nigelt

Only 88,000 miles

Hi All, I appologies that this has nothing to do with my 2B, but my daughters Corsa 1.2i twinport. However, with the wealth of knowledge on here I thought you might give me some ideas as to the problem. As the Title suggests, the oil pressure light comes on at idle once the engine is up to temperature. I have replaced the pressure switch as that seemed a good place to start according to all the info on the web, but its not that. I have replaced the oil pump (a complete end of the engine, not cheap) so its not that. Oil has been replaced and have flushed it at the last look but that has not improved anything. I wondered if it could be a head gasket leaking once the engine is up to temp or a crack in the head opening when up to temp, but I have never heard of this before causing low pressure. Yes it is loosing oil but no more than any other vauxhall that I have owned. The oil pressure should be 1.5bar or 21psi at idle, but its at or around 1bar /15psi. I'm at a loss as to where the fault might lie or how it manifests itself only when the engine is warm. Any help would be much appreciated Nige

Just a BIG thank you to all. Head gasket changed and now sweet as a nut. Cheers Nige

Just to keep you posted, Al mentioned a chemical test that could be done to prove if the head gasket has had it. Its called Block Tester and it starts off blue and if there is any combustion gases in the coolant system, it turns yellow. Mine turned yellow, so I have a gasket failure, well lets hope that's all it is. Off to the garage to start the strip down. Cheers for all the advice everyone. Nige

That's how I did mine and it went through the IVA with out a hitch. (in that area anyway!) Nige

That's a great idea Al, I will look into that. I disconnected the auto choke today, as it sits slightly higher than the top of the rad. Ran the engine and after a while I had some overflow, but not too much. I left it and all seemed to settle down, found its own level as Gargoil suggested. However, I am now concerned that the level is a bit on the low side. I will also look to get a higher pressure cap. Any suggestions where? the ones on CBS don't seem to have the middle valve to allow the drawing back of the coolant from the expansion tank. Cheers Nige

Hi Mower man, Yes it was the one that came with the kit and I thought it was rather low. Nige

Thanks for all the replies, Definitely the right cap, as it has the two valves inside. The outer one for overflow and the inner one for the vacuum. So yes it draws the coolant back in. I will try tonight to blow and suck on the pipe, ( a clean bit ) to see if the cap is sealing correctly. I may also have an air lock now, as I noticed that the pipes around the auto choke were not getting hot. Failing all that yes we maybe looking at a head gasket. Nige

So I have re-plumbed the overflow/expansion bottle to come off the radiator and blocked the other pipe as per Steve's suggestion. However I used a length of clear pipe so I could see what was happening. First the radiator started sucking back the coolant from the bottle in fits and starts until it was empty. Then after a little longer, it flowed back into the bottle and out the little breather hole, about a foot into the air. Now this is no great pressure, because if I squeezed the pipe off, it didn't try and push the pipe off the radiator, which is not a tight fit. I looked at the cap and it looks like a 0.8Kg/cm which works out to be just over 11psi. If it is supposed to lift at this pressure then I would have expected the coolant to have gone higher than a foot. So I'm thinking this cap is faulty but also is 11psi a bit low anyway? Nige

Ah ha, now that's how I had it plumbed originally, but maybe the rad cap is failing and lifting too soon. However, does it get sucked back in when it cools as the cap will close?

whoops didn't mean to attach twice. but if you click on the photo it should take you to the other three. (well I does for me!)

Thanks Guys, I'm not running an expansion bottle as it was on the sierra, in that it expands into this and feeds back via the bottom hose. The main reason for that was room, I don't really have much room anywhere to put the bottle higher than the auto' choke. All I have is the overflow bottle. The idea being that in the event of an overflow, coolant didn't end up all over the floor. However, I didn't think that one through too well, in its implementation, as it blew coolant all over the engine bay. So I am running the piping just as it was on the sierra except for the expansion bottle and using an over flow bottle instead. The pipe that did go to the expansion bottle I originally had blocked off, but then changed that to flow into the overflow bottle which is mounted lower down. Here is one of the photo's which looks rather large so only attached the one. The small black pipe going off to the left is the overflow/expansion pipe which has been temporarily disconnected in this photo. Inside the thermostat housing it has a one way valve, (well a ball bearing to be precise). The radiator cap is the one that came with the kit so not sure at what pressure it lifts at but must be low or faulty as suggested. Nige

