mmmm scrape,knock,bang dead engine

[chrismanchr]

my engine today started a curious knock from the top end and my coolant has dropped ,it got louder then quiet again
i drove it very carefully home and thought i'd put it away as the weather was awfull ,i went to start it to run it into the garage
it went scrape,bang,knock,scrape stopped ,ive checked the timing belt ,and everything under that cover all looks ok took the plugs out all looked
I started to take off the cam cover ,but didnt wanna get the fuel lines off until I'd read more about it but i could see under the cam cover and all looks well timing chain is tight ,the cams look good, infact under there it looks in very good condition ,Ive pushed it into the garage now ,any ideas before I go gun-ho in with the spanners

 

[chrismanchr]

right a bit more information ,I think theres some sort of failure in the oil cooler hence the coolant disappearing and it caused the tappets to get very niosey

theres a puddle of oil and water under the cooler manifold part of the engine but being an s2 its just a housing ,as it has an external cooler radiator and not the matrix effort
in the 8v's

could this also have taken out a big end bearing? hence the knocking I'm not sure how to proceed with this and think maybe engine removal might be the best option to get a good look at everything

but I cant remove the engine myself ,it'll be a garage job

 

[Mike_Pollock]

Sounds pretty bad I'm afraid.

What dpes the oil on the dipstick look like?

If the oil and water have mixed to any great extent and it was run for a while like it, it could tske out the bottom end.

However, when I did the cooler gasket on my 2.
5 I dropped a lot of water into the sump without realising and started it for a minute or so before noticing. That engine ran great for at least two years.

 

[chrismanchr]

the oil looked fine - golden as usual

but ! the oil filler cap was very wet ,the coolant tank went right down to the bottom from normal and
I only drove about 6 miles quite gently

I was gonna show the car at event city this weekend lol no chance now I'll be in one of my mates
924's instead

 

[chrismanchr]

right this is where I'm upto :-

ive done a little bit of diagnostic work ,the engine turns on the starter ok, the water/coolant only disapeared when the engine was running and warm ,as Ive topped it up and its still the same level ,alhough the oil filler cap is wet the oil doesnt look like it has water in it , next I'm going to drop the oil and examine it for debris ,and drain the coolant and look for oil droplets

most of the work Ive done is searching on the net for similar symtoms and my story seems a common one ,theres several youtube clips of a 944 s2 running with exactly the same niose and each time it turned out to be bigend bearing no 2

what I could do with is a right good chat with someone that knows these engines inside out ,as most of the occasions the rod/bigend bearing goes it scores bore no2 and is usually all because of either the oil/water cooler knackered or the cars been tracked and the rodbearing has been starved of oil during cornering

if your in the know in a big way with these engines please give your opinon ,and even better if your local (manchester) or going to the event city classic car show(I'm on the 924 stand) I'd like a long chat as Ive got plenty of questions

but one thing I absolutly love the car and whatever happens its being saved ,scrapping it isnt an option its just too nice and too special

thanks ,chris

 

[chrismanchr]

this is what it sounded like by the way ,and yes I know it could be so many things

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XSJWl31tJE

 

[robdimond]

Didnt that video turn out to be the distributor cap! Worth checking!

 

[chrismanchr]

Yeah I didn't realize that, mine isn't the dizzy cap as I've been all over it with a long metal rod trying to source the noise I checked there and well as everywhere else I could it seemed to be coming from the block it's self

 

[chrismanchr]

took the dizzy cap off today just to check again and all looks well certainly no parts touching

 

[colin944]

You need to either lift the engine or drop the cross-member to get the sump off. I would hire an engine lift ( and buy an engine stand)and pull the engine out.I checked the big end bearings on mine with the engine on a stand. The shells are not expensive but I don't think I would have been able to do it without pulling the engine out.

Buy an engine gasket set from Porsche ( approx £170) and replace as many as you can.

Engine stands are also not expensive http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sealey-engine-stand-/231055718741?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item35cbfe7955

You can do loads of jobs really easily while the engine is out stuff like engine mounts and the clutch.

 

[chrismanchr]

had the clutch done 3 months ago lol bloody typical

yeah your right If I could get the engine out at home believe me I would ,i have little room an intergral single garage and a drive thats on a slight slope which is hard to put a car on axle stands
not mention my poorly back and lack of help

so I'd have to get a garage to get the engine out ,but my local garage wants to try and run the engine to diagnose the problem before they take out the engine and i'm not sure that wont happen without causing alot more damage ,with that sort of noise I got it needs opening up before its run otherwise I think it'll cause more damage

i have a decent contingency fund for the car but it doesnt run to some the prices I'd get to do a professional engine rebuild

my dream seems to have turned into a nightmere at the moment

 

[colin944]

Do you use the car as a daily? or can it sit on the drive for a while?

If you can do without it then pull the engine and park the car on the drive and work on the engine in the garage. Then car back in garage and engine back in.

If it's a daily then no choice but to pay local garage etc

In the mean time I would get the cam cover off and turn the engine bay hand to see if anything is amiss. Could be loads of things.

Also if your in Manchester there must be loads of guys on here who would be willing to have a get together in your garage and pull the engine out.

May even be tempted to come along myself.

 

[ChasR]

I replied to your thread on another forum .

FWIW I ran my S2 with a previously seized piston and a very shot bore for 3,000 miles. It took around 1-2 litres of oil tops in that time. I shall admit that it was very sparingly driven hard. Upon seeing the bores (it was the no.2 bore oddly enough which was destroyed), I accepted what was done was done.

 

[chrismanchr]

its not a daily driver and I have another classic car if I need a car ,I usually cycle to work

Ive half taken off the cam cover as I havent got the fuel pipes off yet but i got a good look inside and it looks very good in there
the cam chain and tensioner look virtually new and they had been replaced not that long ago but the car has done very little miles
over the last 5 years since

any help would be gratefully apprechiated ,and your experiences can point me in the right direction ,ive gathered information
about failures but quite often the thread dries up after the problem is diagnosed ,and I dont get to see there solution I think
most just get a secondhand engine ,but theyre supply is really drying up

 

[robdimond]

The going rate for a decent S2 engine from a specialist breaker is about £1200. I would say if you're paying by the hour to remove/replace the engine then get a replacement and pay them to do an engine swap. At least it's a bounded cost that is pretty much guaranteed to result in a working car.

 

[chrismanchr]

ORIGINAL: robdimond

The going rate for a decent S2 engine from a specialist breaker is about £1200. I would say if you're paying by the hour to remove/replace the engine then get a replacement and pay them to do an engine swap. At least it's a bounded cost that is pretty much guaranteed to result in a working car.

yes I totally agree robdimond and I have already sent out many emails and searched the net for a fresh engine ,no replys at all

I'm gonna ring around tomorrow see if anyones got an engine

 

[larry]

ORIGINAL: colin944

Also if your in Manchester there must be loads of guys on here who would be willing to have a get together in your garage and pull the engine out.

May even be tempted to come along myself.

im from manchester and have a engine hoist


as for experience , this is my facebook page ... https://www.facebook.com/pages/LGC-Mobile-Mechanics/293858467293934

 

[chrismanchr]

hey larry nice to hear from someone local (ish)

I'm in chorlton south manchester

 

[larry]

Hi []

i live in middleton , towards rochdale

 

[colin944]

I would like to see more of us getting together and helping to fix our cars. A fair few of the very big bills that you can get are from jobs that are not particularly difficult just time consuming or a bit daunting to an amateur. Things like engine swaps. clutches engine mounts etc. To me its a good social day out with like minded people helping keep another one of our cars going.