Cracked Head or Piston Rings

[magnuscat]

Hello all, Just wondered if someone could aid with suggestions for my '71 Traveller. Only just got her & all was well til loss of power and a distinct VW beetle engine tone. I replaced the head gasket with ,I'm ashamed to say, a fibre gasket, it being all I could get fast over xmas, but she's running terribly. It was Torqued correctly in the right order but i've got an oil leak from front of engine around gasket, odd dribbles of water through crank breather tube, a combination of water and oil mixed in with the exhaust fumes and an exhaust noise coming from the oil filler cap when its removed. I've got a few theories about what it could be i.e. cracked head/block, piston rings dying when the original gasket (a fibre one) went, dodgy new gasket or I've heard the useless servo thats fitted to it can cause problems. It could also have been reassembled by a muppet! (highly likely). she had a recon engine with unleaded head about 5 years ago and I was told it hadnt done many miles since. Also what workshop manual would be best and where would I find one? I've got old service manuals from Haynes and pearsons at moment but neither cover any serious stripdown. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[kennatt]

did it by any chance overheat when the original gasket went.

[magnuscat]

No overheating, just the VW noise and some mayonnaise on the filler cap. both head and block looked fine on stripdown and she only did 8 (slow) miles on the blown original gasket just to get home, oil pressure was a bit up and down tho.

[bmcecosse]

That 8 miles was a BIG mistake...... First step I suggest is to check you have the plug leads on correct order.... 1342 anti-clockwise round the dizzy cap.. And did you reset the valve gaps correctly - 15 thou exhausts and 12 thou inlets ? If it's still bad - compression check is in order and report back the readings. PM sent with useful information........

[magnuscat]

hi, checked compression twice on each cylinder and they are within the range of 169 - 172 psi, don't know what this could tell me as I expected a massive difference between the readings if head, block or rings were on their way out. any suggestions for next thing to check would be fantastic. valve clearances are ok (15 exhaust 12 inlet), firing order correct, oil pressure fine but plugs are black and sooty. also noticed air bubbles in fuel pipe between pump and carb, is this normal?

[bmcecosse]

Compressions are actually very good. Double check that firing order - 1342 anti clock round the dizzy cap and try a new set of plugs. If black - is the choke stuck on??

[magnuscat]

hi, thanks to all your help I think the old girls running ok, maybe just a small timing adjustment & new plugs needed which I'll try tomorrow. checked the choke position & couldn't really tell much, so stripped petrol pump & carb and was amazed how much rust was in the system. All cleaned & dash pot filled she started lovely, a bit of popping & spitting hence timing to sort, but there's no water dripping from breather tube. The oil leak from front of cylinder head gasket's still there which I'll keep an eye on. My only worry, which might be solved by correcting timing(?), is an exhaust sound from oil filler cap. Thanks again.

[bmcecosse]

Oh dear - exhaust sound from filler cap doesn't sound too good.... Is it chuffing smoke/fume too?

[magnuscat]

There was watery oily discharge from exhaust, that's stopped but it probably is chuffing a little bit. Sounds a bit rough really. Oil leak from front of head gasket still there, maybe still a drop of water from breather pipe. what might the diagnosis be Dr?

[bmcecosse]

Valve gaps correct? Try another set of plugs? Double check firing order 1342 anti-clock round dizzy cap.

[magnuscat]

valve gaps fine, correct firing order on dizzy, brand new plugs today (B6ES which I' m told are the n g k equivalent of the champion plugs). running out of things to replace. help!

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

Did you change the engine oil and filter after this mishap? An engine flush would also be in order given the circs.

[bmcecosse]

Oh dear - NGK plugs....... Put the Champs back in.......

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

I must stick up for NGK - all the cars I have have been fitted, in the past, with NGK, and have never given trouble. Of course Champion are preferable if you can obtain them (N9-Y). Personal favourites are Lodge but I don't think they're still going.

NGK are Japanese so hardly poor quality.

There is absolutely no need for Iridium or copper plugs.

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

Seems Lodge are still available as are Smiths' K.L.G.!! Don't know if they are manufactured and then branded, however.

http://www.gsparkplug.com/shop/

[kennatt]

have you tried re setting the mixture on the carb to the basic 12 flats out position,and see how it sounds then

[MarkyB]

"Cracked Head or Piston Rings" are both absolute worst case scenarios, and both very unlikely too on an A series engine.
Exhaust sound from filler cap is the worrying bit, also I don't see anything about checking the points gap.

[bmcecosse]

Some of us have very personal reasons for never using anything Japanese........how quickly we forget.......

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

Nobody will forget the War. But that was over 60 years ago - times and people change.

[magnuscat]

Thanks for the replies. Changed the Oil and Filter but didnt flush through, would this be done with fresh engine oil or some kind of flushing oil? Mixture is, as far as I can tell, ok. There's a rev counter in the dash but not found any drive cables going to it so cant use that to set at 1000rpm and check like the book says, but I'll try the 12 out position tomorrow. How and where would the drive cable run the rev counter from as it would be handy to use? Points set at 0.016" and are new as is condenser and rotor arm. All replaced one at a time to eliminate them from the problem.I was told that Champion had gone out of business hence the NGK but they were reset by me to 0.025" gap, assuming the standard gap setting shouldnt be altered to cope with unleaded.