mechanics that are good with hi jets? (the answer to this is.... if you want a job done properly, do it yourself!)

Logi wrote:Credit where credit's due, yer a tenacious wee bugger, i'd have given up by now.

I have made lots of nasty threats to the weenybago.. Mostly involving a match and lots of petrol!

However i don't really have the funds to just go buy something that works and I'm pretty stubborn, now I've got this far with it it's a bit hard to give up!

And if I fix it I'll feel pretty pleased with myself!

I'm trying to fix the lap top now...... I really don't have clue what im doing started it up in safe mode and am following the help me fix it instructions

laptop working enough to use it now so heres a few pictures

some of the rad caps ive tried, the one on the left being the newest and so far best fit for the expansion pipe




am using a QH cap with two extra seals on the rad tho, as you can see the plastic is gauged and worn so the caps are too loose, the jap cap was a bit sharp and was just cutting in more



this is an old cap but just to show you the extra seals im using (cut out out from a silicone cake case)

Logi wrote:Credit where credit's due, yer a tenacious wee bugger, i'd have given up by now.

I second that, you sure have virtues that I don't.

Hmmm, well, unsure yet if fixing all the pipes has helped, there were air leaks from som and others just looked too dodgy to ignore, there was no evidence the hm had leaked so didn't bother removing all the plastic round that, not even sure how I could do it without breaking it!
Got all new shineyyyyy pipes and clips on, dashboard back in place and filled the system up purging the air out, switched on to let it run.... Then he had to start interfering and took the rad cap off saying " well the air trapped in system will settle up here and you can just top it up like that" so a load of water came out and he put the cap back on! Also was advised not to use the extra seal needed in the exp pipe cap to stop air being sucked in, needless to say it started to over heat while driving in traffic and the cap on the exps pipe started sucking in air, I've put the seal back on and topped up best I could with it hot at the side of the road, will purge the ir properly before work tommorow then see how it goes

Interestingly said mechanic (I've been using his garage space to do a lot of the work) who disagreed with me when I said I thought it might be the head gasket, now it's all, well it must be the head gasket then!

Oh, and it's very clean behind the dash now, gave it a bit of polish and blasted out the dog hair!

hmmm, im not convinced its fixed yet,
so far i have succesfully cleared the blocked rad, cleared blocked pipes, fixed dodgy pipes and conections, and got caps on that seem to be working, however, with the new pipes it is clear there is a lot of presure build up in the system, drove 4 miles in traffic - guage only got to 1/8th warm air in cab, pipes were pretty hard, they seemed a bit too hard for my liking, drove the 4 miles back and it had purged about 1cm of water into tank... stoppped and got air bubbles being purged.....
im now wondering... was i REALY stupid... when i did the block tests.... it was running on petrol wasnt it? not gas!!! im sure it was but..... another block test due whislst definately on petrol has to be done!!

Things are getting a bit strange round here......
It didn't suck the cm of water back from exps tank by this morn but when I opened the exps pipe cap there was no air gap.....
Drove it 1 mile to work and checked again, now an air gap so filled with the extra water in exps tank... Level back to normal....
After work drove 2 miles to park, exps tank nearly full! Let it cool a bit, took exps cap off to find its a bit wobbly now, think it may have broken... Filled up the air gap with water from exps pipe, levels now normal.... Drove 2 miles home, no extra water in exps tank.... pipes stayed flexible
On the way home tho I start getting a strange noise like air being blown across the top of a pipe.... I think my exhaust is now falling off... It looked pretty sturdy on Tuesday when I had it up on the ramp!
The gauge never moved on any journey and only had Luke warm air
This would be much easier is the symptoms remained the same!

From the amount of temp problems this has had, i'd be amazed if the head hasn't warped like a damp plank by now.

Temp gauges don't actually tell you engine temperature - they are just a little probe that sits in the cylinder head, if they are properly submerged in coolant then they tell you the coolant temperature, if they end up dry then they lie, and if they get too hot they start telling porkies.

Every time you dry out the cylinder head you are running the crack/warp risk game, they have coolant in them for a damn good reason.

I think my LPG one has head problems, I spent a good hour trying to get the bubbles to go while I was bleeding it this afternoon but they never did. It's been test drove for 30 minutes mixed driving, and as soon as i've eaten this chicken curry in front of me i'll go and see if it was successful but i'm really not expecting much.

I've been thinking hard about this foam and tiny bubbles i'm getting from my LPG hijet's coolant system.

I have a strong gut feeling its caused by the bushes/seals on the water pumps turbine shaft that are leaking.

