Engine Goosed?

[Anton green 12 1 Cars]

on the way home today I accellerated hard to pull away from a junction on a busy dual carriageway and as I came off the throttle and went down a gear the engine 'stuck' then I thought I smelt clutch burning?? The engine went back to normal after about a second apart from it sounded different and I am concerned something is seriously wrong with it.

 

Can anyone tell me if something is likely to be amiss here?

 

I will start the engine up tomorrow and take it from there (assuming it will restart, it sounded dreadfully rattley)

 

This is a 1.9 MI16 which had a head gasket change, new oil, coolant etc etc cambelt, about 200 miles ago BTW

Edited June 12, 2007 by Anton green

[M@tt 77]

check your timing belt hasn't jumped a tooth!

[Rob_the_Sparky 9]

Check the cambelt before restarting, just in case!

[Anton green 12 1 Cars]

Will do

 

Is the cambelt skipping a problem with these engines more so than others?

[Richie-Van-GTi 70 2 Cars]

not really but all it takes is for a bolt to not be fully tight on tensioner or the belt to be incorrectly tensioned. Given its just had the belt removed for head gasket etc its worth checking. Id also be tempted to pop the cam cover off and check nothing is floating about underneath such as a dropped washer etc.

[Anton green 12 1 Cars]

What would the symptoms be if the bottom end fails ?

[Gtiracer 0]

knocking i beleive?

 

Someone plase correct me if Im wrong

[ashlee205gti 1]

What would the symptoms be if the bottom end fails ?

 

Very distinctive knocking and i would imagine the oil pressure light would be lit up constantly. Also a noticable drop in oomph.

[Rob_the_Sparky 9]

I think you'd have to spin a bearing to get a sudden change from the bottom end. I have little experience of this but AFAIK it generally results in something breaking when this happens.

[Anton green 12 1 Cars]

I dont know if people will get any ideas from this, but when the engine oil is really hot I will occasionally get a flicker of oil-pressure-stop-light on the dash at tickover. If I were accellerating hard, then had low oil pressure straight after, could this result in something going amiss?

 

Im sure when I lifted the clutch, the engine didnt want to pick-up for a second and I could smell burning clutch..

[Richie-Van-GTi 70 2 Cars]

based on the clutch description I would be tempted to pull the front cover of the gearbox if it has one and check the bearing is seated correctly, maybe it became jammed and held the clutch slighty open for a few seconds allowing it to slip. Doing so would also allow the engine speed to drop to idle for a second if no throttle was applied and give you the impression of the power loss.

[Anton green 12 1 Cars]

Cheers Richie,

Would this result in a rattley knocking sound in all gears and neutral, with and without the clutch engaged, would you know?

[ashlee205gti 1]

If the clutch release bearing had failing/failed it would make a noise when the clutch pedal is down.

 

The post about the oil pressure light being on is a little worrying, my engine died within seconds of mine lighting up.

 

If you have a constant knocking noise i would try and rule out the bottom end first.

[Alastairh 47]

have you got a clutch pedal? If yes, then rule the bearing gone.

 

Next of all, take matts advice and remove the cambelt cover before you start the engine, and see if the belt is tight, but not too tight and the timing marks all line up fine.

 

Then if all good, start it up, listen for any noises and come describe the noises you hear.

 

Where ever the tone goes away pressing the clutch or not, or at certain revs.

 

Alastair

[Anton green 12 1 Cars]

Hi all.

 

Removed the cambelt cover - it all lines up and the pins slip into place on the pulleys nicely. The belt is tight enough too.

 

Under the cam cover there arent any foreign bodies and eveything seems in order apart from there is what looks to be faint specs of what looks to be copper grease, and even a copper(?) flake about 1mm across resting on a camshaft lobe, which wiped away easilly with my finger.

 

The car starts and runs, the noise gets louder at higher rpms and is not affected by the clutch operation.

 

The noise seems to be coming from the top end of the engine when we listen to it.

 

The engine still puffs out the odd cloud of burning oil smoke from around the back of the lump, which I havent decided what is making it do this yet?????????? The car has done 200 miles or so since the head gasket and belt swap and has done this ever since, which I thought was exhaust gasket paste burning away at first but now I am not too sure.

 

The copper thing under the camcover is alarming me, along with the oil smoke thing

[Richie-Van-GTi 70 2 Cars]

the copper thing could be remnants from a spun shell, if its not knocking the bottom end I wouldnt worry too much, often find things floating about form previous issues the engine has had. If its noisy top end then its possible you have a valve thats not closed fully and got a little bent or maybe a collet has popped off. I know from experience a car will smoke a bit if one valve is sticking open.

[Anton green 12 1 Cars]

The car has zero emissions -very clear exhaust gasses...

 

Excuse my ignorance, what is a collet?

[Anton green 12 1 Cars]

I had a careful drive in it:-

 

The noise only happens on trailing throttle or accelleration, when I balance the speed on the throttle so that there is no load, the noise vanishes

[ashlee205gti 1]

I still think it sounds like the big ends.

[Rob_the_Sparky 9]

I know sod all about hydraulic tappets but it is possible one has failed? I know they pump up to get the right clearances and I suspect it would make a dreadful tappy noise if not working.

[Alastairh 47]

Have you got access to a Compression tester?

 

That would be my next port of call, to see if theres any clues there.

 

Also while your doing this you can inspect the plugs for more clues.

 

Alastair

[Anton green 12 1 Cars]

I'll get the compressions checked at the weekend

[jodycraw 0]

If it's a knocking noise that sounds quite metallic, and gets worse as the revs go up, then its likely to be the big end bearings. Especially if your stop lights come on.

 

were you tanking it round some corners prior to this happening?

[Anton green 12 1 Cars]

nope, all in a straight line with fresh oil at the 'max' mark...

[Anton green 12 1 Cars]

Yep, big end bearings. Replacing them this week.