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Hgf?



  '92 172, Lotus Elise
just been towed home by the RAC. Think the head gasket has gone!

was in town, doing about 20mph. it started to idle funny (like it was firing on 3cyls. i pull over and it stalls. Try to restart it and eventually it gets going, only for the dodgy turnover and it stalls again.

tried to restart it again and the starter motor just whirred!

called the RAC out. turns out the starter motor had come lose. he re-attached that using the one bolt that was left. it started fine. but still misfiring etc...

Looked in the cyclinders and there is a nice amount of oil/water in there!

bugger :(

The car was running fine until this. went to a mates house yesterday evening and it was fine. The max speed i could've done was about 35mph.

Hope it isnt hgf. Im starting a new job on monday.. kinda need to be there :(
 
  '92 172, Lotus Elise
sorry, not the cylinders, the spark plug cores.

RAC man blew the oil out but it just flooded again
 
pull the plugs out and spin the engine over as this will clear all water/oil out. the RAC guy is an idiot, its most likely the rocker cover gasket, leaking oil, and the water could be rain water, or, there are core plugs by the plugs, one of those has sprung a leak/
 
  '92 172, Lotus Elise
use the starter motor to turn the engine over?

is it easy to change the rocker cover gasket? or the core plugs?
 
yea, and stand clear as it will blast it out.

half hour to do the rocker cover gasket. about an hour for the core plugs, but you have to do the rocker cover anyway if you do the core plugs.
 
  '92 172, Lotus Elise
ok, thanks :)

once ive blasted the oil out of the cores, will i be able to tell if its just the gasket or if its the core plugs?

Can these gaskets be obtained from a motor factors, as renault parts are closed for the weekend. I really need the car for monday :(
 
  '92 172, Lotus Elise
ok, thanks for your help mate.. really appreciate it!! :)

going to try it now
 
  '92 172, Lotus Elise
ok, just tried to turn it over with the spark plugs out. nothing happened. the engine turns over ok but nothing came out of the cores....

Could i put loads of paper towels or something in to try and absorb the oil?

also, if i drain it and just oil goes back in, it means its the gasket?
 
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  '92 172, Lotus Elise
trying to find a syringe to get the oil out.

will have to pop along to renault on monday for a new gasket.

*hopefully* it'll be alright

there isnt a lot in the cores. a bit of oil at the bottom really (about an inch deep perhaps?)
 
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  '92 172, Lotus Elise
oh.. thats not good then! would that be the gasket being majorly gone? or something else? :(

i'll have to see how much i syringe out! Im going to take a ruler or something to see how deep it is! :(

edit: stuck the dipstick in each.. and there is about 1.5-2" deep of oil!
 
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  '92 172, Lotus Elise
DSC00180.JPG


DSC00179.JPG


you can just about make out the oil by the reflection at the bottom...

oh, it was also clean when i took the cover off.. thats just oil spillage from the RAC man
 
  '92 172, Lotus Elise
the top pic is what i took out when i started all of this :eek:

have a made a shoolboy error somewhere :eek: :eek:
 
  '92 172, Lotus Elise
ok... i took the spark plugs out now :eek:

turned it over, a few streams of oil went about 40ft in the air.

put the spark plugs back in. ran it for a bit. loads of blue smoke for about 10mins where the oil had gotten in i think.

then its fine. checked around the spark plug area again and its completely clear

been driving it about for 30mins+ now, seems fine

I think i will still change the gasket though, for peace of mind.

Also, ive developed a new rattle.. sounds like a bolt is loose - perhaps one of the missing ones from the starter motor!
 


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