constant miss & cooling problem

Dutchy · Post by **Dutchy** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 5:03 pm

ever since i done the front seals in my L series to stop the lifter ive been having problems. there is a constant miss and i cant seem to find the problem. Ive done the spark plugs, new leads and a new distributer (the old one was shot anyway) and still having problems.

Also i have been having cooling problems since i bottomed out when i took the car 4wding. took the bottom of the radiator (too much sand & not enough expirence). Ive done the obvious thing and replaced the radiator, still had problenms. put twin electric thermo fans and still doing it.
would the miss in the engine be the cause of the over heating?

any suggestions would help...

Morcs · Post by **Morcs** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 6:21 pm

Missing can be caused by a few things
Lack Of
Spark
Fuel
Compression

If you can identfy the dud cylinder it makes it eaiser to fix.
You can do it by removing sparkplug caps one at a time Replace ones that make difference. Find out which one makes no difference that is the dud one. Carful not to touch car other then cap or you will get a belt of a few thousand volts. Funny as to watch someone else get belted it hurts but wont bother you too much. ( Use a set of insulated Pliers Rubber hose cramps etc)

When you find out which one it is get one of your old spark plugs, earth it out on the block and see if it sparks with lead attached. Should be a nice blue coulered spark.

If you get a good spark you probly have compression issues
eg
Valve clearance to tight,
Blown head Gasket
Broken Rings etc
Do a compression Check if you dont have a compresion tester grab a air nossel remove spark plug and force air into cylinder (has to be on compression Stroke) and listen to where air escapes.
Either intake or exhaust manifolds suspect valves
Sump broken rings

Dutchy · Post by **Dutchy** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:03 pm

they are all relatively new spark plugs and done that check and it the first cylinder whick is missing. the spark plugs all work fine. yet to do a compression test. I think it might be a burnt valve because i am getting a fuel and oil mixture plow up through the carby and puddle under the air filter.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 4:00 pm

Does the cooling system become pressurised after running for a little while? If so you've done a head gasket. This can occur without water showing up in the oil.
It could explain the miss and the over heating...

Other than that, how old's the water pump? I don't think this is the problem but it may be contributing.

Was the radiator new or second hand, as second hand ones can be worse than your original one, they may look good from the outside but could be partially blocked on the inside...

Other than that there's not much I can think of...

Cheers

Bennie

thesaidbin · Post by **thesaidbin** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 4:19 pm

are you sure u havent messed up the timing when you did the new dizzy?

Dutchy · Post by **Dutchy** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 4:31 pm

thesaidbin wrote:are you sure u havent messed up the timing when you did the new dizzy?

nah i done the timing all over after doing that to make sure its spot on.

Dutchy · Post by **Dutchy** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 4:40 pm

El_Freddo wrote:Does the cooling system become pressurised after running for a little while? If so you've done a head gasket. This can occur without water showing up in the oil.
It could explain the miss and the over heating...

Other than that, how old's the water pump? I don't think this is the problem but it may be contributing.

Was the radiator new or second hand, as second hand ones can be worse than your original one, they may look good from the outside but could be partially blocked on the inside...

Other than that there's not much I can think of...

Cheers

Bennie

yeh it does presurise a little it ends up plowing out the over flow compartment.
its still the original water pump. got the radiator out of a right off, it was a grannys car only done about 70 thousand kms rear end went. wanted the engine as well but some1 else got that. olso done a flush out and it seemed pretty clean. even after that i still think its a burnt valve.

theclick · Post by **theclick** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 3:56 pm

Sorry to hijack the topic.

But i have a similar problem

Recently did a flush and it runs cooler around town, but up hills, and upwards of 110km/h it goes up, and then down hills, in particular long ones, the temp drops right off the scale (almost to the cold mark). Any help>?

SUBYDAZZ · Post by **SUBYDAZZ** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 8:15 pm

theclick wrote:Sorry to hijack the topic.

