Technical Help!

[UnoMia]

Hi All,

I think I have a major problem on my hands. My 1100cc Uno has been running nicely for a couple of years now - until today! I drove the car to work this morning and she ran beautifuly, I then went out in her during the morning and drove for about 10km when I noticed the idle was sounding 'lumpy', almost like she was running on three cylinders but not quite that bad. I then had to go out for a very short distance in her this afternoon and the idle got worse, plus she was a little difficult to restart, once again like she was running on three cylenders. By the time I got back to my office there was this very large cloud of something coming out the exhaust; I'm not sure if it was smoke or steam as after switching the engine off and going to restart her she turned once and there was a loud 'clunk' and she wouldn't turn anymore!

I'm hoping it's only the head gasket that's blown and the 'clunk' is water in a cylinder that's shopping her turning. I'm going to pull the head off tomorrow but until then I won't know.

Does anyone have any ideas what might have happened? There's been no rattles or any sign of engine trouble before this sudden happening today. She didn't overheat either, this was totally out of the blue. Has anyone else experienced this before?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[EssexUno]

Hi, i do not know what might have made your engine do this, sounds like smethings given way with the headgasket. can you turn the engine over by putting it in 1st or 2nd gear and pushing the car?

you can check the oil level and the water level for an indication as to what is being used by the engine.

you can also take the spark plugs out and try to turn the engine over using the key.

if you can turn the engine over then you should be happy. if any water from the cooling system or oil has been used then headgasket will be to blame.

If you cannot turn your engine over than the cambelt may have snapped and that clunk you heard may have been one of the pistons hitting a valve which would not be good. So before you rip the head off see if the engine will turn over or not.


Dan

 

[UnoMia]

Thanks for the reply. I pulled the head off today and found that two of the water galleries in the head had corroded away and into the nearby combustion chambers. I had to fork out for a reconned head and will be putting it back together tomorrow. The motor turned okay after taking the head off and I think the reason it wouldn't turn before was because there was water in cylinders 1 & 4. This all happened because the previous owner didn't use rust inhibitor in the coolant - turned out to be an expensive job!

 

[EssexUno]

Glad you found out whats wrong, you should put pictures up so that others that have this problem can see what you have done

hope i helped.

Dan

 

[UnoMia]

I should have taken some pics of the damaged head but unfortunately I used the old head as an exchange unit on the reconn one! It was amazing to see just how much the alloy had been eaten away by the corrosion though. Even though I used a 50/50 mix of anti-freeze & water for some time, the damage had already been done by the previous owner using just plain water in the system.

Andy