Sad

[DWM]

Sad to report, I think Genevieve is dead.

She just took me on a lovely half-term trip to Alsace and Lorraine. Started misfiring on the way home as we left Luxembourg. Three cylinders only for 250-odd miles across Belgium and France. RAC took over when we reached England.

Test reveals no compression on cylinder 4. Valve is prime suspect. Obviously not worth paying someone else to fix.

Still thinking about what to do, including toying with the idea of at least taking the head off myself, for the experience if nothing else, but no real optimism about being able to save her.

Some pics from hols attached.

[EastbourneChris]

Nothing to lose in trying, I'm sure there is someone here that would be happy to help

[Cornishv40]

Shame about your V40, you could it fix!

There seems to be alot failing at the moment.

Nice pics by the way...

[gatos]

Oh Crap. At least you made it home safe. Taking the head off is not that hard. Putting back together is the harder bit....

Keep us updated of how you get on and what you decide

[DWM]

Yes, full credit to her for getting me back. A bit slow off the mark but still runs fine on three, and ten months' MOT... might still get me through the winter LOL.

It has made the matter of getting Phoenix's heater working a lot more urgent...

[Antz]

Just drop another engine in. Job done.

[stephend]

Originally Posted by DWM

Still thinking about what to do, including toying with the idea of at least taking the head off myself, for the experience if nothing else, but no real optimism about being able to save her.

Pish and tush, man! Do it!

Seriously, when I did the head gasket on my 740, I took the line that best-case, I'd fix it; worst-case, I'd paid peanuts for the car, so if I screwed it up, I wouldn't have lost much, and at least I'd've enjoyed taking it to bits. In fact, all went fine, and that was 50k miles ago.

Take it slowly and methodically, and enjoy. Pay attention to cleanliness, label and photograph it as you go (we shall expect to see the pictures!). Bear in mind you may need a suitable camshaft locking tool. Oh, and it's all aluminium alloy, so be very careful about not marking mating surfaces with steel tools.

Go on, go on, go on! You can't let Genevieve die!

(There: is that enough emotional blackmail to persuade you to do it? )

ps I wouldn't go on running it on three cylinders. (1) If something has broken, maybe metal fragments knocking about, and you don't want them causing damage. (2) It would be very likely to f*ck the catalytic converter, and then you'd be looking at replacing that too.

[DWM]

OK so now I've read this brilliantly inspiring thread.

I'm now as sure as I can be that my problem will be the same. Interesting that chomerly noted a bit of a struggle to pass MoT emissions test shortly prior to failure. Genevieve was the same in September MoT, so I'm inclined to guess that my valve was on the way out back then. In fact looking back I think I was dimly aware of a slightly unusual vibration too, which I attributed to wheels/tyres but which (in retrospect) could, I suppose, have been a gentler version of what happened when I lost compression completely.

So I think I have learned that an important thing will be not to lose the timing...(!)

Starting to think about how to manage to try to do this.

Jeez but I'm scared. Even though I know there's nothing to lose...I just don't KNOW enough! LOL.

[xentor]

Nice one! Brave call to make and best of luck!

[stephend]

Originally Posted by DWM

Jeez but I'm scared. Even though I know there's nothing to lose...I just don't KNOW enough! LOL.

You'll know enough by the time you've finished!

You'll need a decent torque wrench that covers the relevant range, if you haven't got one already. And there will almost certainly be some kind of camshaft locking tool to preserve the timing. At least yours doesn't (presumably) have the VVT. You'll also need a new head gasket, and you may need new stretch bolts. (Opinions vary on this: some people think you can re-use stretch bolts maybe once; others disagree. On the V40, because the whole engine is aluminium alloy, the criteria may well be more stringent, i.e. new stretch bolts may be mandatory.) Thoroughly clean all mating surfaces when removing gaskets, and don't use a metal harder than ally (e.g. steel...) as a scraper, as you're likely to mark the surface. Gaskets for inlet and exhaust manifolds may well get knackered on disassembly, so probably best to get new ones in ready. Oh, and start spraying Plus Gas on the exhaust manifold studs, to help make them un-doable when the time comes.

Other than that, best advice is to really study the procedure in Haynes until you're confident you understand it - before you actually start! Then take it slowly and carefully, and if you get a bit stuck, stop and make a brew while you think it through.

Have you got somewhere under cover to work on it? And have you got storage space?