As the pump spins it caused a low pressure zone in the centre, forcing water outwards - e.g. its a centrifugal pump.

If the bushes wear on the shaft it will draw in a small trickle of air from the outside world, then mash it up with the coolant creating the ultra fine bubbles that result in the foam I keep getting.

I'm not saying the head gasket isn't leaking mind you, as it may have caused more damage with the side effects of mashing air into the coolant, but if the bubbles were coming from the head gasket I'd expect them to be bigger and not cause the foam in the top pipe.

Just thinking out loud here. I have to voice it as i'm thinking about this so much I can't sleep

Tomorrow I'll retest the work done on the white one, then I'm going to swap the water pump on the red one for a different one, and put a new thermostat on it for the sakes of £10.

HighlyJetted wrote:I've been think


Just thinking out loud here. I have to voice it as i'm thinking about this so much I can't sleep

10.

That's what I've been like, hence the running commentary on here! I figure if I type it I should be able to stop thinking and puzzling for long enough to sleep properly

It's worked ok so far today, go figure, i think is got multiple personality dissorder.

Can the head gasket go anywhere so it WOULDNT push exauhst fumes or oil into the coolant? Still getting a few bubbles, but only when i stop the engine or when it's got too hot

I would be very supprised if the hg is still intact!

the head gasket can blow between cylinders or if your very unluck it could in theory get to the atmoshere but I have changed the water pump on ours as it was leaking as a result of the head gasket failing and the pressure pussing the water out of the seal I took it apart to see if I could replace the seals rather than the pump and the seals had age hardened and cracked and one is on a spring load I put a new pump in as there was a little wear and it was orderable where as the seals would have cost just as much to hunt down.

When was this Rich?

HighlyJetted wrote:When was this Rich?

when we got the van it was before I changed the head gasket the first time as it wasn't behaving like a HGF and I thought the pump was at fault when I found it was leaking.

off to my ex bfs for a final block test tommorow (seeing as my local garage cant seem to be bothered)
then im going to have let him do the hg i think, either that or never be able to drive out of town!

There's an old saying, something about once bitten - twice shy

Shame I don't live a bit closer as I'd take this troublesome case on.

It'd cost about £150 to get it brought up to me on a car transporter.

What you could do is buy all the bits it need to be done. If you got them off ebay etc you'd save a small fortune plus when you take it to somewhere to be fixed they won't have to wait on parts. Most motor factors don't have much hijet in stock.

My red one seems to be going OK so far, its been out on 4 road tests where its had the pants ragged off it (today it got spanked up and down the dual carriage way at max hijet speed for about 30 minutes) but it hasn't overheated or blown the water into the header tank. I'm still getting a little air pocket under the cap, but that happened on my white one for a good few days after changing the coolant, maybe just maybe after a few more top ups it might be free of air. I'm not betting anything on it, you just have to do things one step at a time.

I'll repeat myself again, those 1.3's are a total arse of a system to bleed!

If it was a customers car I would just strip it down, take the head off, clean out the block, get the head checked, then build it all up nice and fresh. It would be easier to quote and bill for the work that way. Plus it would kill a few birds with one stone e.g. the valves would get adjusted, a new cambelt and service components like oil and plugs done. Car would feel like a new beast. While I was down there i'd take the sump off it and clean it out, the oil would stay nice and clean for a bit that way. Probably double the lifespan of the engine.

if i could do it myself id do the same,
i hate that nobody can be trusted to do what i ask, and hate that because im girl as soon as i start telling them the sympoms they just shut off and dont listen, it took overheating with him in the van for him to understand that it still overheats, i think a lot of men/mechanics just have a mental block that a girl might posibly know what her vehicle is doing and might even have some idea why!
i will list what i want done and request it all get cleaned out but will never realy know if its done properly as once its at the garage i wont be able to get ther to check on the work, idealy id like to at least do some of it but its just not going to happen.
i can drive mine at max speed for 20/30 mins with no probs, its the getting stuck in traffic after its reached temp or doing several journeys in one day that causes the problems, once its warmed a bit every time i switch off the ingnition air gets pushed into exp tank which then builds up in the exps pipe preventing it from being able to suck any water back

bit of a bummer im not closer to you, at least id get a bit of a "how to strip a hijet engine down" lesson (i do like to get in the way and ask questions when its bits ive not done before!)

at this rate my lovely bodywork will have rusted away before its fixed!

if this was my old metro i would definately have tackled doing the hg myself, i wish i had a driveway/garage to put a work in progress on, ive still got the motor bike in the bedroom, althogh i do have decking with a cover now i could use next summer for that but knowing the gypsies round here it would get nicked!

