does anybody have any good sites that could help me learn about cars? I've been looking around but so far have only come across basic articles, i want to get more in-depth. it'd be a real help if someone could point me in the right direction :)

my mazda 626 ("81)recently blew a coolant supply hose and i have consequently cooked the motor. i figure i should learn as much about the thing as possible, and maybe i could fix it... or at least know a bit about what's going on.

any help will be greatly appreciated
:)

Don't do this:

http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/3584/dsc00128cg5.jpg

LOLOLOL

does anybody have any good sites that could help me learn about cars? I've been looking around but so far have only come across basic articles, i want to get more in-depth. it'd be a real help if someone could point me in the right direction :)

my mazda 626 ("81)recently blew a coolant supply hose and i have consequently cooked the motor. i figure i should learn as much about the thing as possible, and maybe i could fix it... or at least know a bit about what's going on.

any help will be greatly appreciated
:)

Which basic articles have you read?

Basic articles are actually very important because you need to be familiar with how the various systems work in a car in general before you can understand alot of what is going on in specifics. The howshitworks (http://www.howstuffworks.com/) site is a great resource for learning how engines, transmissions, AC, fuel injection, and everything else works. Once you are familiar with how an engine works, then you could buy a repair manual (Haynes or Chiltons at your local Autozone) for your car and have at it.

You need to be warned, though. The problem with your engine is probably the piston rings are bad. That alone requires that you have a short and deep well socket set, set of wrenches (basic stuff everyone needs anyway) in addition to an engine hoist, harmonic balance puller, and likely a few other things I can't recall at the moment. (To be honest, I've never worked on an engine more recent than 1984, so I'm unfamiliar with how that goes.)

Your rings are most likely the reason the engine doesn't start, however, you may also need to be able to check cylinder bore conditions. That is, making sure there are abslutely no pitting or gouges in the bore. If there are, the block will need to be machined and you will need oversized pistons put in.

The engine still turns over when you crank it, right?

'81 626?

take it apart, see how it works, maybe get a shop manual and figure out how it all comes together.

then sell it for scrap.

checked out the howstuffworks site... gotta love those flashy animations ;). thanks for the input; i have two manuals for my make and model, i bought them of ebay. one is a gregory's the other is peter russek's pocket machanic. they both seem pretty good :)
now all i need is the tools.... been searching around and it seems that the store brand is the way to go for the best quality/cost ratio.
anything else i could look at? any books? i have a library card for the local library, maybe i could have a look there? :)

o, and the motor does still crank, though it bubbles like crazy through the radiator. doesn't that mean a cracked head?

my dad reckon's it'd be worth getting rebuilt as it's on Autogas and the rego and exhaust were just updated/replaced two weeks ago. that and we have a spare transmission and diff lying around... any thoughts on that?

thanks again for the help. it's really great :D

sure can but tell us more.

was there white smoke coming out the exhaust?

is there coolant staining your spark plugs?

ummm... i wasn't looking at the exhaust when it was dying... there was black smoke comming from the air filter, through a hose that leads to the crank case. i presume that the smoke was burnt oil.

dont know about the spark plugs either, not having any tools to be able to check.

any other ideas?

black smoke sounds like a fuel system issue, or that the engine is choked for air.

...o, and the motor does still crank, though it bubbles like crazy through the radiator. doesn't that mean a cracked head?
:D


There is a good chance that you have a cracked head, although it may be a blown head gasket.

Your best bet is to borrow a block tester like this one (http://www.uktools.com/product_info.php?products_id=12508) to verify combustion gasses in your cooling system. If present, pull the head and inspect.

I may have the shop manual at work.
If you need something specific I could scan it for you.

thanks again... i know this is a little late, but I've had exams lately. all over now. planning to take it to someone who knows what they are doing (as opposed to me), they're going to let me watch/teach me. cant imagine i could lose from this situation.
i'll keep you guys posted :)

The library usually has a bunch of manuals going back to the turn of the century. If your wanting to learn about "engines" you can learn alot of basics from allot of sourses , but if your wanting to learn to fix that particular car, you may want to use the others as a resource when you have questions.

The fact is that when your getting bubbling into your radiator enough to blow your hose off, you have to back track and ask why allot to get to the root cause.

Ie: thermostat, waterpump, belt, lack of coolant, blockage.
All these things can cause it to overheat. The overheating causes the head to warp and the gasket to blow......continuing to run the motor causes it "cook".
If you didnt overheat it too bad you may get away with just a trip to have the head flattened back out, if not then the motor needs to be gone through as mentioned because the rings are shot and wont hold compression.

You may even want to do a compression test just to see where you stand so you know what cylinders are giving you trouble. Then pull the head and get a big straight edge and hold it against the bottom of the head to check it for flattness. Inspect the gasket, the head, and the cylinder walls for damage scratches, scoring, broken rings, holes in the piston tops. Check the condition of the spark plugs.
Do that and then you should know where you stand.