Car won't start

[James k]

Bmc, I think I'll stick to the one minor for the moment!

Moggiethouable, that would be brilliant! PM sent

[James k]

I replaced the head gasket on the car yesterday making sure that everything was flat and clean. Cylinder three is no longer spraying out water. The head gasket wasn't obviously blown but seemed very degraded so I don't know if it was causing the problem or not.

Although the cylinder is no longer spraying water out, it is still not running well. It's firing on 2 or 3 cylinders and blowing loads of smoke out (mostly white, sometimes blue). I tried to drive it today, just down the road and up again and it was absolutely awful. It had basically zero power when I tried to get up the hill, accelerator to the floor and it just about made it. And the smoke was unbelievable, it filled the entire street with thick smoke to the point that you couldn't see. So at the moment it's completely unusable. It's really quite a disappointment as it's my only car and I was hoping to drive it today but I suppose this is what happens when you buy a Minor!

Anyway, I've got someone coming round on Monday or Tuesday with a compression tester, timing strobe etc. to find out what the problem is. He suspects the piston rings but says he can replace them easily. So we'll see where it goes from there.

Driving it today was an absolutely horrible experience, I basically felt like I had no control over the car. I was thinking, 'If driving a Morris Minor is anything even close to this then I'm going to have to sell it' but then I thought that they can't be quite that bad otherwise all of you wouldn't be able to happily drive them!

[panky]

Oh dear Well done for doing the head gasket but it seems your problems deepen. Are you sure you have the leads on in the correct order?
Minors are great to drive, when they're running well

[Trickydicky]

Did you reset the valve's back to 12thou after refitting it all back together?

[James k]

Success!
The mechanic came round this evening and did compression tests. The compression was WAY down on all cylinders (it was 40psi on one). He then looked at the rockers and it turned out that some of the valves were sticking open. He sorted them out and reset all the clearances. The engine started and sounded completely different, smooth and firing on all cylinders. It now sounds like a car and not a tractor! I drove it for a bit and it easily got up the same hill it had refused to move on the other day. I got my uncle to take it for a proper drive since he's used to driving minors. He got through all the gears and said it's driving perfectly nicely. I'm changing the oil and water tomorrow before I take it out properly then I'm going to take it over to ESM for a good check over.

I was amazed that it went today! It's a huge relief.

[panky]

Excellent, now you will be able to find out what a good Minor feels like

[James k]

Indeed! Something I noticed even during the short drive I took it on was that the steering is extremely light. When almost dry steering it's quite heavy but when moving it feels lighter than the power steering equipped cars I've driven. I also feel like I've got direct feedback from the road. It's like I can feel the road surface through the wheel.

[panky]

That's the first thing that struck me when I first drove mine (my first Minor) so positive. Now I've put wider wheels on it feels even better but no heavier

[The vast minority]

Didn't you check clearances after fitting the head? Valves can't stick open, they are held open by out of spec clearances.

It seems to me that this is all the mech did after finding the compression was down, which it would be with open valves.

Glad it's fixed
Al

[James k]

I did but I've now had the realisation that I might have set them to .0012 instead of .012

[The vast minority]

I did but I've now had the realisation that I might have set them to .0012 instead of .012

Ah, that would do it. 12 thou is .3 mm and that gives you a good rattle on the tappet. At .0012 you are at .03mm. Only 10% of the required clearance.

You have obviously learned though, well done to you for taking the job on.

Al

[panky]

Invaluable experience for you, the learning curve gets even steeper from here