Edd-XS 0 Posted March 2, 2007 Right well today was gonna be the day I finally started up my Mi after spending the past year or so working on it. I filled it up with castrol oil a few weeks ago before finding out its better to run in on mineral, so today I got all the bits I needed and filled it up with coolant to check for leaks ad things, then change the oil over and fire it up! BUT... When I took the sump plug out the back of the engine, loads of coolant came out Im desperately trying to think 'its just a pipe' somewhere thats been put in the wrong place or something, but the realistation is slowly sinking in that its probably just f***ed internally. Ive spoken to the guy who rebuilt the engine last year and he's kindly offered to come have a look next week, but sounds like its all gonna have to come out and be stripped down. To say im gutted is an understatement. Every free waking hour I have spent working on this and thought Id finally be able to drive it, but seems not so. I dont know what to do! Any ideas? Edd Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Anthony 1,003 Posted March 2, 2007 If there was lots of coolant then things don't sound good - either you've plumbed one of the coolant pipes into the breather system, the heat-exchanger (if fitted) is royally screwed, or there's something amiss with the engine - liner seals would be my first guess Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Edd-XS 0 Posted March 2, 2007 There was a fair bit, and I only filled the coolant up not 20 mins before I took the sump off. I give up, im gonna ty and flog it, rest of the car is fantastic! Edd Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
taylorspug 7 Posted March 2, 2007 (edited) Edd, feel for you mate, i know id be mortified. PM me if you need anything. Edited March 2, 2007 by taylorspug Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alastairh 47 Posted March 2, 2007 Gutted man. First off, have a beer. We've all been there, been looking forward to driving the cars after months of effort, and bitch slaps you in the face with a major problem. Look over the items you've done, the things that could be a silly mistake like the coolant pipes etc. If need be, take some pictures so we can all have a look and see if theres any obvious mistakes. Alastair Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Roland Posted March 2, 2007 I dont know what to do! Any ideas? Edd Sorry to hear of your situation. I think the first thing I would do is to fill the cooling system, borrow a pressure tester and put the cooling system under pressure. (If its leaking really badly then you might not even need the pressure tester) If you have the sump off and the liner seals are leaking you should be able to see coolant coming through on the outside of the liners. (One wonders here if the gent who rebuilt the engine didn't forget to install the liner seals!) If its the head gasket not sealing on the top of the cylinders then you might see coolant coming down the side of the pistons. Otherwise, the colant must be getting in via a faulty heat exchanger. Sorry I can't suggest anything else. Hope you find the problem soon. Roland Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Edd-XS 0 Posted March 2, 2007 No need to pressurise it, with the sump nut left off and a full header tank, its empty in about half an hour!! Its not just a little bit, its like theres no liner in there at all! Didnt really want to start messing about pulling it all apart, but I think the sumps gonna have to come off. The really cruel thing is, i bought an 89k mile engine for £100, and spent over £1k on it, to make sure things like this didnt happen! Arghhhhhhhh!!!! Edd Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Roland Posted March 2, 2007 No need to pressurise it, with the sump nut left off and a full header tank, its empty in about half an hour!! Its not just a little bit, its like theres no liner in there at all! Didnt really want to start messing about pulling it all apart, but I think the sumps gonna have to come off. The really cruel thing is, i bought an 89k mile engine for £100, and spent over £1k on it, to make sure things like this didnt happen! Arghhhhhhhh!!!! Edd Ok - I'd take the heat exchanger off first and check that out and if OK then next I'd take the sump off and have a good look at the liners to see if its the seals. good luck Roland Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Edd-XS 0 Posted March 2, 2007 Cheers for the info dude. I take it by heat exchanger you mean the oil-water cooler thing? If so I didnt fit it as I was planning on fitting an air-oil cooler in the future and was just going to rely on the alloy finned sump in the meantime! Will take sump off tomorrow I think, just so fed up by all this! Edd Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Roland Posted March 2, 2007 Cheers for the info dude. I take it by heat exchanger you mean the oil-water cooler thing? If so I didnt fit it as I was planning on fitting an air-oil cooler in the future and was just going to rely on the alloy finned sump in the meantime!Will take sump off tomorrow I think, just so fed up by all this! Edd Yer - "the oil-water cooler thing". If that's not fitted then sump off would be my next move. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
maxi 36 1 Cars Posted March 2, 2007 I would definately put money on it being the liner seals Edd. For ti to drain through that quickly soemthing is VERY amiss....... The only other explanation is that you have connected a coolant pipe to a breather pipe but you would need to be a class a idiot to do that. Maxi Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Edd-XS 0 Posted March 2, 2007 Lol Im pretty sure everythings fine pipe-wise. Does seem bizarre, and again very dis-heartening, that its acting like a giant sieve, but I cant imagine it being anything else unless there is a hoofing great hole in the block! It WILL be finished, somehow or another, looks like im missing another f***ing south meet though. f***ing thing Edd Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
James_m 0 Posted March 2, 2007 Bad luck Its incredibly easy to unseat the liner seals when assembling the bottom end, once their in, if you even move the liner slightly they come out of position and wont go back properly, so you then need to replace them. I found this out twice..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grahamrally 0 Posted March 2, 2007 Really don't be too diss-heartened, we've all been there as Alastair said. Don't give up on it as it's bound to be something really simple. With that much water coming through the sump I'd be surprised if it was a liner seal?! I've had liners out before and been lazy not replacing the rubber seals and they've not caused a problem. I really wouldn't be surprised if you've inadvertently put a hose in the wrong place and not really logged doing it. I wouldn't have thought that amount of water would get past a liner seal with all the clamping pressure from the head. But then again I've not seen how much water does get past if you haven't seated the liners properly! Lets hope it's something easy! Graham Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Edd-XS 0 Posted March 3, 2007 Yeah im gonna go over and quadruple check everything to make sure its not anything silly ive done, which lets face it, having never done an engine change before, is always a possibilty! Cheers for the words guys! Edd Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jim205GTI 3 Posted March 3, 2007 Edd i feel for you ............. all the effort and don't get to see the rewards quite yet ....... lets hope its something simple to remedy ...................... went to fill the coolant last week ready for a run bloody leaking from the water distribution area so checked all the pipework jubilee clips....... still no joy so i'm just hoping its the gasket between the block and distribution block .... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Richie-Van-GTi 71 2 Cars Posted March 4, 2007 Id whip the sump off then fill the header and look under to see where its coming from. Just put some goggles on Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
maxi 36 1 Cars Posted March 4, 2007 Id whip the sump off then fill the header and look under to see where its coming from. Just put some goggles on Dont you dare do that Edd. If the engine builder thinks you have had the engine apart in anyway im sure the warranty will be void. Just let him look at hit and do his thing, he will sort it out for you. Maxi Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
