Ella’s 1999 Vauxhall Corsa

Ella headed back to Bangor today, plan was that she wasn’t going to take the Corsa (as there is limited parking, and a couple of others have a car there already) so once she left we could start on the list of jobs.

Train left at 12.15, with a change at Birmingham. So just after she left New Street we’d done this



Haynes manual says that the engine and box have to come out as one in a Corsa, so a few minutes disconnecting wires and hose. The manifold came off without drama and then the engine mounts and it lifted straight out.

Couldn’t get the short driveshaft out, so left it fitted. But once it was on the floor, so tugging whilst it got tapped with a hammer and it popped out.

There’s a fair amount of burnt oil in there, but it’s needed looking at for a while now. Head gasket looked ok, we poured some wd40 on the tops of the pistons and wandered off for a brew and it was still there afterwards, a couple had dropped a little bit but don’t think rings are a problem



Can still see the honing on the cylinders, though it’s a little shiny front and back, so don’t think the bores are glazed (?)

So think the issues are pretty much just stem seals. There is quite a bit of burned oil in the exhaust ports and manifold, can also be seen on the exhaust valves, went to remove the valves and found that of the 3 I have (don’t really know why I have 3, they seem to breed in the back of the shed ) they are all too big, so have had to order another with interchangeable spring seats, so will have a better look when that turns up and we can drop the valves out.

There is still a load of k-seal or radweld floating about in the waterways it seems from before we got it, so whilst it out will try to flush it out a bit more.
Gave it a clean up and now wait for bits











And we were going to change the clutch, but we’ve definitely have our money’s worth out of this one

Wasn’t sure, so hoped someone would post….

Would be easier to clean the carbon off of the piston tops with them out.

Would you fit new rings, they are pretty cheap (£40-50 for a full set) of only if they look ropey.

If it was purely about money then we should scrap this and buy another. As the cost of the bits so far exceeds what it’s worth.

It’s not really cost effective to rebuild these I don’t think, when a running MOT failure can be had for £100 it’d be cheaper to swap the wngine and keep fingers crossed, this way though we should know it’ll be good for years as you say, without having to cross our fingers

We like to call it educational, that way it’s an indirect expense too
Look at all that learning



Just needed a little push to make sure I’m not throwing money at it for no reason….. anyway, rings ordered, I’ve got access to a honing tool, will go watch some YouTube vids and wait for bits, thanks

So haven’t updated this for a while, there is of course a reason but I’ll come to that

About 3 months ago we had the head off, was pretty oily









So we gave everything a clean up, lapped the valves, reset the tappets, fitted new rings and gave it a home









New gaskets and stretch head bolts, and got it all back together after waiting for a couple of bits…. The big end bolts are stretch bolts and we’d lost a couple of the jewel like valve collets somewhere









At the same time we fitted some cheap new driveshafts as the cv boots were starting to look a bit shonky, and the drivers side outer had been losing a bit of grease



We then started it, which went fine except there was a drip of water under the egr sitting on the edge of the bellhousing.
Had a look and it was either the egr leaking as there is water running through it or it’s on the head gasket and an external leak.

We did compression test



And they were all the same, it runs fine, no evidence of anything engine side. The smoke has gone,and the exhaust cleared….

Took the egr valve off and the gasket was wrong anyway





But was blanking the egr gas side so not a huge problem.

So I ordered a new gasket in the hope that would fix it.
Ella didn’t want the car until she goes back after Christmas.

The gasket turned up and sat on the drivers seat, it was like Schrodinger’s gasket…. Until I fitted it, it was a £3 fix…. But the moment I fitted it and the leak was still there then it’s another head off job, which is gaskets and stretch bolts and finding a better quality head gasket to the one I’d just fitted.

So it sat, and then Ella is coming back next weekend, but has to go back for her last week at uni. So it needed fixing

So back to the car itself

The tiny water leak







Fitted the egr gasket and so far haven’t seen any water (I’m pretty sure it’s the head gasket, so not convinced it’s fixed even though I can’t see a leak)
and then had some rough running issues, the fault codes were for the egr but symptoms pointed to maf sensor. the egr was looking a bit oily and mucky, so found a new replacement for £20, also ordered what looked like a new maf.. but what arrived wasn’t





And it is still playing up

But have given the rear wheel bearings a tweak, as they were an advisory last year, bled the brakes and fitted new discs and pads to the front





So hopefully I can pick the maf up and that’s all it is, and get an mot as planned this week