Having checked out the flow tonight. I noticed that while the engine was warming up, the level in the radiator kept rising and falling. Then before the fan came on which is at 88 deg, the rad overflowed. With the Cap on the water comes out the overflow on the rad, even though I have the original overflow pipe from the thermostat housing going to an expansion bottle. I would not have expected the cap to rise if there is an easier route for the water to expand out of. I have to say that the expansion bottle is not then fed back into the lower rad pipe, its more of an overflow bottle. I have checked the compression on all cylinders when hot and this is about 116psi quite low compared to what it should be (150 - 180psi), but not sure if this is about right for an engine that has done 188,000 miles. I'm also certain this was the pressure before all the boiling over happened. what makes me think it might be the pump, is I used to get a screeching noise from the engine when it first started up, but went away quite quickly, but now it doesn't make that noise. around the same time I noticed it starting to over flow. (I won't say boil over as its not got that hot, so its an expand over) I have some photos but not sure how to attach them, as the option to attach files limits me to 100K, is this the right way?

I would have to say it started when the weather became milder, but that could just be a coincidence. I will try and get some photos on the link.

Hi Peter, No I'm pretty sure its not the Head gasket, all compression test are good and I'm not getting any bubbles in the system. But I might check again just to be sure. Thanks

Hi All, I have a strange problem in that my engine is boiling over quite violently. I don't have an expansion tank so first thought that this might be the problem. Then I thought that I might have a stuck thermostat, (only to find I hadn't fitted one). I'm now thinking that the water pump has packed up. Does this sound likely? before I start pulling it all apart. The lump is 1800 CVH. Nige

Hi Danny, Assuming its a smiths gauge, check out this site, http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/electric/fg_01.htm Although my fuel gauge was not like this my temperature gauge was. Sorry this is all on one line, carriage return/line feed does not seem to be working. Nige

Hi Aidan, Another thing you can do with the brakes, if the rear are locking before the front, is to put more air in the front tyres than the rear. I think I ran with 18 in the rear and 23 front. Good until the brakes bed in. Nige

Thanks guys, I will see what happens then when the TAX comes up for renewal and take it from there. Cheers Nige

I am sure this has come up in the past, but having had the 2B registerd in Nov 2013, does it now need to have an MOT or is it classed as a new car for the first three years? Thanks Nige

I started mine in 2002 and just registered it last month, (I did take a six year break). You have to send all the paper work you received from Robin Hood and this must show that you purchased a chassis with the kit. As mine was a mild steel chassis it did not state on any of the paperwork that this was part of the kit, only if you purchased the stainless chassis. I therefore got a letter from the DVLA wanting proof that the chassis was new at the time I bought the kit. Nige

I have done the same as Bob. However I bought mine at the kit car show. There are different type out there though as I had to grind mine to the correct angle. for the louvers I found some plastic which I glued underneath to stop water running over feet.

Could also be the voltage regulator for the dials. As you go faster the voltage is going up, giving the impression that the temperature is rising. Nige

You should also measure the volts at the starter motor and and the battery when cranking, as this will give you the voltage drop accross the cables. From that you could calculate the resistance. Having said that, it's not something simple like the starter motor is dry as a bone or dirty and needs greasing. I have had motors do this when cold, the muck/carbon build up mixed with the grease becomes like glue when cold. Nige

Hi Joe, It may well be dificult to find such a switch and probably expensive if you do. You could do what you want with a momentary switch of your choice and a Relay. I have attached a picture of how to do it. However, there are some issues that you would need to be aware of. In the first diagram, when you push the switch the relay will energise and close the contacts, which will then cause power to keep feeding the relay and hold it on. You may find that if you don't push the button for long enough the relay will not latch. Also if there is any dip in the voltage, it may cause the relay to drop out unexpectedly. The recomendation would be to NOT use a power relay for this and instead use a lower power relay say one from Maplins and have it feed the power relay. The Capacitor accross the coil can then be used to store energy should the voltage fluctuate and stop the relay from dropping out before you need it to. Nige