Author Topic: AH! Loud popping noise from engine or IP? (Read 3086 times)

hipifreq · « **on:** December 11, 2006, 06:08:20 pm »

I was just running the car, shut it down for a few minutes, and when it restarted it was making a regular loud puffing sound. I first thought it was a blown exhaust manifold gasket, as that's the kind of sound it made. I drove it home, and felt no loss of power or anything.

I looked under the hood with it running, and the sound is coming from the driver side, near the IP. I felt around, and could feel a puff of air coming from somewhere between the IP and head, but couldn't quite figure out where (it's wicked windy here today). I could see smoke rising from the bay.

Any clues as to what I may have blown? Things I should look at further to diagnose? Help?

Thanks all!

jtanguay · « **Reply #1 on:** December 11, 2006, 06:10:40 pm »

sounds like it could be an IP seal... my car smokes quite a bit from the fuel dripping on the hot block. (i have an IP leak) no bad noises though

Dr. Diesel · « **Reply #2 on:** December 11, 2006, 08:08:32 pm »

glow plug loose or blow it's guts out somehow?

hipifreq · « **Reply #3 on:** December 11, 2006, 10:32:33 pm »

When I realized which side of the engine it was coming from the glow plugs were one of the first things I checked. They all seem to still be there.

I'll have another look in the morning when I've got some daylight. Artificial light sources just never match up to the light of day.

hipifreq · « **Reply #4 on:** December 12, 2006, 09:16:23 am »

Well, I started it up this morning and looked in the engine bay. It looks like it blew the head gasket at the #1 cylinder. :shock: There was a thin jet of fire shooting out every time it puffed. I'm hoping that it only blew the gasket because it's old, and not because the head has warped.

For now it's not going anywhere... I'll pull it off as soon as I can, and see what I can do. Hopefully it's just a simple replacement. Wish I had the reources to do a proper job on that head. It'd be nice to refurb the valves at the same time.

Well, time to start digging into the archives and studying the Bentley!

burn_your_money · « **Reply #5 on:** December 12, 2006, 07:15:25 pm »

Thankfully a HG replacement is pretty simple, just time consuming

hipifreq · « **Reply #6 on:** December 12, 2006, 09:05:14 pm »

Yeah, I've been looking through the Bentley and some forum posts, and it seems fairly easy to replace the gasket. I'm trying to think of other things that I should do at the same time.

How much harder to replace piston rings? Could I do that with the crankcase in place and the head removed?

If the valves or "OK" is it cool to just scrub the surface crap off while they're in place and call that good?

Wish I had more money and weren't relying on this car to get me around. Then I'd just yank the engine and take the rest of the winter to pull it apart. But alas, I need it to work for me so hopefully I can pull it apart this weekend, work on it over the week, and get it together weekend after.