I'm appealing for help. 8valve 1.8 kjet that's a bit poorly. I've noticed recently it's been losing a bit of water - not alot, just about 100ml every time i go for a run. Anyway, thought I found a leak under the part where all the hoses join together and go into the head - all 3 leaking! Relaxed a bit and thought I'd fix at the weekend. Drove the car to work yesterday and it starts spitting out grey smoke when it's reached operating temp - oil @ 94 degrees. It also sounds like it's running on 3 cylinders. Spent all day in a strop , drove home and it did the same thing - fine initially and then smokey and running rough when up to temp. The coolant hoses felt pretty rigid and the cap was hissing slightly, but not too badly. Popped the plugs - 2,3,4 were nice and brownish, - 1 was noticably damp, but I'm not sure what with - fuel or coolant. Started the car and waited to see if the hoses went rigid quickly, but it was idling for a minute or so and they weren't that hard.
ANYBODY GOT ANY IDEAS whats going on? The obvious thing is the head gasket, but are there any other alternatives to what it might be? Might buy a compression tester - would that tell me without doubt what's wrong? I'm just wondering if an injector could become leaky at a certain temperature, flood the cylinder and cause the fuel to be dumped out the back end - hence grey, not white smoke?
Cheers in advance.
By the way, what sort of job is a DIY head pull?, and what sort of price should I pay for some1 else to do it - inc skim?
