Engine problems

[daviemck2006]

Ok so it's not French and doesn't really matter as the car is destined for the local car auction on Thursday. It's kerris astra. Its a 1.9 CDTI 120. 135000 miles covered been serviced every 10000 or so. It came home under its own power last week after putting its oil amongst the coolant. The oil is clean. It was running perfectly, full power and no smoke. We think.cylinder head gasket. The radiator is leaking, take off the oil filler cap and it smells burnt. Due to the mileage it's not worth us fixing. So the other day I drained the coolant by the drain tap, put the hose into the header tank until it ran clear out of the bottom. I replaced the drain tap and filled it with water. Then tried to start it, just a thud from the starter. We have thought the starter is iffy for a while. So she lives on a bill so tried bump starting it. Up to speed in 2nd let clutch out it locked the front wheels. Called the AA he fiddled for a while and pronounced the engine seized and towed it back to the house. All id this so far being work outable. Then comes the funny stuff. After being sitting 24 hrs I put the key in and lo and behold the engine turned over slowly. So jump leads on to it by this time Kerri was watching. It cranked quite a bit then started chucking out black smoke, then stopped. Cranked again for ages then the same started ran about 3 seconds black smoke then stopped. Try once more I thought, it started and kept running whacking out black then white smoke. It revved ok, no funny noises. I left it running a while while I parked the other car then took it for a run. Driving absolutely perfectly, no smoke, powerful and torquey like it should be. It's a strange one to me. It's like it was water locked but how did the water get into the bores? The water was only ever put into the coolant header tank and nowhere else. What I can't understand is the thing running perfect! It's still off to the auction on Thursday the way it is. I just wonder if some of you guys could come up with an explanation. It doesn't really matter. It only has to drive 35 miles then round the ring and it's not our problem. Kerri is sad her car is going, it has been a good car to get for 7 years and 115000 miles she has done in it, and it's replacement older stop gap Audi a4 tdi seems to be mechanically sound but the astra may just have to be it went funny because it's a poxhall [emoji90] [emoji90] [emoji13] [emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23]

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[Hell Razor5543]

Sheer bloody mindedness!

[Stickyfinger]

Don't think about it, just sell/dump the old pile of insignificant rusty bolts and be done.
Do as you would do with a fridge

[Peter.N.]

Sounds like the water has leaked into one or more of the bores which is locking the engine when you try to turn it, you might be able to get it out if you can rotate the engine slowly with a spanner but if you towed it you have quite likely bent a conrod.

Peter

[CitroJim]

The Poxyhall Chavalier we had many moons ago did much the same trick and I was able to nurse it along for ages by leaving the rad cap loose so the cooling system could not pressurise...

Traded it in like that and the garage never knew

[daviemck2006]

The thing is starting and running smoothly though. I'm only asking what you guys think, it's off to auction and dumped on someone else.

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[CitroJim]

Davie, at the end of the day Caveat Emptor applies... Then it'll be SEP*

* Someone Else's Problem

[daviemck2006]

All love Kerri had for the astra is gone. She has an a4tdi sport avant to play with now. At least it's an older one and doesn't have those stupid leds that blind everyone

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