FTO AUSTRALIA

We've been out testing Rowans (sons) car after putting a new radiator in and the engine has sh*t itself so now need a new motor.

All was good during testing, temps holding well even after a very good thrashing but then we pulled up at traffic lights and it cut out, temps still good but wouldn't start and a bit of steam from under the bonnet from no obvious place just all over which we presumed to be water after washing spilt coolant off earlier.
Eventually started but it's not happy and we nursed it home after a few more cut outs at low revs and it now sounds like a tractor, smoke out of the back too. I will see if it will start in a bit once it's cooled down but I think it's knackered.
Would be nice to know what would have caused this but thinking we may never find out, first thing that springs to mind is knackered oil pump though (and maybe water pump) but that's pure speculation on my part.

Is there anything I can test on it to make sure or does what i've described sound like it's screwed?

Anyone know of an engine for sale in Vic?

Just started it easily and tbh i'm now not sure how bad it is, doesn't sound that bad at all really. (it's always had tappet noise).
I've found a coolant hose off - one of the little ones that goes to the throttle body, well the metal connector that the hose goes on near the coolant tower has snapped/corroded off so that would explain some of the problems. I did mess with this yesterday as I bypassed the throttle body cooling since it has little purpose here but not my fault the metal pipe has bust i'm sure, not sure how to fix this yet.

We were getting like a pulley/bearing noise after the initial problem when throttle was applied - could this have been noise from the water pump if running dry?

At the very least we will need a thermostat housing due to the broken pipe connector, one of these:

Ill check in the shed tomorrow.

Sounds more like a vacuum leak then... Make sure all your pipes are in on your throttle body

Not sure yet but the noise was terrible, not so bad now though.

how bizarre.
Able to post a video of it running?

When we got it home we were at first thinking oil pressure problem lots of top end sort of noise and clatter but she konked out again just as we got on the drive so didn't get a chance to hear from outside the car.

After finding the broken coolant hose connector i'm now convinced that was the cause and extreme overheating that wasn't showing up on the gauge until almost too late. Thinking if it had shat out all the coolant the temp sender wouldn't be in hot coolant anymore so wouldn't be effective.
It was driving really well before this and the temp was below half way until it lost coolant.

As a temp measure just to investigate i'm going to use sealant to put the coolant hose back on and put water in and run it and see what noises she's making, have a drive round the block if I can but certainly nothing too much until I get a new thermostat housing.

If noises ok (like the tractor noise has gone) should I do a compression test?
Will check for crap/milky oil, anything else I can do?

We've just done a compression test on it and it looks good to me but i've only done one of these before so may not be interpreting it correctly, can someone who knows please have a look at the results?

Readings in psi varying between 135 and 160 psi.

1 2 3 Rear bank
4 5 6 Front bank


1=155, 2=n/a, 3=147
4=150, 5=135, 6=160

Couldn't do number two as I couldn't get the plug out due to some tape being stuck to the wall of the plug spout, the lead has a split in it and looks like it's just been taped up and this has now stuck to the wall.
Ok now looking at the workshop manual it does look like 3 and 5 are a little low, going to retest them.

EDIT:
Just re-tested and got the following but engine is a little colder now, I cranked it for longer than before (4-5 secs instead of 2-3 on previous test) as the instructions say crank until you get max reading.
1=185, 2=n/a, 3=185
4=180, 5=170, 6=180
Manual says standard 1226kpa which is 177psi, min 1030 kpa which is 149 psi so i'm within limits.


Water pump (or something from that area) sounds a little noisy - slight bearing noise.

So where do we go from here, how's this plan?
1) Drop the oil (which smells burnt)
2) Replace the thermostat housing to fix the broken small coolant pipe issue and put new coolant in
see how it drives before putting a new water pump in and if ok swap that out as soon as we can?

Or should I be doing other tests?


BTW - is there a way to get the No2 plug out/remove the plug spout thing?

Could be No. 2 that is the problem, but can't say without testing obviously. Is it misfiring or anything? Have you checked to see if the coolant is milky or bubbly?

To check for the bearing noise, use the old screwdriver on the pulley or whatever the pulley is attached to trick (obviously on a part that isn't spinning).

Compression test should give you confirmation if you can get to cylinder 2 as well. I would obviously be replacing all the dodgy fixes in that cylinder as well (new set of leads and plugs if comp test is OK)

Thanks Daniel.

Oil isn't milky or bubbly and no misfire.
Doesn't seem to be smoke coming out of the exhaust either, held a piece of paper to it while Rowan revved it and all clean.

Haven't driven it yet to check how it is under load though.

Rob Furniss wrote:Just started it easily and tbh i'm now not sure how bad it is, doesn't sound that bad at all really. (it's always had tappet noise).
I've found a coolant hose off - one of the little ones that goes to the throttle body, well the metal connector that the hose goes on near the coolant tower has snapped/corroded off so that would explain some of the problems. I did mess with this yesterday as I bypassed the throttle body cooling since it has little purpose here but not my fault the metal pipe has bust i'm sure, not sure how to fix this yet.

We were getting like a pulley/bearing noise after the initial problem when throttle was applied - could this have been noise from the water pump if running dry?

At the very least we will need a thermostat housing due to the broken pipe connector, one of these:

Yep, got one in reasonable condition. $30 +postage. Can send Tuesday if you want.

Yes please Dwayne, will send money over once you let me know how much postage is, any chance you could express it please at my cost of course unless Auspost are charging stupid money for express?
Just dying to drive it and see if there's a larger problem or not but at this moment i've got my fingers crossed that it's just this and that we've got lucky (again), well if you could call it that.

PM Sent

Got the crap out of number 2 cylinder spark plug port, removed the plug and did a compression test on it - it's a little lower than the others by about 15-20 psi but I did the test on a cold engine, no visible blue smoke out of the back.

Swapped out the knackered ht lead on number 2 and the thermostat housing (thanks for the supply dstocks), she started first time and idled ok.
Doesn't sound like a tractor but there is more noise than before the overheating issue (high pitched metallic sort of noise from around the pulley side), thinking water pump. Took her for a very steady spin around the block and all good so far and thinking we just need to drop the oil and fit a new water pump, also not sure i'm happy with the crank pulley as looks like there's movement and maybe a ting noise coming from there somehow.

Removed the oil cap:


This doesn't look normal to me, hoping it's not the head, I cleaned it off and let it idle a bit more, raced the engine to around 3-4K and checked again - nothing???
Should I drop the oil and put some cheap stuff in, run it for a couple of km's and check again or is it buggered?

Hmm... any gunk under the radiator cap?

No radiator cap is fine.

Is it screwed or not what do you reckon? Just ordered water pump for it.

That milky stuff can also occur from condensation, repeated short cold starts can cause it.

Vectose wrote:That milky stuff can also occur from condensation, repeated short cold starts can cause it.

Well fingers crossed that's what it is, my Son (Rowan) has almost given up and is ready to drop a 6A13 into it - I can't be arsed to be honest as it would be me doing the work and taking a lot longer than the weekend job that he's expecting. Right now I just want his car fixed and mine back (which he's using for work) so I can finish the supercharger work.

He's also about to order extractors and just had a 65mm Magna throttle body turn up today so would be nice to get some good stuff going on instead of fire-fighting.