Oh daisy if you feel like that, man the fuck up and get your hands dirty!!!

The beauty of a mid engined hijet van is you can strip the whole thing down under the cover of the van pretty much. The toughest thing will be disconnecting the exhaust pipe off from the manifold which always has rotten bolts.

Take the seats out, the carpet, the rear engine cover and the central support bar and stash them in your house somewhere.

Then you can peel the head off in your own time from inside the van, putting all the bits in the back and in the foot wells, stuff like the inlet manifold and the cam belt bits.

You might be a girl and all that but I think you've got what it takes. A little faith and determination goes a long way.

Plus you've got the best support network ever when it comes to hijets, if you get stuck just take some pictures and cry your heart out on here. All the manuals are here for free download, you'll need a few tools but really they will cost lest than the labour and gamble your thinking of paying.

Hell, living where you do, you might end up fixing the next one like you that turns up one here after getting the typical garage treatment.

If you need parts along the way you know i'll do my best to sort you out, I don't have everything but I'll do what I can.

You might find if you fluttered your eyelids at Rich if you had a problem bolt or something he might help you out for some petrol money and some dinner maybe.

Hmm, I had the impression the engine needed to come out
Something to think about I'll have a bit more of an inspection

Well, decision has been made for me, family emergency means I need van ASAP will have to leave it with ex as the only one who will do it quick

You've heard of newtons laws, ohms laws and sods law - here's another:-

Hehe, yeah, I do know he is a good mechanic, very busy, lots of return customers NOT having to repeat jobs which weren't done properly, When i met him he fixed a problem i had with it running on petrol that no mechanic near me had been able to solve he actualy diagnosed it while he was passanger (a loose wire) am going against my morals on this as he is in "need to please" mode I will have trouble getting him to accept a reasonable amount of money for this but I'm sure I'll find a way it's not a "bread and butter" job so other mechanics can't do it without considerable delay and I need to be able to visit my sister in Stevenage I will probably take it down on Monday and start dismantling myself to get the job started

So can't get it to garage till tues but will be doing as much of the work myself as I can and have time for

Did another block test this eve, got an interesting result, done from the expansion pipe after removing some water so it didn't get sucked up, clamped pipe going to tank... Showed as negative while engine running... This time tho kept testing after switching ignition off.... Low and behold.... Fluid turns green... This is actually a relief, at least I know there is good reason to be taking the head off now!

Way this is going maybe time to make up with the bf?

Hehe, I'm still using his garage space and I only have Tuesday to work on it so he will have to finish the job for me,
Luckily I don't generally do bad breakups (unless they killed my dog) so we are on speaking terms just hope he doesn't get the wrong idea, but needs must eh?

He's gonna order all the parts on Monday
Ive Gotta double check the torque settings and stuff and note them down
No doubt I'll borrow some tools,
And I must remember my hotties heat pads to stick all over my body, I'm really not good in the cold!

I'm thinking I need to get a life, I'm kinda looking forward to doing this

<I'm thinking I need to get a life, I'm kinda looking forward to doing this >

Nothing wrong with that Daisydon, as said elsewhere the way to learn is by doing it yourself.

So, I spent an exciting afternoon dismantling bits and removing the head, after rocker cover removed got that lovely fresh but used engine oil smell, as the head bolts were removed started getting that rancid burnt engine oil smell, the gasket was shot, interestingly it was worse at the end where the pressure test had given a higher reading, Head is being sent for skimming, that'll be £30 well spent.

have taken pictures, just got to find my cable to upload them

My next question is, where are people getting their head gaskets from? Been quoted about £90 for a full set but only need the one for the head

I get our ones from japparts its about £25 inc postage don't know about the 4 pot ones but delivery has always been fair.

Did you have any issues with the head coming out from under the cross member? with the 3 pot if the gasket doesn't arrive dead flat it wants to slip off the dowels as the head is tipped through the gap to get the back under the cross member.

rich the mechanic wrote:I get our ones from japparts its about £25 inc postage don't know about the 4 pot ones but delivery has always been fair.

Did you have any issues with the head coming out from under the cross member? with the 3 pot if the gasket doesn't arrive dead flat it wants to slip off the dowels as the head is tipped through the gap to get the back under the cross member.

is that japparts.com or .co.uk?

had help (stood and watched while keeping wires out of the way!) to get the head off, took a little bit of wiggling but came out ok, undid the exaughst to give a bit more room

I used this one last time:-

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/APPLAUSE-CHARADE-HIJET-TERIOS-CHARADE-HEAD-GASKET-SET-/320697867748?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item4aab151de4