for the head gasket change b4 it fuked up???????
 
sx_turbo

sx_turbo

Lifer
the head bolts are supposed to be greased before they are fitted, this is to help them clamp up and stretch.

i'm not sure if copper slip should be used or not, but i know all the headbolts i have fitted and ones i have supplied, come with a pack of grease that must be used on the headbolts. this grease looks very similar to copper grease so it may well be.

when you fit ARP con rod bolts you have to use there grease because of this reason also.

what the previous company done was nothing wrong.
 
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Dave.

Dave.

Member +
Hey ricky,

Cheers for the info mate, I've never done that kind of work before so I wasn't sure hence my post here! :)

I'll have a word with them and see what the deal is, either way it was the hg that went between the two cylinders :)

Dave
 
Dave.

Dave.

Member +
Rob fulham4eva said:
i was right:haha: , but not good for sure least its an easy fix where is it booked in now????? and was it in murray motors for the head gasket change b4 it fuked up???????
Click to expand...

Well not really lol! U said 'check the gaskets' there are quite a few ;) hardly a diagnosis! :p

Dave
 
Dave.

Dave.

Member +
After a look online I see that head bolts should only be fitted and torqued with 30w engine oil applied to them.

Could someone confirm either way as correct?

Cheers folks!

Dave
 
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