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[erubus]

Hi there guys. You might remember how i've been trying to get my 2.0 litre to run for nearly a year. Well to cut a long story short, i gave up. I managed to get hold of an engine for a reasonable amount.

Fitted the engine and it ran beautifully. Excellent i thought, then left it until the dvla got off their arses with the paperwork. After about 8 weeks finally got the paperwork through so booked the MOT and ran the car for a good half hour to give the battery a bit of a charge. Great steady idle, fan etc cut in as ot should and temp good.

When i switched the engine off there was a noise like a kettle boiling. I could see littlebubbles coming from the no 4 plug lead. When i pulled it out the plug well was full of boiling water, as were the rest.  There is no mayo in the oil or water, but the central well is full of water.

Before i go pulling everything apart, is this definately going to be a cracked head or am i missing something obvious?

Cheers, gill

[Lazydocker]

Have you lost any coolant? I'd say if it was running so well that water will be from a leaking scuttle rather than coolant

[erubus]

That's a possibility as the scuttle isn't actually attatched at the moment and one i hadn't actually considered. BUT i have a feeling that i noticed a little water in there when i took the engine out of the donor. It was hammering down when i did it so didn't really take much notice.

I got the engine from mot tester who got it from a customer. The car failed on rust tyres knackered exhaust etc but emissions were good.

I'll give the engine another good run today and see if i get more water. Will also do a compression test.

Hopefully that will be what it is. Will do it now and repost results.

Gill

[Entwood]

That's a possibility as the scuttle isn't actually attatched at the moment and one i hadn't actually considered. BUT i have a feeling that i noticed a little water in there when i took the engine out of the donor. It was hammering down when i did it so didn't really take much notice.

I got the engine from mot tester who got it from a customer. The car failed on rust tyres knackered exhaust etc but emissions were good.

I'll give the engine another good run today and see if i get more water. Will also do a compression test.

Hopefully that will be what it is. Will do it now and repost results.

Gill

Add those two together and I think we might guess where the water came from !!  Dry it all out and give it a decent run in the dry ..

[Lazydocker]

Indeed Entwood.... In fact, if the head was cracked badly enough to fill all the plug wells with water I doubt the engine would run

[erubus]

I've emptied all the water out and now the dam thing won't start.  just getting the fuel pump relays buzzing and the rev counter jumping all over the place.  checked the earth strap that goes from the batery to the engine (kinda attaches to the front where the air con and PAS pumps bolt on) and the one on the fuel rail.

any other thoughts as to what might be causing this?  so i can check the head! (p.s: think the scuttle suggestion might be the obvious answer i was looking for as i don't appear to have lost any coolant!)

[Entwood]

I've emptied all the water out and now the dam thing won't start.  just getting the fuel pump relays buzzing and the rev counter jumping all over the place.  checked the earth strap that goes from the batery to the engine (kinda attaches to the front where the air con and PAS pumps bolt on) and the one on the fuel rail.

any other thoughts as to what might be causing this?  so i can check the head! (p.s: think the scuttle suggestion might be the obvious answer i was looking for as i don't appear to have lost any coolant!)

If its turning over OK .. check the dispack/plug leads for wetness, from the amount of water you describe things may be pretty damp !!

[erubus]

Got it going again. Dispack was full of water so swapped for a spare. Left it running and there was water bubbling but much less. I think that might have just been the wee bit left over tgat i couldn't suck out. I let it evaporate away and i've left it running again to find out for sure.

I'm glad i asked before lifting tge head!

Will post back in 20 minutes or so and update if it gets wet again

Gill

[erubus]

Well seems to be staying dry anyway. Must have been the scuttle after all. It's all back together now so should stay dry!

The engine does seem very smokey though so the heads probably gonna have to come off anyway. Strange because it wasnt smokey in the other car, it passed its emissions quite well apparently so its a bit of a mystery. Seems like valve stem seal smoke to me.

Cheers for the advice guys
Gill