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| EggHead |
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Hi guys,
Just recently when starting my car, for the first time after several hours, the idle is quite rough. As if it has a wild cam (however its stock). This only lasts 10 to 30 seconds and smooths out. I recently replaced the water pump because it broke and emptied the coolant in seconds. So i have a feeling it could be the head gasket leaking water into a cylinder or two. The oil looks good, cant see any leaks from around the head, but hard to see with the heat shield over the exhaust. I performed an ecu diagnostic KOEO and it said everything is OK, except there are a couple memory faults which i will have to check into. Oh, cars done 270,000 on the same gasket. spark plugs will need changing soon, so is it possible to just be an electrical problem? If you need any more info just let me know. Any help appreciated. Cheers |
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| fairmont599 |
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Posts: 1135 Joined: 27th Oct 2005 |
well if its leaking into the cylinders, check your spark plugs for rust on the tips, or steam from your exhaust. these are the tell tale signs of coolant in cylinders.
Anyone know by chance where coolant could be leaking to, on a car that had the head done under 20,000km's ago. no signs of coolant leaking anywhere. but the header tank was below the min, hadnt checked it in months |
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| EggHead |
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Yer the car does have steam/vapour coming from the exhaust.
With an almost sweet smell. I will check the spark plugs within the next day or so. If I got a compression tester and tested each cylinder and got different readings then its pretty certain the head gasket needs replacing? |
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| fairmont599 |
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Posts: 1135 Joined: 27th Oct 2005 |
its steamy vapour then id almost bet my left nut on the headgasket gone, but the plugs will confirm this.
if you were to get different readings then it could be anything, but because its in the cylinders and not coming out it could look normal. definatly check your plugs tho |
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| EggHead |
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Ok new plugs went in. The old plugs where NGK - R
BPR5EY / 11 They looked like I could of put them back in. I have a photo if you want to see for yourself. Is it possible for the valves to be sticking or something along those lines. About the exhaust, If you stick your hand behind it after you turn on the car, your hand gets quite wet. So thats what you mean by steam? |
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| cjh |
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The sweet smell is a telltale of burning glycol coolant. If any of the plugs were cleaner than the others, that is the cyl that has a problem.
_________________ http://youtu.be/jJTh9F3Vgg0 |
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| fiftyone |
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if its drinking coolant, rusty plugs, not running right and everything else, headgasket.
if you'd like a second opinion, get a hydrocarbon test done on the coolent. but 260,000k on a headgasket is pritty dam good.
_________________ ** For Sale ** http://www.fordmods.com/ford-parts-for-sale-f17/assorted-e-series-parts-t124697.html |
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| EggHead |
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Well its had that sweet smell for a while, and im not sure about the coolant because I have just replaced the water pump, radiator etc.
The plugs are not rusted and the car runs fine other than the initial 10 - 30 seconds after a cold start. I dont really feel like replacing the head gasket just because it might be. I will see how it goes and I might notice other symptoms later. Thanks for your help guys. |
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| fiftyone |
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all cars produce water out of the cat and from the humidity in the air. i know an exhaust mechanic quite well and he says somedays oxying open a zorst he gets covered in s**t water.
if its drinking coolant id say gasket, if not have you replaced the leads? i just had a problem with a cracked spark plug. only been in since august or something and one cracked. had a higher voltage from the alternator and ran like s**t for about 5 seconds after going down the road. another option is that new isc trick in the ECU. replace the capacitors and it'll idle better, so they say...
_________________ ** For Sale ** http://www.fordmods.com/ford-parts-for-sale-f17/assorted-e-series-parts-t124697.html |
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| EL__Fairmont |
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EggHead wrote: Well its had that sweet smell for a while, and im not sure about the coolant because I have just replaced the water pump, radiator etc.
The plugs are not rusted and the car runs fine other than the initial 10 - 30 seconds after a cold start. I dont really feel like replacing the head gasket just because it might be. I will see how it goes and I might notice other symptoms later. Thanks for your help guys. could be a leaking injector?
_________________ 97 EL Fairmont 4l OHC .Silver. |
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| EggHead |
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Thanks for your help guys, after replacing the spark plugs the car seems ok on cold starts.
I will keep an eye on the coolant level for the next few weeks, just to be sure. Thanks for that explanation fiftyone, should of remembered that one from chem 101. 
Now to continue with my new interior. Will post pics later on. Cheers |
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| fiftyone |
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yeah, no sweat.
glad you sorted it out. have you checked the leads at all?
_________________ ** For Sale ** http://www.fordmods.com/ford-parts-for-sale-f17/assorted-e-series-parts-t124697.html |
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| EggHead |
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Na I havent checked the leads let.
I doubt they have any problems, but not too hard to check. Cheers |
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| fiftyone |
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you'd be amazed about the leads, if the plugs wern't conducting, the leads will f**k quicker. worth a check anyway. you can do it with a multimeter. dont know much more then that.
good to hear that the problems gone tho
_________________ ** For Sale ** http://www.fordmods.com/ford-parts-for-sale-f17/assorted-e-series-parts-t124697.html |
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| ShaunSforza |
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If it is running fine after a few minutes, it doesn't sound like a gasket problem, My parents NC Fairlane blew a headgasket and ran like a pig straight away all the time.
Check your welch plugs, you could be losing coolant there (best way to tell is to look for coolant on the floor/ground under you car after being parked overnight). 260,000kms on a headgasket is nothing, my '98 EL Futura is up to 369,700ish on the original gasket, and counting  (touch wood, it'll probably go tomorrow now that I've said that) I know it's the original gasket btw because it's been in my family since new.Good luck sorting out your problem! |
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