Hi people. Glad to have a DSM again. And now for the bad parts.

I just bought a 91 1.8 5 speed. Got her for 300 bucks and it was said to be overheating. After driving around for a little while I could NOT get her to overheat. So I bought it. It also has a hole through the windshield and I asked how long it's been there. The lady answers, "Since hurricane Dennis threw a tree limb into it." (I'm from the Mobile, AL and Pensacola, FL areas) So I think, Hurricane Dennis hit right before Hurricane Ivan. Ivan hit in September of 2004. So if I do the math up.... ladedah.... 3 FRICKIN YEARS!

So the oil is OLD AS HELL and I've been driving around on it. Crap! So I do a few maintenance things. Repair the cracked radiator with JB Weld (it's temporary and the car overheated later on). My friend went to take it for a spin because we managed to somehow get it into reverse. The car sounds great so we take it down the road. After a min or so we start to hear a very light tapping noise. We pass it off as the shielding around the car (some cars do this). A little later it gets loud as hell and we start to turn around. Now the car is dying on us and it's hard to get her going again. After she cools she fires right back up with NO tap until warm.

I've changed the oil and put in some oil treatment to remove the sludge. I used 10w-30 and also put in some fuel system cleaner and fresh gas. Put in over 10 gallons.

So what do I have going here? I'm burning oil (that is for sure!) but only when it's warm. Do you guys things the valve seals are bad? I'm leaning towards that. We took off the valve cover and we saw smoke coming from a few of the intake valves (1, and 2 on the battery side opposite of the flywheel) and I was thinking that maybe those seals are bad and oil is getting into the cylinder and fouling the plugs (haven't got to pull those yet). Maybe the springs have been compressed for WAY too long and are now bad. Or maybe I just need to replace the whole damn thing.

What's up. Input please!

And again, glad to be back. First car was a 93 with the 1.8 5 speed. So this car was a dream when I found it. I don't want to give it up.

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v15/obsidian/th_SA400001.jpg)

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v15/obsidian/th_SA400002.jpg)

C'mon guys! a little help please?

There I added videos. I was hopeful that I would get some help here, seems like no one is willing.

Please give me some insight. Even a link with common problems would be fine. I've hunted and searched but I can't find anything specific to my engine.

You need to do a top end rebuild. If its smoking just a little bit all the time or a whole lot under load or both it is your valve seals. They are worn and are letting oil leak down into the chambers. Also, the tapping sounds like lifters are completly worn out. They are probably quiet when the engine is cold because the oil is thicker. Then when the engine warms up. They start to make noise. Also under load when there is not enough oil surrounding them to keep them quiet. Get new lifters and a top end rebuild kit. It will come with all you need. Replace all the gaskets on the top end and replace the lifters. Now would be a good time to replace the oil pump and water pump. Oil pump because you want to make sure the you actually have good enough pressure to keep the new lifters oiled. Water pump because you will already have all that **** outta the way. And if its never been replaced might as well since you are there.

I really appreciate the reply. I only had to wait a week and post vids. lol.

I yanked the camshaft out today to find that there are some grooves worn into where the camshaft is held down by the brackets against the head itself.

So, still useable or no? I'm just curious. I can go and get a whole new head for about 35 bucks (ok not new but still). So.... keep going with the rebuild or say screw it and get another head.

And I'ma wait for the oil pump until I can get the car on a lift. The water pump.... meh I'll check it out. Thank you very much for the advice though.

Alright, to give an update to whats going on.

I've ripped off the head and took out the camshaft. I've found some pretty deep grooves worn into the camshaft and the mounting brackets so I decided to get another one. 40 dollars later I have another head from a salvage yard.

This head however had 190,000 miles on it and it looked to be in bad shape as far as valves go. Upon further inspection it appears that the valve stem seals had gone bad on it. So after replacing all valve seals and even swapping out 6 out of 8 valves from my old head, she's done.

Going to be putting it back together tomorrow.

Well, I dunno how many of you guys are actually reading this or not but here ya go.


It's fixed. I got it all back up and running today. Timing is set right and she's running pretty strong. The tapping was likely because the thermostat was not opening and allowing coolant to flow into the head and block. The sensor was reading air temp and not coolant temp. So the guage was reading fine but the car was actually overheating. It's all done now.

I had a hard time getting it running again due to the fact that in my manual it says in one spot to point the distributor down when at top dead center. In another part it says to point it at the #1 cylinder, which would make sense. After finding the second part I did. She fires right up. All I had to do was play with the timing a bit after she started.

Now she has another radiator from an old laser. I plan to gut the interior and maybe cut out the back hatch and turn it into a mini el camino of sorts. See what kind of responses that gets if any.

Oh well. To the guys who helped out.. I appreciate it. And for anyone searching for this symptom in the future, here ya go. Make sure to change the thermostat and make sure the head is full of coolant.

Also make sure to mark your belts when removing them so it will be easier to re-install them. Also set timing to top dead center before removing anything.

Thanks again.