hi. thank you for reading this post and any suggestions/ comments are most apreciated. i am new on here and need help if anyone can.
i recently brought a vectra sri 150 off ebay. chap says head gasket gone. went to have a look at it and there was fresh golden coloured oil in the expansion tank. checked the oil level and was ok and it was black. i thought to myself that this bloke or his mrs (cus it was her car) has poured oil in the tank by mistake and was made to believe that oil was mixing with the oil, hence head gasket gone. i thought it was my lucky day! started it up and ran like a dream! no smoke or anything. drove it home 90 miles with no problem! ran it for over 500 miles without any problem and then noiced that the oil level was going down and water going up. i thought this bloke was right. ordered a new head gasket set and set about changing the head gasket. thought i would change the valve stem seals at the same time as i heard off here they are a problem. when i took the timing chain cover off, the right hand side timing chain tensioner fell out in about 6 pieces! and after further inspection, the balance shaft chain tensioner was in pieces. i was really lucky that the timing had not jumped causing valve damaged.
so i ordered timing chain kit and balance chain kit.
replaced valve seals, cylinder head, balance shaft kit and timing chain kit. the timing chain seemed quite tight on assembly. is this normal?
got engine built up and running and it smoked on first start up, which i thought was normal as there would be excess oil in ports etc. drove it for about 10 miles and smoking cleared but as the engine got hot there is a whining noise coming from chain area. had enough of it at this point so left it over night and start again in the morning with a fresh head.
started it in the morning and it filled the street with smoke and then cleared after driving for a couple of miles and the noise had gone. after about 10 miles the whining noise has come back getting louder as engine revs increase. the noise seems ok when cold but loud when hot. and only smokes when left standing for a while. when drove hard it clears. since, i have had the chains off again to double check i have not done anything wrong and to check for damage. there is no wear or damage on anything.
any ideas on the smoking and whining please. help!!!! lol. many thanks, matt
i recently brought a vectra sri 150 off ebay. chap says head gasket gone. went to have a look at it and there was fresh golden coloured oil in the expansion tank. checked the oil level and was ok and it was black. i thought to myself that this bloke or his mrs (cus it was her car) has poured oil in the tank by mistake and was made to believe that oil was mixing with the oil, hence head gasket gone. i thought it was my lucky day! started it up and ran like a dream! no smoke or anything. drove it home 90 miles with no problem! ran it for over 500 miles without any problem and then noiced that the oil level was going down and water going up. i thought this bloke was right. ordered a new head gasket set and set about changing the head gasket. thought i would change the valve stem seals at the same time as i heard off here they are a problem. when i took the timing chain cover off, the right hand side timing chain tensioner fell out in about 6 pieces! and after further inspection, the balance shaft chain tensioner was in pieces. i was really lucky that the timing had not jumped causing valve damaged.
so i ordered timing chain kit and balance chain kit.
replaced valve seals, cylinder head, balance shaft kit and timing chain kit. the timing chain seemed quite tight on assembly. is this normal?
got engine built up and running and it smoked on first start up, which i thought was normal as there would be excess oil in ports etc. drove it for about 10 miles and smoking cleared but as the engine got hot there is a whining noise coming from chain area. had enough of it at this point so left it over night and start again in the morning with a fresh head.
started it in the morning and it filled the street with smoke and then cleared after driving for a couple of miles and the noise had gone. after about 10 miles the whining noise has come back getting louder as engine revs increase. the noise seems ok when cold but loud when hot. and only smokes when left standing for a while. when drove hard it clears. since, i have had the chains off again to double check i have not done anything wrong and to check for damage. there is no wear or damage on anything.
any ideas on the smoking and whining please. help!!!! lol. many thanks, matt
