Hi guys,

I am working on a new to me 2007 MCS with about 125K miles on the clock. My goal is to make it a decent daily driver for the next 30k miles.

The body, suspension, steering and interior are all in good condition. I can even start the engine for a little bit and it idles fairly ok, however there are various issues found under the hood. Unfortunately, I don't have service records of any kind for that car, so that kind of makes everything a little more difficult, and a lot of guesstimation might be in order...

I'm still in the process of taking pictures, once I have them I'll update the thread to include it.

Here is the list of known problems and other issues that I discovered:

1. No coolant/major coolant leak in the cooling system.
When adding coolant to the reservoir, it immediately ends up on the floor somewhere near the water pump. I've narrowed it down to either the plastic water pipe, or the water pump. Water pipe would make sense, since it seems to be covered in engine oil, which could have possibly degraded the plastic over time to the point of failure. I have both parts on order.

Update 1/21: I finally removed the intake manifold and thermostat to gain access to the water pipe. It's not looking good. Besides the pipe being covered in oil, there's a lot of greyish goo around it right where it enters the water pump housing. I think it might be some sort of "stop leak" for cooling systems. Besides that the pipe is missing the flange where the oring is supposed to be (see pictures below).

Lot of greyish goo inside the thermostat housing as well. Too bad since the thermostat seems to be recently replaced (mfd date is 2016).
Also there's a huge oily mess in this area, I tried to trace it up and it didn't look like all of this oil could come from the valve cover gasket.
Is it possible to flush the system to get rid of that stuff? If so, what should I use for the flush?



Update 1/24: Upon closer inspection, and comparison, it looks like the thermostat housing and the water pipe end actually melted away. Which means that the engine must have had a near catastrophic overheat.
I can only assume that this must have happened with the cooling system being empty at the time.



2. Major oil leak near oil filter housing
When engine is running the oil is dripping at a pretty rapid rate somewhere near/at the oil filter housing. I removed the oil filter cap to find that the oil filter was crushed/collapsed and the rubber o-ring was really stiff and squared off. I installed new filter (FRAM CH10066) and o-ring, I think this might resolve this particular leak.

3. Smaller oil leaks everywhere else
The following areas are covered in oil:
- essentially entire valve cover is covered in a thin film of oil, little oil in the center bolt holes, little oil in spark plug holes 2&3
- front of the engine
- rear of the engine
- left side of the engine
- right side of the engine
- transmission bell housing

I believe the engine is overfilled with oil because the level seems to be somewhat above the max mark on the dipstick.

4. Fouled spark plugs / heavy deposit buildup
From what I read so far this buildup could be due to valve guide seals leaking oil into the combustion chamber, burned antifreeze or the fuel additives. Perhaps PCV failure.

Update 1/21: Pictures of spark plugs added


5. Somewhat low compression
Here are the results (cold engine, fuel pump disabled)
119, 132, 130, 120 on the first dry test, then
130, 138, 150, 130 on the second dry test (I noticed piston #3 was wet after this run, so it must have somehow sealed itself)

I think this means is that the engine is pretty worn out and probably needs some major maintenance.

Also not so sure if these results can be trusted. I guess I'll repeat the compression test once I dump the oil from the engine.

6. Carbon deposits on the pistons
Looking through spark plug holes I can see lots of black buildup on top of the cylinders which I can only assume is carbon deposits.

Update 1/21: New problem found!
7. Broken oil pressure sender connector & broken harness connector
While working on removing the thermostat housing I discovered this minor issue.



Update 1/21: New problem found!
8. Small oil puddle in the turbo intake





I think that's all for now... whew

I'm not really sure where to even begin with this, so I'd appreciate your input.

 

Your post is in the correct place and should get some responses. That is the N14 engine so: 1.) have you been able to determine if the chain guide was replaced? 2.) Carbon build up is a known issue and should be cleaned, 3.) The leak at the trannie may be a bad rear main seal.

