adamukcorrado 0 Posted February 21, 2005 Hi guys, just discovered this forum and hope you can help!! have owned and loved my 1990 1.8 16v for about 18 months, always been V'reliable and fast enough with mod's such as 4branch tsr manifold, exaust, k&n air filter etc etc past 6 months it has started using alot of oil and smoking (blue smoke) very badly at times (not consitantly tho) &leaks oil into spark plugs. still pulls ok and sounds fine but have mot in a month and not looking like it'll pass!! has done 150 000 miles. any ideas?? piston ring?? big job? 2nd hand engine cheaper? my budget is limited but feel if i'm gonna have to spend alot i would like to be upgrading things? any thoughts? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Riley 0 Posted February 21, 2005 alright m8. :D it may be the valve stem seals in the head,a pretty normal thing to go on the kr lumps. may also be the piston rings,but cant say ive heard of many that are worn even at 150k miles! i think you can test for where the problem is,by hooking up an air line to one of the cylinders(via a spark plug hole),when you put air in (with engine at tdc i think?)... you then check for where the air is leaking out,either the exhaust if stem seals have gone,or through the crank breather if piston rings have gone... if it is the rings dont worry its not as big a job as you may think :D cost of a head gasket set,rings which are £37 from gsf i think... and the engine oil/sump gasket etc... good idea to buy a honing tool too,only cheap and it should be used really... neil. :) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adamukcorrado 0 Posted February 21, 2005 thats reasuring to know! whilst the engine is in bits is there anything to be gained by fitting a 50mm inlet manifold?? keep seeing them on ebay for not alot of money, is it just a straight swap? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Riley 0 Posted February 21, 2005 lot of conflicting talk about the diffarent manifolds,supposedly your better off with the smaller one for more torque,and torque is the reason a lot a people go for the 9a/abf 2.0's. id be asking a garage to do the above check if im on the right lines,can anyone confirm? :D neil. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Henny 0 Posted February 22, 2005 riley, yup, pretty much on the ball there mate... 8) You need to get the engine compression tested to check if it's the piston rings or the valve seals which have gone. Odds are that it'll be valve seals though. As Riley says, bits for the KR engine are peanuts... I did a full rebuild (all bearings, seals, rings and head rebuild including seats, guides and seals) for under £500... That basically gives you a completely new engine... 8) It can be done a LOT cheaper too if you don't go quite as overboard on the rebuild as I tend to! ;) :lol: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Riley 0 Posted February 22, 2005 best way m8 8) a kr lump was the first ever engine i worked on,easy peasy :D Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adamukcorrado 0 Posted February 23, 2005 thanks for your help, sounds like hardest part is gonna be tellin the mrs the snow boardin hols will have to wait another year cos i'm fixin the car! :) Cheers, Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
h100vw 0 Posted February 23, 2005 I'd get a cylinder leak down check done to confirm the culprit. I would put money on the valve guides. Whether you rebuild yours engine or buy a secondhand motor, I'd defo rebuild the head with new guides. KR engines are cheap and plentiful, buy another and fettle it before fitment if the bottom end is worn. If the head is bad a head rebuild could be done for 150-200 if you do it yourself. Gavin Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
