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[matthew5664]

The story so far

Bought the car 4 years ago, 120,000 FSH £800 bargin!

Did the breaks (disks and pads) and the hand break cable. New header tank. 4 new tyres. New suspension bushes. New front headlight clusters (old ones; the adjusters has seized). New exhaust

All the work apart from the tyres and suspension was completed by me and all came in at £600 ish

Since then I have done the spark plugs, air and pollen filters, oil and fuel filters on a two year cycle.

Running fine until one day the engine warning light came on, I started losing coolant (1.5 litres a week) and the car was misfiring on start-up until engine is warm, once restarted the misfiring stopped.

Then the misfiering started to happen intermittently while running.

So................

Over the weekend I checked all the spark plugs again, one had a crack and was missing piece of insulator from around the central electrode. I took the throttle body off for a clean as well as the induction tubing and replaced the hoses. (On this to note the hoses the connect the top of the cam cover to the throttle body were full of black/brown sludge, this has made its way into the throttle body and the inlet manifold).

So after a strip and clean the seals and spark plugs were replaced and she is running fine, better than before in fact but the engine warning light is still on and the coolant is still being lost.

Bugger is I cannot find where the coolant is leaking from!

So................

My thoughts are I did not replace the O2 sensors when I did the exhaust so should do that, and looking at posts here the CAM sensor should need doing (40,000 miles on it) then strip down the cooling system, flush through and replace all the hosing and clamps.

What are everyone’s thoughts?? And how do I change a CAM sensor

[Radar]

Have you checked the heater matrix (hbv). Have a look in the maintenance guides for that and cam sensor info.

[matthew5664]

Hi and thanks for the response.

Is there any way to check this without having to remove the facia?

[mathewst]

Was the replacement cam sensor original? You said it has 40 000 miles so apparently you changed it.
Warning light could go away after 20 restarts if everything is allright now.
As for cooleant, get the car to running temp and then observe. It could be number of things (hbv, coolant cap, hoses, headgasket).
Mine was loosing coolant on one hose but it was visible only when it was up to temp.

[matthew5664]

Hi,

The cam sensor is yet to be replaced. I have ordered one, and two O2 sensors from Vx and collecting tomorrow.

Will fire up the car and let it run to temp before looking for leaks, did think it weird that It did not 'leak' visibly. How would I know if it was the head gasket?

Thanks for all the help.

[Varche]

You need to check the heater By pass valve. Mine failed a few days ago. On this occasion it only looses water when climate control is on.

As the water drips/dribbles or gushes down the back of the engine it isn't easy to see.

Access is best by removing the scuttle (see maintenance guide) When you are in there check the condition of the actual hoses especially underneath connections to hbv. If it is the hbv buy genuine VX only as pattern ones whilst cheaper tend to fail more quickly.

I can't help regarding the engine light etc other than to say it is easy to spend good money just replacing parts willy nilly. Ideally you need the fault code that has caused the EML to be lit. On older cars such as mine you can flash them out using a paperclip (see maintenance guides) yours may only be suitable for the "pedal trick" (again see guides.)

[mathewst]

Headgaskets rarely fail (actually didn't heard that 4pots had ever a headgasket problem, but they can fail).
First check obvious things (hbv, hoses)
Especially check the hoses which were removed when the throttle body was dismantled.

[PhilRich]

Headgaskets rarely fail (actually didn't heard that 4pots had ever a headgasket problem, but they can fail).
First check obvious things (hbv, hoses)
Especially check the hoses which were removed when the throttle body was dismantled.

Hmmm, unfortunately, 4 pots are prone to HG failure if the cooling system has been neglected & incorrect/insufficient strength coolant allowed to remain in the system over a long period of time 

[Abiton]

I'd agree with Phil, could be HG.   The poor running from cold is possibly a symptom of coolant sitting in a combustion chamber, which will mess up the compression and ignition in that pot.

Coolant loss could just be HBV (not the same thing as heater matrix), so find that and check it thoroughly first.  Rear of engine (UK) drivers-side, 3 coolant hoses on it, one vacuum hose.

I'm not totally sure that it's only poor coolant maintenance that gets the 4-pot gaskets.  It could be just number of thermal cycles/cold-starts.  What's the mileage on the engine now?

There was precious little evidence of corrosion on head, gasket or block when I replaced ours.  I think that narrow bit of head between pot 4 and the rear coolant channel just doesn't have enough meat in it to support the gasket properly locally. Maybe.

Anyway, simple check: take out the sparkplugs a few hours after it was last run, shine a bright little torch down each of the holes.  Look for wetness on any of the piston crowns. If there is any, and it's coolant, you have a HG problem.  Hope they all look nice and dry for ya! 

[Arkansawchugubug]

Head gasket failed on my 2.2 at 57,000. Full VX service history on the button. But then again, find something on my 2.2 that hasn't failed!   :-/

[matthew5664]

So, thanks to everyone who posted - real food for thought!

Changed the O2 sensors and this did not help. Still waiting on time to change the CAM sensor.

Got the car up to temp and checked all the hoses connections and found the leak. Turned out to be a hair line fracture of the top right inlet to the radiator, on the black plastic pipe. Found this to be a right PITA as it looks to be integral to the rad itself. Going to try using some gun glue to seal when cold and let dry overnight be for running on idle for 30 mins to cure, because that that I’m forking out £200+ for a new rad. Took out all the SPs to check the pots and thankfully they were all dry.

Engine light is still on but managed to find a member to code read the car and wipe them for me so I can really narrow down the problem.

[PhilRich]

If you find you need to replace your radiator, post a request in the Parts for sale & Wanted section, you may get lucky!

[matthew5664]

Hi PhilRich,

I do now need a new Rad, the repair kits will not work and rad weld is a joke too. I need more than 250 posts to be able to put a 'Wanted' post onto the board!

Have found one from Fast Rads in Newport £90 free next day delivery, what are everyone’s opinions of this company.

Thanks

Matt