Smoothness Gone...

[rameez]

Hello everyone,

I need some advice from experts. My car is a lancer station wagon 1979 and had no major problems with it except about 3 weeks ago after work i noticed that the water outlet socket which connects the radiator hose to the engine was leaking when the engine revs up, so had to go to panchikawatte and get a reconditioned one.Since this a DIY job i wanted to do it alone and no major nuts to be removed since it is on top. I managed to remove one nut but the second

one only came out with the top part and the balance part was still on the hole and i needed to remove it with the help of a guy who does welding and stuff.

The water socket is placed on one of the 4 cylinder paths to the cylinder head and close to it is the carburator, they all are moulded into one unit and if i do not remove the carb i can take the inlet manifold and the carb as one unit out of the car and this is what i told the mechanic who removed it to do since i did not want to mess up the sealings of the carb and make the job bigger. i took the unit as one and the welding guy managed to remove the nut from the hole so that i can fix the new socket, all the stuff was done along with the carb being fixed to the manifold and there was a lot of turning around but this is the option the guy preferred as he was reluctant to do it on the engine itself. All went well and i also replaced the packing set and fixed the new socket the leak issue was sorted out

but the car engine now vibrates a lot ( i mean quite a lot)i was closeby with the welding guy and he did not touch anything with the (carb although there may have been times when i had to go and answer a call)so after my mechanic fixes the carb as usual how can my engine vibrate some much.I like this car because it has a very smooth engine given it's age but now that is spoilt and i am a bit worried. I drove the car with the leak to the garage and the engine was as it is smoothly so how can the engine now vibrate so much when in idle as well as running,i also noted the engine is slow in accelerating not like before.do you think happened to the carb when it was being pushed around along with the manifold,i typed this all so that any expert can give me some advice.I have no idea if a carburator has got rubber parts which may have gone bust when the guy was heating a closer area with oxy asitilin which really produced a high heat.

any advice ...and sorry for the long post, i hope this will not be costly

[jdnet]

sure a vacuum line didn't come off?

[rameez]

sure a vacuum line didn't come off?

such as..........can you be a little more specific....i am not sure

[jdnet]

such as..........can you be a little more specific....i am not sure

CAn't tell you which ones to check because I've never worked on an older lancer. Check all the hoses to see if anything might have come off when you were working with it.

[rameez]

CAn't tell you which ones to check because I've never worked on an older lancer. Check all the hoses to see if anything might have come off when you were working with it.

i personally watched the guy fix all as it was to be. can there be someting inside the carb moved around so that the flow of petrol is not coming propery.

[jdnet]

My knowledge in carbs is a little lacking as so far I've only had to work on efi systems, so I can't say anything about that. I'm sure someone here will chime in. As for you watching while the guy was fixing it, something could still have gone wrong which niether you nor the mechanic noticed. Just pop your hood and look for any disconnected lines make sure you track down each and every line and check if it's tightly in place as you may miss something. It's happened to me more times than I can remember.

Also check to see if any cables are out of place.

Edited May 1, 2011 by jdnet

[rameez]

My knowledge in carbs is a little lacking as so far I've only had to work on efi systems, so I can't say anything about that. I'm sure someone here will chime in. As for you watching while the guy was fixing it, something could still have gone wrong which niether you nor the mechanic noticed. Just pop your hood and look for any disconnected lines make sure you track down each and every line and check if it's tightly in place as you may miss something. It's happened to me more times than I can remember.

Also check to see if any cables are out of place.

but you could still help me in the basics, well here is the story. Today i called the mechanic and he checked the engine and told me that gasket had blown since there was a water leak and that is the story.total cost of replacing will be around 10 K .as per him the engine is under compression in 2 cylinders. He told me to crank the engine and removed two plugs and put his finger, if there was compression he told me that he will not be able to keep the finger and it will push it out,then he also checked the radiator.

does the engine vibrate when there a gasket failure

[Ripper]

Today i called the mechanic and he checked the engine and told me that gasket had blown since there was a water leak and that is the story.

total cost of replacing will be around 10 K .as per him the engine is under compression in 2 cylinders. He told me to crank the engine and removed two plugs and put his finger, if there was compression he told me that he will not be able to keep the finger and it will push it out,then he also checked the radiator.

does the engine vibrate when there a gasket failure

blown gaskets is not uncommon on older vehicles.

And yes engine can run a bit rough if on bad gaskets due to compression leaks, water leaks, water leaking from the water jacket into the chamber etc. And 10k for that repair is not bad at all.

The finger technique is not the best way to judge compression but some older mechanics tend to still depend on it a fair bit. And with experience these guys can make a decent diagnostic so chances are...he is correct.

But you'd gotta first replace the gasket, make sure the valve train is order and timing is spot and then then do a proper compression test.

Also...once the head come off...if there is deep wearing on the piston and the bore...you can do a visual inspection even

[jaga]

.

does the engine vibrate when there a gasket failure

Yes possible. I also had a lancer wagon 'ORION" engine long a go and had the same issue. One cylinder was under compression and replaced rings and lapsed valve seats etc.

