New Roadster Owner - Good/Bad Buy
Discussion
Hello all.
Finally took the plunge and bought a 1.8 mk1 eunos roadster off our favourite online auction site for 400 quid. Picked it up last night and i'm really pleased with it. It was advertised with a smokey engine and after talking to the owner it had overheated. The previous owner had already forked out over £500 to have the head skimmed, pressure tested, new cambelt and replaced various parts of the cooling system. I've compression tested the engine and there is no difference between dry and wet compression which leads me to believe the most likely cause of the burning oil is valve stem oil seals. The engine runs nice and smooth even the HLA's sound quiet. The engine has only done 95000km's So hopefully it will only cost a further 40 quid to do the valve stem oil seals. Hopefully!
The only other think i noticed was the catalytic converter overheat light stays on despite the engine now running the correct temperature. Is there a reset for this or is the cat and/or sensor kaput?. The Mot is not till august so I guess it can wait.
Roll on Le Mans 2010 . . .
Finally took the plunge and bought a 1.8 mk1 eunos roadster off our favourite online auction site for 400 quid. Picked it up last night and i'm really pleased with it. It was advertised with a smokey engine and after talking to the owner it had overheated. The previous owner had already forked out over £500 to have the head skimmed, pressure tested, new cambelt and replaced various parts of the cooling system. I've compression tested the engine and there is no difference between dry and wet compression which leads me to believe the most likely cause of the burning oil is valve stem oil seals. The engine runs nice and smooth even the HLA's sound quiet. The engine has only done 95000km's So hopefully it will only cost a further 40 quid to do the valve stem oil seals. Hopefully!
The only other think i noticed was the catalytic converter overheat light stays on despite the engine now running the correct temperature. Is there a reset for this or is the cat and/or sensor kaput?. The Mot is not till august so I guess it can wait.
Roll on Le Mans 2010 . . .
If the engine overheated enough to warp the head then it's quite likely it damage the valve stem seals too so if the engine itself is quiet and the head is otherwise in good condition then that is the most likely cause. It might be quicker/cheaper to just swap heads if you can find a good one from a scrapper like MX5 Heaven or Autolink.
The quickest fix to the Heat light is to remove the bulb. It doesn't mean anything other than that the sensor is probably knackered - the cats seem to last longer than the sensors in most cases. I think you can disconnect the sensor at the exhaust but not sure of the details never having had a JDM Roadster.
The quickest fix to the Heat light is to remove the bulb. It doesn't mean anything other than that the sensor is probably knackered - the cats seem to last longer than the sensors in most cases. I think you can disconnect the sensor at the exhaust but not sure of the details never having had a JDM Roadster.
t out of the '5 to Le Mans knowing it only set you back £400 sheets !
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