Xantia woes cont.

rossnunn · Post by **rossnunn** » 02 Jan 2006, 18:19

I've started a new thread as there was alot of other crap in with the old one. Here is a quick recap:

Moved the Xant off the drive in the morning all fine. That night I go to put it back & the engine truns over fine for about half a turn then spins over far to fast, like the cambelt has snapped.

Now the snow as gone I got cracking with the Xant & removed the cambelt cover, all is fine, in one piece & turning all the relevent bits.
So next I removed the coil pack & took out a spark plug, but of course the rubber bung is missing so I use an old banger trick (I wouldn't recomend it tho) & got the old man to spin the engine over, popping the plug out. now where is the interesting bit, from the spark plug hole the engine is blowing as normal but also sucking straight after.
I have yet to remove the rest of the plugs.
I have checked the timing and that is still in. I have also removed the front camshaft cover & checked the shaft & infact it is in excellent condtion with no noticable wear.
At this point I dropped the hex bix down the back of the engine so I have yet to remove the rear cover.

Now I am confused as you can imagine & my only thought although far feached is a broken camshaft, but I have never heared of one breaking.

The engine is a 1.8 16v & the car is a N plated Hatchback.

Post by **Peter.N.** » 02 Jan 2006, 18:43

I would have thought that the only thing that can make it sound as though it has no compression, is having no compression! If you dont have a compression tester, see if you can borrow one. The compression pressure should be about 100 psi or more. If you dont have this, the most likely cause is still that the valves are not opening/closing. Being a petrol engine I dont know if it will self destruct like the diesels do, as there could be sufficient clearance for the valves not to hit the pistons. First step, check the compression.

Dave Burns · Post by **Dave Burns** » 02 Jan 2006, 20:36

How have you checked the timing, do not rely on the holes in the crankshaft pulley, they are only reliable for timing purposes when the pulley is new, because the pulleys are two piece and held together with rubber they shift position, clever those french ay what.

Have a look where the keyway is on the crankshaft, IIRC it should be at 90 degrees to the vertical line of the cylinders as timing is at the mid position and not at top dead as is normal, taking into account the rearward lean of the engine, approx the 9 o'clock position, again IIRC.

Dave

KevMayer · Post by **KevMayer** » 04 Jan 2006, 00:15

I used to drive my dad's Chrysler Alpine 1.3 back in the early 80s. It developed starter motor problems so I took the starter motor off and cleaned up the commutator. The slits between the segments were full of carbon, so I cleaned them out. The brushes were ok so I put it back together and back on the car.

When I started the car it turned the engine over much quicker than it ever had, realy whizzing it. Once started it ran ok but each time I started it the starter just kept running really quick. All I put it down to was that I'd caused some commutator segments to be shorted in the motor which had increased its turning power. Two coils energised at a time instead of one.

I wonder if your starter motor is faulty and causing the engine to turn over fast. It happened to me.

Cheers, Kev.

rossnunn · Post by **rossnunn** » 04 Jan 2006, 17:15

could this be why im getting the engine 'sucking' from the sparkplug hole as well as blowing??

Post by **zxTd** » 04 Jan 2006, 17:24

remove oil filler cap then crank the engine and see if the cam is turning, it could be a snapped cam shaft

KevMayer · Post by **KevMayer** » 04 Jan 2006, 22:06

You say the engine blows and then sucks.

This must be the compression stroke and induction stroke of your engine.

If the plug is out you'll get two sucks and two blows per cycle. ie. the compression stroke will blow. The following 'power' stroke will suck, the exhaust stroke will blow, then the induction stroke will suck.

rossnunn · Post by **rossnunn** » 05 Jan 2006, 00:41

KevMayer: Yes I have just the one plug out at the mo, I'll have to check the cycle of blow/sucks to just double check, but I think its one blow then straight after a suck.

zxTd: I have removed the front rocker cover & all is well, infact its soo clean that it makes the cam in my old 1.4 ZX (that had dones less milage) look like the rocky mountains.
I have yet to remove the rear cover as I got one bolt out them dropped the bit down the back of the engine & so far haven't fished it out yet.

wheeler · Post by **wheeler** » 05 Jan 2006, 01:56

Peter.N. wrote: Being a petrol engine I dont know if it will self destruct like the diesels do, as there could be sufficient clearance for the valves not to hit the pistons. First step, check the compression.

These engines were famous for snapping cambelts (there was a dealer recall on the belt & tensioner).they are definitely not safe engines & always cause valve damage when they go but i have never heard of one ever snapping a camshaft when they go.

rossnunn · Post by **rossnunn** » 14 Jan 2006, 14:29

right, after another look & have removed both front & rear cam covers & all is fine & dandy.

I'm starting to run out of things it could be!!!

mpr1956 · Post by **mpr1956** » 14 Jan 2006, 20:26

Hi ross, I read the postings here and I first thought that perhaps the cambelt had perhaps stripped some "teeth" around the crankshaft pulley (My accord did this!), but if everything is turning OK then perhaps this is unlikely. But if the belt has lost some teeth then perhaps it could have slipped a tooth or two on one of the sprockets causing the timing to be out enough to cause your symptoms, but without causing damage? Best wishes, Martin

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » 14 Jan 2006, 21:45

Did you ever do the axle index locking test ?

If you have the guts to remove belt covers - why not do this simple test ?
The answer to any timing problem is there at once !

rossnunn · Post by **rossnunn** » 14 Jan 2006, 21:50

mpr1956 - I've done a full rotation of the cambelt & all teeth are still there.

AndersDK - I was going to do this today but it started to rain, that'll be my next port.