One Unit#d Mot#rs guy did the repair and his name is Fernando and if you like to contact him pl send me a message.

[rameez]

Yes possible. I also had a lancer wagon 'ORION" engine long a go and had the same issue. One cylinder was under compression and replaced rings and lapsed valve seats etc.

One Unit#d Mot#rs guy did the repair and his name is Fernando and if you like to contact him pl send me a message.

machang

I PM you thanks.

[rameez]

blown gaskets is not uncommon on older vehicles.

And yes engine can run a bit rough if on bad gaskets due to compression leaks, water leaks, water leaking from the water jacket into the chamber etc. And 10k for that repair is not bad at all.

The finger technique is not the best way to judge compression but some older mechanics tend to still depend on it a fair bit. And with experience these guys can make a decent diagnostic so chances are...he is correct.

But you'd gotta first replace the gasket, make sure the valve train is order and timing is spot and then then do a proper compression test.

Also...once the head come off...if there is deep wearing on the piston and the bore...you can do a visual inspection even

once i remove the head tell me what are the things i should replace.do i need to do an oil change.

[The Don]

once i remove the head tell me what are the things i should replace.do i need to do an oil change.

As Ripper had said, you would definitely need to replace the head gasket, and possibly the piston rings (if the engine is under compression) and the valve seats. If the compression issue can't be resolved by simply replacing the rings you might need to get the engine rebuilt, which might cost a bit.

Frankly at this point the job is best left to the professionals.

[rameez]

As Ripper had said, you would definitely need to replace the head gasket, and possibly the piston rings (if the engine is under compression) and the valve seats. If the compression issue can't be resolved by simply replacing the rings you might need to get the engine rebuilt, which might cost a bit.

Frankly at this point the job is best left to the professionals.

this guy is asking me 5500 to remove the head as labor....and told me that about 2k might go for the parts meaning the head gasket.

by the way are the rings expensive along with valve seats...thinking of calling some places tommorrow to get some information.

[Ripper]

this guy is asking me 5500 to remove the head as labor....and told me that about 2k might go for the parts meaning the head gasket.

by the way are the rings expensive along with valve seats...thinking of calling some places tommorrow to get some information.

machang... sorry if i'm sounding rude... but you will have to stomach repair costs from time to time and the numbers you have put down here is not so bad imo.

how this works is that once you open the head...a new gasket is a must. alternatively sometimes you can use a gasket maker tube... it really depends on the application at hand and i'm not very familiar with your engine to comment accurately.

But once the you start to open things up...you might end up replacing more and more stuff as you find things that are faulty.

Like The Don was saying...replacing only the ring set really depends on the amount of wear on your block and pistons. sometimes just slapping on rings doesn't do any good and you would have to bore the block and drop in new pistons and rings...costly affair.

all depends on how badly worn the engine is.

Valve stem seals are usually not that expensive. sometimes you might have to machine the head if valve guides are damaged/worn

And on some cars...dropping an engine bought off a delkanda joint is far cheaper than doing a full and proper overhaul.

For instance i was quoted 20k for only the engine for my ae100 sometime back. this is minus the gear box and without any pumps, alternators etc etc

Get yourself a good mechanic and ask the bugger to check things up for you.

once i too almost got caught to a mechanic dude who wanted to drop new pistons in when the actual problem was with the valve stem seals.

In my case...compression etc was all fine but the car used to smoke a bit when it's started up only to go away after a few mins of idling

good luck!

[The Don]

this guy is asking me 5500 to remove the head as labor....and told me that about 2k might go for the parts meaning the head gasket.

by the way are the rings expensive along with valve seats...thinking of calling some places tommorrow to get some information.

The actual goods are probably not that expensive, relatively speaking but you should budget 20-30K at least I would have thought. Do get a few quotations before you start work.

[TheMU]

Are you sure the temp was not up when you drove it to the mechanics place? Look into that. And also from my experience, just because there is a coolant leak, there is not way the headgasket would blow. I remember I was working on a mitsu 4G63 (Evo Engine) and to check the compression dropped too much oil. And that blew the headgasket. So, from what I've read did you drop any coolant or a foreign object in the intake? Something might have caused too much pressure on the head. Replacing a headgasket is easy buddy, take the spark plugs off, and take the head off. Now, I've no idea about costs in SL but you might want to check if its really under compression. Start it up, and pull the oil dipstick out, if you see some smoke or fumes coming out of the dipstick then its definitely under compression. Another thing to do is put a drop. VERY IMPORTANT 1 drop of engine oil on the piston and see if it improves the idle.

http://www.aa1car.com/library/compression.htm

Let me know what happens.

[LancerL]

Don't you'll think that it can be an electric problem? I mean putting plugs in wrong order?

Running engine with less cylinders also vibrate the engine..

[rameez]

appearently it was a hose that was not placed properly and had caused a vacuum leak.I replaced the head gasket which cost me 3000 app....and also the hose was fixed back and the engine was fine.but the head gasket had blown off due to the excessive heat....and i saw it visibly....