Aaaah.... smug mode

[stunned_monkey]

I don't usually go looking for stuff like this these days, but couldn't resist. I can't believe someone hadn't already snapped this one up!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Volvo-V6-engine-s ... 0506496226

[Guinney1971]

I have something to say......



"oh globbits"


That'll teach me not to check Ebay each day for a new engine....

[itdontgo]

Do those engines wear badly or something? I know they must be old by now but surely you dont do huge miles in a DeLorean!

My Cadillac has 236000 on it's original petrol V8! I guess Uncle Sam likes his engine to last or something.

[Guinney1971]

well the engine in my car needs money throwing at it, and I've figured it would
probably be cheaper to replace it then fix it. Generally tho, the PRV6 is a
pretty tough lump.

[stunned_monkey]

PRVs have reportedly gone over the million mark, and at least one DeLorean has gone past 800k. Theyre really reliable.

What kills any engine is being left to rot and/or not being serviced properly, and not paying attention to the age of the thing. DeLorean engine are fast approaching 30 years old.

[Guinney1971]

I know from the guy I bought it from, that the engine in my car was replaced
in 1990 at around 50,000 miles (no idea why though). The lack of provenance
of it in relation to my car means that I have no qualms about removing it and
replacing it with something else if need be.

I still have issues with oil leaks, over fuelling, low oil pressure, etc, and wonder
if I'm better off cutting my losses and changing the engine rather then throwing
more money at it :|

[stunned_monkey]

Thing is: how will you know for sure that the replacement engine is any better? This engine I've just got will defintely be stripped and rebuilt - there's no way I'd trust it! I'll be mixing and matching the best from it and the best from the engine in #3252. The engine in #4772 was a nightmare with water ingress, stuck valves, a corroded liner seat and one seriously pitted liner. That was without question the worst engine I've ever resurrected. If I'd had a spare, i'd have replaced the block but instead spend £380 getting the liner seat welded up and machined back to flat

I've seen many GTAs with apparently lower oil pressure than what DeLoreans display. My A610's oil pressure dropped quite alarmingly when it was hot but the light never came on and it didn't blow any smoke. It had 120k miles on it. My friend Darren's GTA turbo had over 220,000 when his speedo stopped working...

Oil leaks can be fixed easily unless it's the rear main. I've given up using rocker and timing cover gaskets and just use silicone because they're such sods to seal.

Fuelling can be adjusted and fettled. It'd be worse if it were EFI! For accurate across-the-range fuelling, I've got a wideband lambda with AFR gauge to see what's going on. Most of the time it's people trying to fix everything by twiddling the mixture screw rather than solving what's actually wrong. I saw one car recently which was running rich and wouldn't warm up properly because the fuel return hose was pinched by the tank cover. Cost of repair: bugger all...

[Guinney1971]

hmmm...... fair point... I know that any second hand engine would be untested
goes without saying.

My car is definately p'ing unburnt fuel out of the exhaust, thoughts are that an
injector (or more) is kaput, so at some point we're gonna test those and then
can either rule them out or decide that they are at fault. At MOT, the CO2 was
fine, but the hydrocarbons were way over - summat like 1600 when your allowed
1200 maximum.

My oil light does come on sometimes, and oil pressure never goes above 1/2,
and at idle it shows no pressure at all. From memory, its always done that,
even though it has had a replacement pressure switch and pump in its time.

I remember your rebuild of Tinny's engine, that was a horror story in its own right.

I guess at some point, when it stops snowing and I can be arsed to get cold
and dirty, I'll have a poke around in there again, but right now the De is way
down on my list of priorities to sort out.

I'm hoping it is *just* the injectors that are at fault, and not summat more
sinister.....

[stunned_monkey]

Is it actually running on all cylinders? normal CO but high HC usually means a simple ignition based misfire.

You can see if one injector is spraying too much by pulling them out and squirting them into a couple of jam jars. Just compare the spray patterns. Maybe take the opportunity to give them a blast through, often does them the power of good.

I wouldn't condemn the engine yet even if the oil light pops on occasionally when the RPMs drop. Try using thicker oil like 20W50, or maybe just an oil change with the vanilla stuff will help if it's been soaked in fuel!

As for the oil pump, remember the pump housing is part of the block, there's no way to change that without changing the block, and its the bit that gets damaged when shrapnel gets around the system. If the exhaust doesn't smoke, I wouldn't worry.

[Guinney1971]

lol, we've been collecting the large baby food jars for just that purpose :wink:

I wouldnt say its got an *obvious sounding* misfire, but it runs like a bag of
poo and hunts all the time, and it stinks due to the unburnt fuel coming out
of the exhuaust (plus the MPG is horrendous!).

Fingers crossed, it is just one injector thats duff, and replacing it and giving
the car a thorough service and tune up will do the job.

Thanks for the advice, its appreciated