have got a 1979 vauxhall chevette 1256cc, last 2 days have notice when at idle temp goes way up to red and the blue smoke starts coming out of exhaust, once again at idle, any ideas anyone!
jmma,
Oct 27, 8:01am
Head Gasket.
gammelvind,
Oct 27, 8:03am
Any other symtoms! Not many complications with these simple engines.
rb_slider,
Oct 27, 8:03am
would that corse it to blow blue smoke tho! also checked oil colour and seams clean, no milky colour.
jmma,
Oct 27, 8:13am
When it gets that hot, everything expands and will let oil past rings etc. May be thermostat, Is this a daily driver or have you just started it up after its been sitting!
rb_slider,
Oct 27, 8:16am
has been my daily since iv owned it (2 weeks), dont think it was drivin much from last owner. il take thermostat out tomorrow and test it.
rob_man,
Oct 27, 8:18am
Put a Soarer V8 in it.
jmma,
Oct 27, 8:21am
Would suggest you give cooling system a good flush out, check fan belt tension and poss viscos fan not working properly.
luxy,
Oct 27, 8:24am
you have a buggered radiator and it has done a head gasket. common problem with chevettes
jonthefisho,
Oct 27, 8:24am
Is the underside of oil filler cap clean and not milky.
rb_slider,
Oct 27, 8:24am
yea gave the cooling system a flush last weekend even block, will also check fan belt tomorrow, will keep posted
ema1,
Oct 27, 8:24am
I'd be checking the following, Theromostat for faults. Water Pump for faults .Radiator for blockage or other faults. Engine head gasket leakage or blown possibly! Worn Valve guides or leaking valve stem seals allowing oil to travel past into combustion chambers. Check the air intake air cleaner for blow byvia valve cover breather hose! If it has one, the earlier Viva HC models did and the engines are pretty much the same. Worn cylinder walls/broken or damaged piston rings/ pistons etc. The possibilities are endless. What distance has the car traveled in total! Tell us something of it's history in your ownership eg. usage type of driving whether short or long trips! When was the engine oil & oil filter last changed and what oil is being used in the engine. There's some questions there for a start to clarify the situation, answer them and you might get more accurate diagnoses. Other than that at short notice it's likely the car requires an engine that is proven to be in good running order to replace the one already in there! Cheers.
rb_slider,
Oct 27, 8:26am
yes is clean, will doube check tomorrow and will keep posted
jmma,
Oct 27, 8:26am
They never were from new (o:
ema1,
Oct 27, 9:28am
Remove the engine rocker cover and check how much gunk there is under there! Could be interesting !
strobo,
Oct 27, 6:32pm
possible valve stem seals or worn valve guides & cooling system needs complete service .An engine compression test as well. oops ema already mentioned the guides
wimwom,
Oct 27, 9:18pm
extraordinary!
rb_slider,
Oct 27, 9:22pm
head gasket has blown, wasnt smoke, it was steam, water getting into cyclinder. will have to try find a new head gasket for it, or if theres a motor out there that will fit let me know
rob_man,
Oct 27, 9:35pm
It's a Viva motor if that helps. Those cars are screaming out for an engine swap though.
ema1,
Oct 27, 9:42pm
Do a head gasket job, they are simple as to do on those. Once you have head off have it checked for cracks( magnaflux test.)and if OK have the head resurfaced. Chances are there won't be much warping as the heads are very short which is one good redeeming feature they have. If engine ran on 4 cylinders OK I wouldn't bother worrying about a valve grind as the more stuff you do on it when it isn't worth much makes it not really worthwhile. Grab another engine if you can that has a good going history probably would be the ticket, you might get a whole donor car for S.F.A. Good Luck. Check the listings on here you might get lucky.
fryan1962,
Oct 27, 9:54pm
As a kid I drove a wagon as company car lol they were not too bad,one of my workmates put timber floor in the back of his and screwed it down
short time latter strong smell of petrol as he had drilled into fuel tank
rb_slider,
Oct 27, 10:57pm
going to do gasket job, cheap enough and going by book easy as to do, but will remove whole engine so i can find a exhaust leak to. so thats my mission next weekend
ceebee2,
Oct 28, 3:54am
Get radiator cleaned by specialist as well.cheap insurance as it will be full of crud for that age.
supernova2,
Oct 28, 4:16am
How will removing the engine solve an exhaust leak! To do the gasket you will have to remove either the pipe/manifold clamp or remove the manifold. Taking the engine out i sjust making work for yourself. Where do you stop!Should you replace the clutch!Engine mounts!Radiator hoses!
Last HC 1300 I worked on we pulled the head, gave it a clean and a scrub with the oilstone, slapped a new gasket on and bolted it back up.That one had been driven about 50k with no water.Its still going 8yrs later.
In your case I would replace the water pump, thermostat and get the rad rodded otherwise you will just be doing the gasket again.
rb_slider,
Oct 31, 7:31am
took head to engine recon shop, was not good, valves were stuck and springs were stuffed causing the valves not to open. told him to sort it, he started working on it today and then my old man found another good head for $50 and the guy going to do the valves for a extra $10. so going with that option.
supernova2- was only going to remove engine as i thought the leak was coming from a hard to reach place, and not that much work to pull such a basic engine out, would take me less than 5 minutes,.
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