Must have been trying to tell me something

Technical Help for the A & K Series Metro. Please state what year and model you're referring to for better responses.
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Wibblyp
Posts: 93
Joined: Wed Mar 15, 2017 4:41 pm

Must have been trying to tell me something

Post by Wibblyp »

Following on from my last post, the engine has now failed . Engine started to stutter like a misfire on the way to work. Pulled into a car park and stopped. Thought it may have been electrical. Took off air filter and pipe to inlet to find lots of creamy fluid in the throttle body. No oil in header, no mayo on oil filler cap. Not long skimmed head and new gasket.
Thoughts ?

Thanks in advance.
Paul
Dave VVC
Posts: 80
Joined: Thu Mar 16, 2017 7:40 pm
Location: West Mids

Re: Must have been trying to tell me something

Post by Dave VVC »

HGF, looks like you are getting coolant in the oil and its getting emulsified and going
through the engine breathing system and ending up in the TB, if you take the cam
cover off, you'll prob find that the breather mesh (if fitted) will be full of mayo.
I'll bet one of the 'church windows' in the head gasket (where the head bolts go through)
will have failed. If the head hasn't softened back, treat it as a opportunity to get the head
skimmed to make it go a bit better.
Wibblyp
Posts: 93
Joined: Wed Mar 15, 2017 4:41 pm

Re: Must have been trying to tell me something

Post by Wibblyp »

Thanks Dave. As said only just had the head skimmed, Payen gasket etc. It’s starting to wear me down, although I’m getting plenty of practice changing things. Keep thinking I must be doing something wrong.
Wibblyp
Posts: 93
Joined: Wed Mar 15, 2017 4:41 pm

Re: Must have been trying to tell me something

Post by Wibblyp »

When you say softened back, what should I look out for ?
Dave VVC
Posts: 80
Joined: Thu Mar 16, 2017 7:40 pm
Location: West Mids

Re: Must have been trying to tell me something

Post by Dave VVC »

Hi, if the head has softened back, the fire rings from the head gasket will have indented
into the head surface, you can have light indentation and be ok,
which is why normally you are limited to a 10 thou skim when
prepping to fit a MLS gasket, but some heads you can get away with more skimming.
the other thing to look for is the liner/s dropping in the block, they should stand proud
of the block by 3 to 4 thou. If you have a dropped liner, there may not be enough pressure
on the liner (via the head gasket fire ring) onto the block ledge/shoulder to stop coolant
getting past into the sump, then emulsifying with the oil then getting into the breathing
system. If, when you did the HG change, you turned the crank with the head off and moved
one of the liners up, this may give you the coolant leak into the sump if the liner hasn't been
sealed where it sits in the block.
Wibblyp
Posts: 93
Joined: Wed Mar 15, 2017 4:41 pm

Re: Must have been trying to tell me something

Post by Wibblyp »

Car now home. No mayo in wire filters. No residual on top of cam ladder. Can mayo vanish as it’s been sat in the car park for two weeks ?
It will start, run for a couple of mins, stutter and die.
Loathed to take the head off again, could it be something else ? Ht leads are old I think but unsure how 2 mins of run time would affect them . Wouldn’t have thought the engine would die. Leads all measure about 0.8kohms except one which is 1.1k.
Any advice welcome, besides, “get a new car “!

Cheers
Paul
Dave VVC
Posts: 80
Joined: Thu Mar 16, 2017 7:40 pm
Location: West Mids

Re: Must have been trying to tell me something

Post by Dave VVC »

Normally , if nothing else is wrong, any light mayo will disappear when the car is given a good
run, If the car runs ok for a couple of mins, then stops, I would start with checking that all
the correct elec plugs are on the correct positions, is the correct plug on the O2 sensor?
because on cold startup, the engine is open loop, so does not rely on sensor for fuelling,
the sensor may be u/s from contamination from original problem. Are fuel supply/return
hoses on right way around?. Put a pressure gauge on fuel supply to fuel rail and see if pressure
drops when misfiring before stopping. Is coolant sensor (to ecu) good, if not or open circuit, the
ecu will read minus 273deg, so will be overfuelling when engine starts to warm up.
same with AIT sensor.
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