16v not starting

Retroholic Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 1000

it hasnt siezed has it???????? or oil missing somehwere???????

Level 10 User Joined: 04 Nov 2005 Posts: 575

tbh that did cross my mine mate but I don't think it has purely because the other day the starter wouldn't work but then suddenly kicked and when it did the engine ran perfectly. I'm going to try turning it over by hand tomorrow though just incase.

Retroholic Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 1000

oh right, sorry, didnt know it have turned over since

Level 10 User Joined: 04 Nov 2005 Posts: 575

yeah, still kind of at the back of my mind all the same - but I certainly wouldn't think so. If it had though I would just have to put a 2.0 in there, it would be rude not to Wink

Level 10 User Joined: 04 Nov 2005 Posts: 575

I', bloody fuming now. I tried turning it over earlier and put it this way - I had to put a shit load of effort into turning it over using a 0.5m breaker bar on the crank pulley. In the end it got moving but would hit this same point every time round where it needed a shit load of weight put on the bar to turn it. After a few times it turns fairly smoothly all the way round, but not that great. Obviously with this I'm thinking it's fucked so I check the oil level - and it's about 2cm above the max on the dipstick even though previously it was showing it to be just below the max????? Anyway I took the spark plugs out on each cylinder and had a spy with a torch to see that 3 of them looked a bit dirty but ok, but in no.3 cylinder the piston is covered in oil by the looks of things.

My question now is am I looking at a new engine as an only option or what?

I feel really, really annoyed about this bloody car now, but at the end of the day what can you do.

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

could be a load of things. Headgasket, cracked head or block.

If you weren't so far away or covered the petrol i could pop over.

Retroholic Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 1000

could one of the big end shells have slipped, throwing out the precise timing of combustion? or am i being overly stupid?

Level 10 User Joined: 04 Nov 2005 Posts: 575

mm, I might take you up on that offer (covering petrol cost) chris if I amn't sure myself whats wrong. I'm off work tomorrow so I'll see what more I can sus out. I had presummed earlier that it was oil on the piston but it occured to me when I was at work that it could just be water??? I'll stick a bit of paper towel on the end of an extension bar tomorrow and let that soak a little up so that I can see what it is.

If it was a problem with the gearbox then I could accept it as a fuck up on my part, but it's a right pain in the bollocks for it to be the engine thats knackered when I thought that was the one thing that was sound about the car. I'll update tomorrow if possible.

Level 10 User Joined: 04 Nov 2005 Posts: 575

Chris - I replied to you on WC with another question but I'll let you reply to that there. But, I take it I am going to have to take the head off the car whatever the problem is? If so is there anything I should check/try before taking it off to help work out what happend or should i just crack on with it as if so I'll just do that tomorrow.

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

answered on WC

Level 10 User Joined: 04 Nov 2005 Posts: 575

cheers mate. Another question asked (unsurpisingly Wink

) - it's bloody awkward talking abou this on two forums, lol.

Level 10 User Joined: 04 Nov 2005 Posts: 575

todays story - I started by removing all the spark plugs going to turn the engine over without them in. When I had removed them I stuck a bit of tape on the end of an extension and put it into the no3 cylinder to see what was on the piston as it had looked oily before. Anyway, when I lifted the extension back out, it wasn't oil or water but a lot of petrol on there. It just looked all oily from above with a torch, but when smelt it was definately petrol - I then left the plugs out for a wee while and most of the petrol had evaporated from the surface of the piston. I then tried turning it over without the plugs in but with jump leads from a charged battery to the one in the 16v as it was pretty low. The engine did turn over - but did so very slowly. I then put the plugs back in and tried to turn it over but it woudl only turn over a tiny bit, so I took the battery out and put the charged battery directly on there with the leads and guess what - SHE STARTED Smile

I'm sure somethig still wasn't right as it was stupidly hard to turn over the other day when I tried by hand. Any ideas on what caused it to do that?

What do you think I should do now, just drain the oil, replace with new stuff to the right level and see what it's like?

If there was too much oil in there in the first place could that have caused it to become so hard to turn over in any way? I must have somehow misread the oil, but I know that I checked it loads of times so can only think the dipstick wasn't in totally or something silly like that.

Level 10 User Joined: 04 Nov 2005 Posts: 575

Also, I reckon my jump leads are buggered as they seem to have done jack shit when connected from the charged battery to the 16v.

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

oilk level may have gone up due to petrol causing bore wash

Level 10 User Joined: 04 Nov 2005 Posts: 575

whats bore wash?? (rember I am but a simpleton when it comes to engines Wink

)

And any idea on why the hell it was so hard to turn over as it seems to have just been too difficult for the starter to turn it over.

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

petrol pouring in and running by the rings, washes the oil off the bores causing premature wear as well.

as for it being hard to turn is it still hard to turn over? if not then it was probably the fuel in ther cylinder hydraulicing it.

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

also if you start it let it run for 5 mins to prevent this happening again.

Level 10 User Joined: 04 Nov 2005 Posts: 575

Should I change the oil before running it for a while or should it be OK to run for 5 mins as it is - I don't want to cause anymore damage tbh.

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

I wouldn't go and attempt to beat my record for the glasgow to edinburgh run on it but it will be fine to start and run the engine with.