Corsa-B.uk - Vauxhall, Opel and Holden Corsa B Owners Club

Hi all. Right im gonna do a little essay here 2 try and explain whats up with my gfs 1.2 8 valve corsa

Basically its got a tappety noise which seems 2 be getting worse plus a vibration which is shuddering the car at idle which is getting worse. dont think the idle is off but can't tell cuz there aint a rev counter. The other day a coolant pipe randomly exploded and after getting it fixed the guy said shes got a very tiny radiator leak so we got some radweld in it. Now the leak seems 2 have stopped but the engine seemed very very hot when we opened the bonnet 2day and when you try and unscrew the coolant cap the water rushes up like its boiling. Considering a garage re-filled it i dont think it has a poor mix of coolant in there so this seems a bit odd. Since the coolant pipe the noises has got a bit worse and the engine block seems a bit oily but there is no mayo on the oil filler cap. And the fan does work - kicks in at around 92 on the temp gauge in the car

Any ideas what could be causing the hot engine and loud noises? head gasket?

any help wud be greatly appreciated - any questions feel free 2 ask - i know my explanation aint 2 gd

for the hot engine- does your heater warm up? if it doesnt it would indicate an airlock in the coolant system, so maybe the garage didnt bleed it when they filled it up. But the rushing water could also indicate back pressure which could be the head gasket. A saxo I baught this year had the same problem with water rushing out of the expansion tank when I opened the cap, and there was no mayo on the cap or dipstick at 1st, and that was the head gasket.

The tappety noise- is it coming from your engine itself? Does your car misfire? The 1.2 8v I had also had a tappety noise which slightly made a shudder in the car and it turned out to be a worn lobe on the camshaft which allowed a rocker to move and get chewed up which was causing the tap and the shake was coming from a misfire!!!

As for your rad issue in another post I dont think it will make any difference mate, I fit a 1.4 rad on my 1.2, it fit straight in and the car was fine.

Hope I have been of some help to ya matey

thanks very much for you're detailed reply =)

no the heater does not warm up properly but never has tho and im sure the engine was cooler b4 the other day when the coolant pipe split. but yeh i can see it could be an airlock - getting a new radiator fitted 2night so will have 2 see if it does it then when the guy has bled it

and the rushing water thing - yeh thats what i thought - its the start of the headgasket doing. there is a lot of oil on the engine block - if the gasket is going do you see some oil leaking out? and if so where from?

the yeh its defo coming from the engine and a little bit yeh. its almost like one of the spark plugs is a little off on idle and gives this judder (my dads punto has it and thats his problem). and ouch that sounds pretty serious. lets hope it aint that then

thanks for the radiator advice as well - the 1.2 and 1.4 have the same part number so it will fit

thanks for the advice so far =)

for the misfire, you could try disconnecting each H.T lead one at a time and see if it makes a difference to the running of the car, take one off if the engine tries to stall or does stall pop the lead back on and try another lead (only try one lead off at a time) you may get to one which make little or no difference, try cleaning that plug and see if it makes a difference. You may have a dodgy plug or dirty plug, if this doesnt work, pop the dizzy cap off and check the rotary arm is clean and not worn, look inside the dizzy and check each metal point is clean aswel, if no luck there then you may need to change your HT leads. If none of this works, with your other problems it could be your head gasket unfortunatley. Are you loosing water but cant see a leak now? You will beable to tell if you are after the new rads on.

Oil can leak from every orrofice on an engine, the worse part is, it could leak from anywere, then as you drive along the oil spreads and looks like its coming from everywere. Clean your engine of all the oil then run your car and see if you can see were its coming from.

Since the heater isnt getting warm then it could be an airlock in the coolant system so hopefully when the new rad is on tonight it will be bled properly, then your heaters should get nice and warm, if they do, see if you have the same problem with the rushing water out of the expansion tank cap.

Hope to have been some help mate, let me know how you get on

right little update, got the radiator fixed and the airlock seems 2 have got better.... the heater is getting warmish now, it aint perfect but it will do. the guy who did the repair said that he thinks the heater matrix has got a bit blocked up, probz due to radweld put in by us and probz a previous owner. If this is the issue then will it cause any other probz other than cold heater vents? if not then this can just be left for a couple of months till my gf gets some more dollar lol

the other thing is the headgasket. The guy does engine conversions (Tom Eccles if any1 knows him) and hes said the headgasket is on the way out but has about 2-3k miles left :/ . Although theres no mayo on the oil filler cap he pointed out some water spots on there so basically he said just keep topping the oil and water up and it should stay alive for a bit. He recons this is causing the misfire as well. Gonna try and clean the engine off and look where the oil is coming from

another question... if the headgasket blows when ur driving at speed like on a motorway will the car simply just start slowing down giving us chance to pull over or could it lock the front axel and cause the car 2 crash? like how safe is it cuz the windscreen is help in with bathroom sealant so i dont really want it 2 have a crash lol

No crashes, it will be safe enoguh if it doe blow. Steam coming from under the bonnet, burning oil from the exhaust and the car may or may not stop completely. Temperature guage will be off the scale, and if any of these happen, stop a.s.a.p.
Allow the car to cool down, and you may or may not get a few miles further down the road if you really have to. eg getting off a motorway.
As to your windscreen, you should not really be driving a car in that state, what if you do have a bump, and the window smashes into you and the girlfriend, not a very nice thought. Get it sorted immediately, it is not worth the risk to drive a car in that state. If you are even stopped and charged for having a car in this state, it will cost you a lot more than refitting a window. Sorry to be blunt, but that is the truth of it.

yh i know that but she won't get it looked at 2 see if its safe. shes convinced her car is fine and won't let me do anything. bloody women lol

and kwl thanks for the advice on the head gasket, might get some breakdown cover for her just in case lol