Hi,

I have just had my 1996 1.3 felicia started by the AA, it missed a little on starting twice last week and had been stood for 3 days and was misfiring and refusing to start today. The AA felt that oil was being pushed up breather pipe into fuel injection system. One of the spark plugs was wet and they diagnosed a valve stem seal had probably gone. The car did start after oil had been cleaned out and seems to run fine - although I have been told this is only temporary. The AA garage said they wouldn't touch it, my local garage seem to think that I overfilled it with oil (yeah right! I know I'm female but really!) Any sugestions as to what else this might be and where I can get someone who knows what they are talking about to look at it. I live near Shrewsbury, my local Skoda dealer only deals with new cars. Also is it really hard to replace a valve stem seal or is it just time consuming?

All advice gratefully recieved.

Lisa

Hiya.

If your AA man was right, then the breather system wants cleaning out.

You say one of the plugs was wet. Was that oil (supports inlet oil seal diagnosis) or petrol (suggests engine was flooded, bad injector or HT feed to that cylinder)?

I can see why you'd not be over-happy with a garage that made a "did you over-fill with oil?" comment, but I did that myself with one car (worked from a manual that said the sump took 0.5l more than it did to fill).

I think the plug was wet with oil but didn't get to touch, these AA bit funny about customers trying to fix own cars lol. There is only single injector on car (v basic) and no blockages in any breather pipes.

Considering what a garage would charge you to replace the valve stem oil seal it could be worth giving it a go yourself if you feel happy about taking the head and disconnecting everything from it (and reconnecting it later).

You'll need a 10mm 1/2" drive hex key and most likely a long wheel brace and some muscle to get the head bolts off (follow the haynes procedure). Need new head bolts, new headgasket, inlet and exhaust manifold gaskets may be helpful. Once you have the head off you'll need a valve compressor, or you could go the lazy route and swap for a known good cylinder head.

Another possibility is something like stop oil leak that you add to the oil and is supposed to help reduce oil leaks by conditioning and enlarging the seals. It *might* get you back on the road for a bit with minimum effort. But with oil leaking in the manner it is I suspect it would not help much and would only be temporary if it did.

Considering what a garage would charge you to replace the valve stem oil seal it could be worth giving it a go yourself if you feel happy about taking the head and disconnecting everything from it (and reconnecting it later).

You'll need a 10mm 1/2" drive hex key and most likely a long wheel brace and some muscle to get the head bolts off (follow the haynes procedure). Need new head bolts, new headgasket, inlet and exhaust manifold gaskets may be helpful. Once you have the head off you'll need a valve compressor, or you could go the lazy route and swap for a known good cylinder head.

Another possibility is something like stop oil leak that you add to the oil and is supposed to help reduce oil leaks by conditioning and enlarging the seals. It *might* get you back on the road for a bit with minimum effort. But with oil leaking in the manner it is I suspect it would not help much and would only be temporary if it did.

And a piece of corrugated cardboard with the numbers 1 to 8 written on it, to put the pushrods in when they come out of the engine. In fact, this is where you need a mechanic and/or a decent repair manual.

I think the plug was wet with oil but didn't get to touch, these AA bit funny about customers trying to fix own cars lol. There is only single injector on car (v basic) and no blockages in any breather pipes.

On that basis, I think the oil seal diagnosis is probably right, but I'd try a new set of plug leads first. If you buy a set, and change them one by one, matching lengths as far as possible, you can'd really go wrong. Just take note that they are meant to be stiff to come on and off.

Overton Service Station are good with Skodas (based in Ludlow about 30 + miles from you). They should be able to help you out - they used to be a Skoda dealr until 1995 and now focus on selling second hand ones. Their no. is 01584 872584

you can change the stem seals without removing the cylinder head but you do need a few ickle tools to do so... might be worth getting an independent garage to do it, it's not too difficult a job really

if Overton garage is the one i think in ludlow, jim seems to know his stuff!

Thank you all, I'll be on the phone to Overton tomorrow, there may be hope yet lol.

you can change the stem seals without removing the cylinder head but you do need a few ickle tools to do so... might be worth getting an independent garage to do it, it's not too difficult a job really

Yes there is a way of doing this without taking the head off and from memory of seeing a diagram some time ago involves feeding into the spark plug hole a quantity of thin rope type string to stop the valve dropping!

will see if i can fish this out as it is in an old car mechanics mag i have lying around somewhere.

........Looking at this post again this may just be a plug lead not working properly as the breather system on a skoda does require some cleaning from time to time due to the design of the engine pushing crankcase fumes back into throttle body

I would consider giving the associated pipes and throttle body housing a quick clean with a bit of carb spray and a cloth

Yes there is a way of doing this without taking the head off and from memory of seeing a diagram some time ago involves feeding into the spark plug hole a quantity of thin rope type string to stop the valve dropping!

never seen it done like that:eek:

there is a special air line fitting that screws into the spark plug thread, then you use compressed air to fill the cylinder which holds the valves closed

never seen it done like that:eek:

there is a special air line fitting that screws into the spark plug thread, then you use compressed air to fill the cylinder which holds the valves closed

I've heard of the string technique before, but anyone I've ever known need to change oil seals combined the job with a decoke.

........Looking at this post again this may just be a plug lead not working properly as the breather system on a skoda does require some cleaning from time to time due to the design of the engine pushing crankcase fumes back into throttle body

I would consider giving the associated pipes and throttle body housing a quick clean with a bit of carb spray and a cloth

That's the way I was thinking too; depending on the rate of oil build up, a hotter spark might be enough to burn it off. Not like new HT leads ever do any harm, particularly if the old ones have done 12_000 miles or more, anyway.

Thanks all,

I've given it a big service, new oil filter, rotor arm and cap, plugs and ht leads and will keep an eye on where the oil is going. If there is anvalve stem prob I'll take it to Overton, too big for me I think. Cheers for al the advice, made much more sense than the garage bods round here lol.

Lisa

Any time. I've another female friend who'd been more or less persuaded to change a head gasket on her V@*xh@11 No Go herself without as much knowledge as you seem to have.

if Overton garage is the one i think in ludlow, jim seems to know his stuff!

Yep thats the one

How you get it sorted Lisa