Hey guys, after some engine advice

**K_Man** · 04-06-2007, 12:46 PM

I'm wondering if you guys could please point me in the right direction. My little '79 is slowly getting smokier and smokier, at idle it's fine, past around 2500 under load it just starts belting it out. Unfortunately I dont know much about these motors, i can only assume the rings are slowly starting to bite the dust. A rebuild is something I couldn't do by myself and dont have the cash for, how hard is it to get a hold of a decent second hand 1600? and what the going rates for one are?

Also up for suggestions for cheap engine transplants, I wish I wasn't so pov so I could give the little jigger the attention it deserves

**gldgti** · 04-06-2007, 05:26 PM

hey mate, nice car btw..... love ya wheels too

urm... the 1600 is an easy (and cheap) rebuild and perfect to learn on if you feel like tackling a problem but if you want a second hand engine pm golf loon he might be able to help you out.

failing that, mollins has a few spare 1600's if you want one of those cheap to pull apart while your cars still going and clean up on the bench beforehand you could give him a try.

to the engine... hows the oil consumption?

**Peter Jones** · 04-06-2007, 10:13 PM

If it's a huge cloud of smoke just after you've been idling at the lights for a few minutes it might just be the valve stem seals. It's possible to replace them without removing the cylinder head but you need some specialised tools.
It's easier to change the seals with the head off and you can replace the head gasket just for fun while you're at it.

Having said that though I did all that, and my motor turned out to be completely stuffed anyway.

I have a spare Golf, so the one with the stuffed motor drives me to the station everyday and the good one comes out to play on weekends!

The one with the stuffed motor will run for five minutes before the temp gauge is at max and 10 minutes to boiling. (And that's with a reco head, new water pump, thermostat and a fully tested radiator)

So if anyone's got some tips for a cheap 1600 I'd love to hear them too!

Pete

**Golf Loon** · 04-06-2007, 10:16 PM

Sod rebuilding a 1.6. Change it for one that works, or upgrade it for a 1.8.

I`m coming down to Melbourne in the Van on Thursday, so if any of you guys need anything heavy, now is the time for the hit up

**K_Man** · 04-06-2007, 11:55 PM

It's not right after idle, it's anytime if i give it a bit and it gets up over 2500. Sounds pretty scarey up that high too, like a piston is about to fly through the bonnet

**Peter Jones** · 05-06-2007, 09:28 AM

PM Sent!

Pete

Originally Posted by Golf Loon

Sod rebuilding a 1.6. Change it for one that works, or upgrade it for a 1.8.

I`m coming down to Melbourne in the Van on Thursday, so if any of you guys need anything heavy, now is the time for the hit up

**Peter Jones** · 05-06-2007, 09:44 AM

Originally Posted by K_Man

It's not right after idle, it's anytime if i give it a bit and it gets up over 2500. Sounds pretty scarey up that high too, like a piston is about to fly through the bonnet

Sounds like rings, If it's like mine the smoke is due to excessive crankcase pressure, which blows a lot of oil out of the crankcase breather and back into the aircleaner where it ends up getting burnt and pumped straight out the exhaust as smoke.

The short term answer to this is to disconnect the breather from the aircleaner. To maintain some sort of pollution control a catch can should be installed.

Mines really bad! I dump the breather into a 2 litre juice container which fills up with oil in about a month of 5 minutes trips to and from the station. When it's full I pour it back into the motor! How's that for recycling!

I know you're all reading that with horror but this motor is really stuffed and that's not going to make it any worse.

More smoke comes out of the breather than the exhaust!

Hopefully Loon has the answer for me!

Pete

blackgti1.8 · 05-06-2007, 09:49 PM

I always thought that these engines did valve stem seals well before rings.
The cam acts directly on the valve (via the bucket), which tends to push the valve stem sideways and hence wears out the stem seals...

It's worse on high-reving engines of course

**Peter Jones** · 06-06-2007, 09:53 PM

Woo Hoo! New motor on the way for Puff the tragic wagon!

Pete

**K_Man** · 06-06-2007, 10:16 PM

Golf Loon offered me a motor I couldn't refuse.....Plus seeing as he was carting it down to melbourne, though I'd take the opportunity to grab the extractors he had for sale as well