View single post by ozzadavies
 Posted: 06-03-2009 10:15 am
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ozzadavies



Joined: 10-03-2008
Location: London, United Kingdom
Posts: 17
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Hi Edward, sorry to hear about your problems, they sound very similar to mine. Presumably the sponges were a misguided effort to stem the flow of crap coming out without stopping the gas/air escaping from the crankcase. Or to mask the problem whilst selling.

I'm guessing, but I think that excessive crankcase pressure will kill your bottom end and cause piston rings to give up. I had a painful experience with mine, spending a small fortune getting the head gasket replaced and the head de-coked by a Lotus specialist only to have to spend a larger fortune replacing the engine after the bottom end went a month later!

I'm not really a mechanic so I had a pretty steep learning curve trying to work out what was going on. I don't know whether the symptoms I originally saw (gunk in the air box causing non-starting) were down to the head or the bottom end, or indeed both. Or whether fixing the head and the subsequent enthusiastic driving forays around London was too much for the bottom end.

Good luck with it, I hope you find a resolution