General backfires and flames

[d miller]

HELP just fitted new thermastat to solve my engine running to cold it ran fine but with no change to the engine temp .so i flushed out the cooling system and filled wiyh fresh coolant ,but now i have a big problem on restarting the car it ran fine for 15 mins but when i went for short drive the car conked out and would not restart .so after a tow home tried to start but all that is happening is loud bacfires,and flames comin out of the exhaust and the car will not run properly help (still no heating either )!!!!!!!! any answers????????

 

[Donkey]

FLAMES b*ll*x to getting ur car working u have FIRE that is all u need

 

[John H]

Which engine is it, and which side of 1993 was it first registered in the UK?

 

[d miller]

registered 1/92 on a j plate .it is a 903 dance .

 

[John H]

So it's not a timing belt problem, then

Backfiring and flames would usually suggest wild cam timing, badly mis-timed ignition, and/or burnt valves, or unexpected combustion gas leakage between adjacent cylinders.

It's odd that this has started since your work on the thermostat.. usual rule of thumb is when something breaks unexpectedly, look at what you did immediately prior to the fault.
I don't see how that can be the case here though, unless you really cooked what was left of the head gasket.

Have a look at your "points" just to make sure everything is in order there, before you do anything expensive.

Beyond that you need to do a compression check on each cylinder - that will let you know if you have a truly catastrophic head gasket failure, which is a distinct possibility, given the previous symptoms.


Anyone else with any constructive suggestions??

 

[d miller]

well bugger me gave the old panda a go earlier and it is running fine now !!!!!!! all i did was a bit of the old wd 40 on the leads plugs etc , bit still got a problem with the engine running at just over the 70 ish mark even after changing the thermastat and still no heat any answers ??????????

 

[John H]

Well, that's a turnip for the books

Perhaps you need some better plugleads anyway - AFAIK WD40 is only Water Dispersant for 40 days... really - the damp problem comes back.

Is the gauge reading properly?

If you have no heat and some reading on the gauge, you either have an airlock, or a shut heater valve, or no waterpump (blades).

 

[lovepug13]

FLAMES! That engine needs to go in my chink real soon!