i have a leak on sump, maybe two leaks, on brava 1.6 elx 98..so i bought the sump gasket and i went to mine mechanic to change it, but he said that he is in big business so he cant help me right now..i am asking is it hard to change it by yourself..i was under the car and i saw some 20 or more bolts..that is not looking so hard to do..but i saw that two bolts are little harder to reach because of some metal part of suspension that is blocking it...does anyone have some experience with it, and is it hard to change it..is there any pattern to put the bolts back?
one more question..because i never solved the issue with mine car when on cold, mine revs are going up and down on their own when i press the pedal,and that results with gradually accelerating...there is some water going out of mine exhaust pipe..i know that is normal for some condensation to come out...but on mine when i rev it i leave the little paddle behind..could this be in connection with that is mine car is drinking some water..just to remind you i had a head gasket changed...it is not takin so much water then that i left behind me..and sometimes emulsion comes back on oil pipe,and there is some condense on oil pipe cap,maybe sump is still dirty..but i changed the water and there are no traces of oil in the water...what this could be?
and finally ..sometimes i can smell the exhaust in the engine bay like something is in exhaust pipe..i was thinking to remove the catalysator, and to put regular pipe...
in mine country laws are not so hard
thanx!!!!!

johntra said:

i have a leak on sump, maybe two leaks, on brava 1.6 elx 98..so i bought the sump gasket and i went to mine mechanic to change it, but he said that he is in big business so he cant help me right now..i am asking is it hard to change it by yourself..i was under the car and i saw some 20 or more bolts..that is not looking so hard to do..but i saw that two bolts are little harder to reach because of some metal part of suspension that is blocking it...does anyone have some experience with it, and is it hard to change it..is there any pattern to put the bolts back?

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there is an order to use when replacing the bolts. taking the sump off usually requiresa the gearbox bolts to be loosened off enough to slightly seperate the gearbox from the engine. also the old gasket usually holds the sump on better than glue so expect to use a lot of foce getting it off. make sure the car is raised securely (use at least 2 trolley jacks and 2 axle stands) or it may topple under the force of removing the sump.

johntra said:

one more question..because i never solved the issue with mine car when on cold, mine revs are going up and down on their own when i press the pedal,and that results with gradually accelerating...

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very common on the 1.6. did you try cleaning the idle speed control valve? did you try replacing the air temp sensor next to it?

johntra said:

there is some water going out of mine exhaust pipe..i know that is normal for some condensation to come out...but on mine when i rev it i leave the little paddle behind..could this be in connection with that is mine car is drinking some water..just to remind you i had a head gasket changed...it is not takin so much water then that i left behind me..and sometimes emulsion comes back on oil pipe,and there is some condense on oil pipe cap,maybe sump is still dirty..but i changed the water and there are no traces of oil in the water...what this could be?

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sounds like the head gasket hasnt sealed properly, i assume you didnt bother skimming the head when the head gasket was changed? thats usually the cause of this. i'd get the head skimmed and the gakset changed again.

johntra said:

and finally ..sometimes i can smell the exhaust in the engine bay like something is in exhaust pipe..i was thinking to remove the catalysator, and to put regular pipe...
in mine country laws are not so hard
thanx!!!!!

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you can smell the exhaust in the engine bay? that sounds like an exhaust leak. replacing the cat with a piece of pipe wont fix that unless the cat is leaking, and since the cat is not near enough to the engine bay to cause the smell i'd think it cant be that. your idle problem and this smell could both be due to a cracked or warped manifold. if the car overheated during the previous head gasket failure it is likely that the manifold has warped and blown the manifold gasket, this should have been changed and checked when the head gasket was done. feel around the manifold for any exhaust gas escaping, careful it will be hot gas.

it sounds like you've had a bad head gasket repair in the past. i'd say it needs doing again, and doing properly this time.

the head was properly skimmed..mine mechanic did this..i mean he diddnt do it but he send it to the proper shop with lot of experience...but interesting is that emulsion only comes back when the weather is little colder...and water is not oily...i cleaned the top of the coolant bottle and it stayed clean when the water returns...it never overheated,but fan cuts in around 100 or 110..never on the half of temp gauge...i think there is some leftovers in the sump of emulsion..
i cleaned the idle valve,didnt change the air temp sensor..i am startin to think that mine problem is something with exhaust..because when i rev it on spot about 4000-5000,lots of condens is getting out,and when i release the pedal and revs are coming back to normal,at the end when its coming to 850 it almost chokes or stalls for just shortly..and then goes to normal..like something is wrong with exhaust..also car normally revs after 2700 without me pressing the pedal anymore..which is good i think
i am thinking to lose the catalysator because i think it had it..he is on the car around 100 000km...and i want to put the pipe on because i think the car will run more smoothly and it will breathe freely..

removing the cat is always a good thing, but i can almost guarantee it wont solve your problems.

you said the car is "drinking some water". there are only 2 places it can be going, through a head gasket leak, or a leak elsewhere. either way i'd want to find out where it is leaking from before i go spending money on anything else.

also worrying is the fact that your fan comes on late. that suggests a temp sensor problem. overheating is an easy way to damage the headgasket, it probably caused the original head gasket failure, and part of any head gasket repair is finding out why it happened in the first palce, then making sure it wont happen again.

forget about the cat for now, if it was blocked up you would stuggle to hit 100kph, you need to fix the fan and water loss first. if you dont you'll end up with another head gasket failure.

do you mean on air temp sensor...but i never had a problem with starting the engine on any type of weather..when i start it at first it runs normally to 1200 then comes back to 850 when its hotter...or did you mean the coolant temp sensor...in either way are they expensive beacuse i dont think that in mine country i can find that on scrapyards...

i mean the coolant temp sensor. its a small cheap sensor that most motorfactors will be able to supply.

if i am not mistaking it is under the ignitoin coil?i thought to clean it a little bit..maybe it is dirty..

a coolant temp sensor is a sealed variable resistance thermistor that changes resistance as the engine's coolant temperature changes so if it was dirty it would make little or no difference. it may be worth checking the wiring and cleaning the connections



i remember it was screwed directly into the head and easy to change but i cant remember exactly where it was (the loss of coolant when removing the sensor requires a top up and bleed of the cooling system on replacement of the sensor)

The coolant temp sensor is screwed into the thermostat housing.

i found it...but what is more interesting i am 90% sure that i found a leak..its just to coolant temp sensor..it is plastic or rubber,im not sure,cap near it..i saw some coolant that is leaking from it..i wiped that and i will monitor the situation...if that is mine leak what should i do...can i put some silicone on it to plug the leak..i hope that you know of what cap i am talking about...

dont know where you mean. a pic would help. its a good find, if you fix this leak and the coolant level stops dropping you can relax

johntra said:

i found it...but what is more interesting i am 90% sure that i found a leak..its just to coolant temp sensor..it is plastic or rubber,im not sure,cap near it..i saw some coolant that is leaking from it..i wiped that and i will monitor the situation...if that is mine leak what should i do...can i put some silicone on it to plug the leak..i hope that you know of what cap i am talking about...

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I think I know the cap you mentioned. It's on the thermostat housing where the temp sensor is screwed in. Some thermostats are designed for both mk1 and mk2 and they have more than one whole to screw sensors into. I noticed this on my car when I changed the thermostat, what my mechanic did was screw in an old thermostat in the second hole to plug it Now I have two sensors on my thermostat housing But of course the only the new one is plugged in.
Hope it helps.

the joys of aftermarket parts. a bit of 'fiddling' is often required.