mullet Posted June 4, 2008 Report Posted June 4, 2008 hey everyone. i'm not sure if this is the right section so mods move as required ( but i think i got it right) my mum just blew up her mx5 :dance: , i know its not a rolla but you guys are all pretty car learned so i was hoping you all could help, underneath a wollies car park. she managed to get it home but its was running quite bad. we think it may be a blown head gasket though can't be sure, what is a way to check?? basically it is blowing copious amounts of white smoke out the rear and a small bit either out of the head or exhaust. she wont idle and is hard to start. the injectors where cleaned the other week, could this have caused some sort of other problem?? and it is also very wet at the moment, could this be buggering up the electrics somehow?? and thus causing the engine problems?? so is there anything besides a blown head gasket that could produce similar effects?? and what is a way to check these things?? :lmao: thanks in advance everyone. i hope one of you can help us. Quote
WinKE55 Posted June 4, 2008 Report Posted June 4, 2008 (edited) Spark plugs? If you suspect a blown head gasket. Way to check is compression test it. And plus oil should be coming out of the head/block area. White smoke is usually burning oil. Rain on the car shouldn't cause malfunctions unless it gets on the distributor or so. Which I doubt is what is happening if a lot of white smoke is coming out of the exhaust. Edited June 4, 2008 by WinKE55 Quote
KE ping it real Posted June 4, 2008 Report Posted June 4, 2008 Check for bubbles in the radiator and lift the oil cap to see if the oil is milky if either of these are so, Then its the head gasket Quote
7shades Posted June 4, 2008 Report Posted June 4, 2008 ^^^ What he said. If the head gasket is blown, the inside of the oil filler cap will resemble a caramel milkshake. mmm. Caramel milkshake..... Quote
WinKE55 Posted June 4, 2008 Report Posted June 4, 2008 ^^^ What he said. If the head gasket is blown, the inside of the oil filler cap will resemble a caramel milkshake. mmm. Caramel milkshake..... You mean Chocolate milkshake. Quote
Des Posted June 4, 2008 Report Posted June 4, 2008 The oil and water don't have to be mixing for the head gasket to blow out. Is it using water or oil ? Is there water coming out the exhaust ? Borrow a compression tester and crank it over and see what it comes up with, Also pressure test the radiator to see if its cracked or split anywhere. Quote
philbey Posted June 5, 2008 Report Posted June 5, 2008 Yeh, you'll need to determine if its smoke or if its steam. Smoke will smell like burning oil, steam will smell like.... steam. See if the symptoms change as the car warms up. Stops smoking/steaming, etc If its crispy cold, steam will be much more noticeable, and will probably die off after a minute or two of running. Smoke will have a faint bluish tinge to it. Keep the radiator cap off and look for intermittent surging and bubbling out of the radiator, although it possibly doesn't have a rad cap? Put a hand on the return radiator hose once it is warm and feel for bubbling, pulsing etc. Also, you can sometimes hear for bubbling and surging through the engine once you shut off a hot engine. Quote
mullet Posted June 5, 2008 Author Report Posted June 5, 2008 thanks for the fast feedback guys. much appreciated. Check for bubbles in the radiator and lift the oil cap to see if the oil is milkyif either of these are so, Then its the head gasket there wasn't any bubbling in the raditor, nor a layer of oil on top of the water this morning when we fired her. nor was the oil milky in the head. Yeh, you'll need to determine if its smoke or if its steam. Smoke will smell like burning oil, steam will smell like.... steam. See if the symptoms change as the car warms up. Stops smoking/steaming, etc If its crispy cold, steam will be much more noticeable, and will probably die off after a minute or two of running. Smoke will have a faint bluish tinge to it. the smoke coming out is pretty much pure white, but does not die off after a few minutes. there was however a layer of fuel on the ground behind the exhaust. is there anything else that may have buggered up that could cause these symptoms besides a blown head gasket?? cheers lachlan Quote
philbey Posted June 5, 2008 Report Posted June 5, 2008 Are you 100 percent its fuel on the ground, or is it water? If its fuel, you might have an injector stuck open, flooding a bore and cause flooding/running badly/idle issues. Happend to a mates SR20DET, the fuel washed the bore clean and it did a piston ring, which could explain oil burning. I say might, because it could just as likely be something else. Don't freak out cause some guy on the web told you hahah! Quote
WinKE55 Posted June 5, 2008 Report Posted June 5, 2008 If the injector was on heaps, he would be burning a lot of fuel. Which then to my theory would turn the smoke black, not white. Quote
Jono Posted June 5, 2008 Report Posted June 5, 2008 apparently those motors have the same problem as 4ages, the key in the crank busts out the harmonic balancer and throws the timing out. it happened to my motor and fuel was on the ground, hard to start etc Quote
philbey Posted June 5, 2008 Report Posted June 5, 2008 If the injector was on heaps, he would be burning a lot of fuel. Which then to my theory would turn the smoke black, not white. Yeh, for sure. But as with my mate, it lead pretty quickly to shitting a ring and started burning oil. Interesting point about the the balancer key. Quote
mullet Posted June 7, 2008 Author Report Posted June 7, 2008 thanks for the fast replies every1. it turns out it is a blown head gasket ... and i'm now up for sum fun fixing it :D cheers lachlan Quote
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