Bad weekend

[ROBBIE]

Don't want to come across as negative, but we had the same engine and it was a lump of sh*t, had three rebuilds, professional engine builder, not me. The last time even had a new head put on and each time it did less than a couple of thousand miles before it went, no idea why. Imo try to get a different engine for it, different model, don't know easy it would be to fit.
We went 1.6, but that is being a real pain as well. Skinny starter went and they are like rocking horse poop

[zook123]

Yep, it's a real PITA. Starting to look for another one now :(

[andyrew]

That sucks,

Maybe the blocks a tad warped. I wonder if an sj bottom end could be used? Cheap to obtain.

Maybe bung a bottle steel seal in whilst you hunt for s new lump, its one of those instant hgf fix products. Ive always called b.s on them untill my friends bmw straight six died, it was stripped down and the head had gone pourus, he didnt want to spend anything on it so it was reassembled with all the old gaskets etc etc, and towed home
as it would barely idle let alone move.

Next morning he arrived at work after taking a punt on a bottle of steel seal. Running sweet and continued to do so untill it was written off by a deer to bonnet interface situation.

Would i use it as a perfect cure? No. Would i bung it in some condemed old junk? Why not, its dead anyways. Some are money back if it doesnt work too.

[Anton]

Would i use it as a perfect cure? No. Would i bung it in some condemed old junk? Why not, its dead anyways. Some are money back if it doesnt work too.

Worth a punt, imo...

[zook123]

So i've had it pressure tested, which has come back inconclusive!

At the moment, it appears to be pushing around an inch of coolant into the expansion bottle, but not returning it to the radiator, I drove around 30miles last night, it's dropped below the fins on the rad when I checked this morning with an inch extra in the expansion.

So it doesn't appear to be dumping the coolant, just moving it and not returning it.

I've tried another cap but it's a 1.1bar instead of a 0.9 recently, but to no avail!

[zook123]

Topped up the radiator just below the neck, took it for a drive, stopped back at work and it was a inch below the top of the expansion bottle, just popped out after it's cooled down, the radiator has lost water again but it's pissed out the overflow.

Going to pick up a bottle of SteelSeal and bung it in and be on the lookout for another engine.

[donkeychomp]

I take it all the hoses have been checked. But...I had a similar problem with water loss for ages until I noticed the hoses that go into the firewall right at the back of the engine. They were leaking. Might be that...

[zook123]

I take it all the hoses have been checked. But...I had a similar problem with water loss for ages until I noticed the hoses that go into the firewall right at the back of the engine. They were leaking. Might be that...

Would that cause it to pressurise the system and dump water out the overflow?

[donkeychomp]

Did on mine...

[zook123]

Had a look at the bulkhead join and there's no leakage there, if the matrix was leaking from the interior i'd have noticed as I don't have carpet fitted so it would have just ran onto the floor.

I took a radiator cap off a Jimny in the scrapyard and have ran that, anytime I remove the cap it now makes a hissing noise (Even when cold) and the expansion tank bubbles badly.

I've sourced a new engine, 43k but waiting for the scrapyard to remove as it's too tight to get any lifting kit into the yard....

So it's now a waiting game. Joys.