How safe is it to drive with knackered big ends? and how much of a job are we talking to sort it?

cinq gone pop

er... you got rac cover?
knackered big ends is a fairly major job depending on how bad they are. are they just starting to knock now? in that case you might get away with just replacing the crankshaft shells/bearings (sump off etc). if they have been knocking for a while and are quite loud then its a reground crank for you. for this you may aswell take the head off too and do the little end bearings and while the pistons are out change the rings...and the camshaft bearings. not quite a weekend job you might say. in fact it might be better to price up a recon engine?

good luck!

do have rac actually fail to see how it helps though

knocking started today, as a result of being starved for oil, lost the sump plug on way to work, thus losing all the oil down the underside of the car (nice!) and starving the engine of oil (which i didnt realise until after), is very loud knocking

rac wont be able to fix that at the side of the road im afraid.
have you tried putting a new sump plug in and refilling it with oil?

made a makeshift (get u home stylee) sump plug with instant gasket, filled with oil, turned over a few times with ignition coils unplugged to try get oil to the tappets (which obv wont help if it is the big ends) although i think the head gasket also gone as the water was a very suspect foamy brown (and the refilled stuff still is brown!)

new engine?
or complete engine strip? - haynes stylee?

might aswell make dave a decent offer for the 43k miles 12.42 75 engine, if all you can save from yours is the head anyway

Yep, you might be better sticking a new engine in I'm afraid

no time to do the engine swap as i need the car, im going to get a quote from a garage tomorrow, the guys sound there, fitted clutch without using ramps at all because my cinq was too low for them

ok just spoken to 2 garages both said new engine time not sure what im going to do, cinq possibly be up for sale, if it does go up for sale is anyone interested? (not got the space to break it so will have to go as whole)

The engine in my uno was starved of oil due to the wrong oil filter (doh!), and it was knocking badly when i got it home. Re filling with oil never got rid of the knocking (which i assume was coming from the big end bearings), but the knocking only seemed to be bad when th engine was cold and died down a bit when the engine warmed up. With regular oil changes the engine went on to do another 20,000 miles, and it was the brakes, not the engine which eventually made me scrap the car.

Phil

Alex, Make dave an offer on the engine, all you need is the head from your 1242 If you need a car (and have money available) hire one until you can swap the engine over

It'll be a shame to see such a nice cinq go again

Alex buddy not another cinq down the pan Don't give up on it.

This guy really is the unluckiest guy of the Cento world

Buy matts old black one!

Aw dear, gotta feel for Alex.

How did the sump plug fall out though?

Liam

sump plug has been fine since i fitted the 1242 (seems like years ago now) at least what 3k+ miles, the rattle doesnt die down as the engine heats up, think head gasket gone too as the water is a horrid horrid colour not giving up on the cinq just yet, am in process of sourcing a engine, daves engine is too far away and i think ive got a new engine lined up, 1242 with 48k out of a R reg punt, £175

GhostWKD said:

daves engine is too far away and i think ive got a new engine lined up, 1242 with 48k out of a R reg punt, £175

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am often in nuneaton

if it was a 60 engine dave i'd probably have taken you up on it, but i want an engine that i can literally just get and bolt straight in literally dont have the time to mess about with head gaskets etc (no offence intended here btw and i hope none is taken )

i have a 60, but was going to put it in a punto55. but if the cinq tomorrow is a breaker and the engine is ok i'll use that an sell the 60 but its got 66k on so you will be better going with the one you have found