they might not have to leak themselves, just over fuel to the point where it wont ignite when you have the ignition on ie in hot start situations where the brain reckons its cold. Then it'll slowly leak down past the rings.
No what I mean now is that I suspect the CTS has gone, assuming the injectors aren't leaking. So when it's hot and he tries to start it it is flooding the engine with fuel because the ECU thinks the engine is stone cold. Then the fuel is leaking past the rings into the sump. Which is why I asked if he'd checked the coolant temp sensor.
If you have a multimeter you can check the resistance of it, but they are only a few quid to buy new and a 30 second job to replace. Just don't do it when the engine is hot or you'll be getting a bath in boiling coolant.....
I did exatly that yesterday, you'd think I'd know better but no. I have to find new ways of looking stupid.
There's a black plastic hose flange sticking out the front of the engine, with two plugs going into it. One black, one blue. You want to unplug the blue one, pull out the green metal clip that holds the sensor in, and the sensor will pop out followed by a gush of coolant. Pop in the new one, making sure the seal is still in there, and top up the coolant. Job done. Edited by: TheSecondComing
it's the blue one on the water hose outlet on the front of the block in between but above the plug leads.
I still insist on horribly burning myself every tme I change the oil..... get it good and hot now, so it flows out nicely.... all over your hand.
Good stuff, I'd be interested to see if that's it - all the temp senders I've seen fail have failed in "hot" mode.
This might be a differnt case, because the car has stayed in a garage for about 18 months and has not moved at all. I just took it a month ago and then it was ok, but soon this problem happened. So, we will see in a moment if the sensor is faulty.
I found a graph in my manual about the resistances - I will check them. What is the cold start valve doing? If it is leaking, can this be the problem?
No, they sometimes seep - you just need to change the seal. You don't have a cold start valve, just a coolant temperature sensor. Make sure you check the resistance both hot (try in some boiling water) and cold.
