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when it rains it pours!

6K views 39 replies 12 participants last post by  Rogue Leader 
#1 ·
Got everything buttoned up, turned the crank over by hand a few times, recheck tensioner gap, etc. Start car and its blissfully quiet on the belt side of the motor. Unfortunately there is a horrific tapping from the driver side, sounds like #3 on the top end, and obvious miss. Pretty sure its not coil arc as it sounds way more metallic. I am always careful about stuff dropping into intakes/etc and as always as soon as I removed the runner I stuffed paper towel in the intakes there. Likewise when I removed spark plugs I looked first ; then blasted air to clear out any residue. Unfortunately it sounds like either a broken spring ; dropped valve, or something in the combustion chamber there that doesn't belong. Bummer

I'll give it a rest; remove plenum once again and try a borescope and/or compression test. Maybe this weekend,,,,

Between this; work; kids hockey; spider ; GTV; family I'm not sure when I'll get to it. Don't really relish pulling the rear head on this ....

sheesh! Patience is the one thing that I need continual help on!
 
#28 · (Edited)
Glad to hear it is evidently cleared up. One thing I learned long ago was to never ever wash an engine off with water. Comes from always having to remove all the water which somehow got into anything electric in nature, even with plastic bags and rags over the critical areas. And with rubber timing belts, I sure try to keep all of that dry at all times, period. Maybe some might be good at washing with water, but I never seemed to get it right, lol.

I always just wipe things down with ArmorAll and rags. Degreaser is used only on parts away from the car. I generally never bother too much with the stuff down below the heads. If I see oil, I start looking for leaks, and then wipe if I can that area to see if the leak has been stopped.
 
#30 ·
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then. Broken spring up in the plug boot fits the symptoms. Heck had you had this three weeks ago I would have sent u a boot and spring from my bad coil. Alas it's in the landfill now.

I think you're good to go. And, at least, no more having to access the rear plugs! Cheers
 
#33 ·
At least not where the sand is blowing. Maybe use a vacuum?

Old "real" Minis used to be a real problem in the rain because the crummy distributor was right in front of the engine behind the grill, and you always had to have a rag to wipe the inside of it out when the engine would quit in the rain. Used to try to use a plastic shield of some sort.
 
#34 ·
So, an advanced feature, a self washing engine. No doubt the heat from the radiator would eventually dry off the engine if you let the car idle for a while, once you got it started of course. Perhaps that's why they kept the radiator out of the airflow, retained more heat to make it more efficient as a drier.....
 
#35 ·
As I remember, the fan in the Mini blew air out into the lhs fender, the radiator being mounted on the inside of the left fender, fore and aft, IIRC. Been many many years.

See this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini#/media/File:Mini_cross_section.jpg
 
#39 ·
The 15.6 is robust for sure. For me, due to the nature of the aged and brittle plastics in the system, I prefer less stress on them. If you can hold 3 psi for an hour I’d think you are in pretty decent shape. Of course, during boilover, you May see leaks —
 
#40 ·
The normal pressure of a cooling system while a car is running is 2-3psi. If the system can hold 5 or more without leaking you have nothing to worry about.

I actually am running a coolant pressure sensor on my race car for the safety of the motor. Low pressure = leak, high pressure= headgasket!
 
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