Pinto Problems

[andysimm]

Ok - this may be a lengthy question so please be patient...

I am having a few problems with my 2 l pinto namely...

1) loud taping noise (not the clearances - they have been checked)

2) loss of water through exhaust pipe

3) does seems to not have much power

4) cooling system issues (Polo rad and sealed resevoir loss of coolant, air locks)

5) very smelly engine (petrol)

 

Do you think that they are related? I am beginning to suspect head gasket.

 

Engine starts fine - I have not checked rocker for any emulsion yet though!

 

I have to admit to buying ready built so I do not know history of donor car. I am wondering if it might be best to pick up a new donor car and swap the engine - if so would it be best to stick to a sohc pinto or swap to a newer engine.

 

Again sorry for the lengthy question !

Andy

[Guest Alan_builder]

Ok - this may be a lengthy question so please be patient...

I am having a few problems with my 2 l pinto namely...

1) loud taping noise (not the clearances - they have been checked)

2) loss of water through exhaust pipe

3) does seems to not have much power

4) cooling system issues (Polo rad and sealed resevoir loss of coolant, air locks)

5) very smelly engine (petrol)

 

Do you think that they are related? I am beginning to suspect head gasket.

 

Engine starts fine - I have not checked rocker for any emulsion yet though!

 

I have to admit to buying ready built so I do not know history of donor car. I am wondering if it might be best to pick up a new donor car and swap the engine - if so would it be best to stick to a sohc pinto or swap to a newer engine.

 

Again sorry for the lengthy question !

Andy

 

Hi Andy,

First I am confused, not checked for emulsion and not the clearances (I presume you mean the cam shaft!) These are not compatible statements!

 

Second, Sierra 2L pintos are in short supply especially injection ones.

I think you will find water in the cylinders produces a knock (tick / tap) so change the head gasket and on the way you will see the cam shaft and inspect for ware and make your decision to cut and run or replace the camshaft. You only get emulsion, if the water get into the oil and it may not, it depends on where the head gasket has failed, if it has.

 

Third, changing the engine to ...

I suspect you will spend a lot of money and not get much more power without tuning a lot more money. You will find most other engines have the exhaust on the other side, depending on engine and car you may find you need a special water adaptor as the standard one will hit the rear bulkhead. The PINTO is as strong as any and the injection ones produce 128 BHP and add a 10 for the improved exhaust and inlet. Lots of people change to carbs because they dont understand injection and electronics and with the standard ECU you cant fit a very fast camshaft, you need to fit a Megasquirt or other ECU.

 

Hope that gives you a starter.

As you say I could reply on so many options.

 

Alan

I my

[Guest chris brown]

loss of water through exhaust pipe

Get the head off and get it pressure checked (crack tested) If it's ok and it's an injection head (egg shaped inlet ports) then get it skimmed (up to 40 thou). If it is not an unleaded head then I would look for an injection one.

 

does seems to not have much power

The chances are it's running on 3

 

cooling system issues (Polo rad and sealed resevoir loss of coolant, air locks)

Linked to above

 

very smelly engine (petrol)

One pot not working so pumping fuel straight through.

 

As Alan says your other comments I don’t understand (like how can you check clearances without removing rocker cover?)

[Guest salty_monk]

Not too much to add to the above except that I think they are good diagnosis!

 

Chris's comment should say if you don't have an unleaded "injection" model head then it's a fairly cheap way of getting power gains (flows better) plus the unleaded advantage. (There is a typo... it should say "isn't an unleaded head" )

 

Good luck with it,

 

Dan

[andysimm]

Thanks for all of your comments - I suspect that when I read this in a less tired moment that my initial post was badly worded - my daughter (23 months) has been ill and up a lot during the night and up early in the morning!

 

Looks like I will have to have the head off and replace the head gasket - I am guessing a simple compression check be worth while first?

 

Its a bog standard pinto - not fuel injected and I forgot to say that I checked the clearances learly in the year (after having to retap the threads due to the builder bodging in mis-sized bolts) so not had rocker cover off recently! (2 daughters under 2 is severly limiting my "tinkering" time!)

 

Once again thanks for the comments - now to look at haynes and try and find a good spares supplier!

[Guest Ian & Carole]

Hi Andy

 

Welcome to the mad house.

 

If you update your profile with your area you might find hoodies parked in your drive waiting for tea and bickies in payment for looking at your car.

 

Ian J

[Longboarder]

Andy, two babies makes for a pretty hectic schedule so hats off to you for even being able to spend 5 minutes a week in the garage. The youngest of my three baby girls has just decided to join the army. I think she fancies Prince William and thinks she might get to snap him up if she's quick and then I would have a Princess in the family. The middle one just gave the boot to a Count (impoverished Polish type ) so missed out on being a Countess. This orange juice is quite strong!

 

It does sound as if a compression check would be a good move. Loud tapping, coolant out the exhaust and air in cooling system do seem to point to head gasket failure and a compression check should confirm that before you embark on removing the head.

 

Nigel

[andysimm]

Thanks for all the tips - I have not checked on the forum rules so please do not shoot me but any ideas for a good source for head gasket / other spares?

 

As to Prince William - well I just do not like the idea of Charly being king!

 

Hope the Orange juice was not off and responsible for a bad head!

 

Whilst I have head off what else do you think it will be worthwhile doing?

 

Andy

[Peter Bell]

If it is not an unleaded head it may be worth looking for one, or an injection head to put back on instead of what you have, the injection one will give a little more power too, the standard carb manifold will bolt straight on.

Peter

ps. Do we need a monarchy anyway? well apart from Nigels daughters ambitions!

[andysimm]

OK perhaps I am being a little thick but how do I know if I have an unleaded head?

 

I bought the car built (OK - I did want to build one but got caught in the 6 months of RH "developing" their super and not selling 2b) and I have been running unleaded but not sure if I should have been!

 

Andy

[Guest Peter353]

Ok - this may be a lengthy question so please be patient...

I am having a few problems with my 2 l pinto namely...

1) loud taping noise (not the clearances - they have been checked)

2) loss of water through exhaust pipe

3) does seems to not have much power

4) cooling system issues (Polo rad and sealed resevoir loss of coolant, air locks)

5) very smelly engine (petrol)

 

Do you think that they are related? I am beginning to suspect head gasket.

 

Engine starts fine - I have not checked rocker for any emulsion yet though!

 

I have to admit to buying ready built so I do not know history of donor car. I am wondering if it might be best to pick up a new donor car and swap the engine - if so would it be best to stick to a sohc pinto or swap to a newer engine.

 

Again sorry for the lengthy question !

Andy

When you had the head off did you check the bores ?

This may be a cracked liner seeing as the water is being ejected out of the exhaust.

 

Depending on the carb you have the smell of petrol could be coming from many joints on the inlet side.

Have you checked your float level. Mine stuck in the open position on a Sierra and it poured petrol for miles.

 

PC

[johnlrichardson]

If you have water leaking into the bore it could have "hydrauliced", meaning water stops the piston getting to the top of its stroke, either damaging the piston or bending the con rod. You may be able to see the damage if the head is removed. One piston may be slightly lower than the rest.

 

john

[Longboarder]

Simplest way to find an unleaded head is to get one from an injected sierra. The inlet ports on these have an injector cutout at the top of the port making them pear or cam lobe shaped. Older heads have round ports.

There are also letters stamped on the machined face of the head where the exhaust manifold bolts, just by the number 4 plug.

I hope someone noted these down as I have forgotten what they were apart from P, PP, R, RR. There were others.

 

Nigel