Hi all Just been checking the bus over & polishing it up ready to take my daughter to prom on Friday.. 2 days. Cleaned up the plugs yesterday. Took it out for a spin tonight & after about a mile the engine suddenly started to make a right racket, managed to nurse it home. When you turn it over by hand it locks up when the rotor arm is pointing towards plug leads for no 1 and no 3 cylinders. Not sure if it's connected, but when I pulled the plug lead off plug in cylinder number 4, a bit of the plug lead end was missing.. my plug leads have the hard brown end caps, look like bakelite. Could the missing bit have dropped into the cylinder and stopping piston on cylinder no 4 from going to TDC? Any ideas? Gutted.. feel like I've really let my daughter down, as well as the problem with my bus.
Sorry to hear that - where are you - is there anyone from TLB near you who could use their bus as a stand in?
Don't know.. ivam In Solihull, by Birmingham Airport.. only need to drop them off to the motorcycle museum, about 3 miles away. She's supposed to be going with 2 of her friends. Typical, I've done 2 proms for friends previouslyin the bus, then l can't do my own daughter's!
Something in 4 would lock it on 4 or 2 TDC. And I think driving it for a mile would pulverise a bit of Bakelite plug cap.
However if something did fall in there (like a washer or small nut) it might well drive with it flying about, and might well then settle and lock up turning it by hand. Favourite (IME ) would be dropping a washer down the carb throat.
Sorry to hear that. I'm going to be in Olton Friday looking after my granddaughter, otherwise I'd try to help somehow. I'll watch the thread in case something transpires that I can help with.
If you have one of those camera things, stick it down the plug hole(s)? And if you found a washer... magnet on a stick thingy? Or Take it to pieces.
Trouble is being a flat engine if something falls in and the piston pushes it to the top it's going to stay there and you might not be able to see it or retrieve it. You might see it it it embedded itself it the piston. I know what I did - engine out, head off.
Anyone locally got a camera thingy? Do you reckon I would have more access by whipping the carb manifolds off?
Screwfix might do you a basic endoscope to look down the plug holes with. My one came with a gripper thing. Might help. Not cheap, tho' https://www.screwfix.com/p/magnusson-inspection-camera-with-2-colour-screen/7942x Taking the manifolds off isn't really going to help.
https://www.toolstation.com/draper-...u49M71GRX8RLwUKkXijWsPFLNWRHw4sAaAujVEALw_wcB I've got this one. Connects to your phone, works pretty well and comes with a little angled mirror for looking round at 90 degrees. And much cheaper!
I think its engine on floor and heads off time. Its very unlikely the plug lead insulator is the cause. More likely something metal down the intake manifold. Pop the rocker covers off check its not a valve snapped ... see if the valve stem is constantly pushing on the rocker arm. In any case its a job that could be done in 2 days only if you had all the parts that you might need anyway..like a a proper VW aircooled garage or my pile of junk down here... a box of used pistons and cylinders (1641 in my case) and some cracked but serviceable heads.. Try and borrow a bus ..
When you say the engine locks up do you mean with the plugs out and turning the engine with a spanner? If the plugs are in, is it normal compression? What noise was the ‘racket’? Mechanical rattle or knocking or misfires or …?
Engine making a right racket, locks up when turning by hand? Sounds familiar to me. My engine did that and when I dropped the sump oil screen, I found chunks of alloy metal which turned out to be bits of piston skirt. The clue is the engine locking up.