 

1. I had the same problem. Turned out to be the water pipe was cracked, more likely than the water pump.

2. Again, same problem. The oil filter housing gasket is probably bad. While you're in there check your turbo oil feed and return lines. They put oil all over the block in the same spots and it's hard to tell which is the culprit. Oil would also creep down to the weep hole on the bell housing making you think it's a bad rear seal, which is not always the case.

3.The PCV valve could be blocked and causing the oil to blow out of the 2 hoses causing oil over the top of the valve cover.

4. and 5. could be blown valve seals/guides burning thru all your oil in a crazy amount of time. Even if the car doesn't smoke, the catalytic convertors are good at hiding the smoke.

6. Is normal direct injection engine goodness!

 

Thanks for a reply.

I visually inspected the timing chain guides, they all appear to be good condition (ie. no missing pieces, tabs, etc.). Is there a way to determine the production date of those guides?

 

Thanks Bearded!

1. Yes, it's definitely the water pipe. Check out the pics that I added to the first post at the top of the page.
There could be another leak from the water pump weep hole, but I don't think the leak would be that drastic, so I think it's quite unlikely.

2. Okay, I'll check those. As far as the leaks on the rear passenger side of the engine - do you know if the substantial leak that I'm having could be due to the faulty oring on the the Vanos solenoid, or perhaps the timing chain tensioner? See the following pic, it's A LOT of oil, but it looks like it did not make it's way down from the valve cover...



3. Is there any way to test the valve cover to confirm those suspicions?

4&5. Ok.

6. Acknowledged.

 

There are cooling system flushing fluids available. I've never had to use any. When I felt the need to flush a cooling system I back flushed it with water from a garden hose. But I was not dealing with any goo or what have you.

An engine overfilled with oil can overwhelm any air/oil separator with oil vapor and if the crankcase ventilation system is not up to par this can result in oil on the engine. Given the sorry state of the engine I would be surprised the crankcase ventilation system is operating correctly.

Before I blamed the valve guide seals I'd get the engine oil level sorted out.

Compression test numbers can vary for a number of reasons. Get the engine sorted and running right. If one or more cylinders are really weak enough to worry about the engine controller will detect this and log a misfire error code and turn on the CEL.

Carbon deposits can happen if the engine is not running right or is used for short trips. I've seen the combustion chambers/pistons of cars used for short hops and the same used for mainly highway driving and the difference is night and day. For the chambers of cars driven mostly on the highway I thought the chambers/valves had been cleaned.

Get the engine sorted. If available where you are use Techron mixed according to directions on the bottle. After the fuel tank level gets low enough -- 1/4 tank or a bit less -- dump in a second bottle and refill the tank with fuel. Drive until the fuel level is 1/4 tank or less again and then fill up the tank and change the oil and filter.

Techron will remove any fuel system deposits, injector deposits, and deposits elsewhere. It can even "scrub" deposits off the upstream sides of intake valves. The same exhaust gas flow that puts deposits there also will carry Techron (in vapor form) there and this will condense into liquid and over a tank or two remove deposits.

Get the engine sorted and running right. As right as you can. Then you will be in a better position to evaluate the engine going forward.

 

After reading this and looking at pictures.... I am going outside and hugging my 2007 MCS I have owned since new. While I have had a number of issues... I have always stayed on top of everything and thus my 2007 with 100K still looks and runs like new. Out of home mechanic curiosity.... how much did this project car cost and would it be worthwhile, if needed, to do a motorectomy?

 

Thanks for this valuable input. I am slowly working towards fixing the cooling system and putting it back together. I guess we'll see what happens when I finally start it up.

Yes, I think this particular car is a good example of what happens when you fail to properly maintain a poorly designed (from the customer point of view) engine. My brother paid about $2500 for the car, which is unfortunate given all the issues that we discovered. However, this was a charity auction, so one might feel just a bit better about spending all that money.

Haven't really thought about the motor replacement yet... But we did think about pulling it entirely and doing a proper rebuild job.

 

The top post has been updated with some new pictures. I discovered that the thermostat housing and water pipe is actually melted!