AZ3 :( Gutted



  • My car failed her mot. The garage called me to say she needed a bit of welding and 2 new headlights, so I went ahead.
    Just picked my car up and the list of advisories is scary. Im annoyed as the garage didnt mention any of them :( Now the icing on the cake…driving her home and plumes of smoke are coming from the engine bay..stinks of oil and I have no idea where to start looking :(

    If anyone could advise Id really appreciate it ty

    Advisories...

    fuel pipes corroded
    both sides of rear chassie corroded
    front subframe and suspension corroded
    exhaust blowing
    worn tyres



  • sorry to hear about your az-3 MOT etc.
    re the engine, what level of oil on the dipstick?
    oil filter, sump, top cover etc all tightly on?

    the other stuff can be sorted, welding might be pricey but it can be done.

    if you got her through and the rest is just advisories then sorting the engine is 1st priority. check your coolant hoses, mine burst going from back of the engine into the car dash area for the heater and i got smokey type steam etc.

    is your engine knocking, driving off ok etc? they're a 1.5L 100cc less than the 1.6L but non interference so no timing belt breaking issues. there is that lucas oil treatment stuff for noisy smokey engines.

    i have one and its on 294600km but going great so they are pretty robust if looked after with good engine oil. you can try a flush and some castrol engine oil if you want to see how that goes.

    i had to get some welding on the sills and some plates on the front cross section where the try joins on as just rust from salty roads got at it.



  • She doesnt have a noisy engine..but…

    I changed the rocker cover gasket and tightened down as you should. But I have now noticed that the valves are wet with oil :( Could this be a sign tht my valve stem oils seals have gone?

    Im so close to throwing in the towel but I love the car



  • Is the color of your exhaust gas a little bit light grey/blue? If yes, than probably the stem oil seals need to be changed out for new ones.



  • well…the smokes only present when i start her up. but i do have a feeling it is the oil seals...defo not a job i can do



  • I would say 90% that it is the seals, that's the only way oil could get in at start up (to be more precise after you shut down the engine and the oil starts to get back to the bottom, some of it gets into the combustion chamber and when you start it up, it burns it out, not to deadly, but wouldn't hurt to change them out, before they are to worn out).
    10% I would give to the rings, but than it would be smoking all the time and in your case that is not the situation.



  • You reckon its time to scrap her?



  • I would first try to change out the seals and see if it still doing it (but maybe before doing it, ask somebody, to start up the engine while you are at the back and see the color of the smoke, if it is blue/grey it's burning the oil which slowly gotten into the combustion chamber while the engine wasn't running).

    Plus, do you need to refill with oil, or the oil level doesn't change to much? Oh and try to measure the compression of the engine, if it is ok, than the rings are OK.

    The other part is the rust. Did you got it fixed, or at least got a qoute for it, how much would it cost to fix them.

    I wouldn't scrap it right away, first let's see what it cost to repair it. Try to look around on the market, who would fix it for the least and see the rep as well.

    And at the end it is still up to you, what you want to do, but you have to know, if you fix everything on it and one day you want to sell it, there is not much chance to see the money back, that you have spent on fixing it.
    But if you want to keep it till the end and enjoy a nicely fixed car, than fix it, sit in and enjoy eating the road :bigok:



  • Well…if it is the oil seals I will be scrapping as I do not have an endless supply of money :)



  • Oil seals are cheap, just the effort of getting to them!



  • Was quoted around £600..defo cant afford it



  • Ouch. Pity as it's £15 for the actual seals. Labour intensive though. Good time to learn :wink: :wink:



  • lol!!!! A little over my head…I know basics but have to say...this az3 is the most awkward car Ive ever worked on.



  • lol really? Compared to the v6 it's a breeze to work on, so much room for turbos :mrgreen:



  • I changed the oil….what a mare! didnt help tht I only had a trolley jack and 2 stands lol My capri was soooooooo easy



  • Haha yea the oil filter is up the back of it. I'm not a fan of having oil filters on sideways, always makes a mess. I'd say the older the car the easier! Except drum brakes, I hate them.


 

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