[Swardle]

Being trying to put a scrapped r56 cooper s turbo back on the road.

bought and cleaned a secondhand engine I was told had been removed due to oil and water mixing at the oil cooler. Bought second hand head which had been skimmed.

Anyway put back together with new head gasket and bolts. Engine starts but runs rough and steam comes out of the exhaust. Looking down spark plug holes cylinder 3 has traces of liquid and on the plug. the rest look fine.

I am guessing it will either be

Cracked head
Cracked block
Or could it be turbo failure.

any ideas on how to diagnose ? Or any other ideas ?


thanks

 

[E-R53]

I would have thought most likely 1 or 2 or not put on properly, a leak off/compression test may help, but most likely you will need to strip down & get it checked out, sorry.

 

[Robert999]

Being trying to put a scrapped r56 cooper s turbo back on the road.

bought and cleaned a secondhand engine I was told had been removed due to oil and water mixing at the oil cooler. Bought second hand head which had been skimmed.

Anyway put back together with new head gasket and bolts. Engine starts but runs rough and steam comes out of the exhaust. Looking down spark plug holes cylinder 3 has traces of liquid and on the plug. the rest look fine.

I am guessing it will either be

Cracked head
Cracked block
Or could it be turbo failure.

any ideas on how to diagnose ? Or any other ideas ?


thanks

are you really sure it was titled "Clean" did you check the vehicle history report?

 

[CarsOrBikes]

how closely did you look for cracks at the top of the cylinders before using the block?

 

[Voytech]

I will recommend a cylinder leak test in that case. If coolant is detected only in cylinder no.3 it’s not a turbo failure.

 

[Maccmike]

If it was turbo itd be on all 4 cylinders. Head back off unfortunately.

 

[minimic67]

what I would do is pressurise the coolant jacket 2 bar keep pressure on for a hour or two then send a camera in the offending cylinder see if get a idea to where its coming in ,, I do see way to many heads cracked from over heated ,, many have a cracked link pipe to thermo housing over time and loose coolant by time the owner realises its to late engine has been cooked and cracked the head common,, all because of two reasons a cheap crap link pipe and no temp gauge on dash, i've had heads pass the pressure test from engine machinist and be fine until car hits around 105c to then dump pressure from a hair line crack in head opens up,, total ball ache when you throw a load of time and money on doing it right to be caught out by that . these days i try and steer people down a change the head at least path on anything thats been cooked or possible engine change better option with a known good engine ,, or a known good engine on coolant and oil pressure level and rebuild that as a good base

 

[Voytech]

Like you said:
,, all because of two reasons a cheap crap link pipe and no temp gauge on dash, i've had heads pass the pressure test from engine machinist and be fine until car hits around 105c to then dump pressure from a hair line crack in head opens up,,

machine shops are doing leak test mainly in 90c, it’s not enough for Mini or BMW.

 

[minimic67]

Like you said:
,, all because of two reasons a cheap crap link pipe and no temp gauge on dash, i've had heads pass the pressure test from engine machinist and be fine until car hits around 105c to then dump pressure from a hair line crack in head opens up,,

machine shops are doing leak test mainly in 90c, it’s not enough for Mini or BMW.

deffo had this issue so many times with them and as i do fixed price refresh jobs on these a lot it hits me and not the owner as such for the extra time and redo after finding another head for it, i tried using gates link pipes thought might a bit better plastic than factory ie are more flexi,, had two fail now so stopped using any other than genuine bmw or psa now , bad day when cant depend on parts from a very good maker ie gates do the best timing belt kits and really good egr coolers etc , but them link pipes are a nightmare, another special place for coolant and oil leaks is the oil filter housing to cylinder block its a cat off job on front of motor for access ,, these days i replace the seals on every car i ever do where cat is removed and every one has been rock hard rubber and leaking

 

[Swardle]

An update to my continuing problem. I have now change the head gasket 3 times and the last time also the head itself. The symptoms remain in that once up to temperature I am getting hydrocarbon gas pumping through coolant and out of the expansion tank. I have used new gaskets and bolts each time. It only does it when up to temperature. It’s unlikely I assume to the head gasket or the skimmed two heads so should I assume it’s a cracked block ? Anyway to diagnose?

I have changed oil cooler gaskets and turbo looks ok with no oil leak that I can see.

On the verge of scrapping it before it sends me to an asylum or bankruptcy


thanks

 

[Voytech]

Maybe cylinder liners fall down? Did you check that block is flat?