Hi all,

 

I know this has been covered to death, but my pre-facelift 1998 Felicia 1.3 MPi has developed head gasket issues— mayo under the cap, oil in the expansion bottle, white smoke, etc. The oil pressure light also came on yesterday (how big an issue is that?). Car is refusing to heat-up inside and temperature gauge barely moves above the minimum except when idling.

 

I spoke to my mechanic today and he told me something alarming. He said that if the head gasket is gone, it can't really be fixed as skimming the head will affect the timing chain, leaving it loose and causing terminal failure within a few hundred miles.

 

Given that so many people on here have successfully replaced head gaskets, I'm wondering if there's any credence to his prognosis? There are currently 225,000 miles on the engine and it seems to be running relatively fine apart from the fact that it's catastrophically f**ked. Is the fact that the oil pressure light is on terminally serious? 

@Werner-Hedgehog CHANGE YOUR MECHANIC! This is an overhead valve engine, so the distance from the crankshaft to camshaft centres is fixed (both components are in the block), and certainly will not vary with a head skim.

 

I can't really comment on the prognosis beyond that, since I've never experienced all those symptoms at once.

 

I'll take your word for it as I'm sure you're well familiar with the MPi engine. I've had two mechanics now tell me that if the head needs skimming it's going to set the timing chain a-rattling.

 

I can't readily find any decent illustrations of the Skoda 135/136 engines, but https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overhead_valve_engine shows a typical OHV engine.

 

If you'd had the 1.4l engine rather than the  1.3l, they'd be closer to correct.

1 hour ago, Werner-Hedgehog said:

I've had two mechanics now tell me that if the head needs skimming it's going to set the timing chain a-rattling.

Both are morons.

No no no. The felicia engine has its camshaft inside the engine block and it is driven by chain. Though skimming the head won't affect the tension of it at all. You would just need to re-adjust the valves after skimming the head. Also choose a good head gasket manufacturer such as TEMAC Victor Reinz or even better Payen. As for the oil pressure light it sometimes is a falling oil pressure switch. It happened in mine it flickered while I was driving and I got super worried. Turned it off and open rocker cover. I saw oil so I went back home and changed the sender. Problem solved. 

Edited 13 March, 20197 yr by Thefeliciahacker

2 minutes ago, Thefeliciahacker said:

No no no. The felicia engine has its camshaft inside the engine block and it is driven by chain. Though skimming the head won't affect the tension of it at all. You would just need to re-adjust the valves after skimming the head. Also choose a good head gasket manufacturer such as TEMAC Victor Reinz or even better Payen

Opinion is overwhelmingly in favour of changing the head gasket, it seems. Thanks for the advice on the valve adjustment.

4 minutes ago, Werner-Hedgehog said:

Opinion is overwhelmingly in favour of changing the head gasket, it seems. Thanks for the advice on the valve adjustment.

Yes please always adjust the valves on these engines. If you don't that will lead to their dimise. Also  one of my felicia has both a skimmed head and a new head gasket. Still going strong 96 model. BTW the head of this car had awful pitting still after 20.000 km it is going strong. 

 

Edited 13 March, 20197 yr by Thefeliciahacker

1 minute ago, Thefeliciahacker said:

Yes please always adjust the valves on these engines. If you don't that will lead to their dimise. Also  one of my felicia has both a skimmed head and a new head gasket. Still going strong 96 model. BTW the head of this car had awful pitting still after 20.000 km it is going strong. 

Good to hear it. Felicias are getting very rare on roads in Ireland. 

One more thing. The low oil pressure switch flashes/stay lit because of oil/coolant emulsion (mayonnaise) inside lubrication system. Running the engine like that will kill it. The repair costs will be much higher.

2 minutes ago, RicardoM said:

One more thing. The low oil pressure switch flashes/stay lit because of oil/coolant emulsion (mayonnaise) inside lubrication system. Running the engine like that will kill it. The repair costs will be much higher.

I knew for a fact that it was not a head gasket issue but a problematic switch. (after I saw oil in the rocker arms) so it was safe to drive back home. But you are right mayo will kill the engine as it offers almost no lubrication. 

Edited 13 March, 20197 yr by Thefeliciahacker

4 minutes ago, RicardoM said:

One more thing. The low oil pressure switch flashes/stay lit because of oil/coolant emulsion (mayonnaise) inside lubrication system. Running the engine like that will kill it. The repair costs will be much higher.

Thanks, in particular for that. Thought it might be a faulty switch but the mayo inside the engine seems much more likely.

16 hours ago, Werner-Hedgehog said:

 

I spoke to my mechanic today and he told me something alarming. He said that if the head gasket is gone, it can't really be fixed as skimming the head will affect the timing chain, leaving it loose and causing terminal failure within a few hundred miles.

 

Find heaviest shoes you have and kick him in the a* really hard. Maybe that'll get some bloodflow into his brain and he won't be saying such stupid things.

 

Not only Skoda engine is cam-in-block, even OHC engine is not affected by head skimming. What are tensioners for? Skiming of head takes few tenths of milimeters, chain itself extend significiantly more during its normal lifetime. If you want proof - my car's head gasket was changed in 150k km. Now, with 280k on clock, it's still going well.

 

What's important before HG change, you should check cylinder liners overlap (i hope it's right term in english). Liners tend to "sink" into block on older engines, which causes HG failure after short time. They need to be few hudreths of mm above block surface to seal properly.

 

Also, valve clearance should be set not only immediatelly after HG change, but again after few heating cycles - ~500km

6 hours ago, Papez said:

 

Find heaviest shoes you have and kick him in the a* really hard. Maybe that'll get some bloodflow into his brain and he won't be saying such stupid things.

 

Not only Skoda engine is cam-in-block, even OHC engine is not affected by head skimming. What are tensioners for? Skiming of head takes few tenths of milimeters, chain itself extend significiantly more during its normal lifetime. If you want proof - my car's head gasket was changed in 150k km. Now, with 280k on clock, it's still going well.

 

What's important before HG change, you should check cylinder liners overlap (i hope it's right term in english). Liners tend to "sink" into block on older engines, which causes HG failure after short time. They need to be few hudreths of mm above block surface to seal properly.

 

Also, valve clearance should be set not only immediatelly after HG change, but again after few heating cycles - ~500km

Thanks for that. Especially the bit about the cylinder liners.