Well, as a recently-arrived forumster, I have more tales from the little Vivio.

its 660cc 4cyl works quite hard- 4200rpm at 60mph +-.

Recently I changed the head gasket and cam seals hoping to curb the leaking at the top of the engine, and the serious oil consumption, and basically to check the general engine condition.

Without noting much difference between the condition of each piston, I rebuilt as best I could with new plugs, and no proper specs to help me except head bolt torque and valve clearances.

I plan on rebuilding the whole engine this month, once my rings and seals kits arrive, as there is considerable smoke at higher revs, and the power seems down.

 

Today I pulled the plugs and found some ugliness, especially cylinder 2...

Left to Right, cylinders 1,2,3,4 respectively, 4 at the flywheel end.

So the rebuild needs to go ahead urgently, I don't think I can use this car until it's fixed properly.

I am stumped because the other car (Forester) has just decided to split its radiator too!

two sick soobs...  

Bdamit,

Actually three of the plugs look terrific for whatever mileage the car is at, which I suspect is a large number (always give us the year, model and mileage when asking assistance because it changes the answers you will get).

Cylinder number 2 has an oil issue for sure, and that broken insulator didn't help either.

Here in Canada I don't believe the Vivio was ever imported, so not much knowledge from this part of the world. But we wish you luck with the rebuild.

 

Keep us posted!

 

Gene

#4 looks pretty much as it should, #s 1 & 3 are passable, not great, but not that bad either, considering age & mileage.

#2 is definitely an issue.. and not just the oil fouling, but the broken insulator - yikes

Thanks for the positive replies guys.

But I think they are running hot, possibly due to incorrectly set timing, they are quite white and scaled. This could explain the broken insulator?

The oil slick on 2 and 3 concerned me the most, initially making me think the rings are worn. 

I put back the old plugs (which were actually really good colour, but I change filters and plugs when I buy a car), and ran the engine for a minute or two. I pulled the plugs again and they were soaked!

 I then realized/ remembered that I had not sorted inlet/outlet valve seals when I did the head reseal, so they are likely all mixed up, at least on 2 and 3!

What a tool I am. 

The head comes off tomorrow and I shall check those seals (and the state of the cylinder bores obviously).

Back to engine school for me...

Expensive lessons.

By the way, the car is from 1995, has multi point injection, N/A, no PS or AC, runs on 95 unleaded, manual shift.

It was sold with 50,000 km, but I am erring toward 150,000 kms (hard to tell with the five-digit counter, and the official dealer was a bit dodgy and not completely honest with a few things. The car has fresh paint, some good knocks underneath, a well-polished steering wheel and gearknob, brand new upholstery.....many many things tell me that it has done six-figures!)

But it will be a peach when I'm done fixing. 

 

Here we go then. 

Front end off and lets crack it open....

Edited July 2, 20187 yr by Bdamit

Piston #2 has been mashing that piece of insulator against the head:

There's a 5mm wide x 0.5mm deep crater (top centre) in the piston, and a few nicks. Can I get away with some light sanding? Your thoughts please...

The remains of the insulation can be seen on the top centre border .... and you can see the nicks in the head (bottom right):

The 4 cylinder bores are very good, a little polished perhaps, very few fine vertical score marks. Cylinder 2:

 

I was planning to pull the crank and pistons this month for a light bore honing, install new rings, main seals etc.

 

The valve stem seals are all identical by eye, same colour, same springs, same shape inside. They did not come inlet/exhaust separate, and are aftermarket. The manual stipulates black inlet, brown exhaust. I think I'll order the genuine Subaru parts, now that I have destroyed them again!