Finally got myself a project HiJet.

Greetings all.

So for years and years I've wanted a Hijet, but I've always put it off. Then I finally decided to buy a project Hijet off ebay for £250. If it all goes wrong at least its only £250, hardly going to worry about it. A white 1998, 1.3 EFI Petrol and a dizzying 64bhp.

So it was advertised as runs but is a bit "tappy" now this is a hell of an understatement. On idle it sounded like a 3 year old hitting a metal bin with a spanner repeatedly. My first thought was big end issues, but as far as i'm aware that's normally a deep knocking. This tapping noise would disappear when its revved too. Maybe a small end, stuck valve, incorrect valve clearances, aux system issues. Could be anything. Unless anyone here has any specific ideas/similar noise before?

Anyway, today i dropped the engine out (quite easy except for the engine mount nuts breaking their welds inside the chassis rail, grinders came out) so far I've managed to drop the gearbox off and remove the head. No valves appear bent, none are stuck, all look evenly coating as part of combustion, so far i can find no conclusive evidence for the tapping. The valve clearances do seem a bit excessive but nothing major. Pistons again coated evenly and uniform across all 4.

The head gasket does seem a bit new... evidence it may have failed before, been replaced but damage already done? water pump has a new looking green sealant around its edges. again more evidence it may have been overheating. Typical Hijet.

Bodywork all seems in good order though, except the drivers side sliding door handle which i broke off crashing it into a fence post at about 2mph (whops) Needs a new headlight surround and new light mounts made up but nothing that cant be fixed with a bit of time.

I've been on the forum for a few weeks now looking around at all the advice and absorbing as much information as I can which has been a great help. So just wanted to start a little topic to say hello, thank you, and to maybe help others in the future with this issue

From a new hijet enthusiast,
DodgeGt

Hello

hello

Welcome to the mad house, may your stay be log and frequent! Now get some pictures posted so we can see what you are doing. Not many go as far as you have so far so take plenty of pictures and post them up so we can see progress and others can help diagnose issues if needed. Keep up the good work!

welcome

Welcome, and hope you enjoy solving the problem and then getting it all back together. What part of the world are you in?

Thank you for the warm welcome, Once i've worked out how to share photos on here I shall get a few up. I'm in Kent, near(ish) to Dover (easiest point everyone will know)

I've got the cam shaft out today, some worrying signs. Out of the 16 lobes about 8-10 of them are very dry with rusty looking scoring. With some clean up they can be made to look ok however some quick measurements with my verniers show they have lost a bit of height compared to the well lubricated lobe. Next step is checking head oil ways, just to make sure everything's getting what it should.

Good news, the crank looks ok, no heat damage visible and no knocking or movement

Does anyone know how to get the oil pump out? I cant seem to see it in there.

-DodgeGT

I hope these images work...

They rangefrom me cutting the chassis rail to the crank
As it shows, the damage on the cam shaft, has anyone ideas on how this may have happened?

Welcome. So you have gone and bought your self a "Dodgy" Daihatsu. £250 seems a reasonable price to pay for it on the mainland.

It's come home sort of as the Daihatsu Importers were in Dover originally and then moved to Birmingham.

The oilpump is on the front cover. Bit of a give away when you take the sump off, is the oil pickup pipe bolted to it.


As regards the cam being in bit of a state, it is most likely a couple of blocked oil feed holes to the valve gear.
When you take the sump off you will I expect, be greated by a sump and oil pick up covered in thick black sludge. Have fun.

Ah....someone else in Kent!

Whereabouts are you? I and my latest Hijet are in Maidstone.

No thick black sludge in the sump, looks relatively clean I can see the oil pump from the collector pipe as you described is it possible to take the pump out without taking the crank out? before i go wildly undoing bolts and regretting it later.

Hey Andy, I'm just down the road in Ashford