Mk3 gti, blown engine?

[Chris_cj]

Hi this is my first post so go easy on me guys, here goes,

i have a mk3 golf gti and it has been a great car up until yesterday.

I fitted a new manifold (4-1 SS mani) due to 2 of the headers on the standard one being cracked, while the mani was being fitted i fitted and de-cat. The car started first time and ran like a dream again.

The day after the car didnt want to idle at cold so i would have to hold the revs round about 1k until it hit 52`c on the oil temp then it would idle fine on its own. i was going to be looking for this issue on the weekend until this happend...

Yesterday on the way home from work, (oil temp was on 84 and i wasn't driving like an idiot) i pulled up to a set of lights and the idle started to drop lower, so a little blip on the throttle sorted this.

Then later down the road, as i put my foot down and shifted into second the car made a load backfire type sound,(rush of air as if something had blown) and i lost all power. left the car for 30mins tried to start it and it just cut out and died.

I managed to get the car moving again but it would struggle to rev higher then 2k and if you removed foot off throttle it just died.

I've been told that its the head gasket thats gone, but i'm not sure at all. if any one has an idea what the issue/problem is i would like to hear as i have no idea what to do

Thanks in advance for any info i get

p.s sorry if the post was to long i wanted to try and get all the detail i could in

[Luke1981]

If it was the headgasket that had blown there would be water in your oil and oil in the coolant, also there would be excessive smoke coming from the exhaust.

Check the manifold for obvious leaks and the oil and water first and post back.

Good luck 

[gasketface]

Did you take all of the inlet manifold off to do the exhaust manifold ?.Sounds like you may have a leaking inlet manifold gasket or an air leak in that area.

I do'nt suppose your lambda sensor wire has come adrift and melted on the hot pipe ?.

Check for blown head gasket by removing oil filler cap and looking for creamy deposits,same in header tank for water.When you look in header tank do it with engine running,look for bubbles coming up.Also check for white smoke from exhaust.

My guess it's one of the 2 i first mentioned and if i were to bet i'd say it's your lambda sensor wiring but only if it's been caused by something that's been upset since the manifold change and not from a previously unnoticed problem.Lack of power could be down to many things including cambelt slipping out of sync.

[Chris_cj]

Did you take all of the inlet manifold off to do the exhaust manifold ?.Sounds like you may have a leaking inlet manifold gasket or an air leak in that area.

yeah the inlet was taken off the drop the mani straight in.

could a lamba sensor really make the car run like that?

cheers for the fast reply, when im in Manchester tomorrow ill have a look and post back the results

[gasketface]

The lamda sensor has two clips that the wiring clips in to,to protect it from the very hot exhaust.It would have been renmoved to do the job so may not have been put back properly.If it was'nt and it came into contact with the exhaust it would melt and short out,therefore giving false readings to the ecu (not sure if that would damge the ecu permanantly ).

I'm only guessing by going on what you had done.This is really a case of physically looking at the car in detail.

[Seanl]

Your symptoms are the same as I had when my engine died. Ultimately mine died cos of the headgasket, but that was caused by a duff oil cooler and oil temp reaching 160 digs. But since your oil temp was ok, the other fault on mine was the crank sensor. It's not related to the work you have carried out but IMHO well worth a look. Mine wouldn't start at all after so had to be towed home. I had no brakes on tow unless the engine was turning, so with the clutch released it was running like an absolute dog, and throwing oil and black smoke out the exhaust like u wouldn't believe! When the clutch was engaged it just died again.

[Bellend]

Khare has his engine go "bang" and stop but a coilpack sorted it.

[Chris_cj]

cheers for the help guys,
 ive loctated the problem now its just the fun old game of finding the parts

[mad4vws]

if it's a 8v engine I've got loads of parts or  complete engine.

[Len]

cheers for the help guys,
 ive loctated the problem now its just the fun old game of finding the parts

So what was the problem?