Definately CH Gasket!

As the picture below shows, I have found my problem!! Multiple problems in fact.

As well as the gasket being blown between 2 and 3, oil also seemed to have been getting through the gasket and into the cylinders. It undid far too easily (compared to when pulling it the first time) I think because I didn't re-torque it, either warm or after the first 100 miles, it has loosened. Especially on the side where the rocker gear is also clamped down. Hopefully that is just me being dumb. So....

New CH Gasket ordered, torque wrench bought. Also will use a bit of Hylomar Red this time. Seems to be an accepted thing to do on old, non performance cars.

Stu managed to remove the sheared bolt with mole grips, so that problem is resolved. May get the head skimmed whilst I am at it too.

Refit when ready. Should only be off the road a couple of weeks tops.. If lucky!

New car arrives at the weekend, Becky.. An '03 reg Citroen C3 with 107,000 miles on the clock. Into frying pan.....???!!!

Likely CH Gasket

My wish is not to be.. Amy was very sluggish on Friday morning. It was cold and a bit of ice around, so I was extremely happy with the ease with which she started. But acceleration was poor.

I put it down to icing around the carb, journey was not particularly long.

But same problem on the way home. Then that evening went out to grab takeway and it was even worse. Turned around only part way up the road and was even worried about being able to limp home, but got there.

Sounded similar to previous. Not as rough, but almost like running on 3 1/2 cylinders.

Checked the compression this morning, just the starter handle technique and two cylinders are down. Not a complete loss of pressure this time, but still very noticable.

So .. conclusion at the moment is that the CH gasket has gone. Need to replace it.

Maybe she did overheat the other day when the thermostat didn't seem to open.


Ho hum.. Won't know for sure what is going on until I pull the head again, but first course of action will likely be to replace the CH gasket and remove the thermostat, just in case.

If that gets her running again, it will be a small lesson. Hoping nothing more than that at this stage.

Cold weather doesn't make it seem such an OK prospect!

Conclusion about cars

Strangely, I have come to a conclusion about the car. After stating that I was perhaps over confident about Amy's reliability, and that I was considering selling the Nissan I have kind of changed my mind. Amy is proving very reliable. Starting reasonably well on Icy mornings. Ticking over OK with no choke after warmed up. (still a bit lumpy, but acceptable).

The thermostat seemed to not open the other day, as the temperature gauage didn't climb. Lots of gurgling sucking noises from the engine bay, but that seemed to go away again.

But either way, despite the seeming reliability, the conclusion I have made is to get a small modern runaround in place of the Nissan. Nothing to do with reliability. I cannot bring myself to drive her / leave her out in the pouring rain. I will not be able to face driving her on the salty, gritty roads in winter. She will just ROT if I do that.

So actually feeling very happy about that conclusion.

Buy little cheap runaround. Sell Nissan. Hopefully a zero net cost transaction.

Then lower tax, insurance, fuel consumption. Small car on the driveway that I can get out even around the wife's car when needed.

No pressure. Happy :-)

Realistically Amy is a fair weather car and should treat her as such.

Next bits over weekend

New needle valve and new economy device diaphragm ordered, received and fitted over the weekend. Will adjust the float level by swapping in and out the various different thickness washers that I now have.

Using two relatively think washers at the moment, very little seepage from the carb bowl - if any. So it feels like it is low enough. But still maybe too low. Still some hesitation on cruising, tickover is a bit lumpy once warmed up - the choke masks that reasonably well. Occasional backfire. Maybe too lean, but down to the float level being too low now perhaps, rather than the mixture screw.

But sat in a fairly long traffic jam on Saturday and didn't stall once! So hopefully getting there.

Thinking of selling the old Nissan now. Over confident?...

Car at work 4 - getting better?

Leaves off the trees now, ice on the car this morning. Started up with ease, warmed up on choke nicely.  The pidgeon seems relatively impressed that she made it into the office and so am I!!

Idled reasonably well once warm, with no choke. Still some hesitation on cruising. But all in all, quite happy. I have the squeal still. Haven't looked too closely at that yet. As metnioned in previous posts I really want some "just driving" time.

Did take the vacuum advance pipe off yesterday, along with all the HT leads, dizzy and rotor arm again. Made sure all clean and connections good. Pulled all the plugs again, cleaned up on. Double checked compression, all good.

The only job not done now is stripping the Carb fully. Need to do it, but just not for now. Want to enjoy!

Fan belt .. needs a tweak

Mentioned a fair few posts ago that the fan belt looked loose. As the weather has got colder, I get a slight squeal on coast down. I am assuming that this is the belt. Although having said that, it doesn't seem to go away when the engine is fully warmed either. But it is loose. Have felt that for a while. So....

Tried to adjust this morning, can I shift the bolt? No.!!!!

Oh well. One more thing that I need to look at more closely. Thought THAT would be simple!!

Engine is still not quite right. Still pretty sure that it is Air / Fuel issues. When revving, all sounds solid and as it should be. It just seems that on constant revs, be-it idle or cruising, there seems to be hesitation.

Having choke out a bit solves the problem, but then idle revs are too high, so I am guessing it is further mixture fiddling!

The guy I bought the car from said that the first three months were the "hump" to get over.

As much as she is running OK, I am at a bit of a low point and wondering if it was such a good idea after all!

Silly Mistakes Continue

Tried to remove the sheared manifold bolt from the head on Sunday morning. It won't budge, so re-assembled. Amy is running REALLY badly. So much work having gone on, it gets hard to figure out what is going on. The obvious source is the recent head rebuild, but good compression implies that has does it's job. I'm not sure what else that really achieves. Good valves, properly adjusted give correct compression. That is that part of the equation?

As Amy has done more miles in the past 2-3 months than over her previous 6 years then other factors may be coming into play.

Decided to check for vacuum leaks, as the symptoms were indicating this as a strong possibility.

Silly mistake... When re-fitting the manifold I hadn't put one of the bolts in properly PLUS I hadn't tightened up properly either!!

So the carb cleaner trick did it's job. Refitted the incorrectly installed bolt, tightened up the others (admittedly one still missing where it was sheared. No vacuum leaks that I can tell and she's running OK again.

Still not quite right. Will use aforementioned carb cleaner to clean up the carb anyway.

Still think the float level is too high, and have to see what I can do about that, as the old Zeniths are not designed to be adjustable. Extra washer under needle valve is my current thought. We'll see.

Takes a while to start

Even with the new battery, she takes a little while to start. It is not surprising the old battery couldn't cope. When I say a while, I only mean 3 or 4 seconds!! Just for context, but it feels long compared to a fresh warm start.

Again for purposes of documentation, she fires immediately, just ever so briefly and then stops again - with the new battery she's OK to keep the starter whirring - does about 4 more full cycles then fires into life properly and when she does, runs like a dream.

Due to the immediate small firing then nothing, it feels like and initial lack of fuel. Best guess, residual vapour in the cylinder for a first short sharp burn, then has to pull fuel through to start again. Then runs no problem.

If that is true, then it would imply that the float bowl is draining down AND the fuel is dropping back in the fuel line. So I need to check it out. With the new battery it is not a problem and she is running REALLY nice once going. But there is still a niggly problem there.

Next morning start will turn the engine over WITHOUT ignition for 4 or 5 cycles. Then try to start normally. If she fires up immediately after that, then I think I can be sure, because it will imply that the initial cranking will have re-primed the fuel line and filled the bowl. (i.e. no other electrical stuff going on)

If not ... who knows!!!