BX 17 TZD with worsening cooling system problems

[citronut]

your head is definetly cracked right thought the middle, also you have burned out valves and valve seats in at least two of those picys,

with that vale/seat damage i would sday its had a cam belt go at some point in the past and slightly bent some valves,

regards malcolm

[andycadabra]

Citronut thanks for confirming my head is FUBAR. it makes a decision making process that much easier!.

that head actually came from Vanny about 2 1/2 years ago, who'd been using it as a doorstop (The camshaft snapped in my old one). I've certainly not have a cam belt go, but I don't know its history I'm afraid.

I have to decide in the next 24 hours whether to get shiny reconditioned head put on my 120 K 1.7td engine at a cost of about £ 300 parts and labour, or get something like an 85K 1.9td put in for £375 parts and labour. Apart from anything else, It's certainly getting harder to find spares for the 1.7 compared to the 1.9...

[MULLEY]

I'd personally go for the cheaper option, unless you suspect the engine has other issues? At least then it wont affect your insurance, running a 1.9td would have to be declared & that'll bump up your insurance big style.

I know that, what are the odds of being caught out, but is it worth taking the risk especially if you were involved in an accident with a fatality or someone was injured so badly that they'll never work again & then someone inspecting the car noticed said engine, you'd be financially crippled for life i guess with being sued etc.....

[andycadabra]

Went for the reconditioned cylinder head, which has now been fitted. 2 of the glow plugs were found to be faulty, which was probably responsible for the poor cold starting.
I'd been told a cost of £50 to take the head off and see what the problem was so I didn't think putting it all back together again would have generated more than 6 hours work, or £150 (I'd supplied all the parts), and I thought at least I've found a trustworthy local mechanic.

Found out otherwise when he asked for a £350 labour charge!. After hanging around and intermittently negotiating for about an hour and a half in the freezing cold while he mainly attended to other customers, he came down to £250 and I went up to £170, which he took, although he said he still asked me to drop another £20 sometime... Had I known it was going to be like that I would probably have gone for the engine replacement with 1.9 option, as the other garage would have done that for £180....

Before we started talking about money I did broach the subject of the dull knocking I get when running over a pothole or road hump. His English is very good and said it seemed to be 'the joint in the anti-roll bar'. From what I've found out from searching the forum is that this is probably drop links that have failed, which is probably what he meant, because as far as I know there is no one joint on the anti-roll bar?.

Anyway the engine's sounding very sweet, and no more bubbling in the cooling system. Thanks to all of you for your help in this matter.

[MULLEY]

I'm a bit confused, didn't he give you a quote to do the job? At least you managed to reduce the costs even though it was a hassle, i'd personally never use that bloke ever again.....

[andycadabra]

The quote I had, which I thought was very reasonable, was £50 to get the head off to see what the problem was. I assumed that putting everything back wouldn't cost much more than twice that, but I should have got a final price from him before going any further with the head replacement

[mat_fenwick]

the first one offered to take the engine apart to see what the problem was, for £50, and if it was just the gasket, it would be fixed for not much more.

Hmmm. £350 seems quite dissimilar to "not much more" At £30 per hour that's nearly 12 hours work, which is too long IMO. But at least the saga (hopefully ) ends well!
Plus it keeps the 1.9TD club that little bit more exclusive.

[andycadabra]

I think he did a thorough job, but I feel a bit sad that having thought I'd built up a good and ongoing relationship with him, he tries something like that on me. Seems like nearly all the garages around here are Latin Americans, so misunderstandings due to language differences don't help...

as for 1.9's - 10 years down the line, when BX's become proper collectors cars, who'll have the car that collectors want to buy?
Ok, you can zoom up the mountains of North Wales but here in London...

[andycadabra]

May have spoken too soon! Cold starting is producing a lot of blue smoke and the first 10 seconds of running sounds a bit rough as though it might be only running on 3 cylinders.
The blue smoke could be piston ring wear I guess, but the initial rough running suggests perhaps a defective heating plug, yet these were supposed to have been tested and 2 were replaced.
Are either of these problems likely to be down to a flaw in the reconditioned cylinder head or something the garage should be held responsible for?

[andycadabra]

I have read that worn valve stem seals can cause blue smoke on start-up but it goes away when the engine is warm. Constant blue smoke would be down to piston ring wear.

the description of the reconditioned cylinder head state said all parts are assembled with new seals...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWNX:IT

Also seem to have a coolant leak from underneath side of engine, directly under the water pump (which was renewed 3 yrs, or 10k miles ago) No hoses in the vicintiy to blame...

[andycadabra]

After wasting another £9 on K-Seal, I've still got this drip. It's not possible to see if it's coming from the water pump, but it's beneath it and dripping about once or twice a second, and doesn't get going until the engine is warm.

The thing is, the water pump was new about 3 years ago (10,000m ago) so it shouldn't have gone so soon? I don't know if it's anything to do with the up to a cupful of oil I poured into the cooling system by mistake back in the summer, perishing seals?

I'm really annoyed at the garage didn't either check the water pump or take any responsibility for something they might have done to it. It would have been so easy to have changed it when the timing belt was off! Now they're quoting £100 Labour for it.
Do I have any legal leverage I wonder?

I'll just have to keep an eye on the leak and see how manageable it is.

[MULLEY]

Without anything in writing youre stuffed i guess. Mind you, would you want to take it back to them ever anyway???