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Hi Guys....Not subaru related but just after some ideas.

My better half drove her little 3 pot Daihatsu sirion over to the coast recently and blew the head gasket across the narrow part between cylinder 1 and 2. We've had the car since new and it is a 99 model M100. There is no evidence that the car got hot and we have never had an ounce of trouble with it. Always been serviced. She drove it back like that and I checked the car after it came home and the coolant was all still intact.

I'm flat out with work so the car was sent to local repair shop in Toowoomba. Suspected that it was the head gasket after compression tests showed irregular readings so authorised repair up to $2,000.

Repairs came in at $1800 and included new timing belt, idlers, thermostat, head service, new water pump, VRS set, and so forth. When car was restarted, smoke poured from the engine exhaust and has been ever since. Workshop now says car has been hot and rings are stuffed. We paid the account(yea I know) and brought it home.

Questions:-

If car has been hot (don't believe it was) it drove a further 200??? klms before it got home with coolant all still intact and no evidence of over heating eg water stains or head damage other than head gasket failure.?

Why no smoke before this job and now plenty of smoke if car did not overheat?

The car is running better than before, very zippy (Just smokey)not suggesting ring failure??

I have dropped the new oil and filter put in by mechanics (Valvoline 20w 40??) and run an engine flush and put the car back on Castrol GTX 15w 40 that it has always run on...

General run around google suggests oil rings may be clogged and gunky, wouldn't know why and mechanics suggested hone and re ring. Very reluctant to pull apart and do anything immediately after spending $1800 of our hard earned, and just waiting to see if it settles down. Some suggestions on the net offer putting down some sort of additive in the spark plug holes to see if any glazing or gunk will get removed. That would be my last shot if it comes to that....

Any suggestions welcomed and appreciated...Thanks

Trevor

Hi Trevor
Bad luck with the car we have an Applause and treat it like S+*T and it keeps coming back for more great car.
My first thought of an additive would be Subaru upper engine cleaner it might work then again the head was all ready off so you would think it would have been cleaned up. That's it for me

Jan

Trevor,

Difficult to diagnose from your info, but I'll give my suggestions.

If the engine blew a head gasket between 1 and 2, it would have been running really bad, the car should have been towed at that point.

The workshop should have also done a leakdown test, compression test alone is a not a clear indicator of headgasket failure.

An engine running with no compression in one or more cylinders has no combustion happening.
Washes down the bores, wearing out the rings faster and wearing the bores with more taper.
No combustion also has high oxygen in the exhaust (because we didn't use it in the combustion process) and the injection system will go richer trying to compensate.
The whole engine will be richer with even more fuel than it would normally require.

I've seen many engines become smokey after the bores have been washed for prolonged periods.

You might want to ask the workshop if they examined the bores after head removal.

Thanks Jan, yes my thoughts also. My eldest son who is out on the job past Winton has been speaking to me on the phone about this. We both thought that any visible sign of something wrong in the block would have been seen by the Workshop mechanic for example, scoring from a cracked ring or glazing etc. They were quite satisfied it would seem that the problem was just the head gasket and completed that job accordingly. They recommended that further work completed at the time, that is to say the cleaning of the radiator, thermostat replacement and so on was necessary for them to guarantee their work. (In effect they wanted to fully service the cooling system to give a guarantee to their work) I think I will try the upper engine cleaner, thanks Jan as I am willing to try a few things before I tear it apart. Apparently the engine can be dismantled in situ.

Gary, thanks very much for your reply. I can see what you are saying that in effect the engine has continued to overfuel those cyclinders and wash the bores of oil gradually causing excessive wear over the journey. Makes sense. Would the car run as well as it is though given that it runs beautifully and Val (wife) says it is even running better than before despite smoke.??

As you are in Brisbane I can tell you that the car went from Toowoomba down thru Hampton to Esk, had its failure between esk and Toogoolawah, continued over to Maroochydore and a few days later came back. So went a fair way on 1 and a bit cylinders. When I checked it on its arrival back, coolant was still full and clean. We at first thought it was only minor, plugs or something before it went to workshop. Thanks for your advice. Trevor

I guess at this stage , a can of engine restore cannot hurt. Has a compression test or leak down been done since taken up smokin'?
Boy, a three pot running on blown gasket - just between the cylinders and nothin' else - poor little Sirion......running on one cylinder ?

It didn't smoke for the 200km trip home or to the workshop - just after the work ?

Blow on start up and stay that way or does the smoke stop after op temp achieved - had the latter with worn valves guides on non Subie - had to keep it warm while it was for sale

Hmm , not a good look driving cars with head gasket issues . It would be worth checking the spark plugs or even looking at the piston crowns at top dead center if you can see or shine a light down through the plug holes . This may tell you which cylinder is burning the oil or if it looks like all of them .
Also if it possible to check its PCV valve I'd do that too .
It sort of sounds like the previously dead cylinder may have an issue that shows up with a properly sealing head gasket .
Also while you may be able to remove the head and pistons/rods from the block in situ you may not be able to fix bore issues with it still in the car .
Be wary of bottle brush hones because while they may restore the cross hatching they do it on cylinders that are not round or parallel as well so new rings may not bed in and seal properly . You only ever have this happen once because the bill is high to tear it down again to do it properly the second time .
Take it to the grave , bores MUST be properly prepared if you want to be sure new rings will seal properly .

A .

What colour smoke are you seeing? Most here are assuming it's blue...

Cheers

Bennie

Thanks everyone. All good replies with good info. Smoke is blue, can smell the burnt oil in it. Don't think it would be coolant burning because as said, the coolant is fine. No smoke before the gasket issue, car has always run really well. I didn't see it goin to town for repair, my son took it in, But his girlfiend who followed said car was smokin as it limped into toowoomba. Anyway, thanks everyone, I can see that I will be pulling the pistons out up the track. Eldest son gets back next week and he is a fair bit switched on more than me with these things so we will look at all that has been mentioned including another compression test, PCV valve and visual bore inspection. Wife is looking at new Mazda3 in showroom today so guess what?? $$$$$$$$

UPDATE******

Eldest son and I bit the bullet and pulled this engine down last Tuesday...cleaned and order parts..got the bottom end back in yesterday and started it up this afternoon..all well.

It would appear that while the compression rings looked ok..lot of carbon and burnt oil about..oil rings and their spacer were stuck solid into the pistons and the two holes on each side of the pistons behind the oil ring spacer were gummed shut,

Ordered standard big end slippers, standard rings..the bores were beautiful, gave them a quick hone...head was fine..had just been done...non genuine parts including VRS set....

Previous bill has VRS set (genuine I bet) at $250..we got rings, bottom end bearings and VRS set delivered at Toowoomba for $220.

plus incidentals and oil..filter etc etc..I think we got out of it ok....

Considered opinions on what went wrong over evening stubby was too long between oil changes allowing dirty oil to gum up engine and then situation went downhill from there..we think.

Thanks everyone for advice...Saw the wife dissappear up the driveway before in the car..not back yet so hope its going ok...Nah we took it for a spin...few more years in the little car yet.

Another happy story .....

Yep...getting too old though to be laying under a car with oil in my hair and my son raining coolant all over me as he takes the head off...but hey its a father son thing right.."quality time"