8 replies to this topic

[andywilson]

Afternoon all!

I fitted a z20let to my kit car a few years ago, finally finished the conversion last year and I'm working my way through a snagging list.

Long story short, to try solve another problem I replaced the spark plugs, it didn't cure the problem so I left it in the garage untouched for about 6 weeks until I decided to have another tinker yesterday.
When changing the plugs I took care not to over tighten with it being an ali head, especially after reading horror stories on here about cracked heads (mostly on the 2.2 though I seem to recall?).

Despite being kept in a nice dry garage the spark plug wells are full of (what I assume) is coolant. A kind of rusty slightly oily liquid.
Am I right in thinking I've probably cracked the head? Really struggle to believe I could've done, but I can't see any other explanation.

I pressurised the coolant system to see if I could see it bleed in but I've not seen any increase in level.

Any thoughts or anything else I could try before taking the head off?

Thanks,
Andy

[ayresyy]

 Are you sure your garage doesn't have a small leak? Cracking the head through to a coolant channel when fitting plugs is not really a common issue on the Z20let, more often when water is found around the plugs its just rain water that has seeped passed the coil pack rubbers. Of course they can easily fill up with oil if the cam cover seal or cover bolt 'O' rings start to leak..

[andywilson]

Can't say 100%, but I've never noticed the roof leaking, and the bonnet covers the engine (unlike the vx220), so I feel we can rule this out.
Further investigation required I think, my gut is telling me there's something quite serious wrong

I'll whip the head off tomorrow night and have a butchers!

Thanks,
Andy

[Nev]

Seems very odd, I'd not jump to concluding the head is cracked (tripply so, if you haven't started the engine). Look to other sources of water... condensation maybe?

Edited by Nev, 09 July 2018 - 07:12 PM.

[ayresyy]

Can't say 100%, but I've never noticed the roof leaking, and the bonnet covers the engine (unlike the vx220), so I feel we can rule this out.
Further investigation required I think, my gut is telling me there's something quite serious wrong

I'll whip the head off tomorrow night and have a butchers!

Thanks,
Andy

 

 Obviously without seeing your engine bay and coolant hose set up we are guessing a bit here. Taking the head off is a somewhat drastic route for initial fault finding though. Could it be possible a coolant hose has sprung a leak and once under pressure, it's squirting coolant out?

   I would be tempted to take out the plugs and turn it over a couple of times (if there is water in the cylinder it will be obvious as it shoots straight out of the plug hole). If no issues then just run it up to temp and look for the problem that way.

[ciderbooze]

All 4 have liquid in? Dry it out , leave it Until after England wins the World Cup and see what it looks like then. I can’t imagine the head is cracked such that each plug well is filling independently but rather One is filling and cascading to the rest. Or more likely it’s got wet from above somehow and the water has been retained in the wells.

[andywilson]

so I haven't run the can between changing plugs, only attempted start ups.

due to the location of the coolant hoses, coolant can't be squirting out into the spark plug wells.

 

I haven't stripped the engine any further, I think I'll build it back up for now and see if the problem persists...

[siztenboots]

is the oil filler cap clear?

[andywilson]

Yep, absolutely no evidence of anything but oil under the cap.
Still a nice golden colour and smells how oil should.

 

I think I'm maybe being a little overcautious... I'll get it built up and see how it goes

 

Thanks,

Andy