But i have a similar problem

Recently did a flush and it runs cooler around town, but up hills, and upwards of 110km/h it goes up, and then down hills, in particular long ones, the temp drops right off the scale (almost to the cold mark). Any help>?

Coolant level too low? The sensor may not be getting wet downhill? Did you notice how much coolant it took altogether when it was refilled?

Dutchy, did replacing the seals fix your lifter tick?

theclick · Post by **theclick** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 12:59 pm

Thanks for the reply SubyDazz

When i replaced the coolant, the engine was cold so the thermo wasnt open. THus i assumed the coolant in the engine was not emptied out in the process (would this be true). I did note that it only took 3 litres out of the 5 when changing the coolant over (going to do a full change out), would coolant have still be in the engine because i didnt remove the thermostat when doing the change?

otherwise, its not losing any coolant from what i can see. Perhaps there is a block in the engine :S

theclick · Post by **theclick** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 1:39 pm

Also, in addition to that. The range selector, and the plastic plate seems to heat up also, and i often get a bit of hot air blowing against my feet. DO sub's have trans coolers, and do they get blocked?

Post by **Alex** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 1:57 pm

nah the heat coming from the tranny tunnel is normal. Exhaust heat i believe. Mine does this also.

alex

SUBYDAZZ · Post by **SUBYDAZZ** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 2:30 pm

I cannot recall for your model, but some engines have coolant drain plugs in the bottom of the block too. Generally speaking it's pretty hard to remove all the coolant from the system, I'd be looking at the possibility of an air bubble in the system. Does your heater work OK? How it the level in the radiator once the car has cooled sufficiently enough to open it? Also for the overflow.

Yes, heat in the area behind the shifter is normal.

theclick · Post by **theclick** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 3:56 pm

Thanks for the replies again, good to know the heat around the range shifter is normal.

Subydazz, heater works well, i could roast a chicken in my car. The coolant level (despite not being able to check when its warm) seems to be pretty constant. Since replacing the coolant, the level in the overflow has dropped a little which could point to an air bubble (it did this in 1 go, not gradually). Radiator when opened always has coolant right up to the top.

I did have problems with muck in the system, which had the consistency and colour of clay, this is why I did the flush. It could be possible that the water pump or similar is clogged, or that i do infact have an air bubble.

Dont know if this would effect anything, but the bottom row of those small squigly plates in the radiator are fairly bent, probably due to stone hits.

Dutchy · Post by **Dutchy** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:51 pm

SUBYDAZZ wrote:Coolant level too low? The sensor may not be getting wet downhill? Did you notice how much coolant it took altogether when it was refilled?

Dutchy, did replacing the seals fix your lifter tick?

no dout... can't even here the car when its on idle anymore so quiet...
it was as noisey as hell before hand.

Matatak · Post by **Matatak** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 11:28 pm

if the sensor isnt getting wet.
the temp will skyrocket. not go down.

Suby Wan Kenobi · Post by **Suby Wan Kenobi** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 11:39 pm

Matatak wrote:if the sensor isnt getting wet.
the temp will skyrocket. not go down.

Nah if there is nothing covering the sensor the temp will indicate lower that it actually is.

If you had a muddy cooling system and an Lseries radiator you will more than likely have to get the cores poked out manually, most radiator places will do it for around $60 and it will seem as if you have a new one.

Matatak · Post by **Matatak** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 11:57 pm

Suby Wan Kenobi wrote:Nah if there is nothing covering the sensor the temp will indicate lower that it actually is.

hmmmm...
thats not wt ive experienced at work.

but ok

SUBYDAZZ · Post by **SUBYDAZZ** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 11:37 am

The sensor only works by measuring the temperature of a liquid when it is in contact with one (conducts heat a lot better than air). You can have an overheating system because of loss of coolant and the gauge shows very cool or drops off the lower end of the scale. Been there, done that, lucky I do keep an eye on the gauge or it could have been bad (not that I wasn't 3 hours from home in the middle of nowhere on a 43oC day when that happened, but that's another story...)