General Is Lazarus on the way out????

Currently reading:
General Is Lazarus on the way out????

Eddy_B

New member
Joined
Sep 14, 2007
Messages
6
Points
4
Hi there guys,

I have a 1242 16v 85 ELX MK1, affectionately known as Lazarus due to the number of times its died and come back in the 6 months I've had it.

It now has a few kinks I'm trying to iron out.

Firstly, when v cold the engine shakes when you start it. Makes the whole car vibrate when idling until it warms itself up. Its also a wee bit sluggish, like its only on 3 cylinders or something. It also gets through a fair bit of oil. almost 1L/month but that could be due to age (although it has done less than 60k) and the water needs topping up every other month.

Is this a head gasket issue as it only had one go at 50k which got skimmed and then put on upside down so lots of stuff had to be fixed.

Secondly when you push the accellerator past a certain point a rattling/tapping noise comes from the engine. the noise gets louder+faster when you accellerate harder and happens in any gear although doesnt happen below 1800rpm. However the noise does die away when you approach the cruising speed for how hard you have pushed the pedal.

No idea what causes it, although a mate said it could be the air intake valve rattling or something.

Any input appreciated, Am fairly crap w/ cars so please feel free to treat me like an idiot with this.

Cheers

Ed
 
Oooh yeah, did forget another one. When started from cold and driven a little way, when you press the clutch in, the engine revs drop rapidly (as usual) but then keep dropping till the car stalls. I then have to lift off the clutch so it bump starts itself. If you have to stop then starting again is a right pain and you normally have to give it some gas for it to kick in. If you do this once it doesnt usually happen again till the car cools down again.

anyone else have this problem?? and if so how do you make it go away its a right pain as you look like a total t**t stalling at the end of your road most mornings.
 
Back
Top