99 Lanos 1.6 Runs like sheer crap! Oil covered sparkplugs!

mikefortwayne · Post by **mikefortwayne** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:10 am

I'm new here, but not new in owning a daewoo, I know all the pros and cons to them. But now I'm kinda stuck. I just turned 52k, and have already had the head gasket replaced and heads machined once @ 34k. Slowly but surely my lanos has been running more and more sluggish when cold, but after about 5 mins of driving it would run ok for a bit, then go back to running like its on 3 cylinders or something. I have had a slight oil leak when the motor is running, but only significant enough to have to add less than a quart every month. Now the car is at the point where when I start it up it runs perfect for about 30 secs, then it runs like crap and barely has any power to take off, let alone make it above 20mph! It stalls out , and barely starts too. I took the sparkplugs out one by one the other week and sure enough motor oil got onto the TOP of the plugs and in the plug wires. (also all of the plugs were not snug, they could have all easily been unscrewed by hand). I figured that maybe whoever did the head gasket job a last year at the dealership didn't tighten them in, so I cleaned them all up, cleaned the wires, and replaced them. The car still ran the same, not to mention the plugs came loose again a few days later. I have a feeling it's a head gasket again, but am unsure if these are also signs of a headgasket going out. So I bought a gasket overhaul kit but do not want to get it installed until I can figure out BEFORE I take it in what's going on with it. Any mechanical advise will be GREATLY appreciated.

On a side note, I am OVERJOYED that GM took over Daewoo. Now I can pay less than $599 for an alternator!!

Thanks in advance,

J.M.Franio

DomWoo · Post by **DomWoo** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:38 am

replace your plug wires and plugs, change your air filter, check all your vacum lines clean your Throtle body, and runs some injector cleaner in yoru gas.. then see if that helps, and change your fuel filter. thats a must...

kinkyllama · Post by **kinkyllama** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:40 am

fuel filter at 52k miles.. i thought thats something that needs replaced at around 90k?

DomWoo · Post by **DomWoo** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:43 am

why wait that long...it cost like 5$ and who knows what these gas stations have in the gas, when i got my car at 32k miles i could piss faster than it pump out fuel, replaced the filter and it was like new again

kinkyllama · Post by **kinkyllama** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:47 am

I didnt know it was that cheap. Maybe ill replace mine too.

daewooluvr · Post by **daewooluvr** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 4:09 am

sounds to me like your valve cover gasket is leaking.

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 11:01 am

kinkyllama wrote:fuel filter at 52k miles.. i thought thats something that needs replaced at around 90k?

i replaced mine at 25K miles.

MMamdouh

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 11:10 am

how old are your spark plugs, spark plug wires, air filter and fuel filter? check all of them and i recommend replacing the spark plugs... replacing the wires will be even better especially if they were contaminated with oil, cleanup won't do any good... replace the filters if any of them served over 25000 miles.

when was the last time you cleaed up your injectors, idling speed sensor,throttle body and intake? if it is any thing over 25000 miles for the injectors or 10000 miles for the sensor, throttle body and intake then clean them up immediatly... i bet that they are loaded with $hit right now.

where exactly does the oil come from?? replace the leaking gasket immediatly.

check and give us your feedback.

MMamdouh

BosnianLanos · Post by **BosnianLanos** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 10:54 pm

Which end of the spark plugs are covered in oil. If it is the top isolater end, then you most likely have a leaky valve cover gasket, which is an easy fix. If it is the bottom spark end, then the only thing I could think of is that you maybe blew a piston ring and are losing compression and shooting oil in the combustion chamber, but at 52K miles, I doubt that this is it. Maybe your EGR valve is on the fritz and feeding too much exhaust gas into your intake manifold.

Check for a few things.

1. Check your exhaust. If it is smoking, it is most likely a fairly large issue (valve seals, piston rings, etc.). If it smells like gasoline, it means that you don't have spark and are tossing out gas through your exhaust valves. No spark generally means either spark plug, plug wire or ignition coil failure. You can check this by popping out the wires during the car running and see if a spark comes out the end. (I had an ignition coil failure that sounds similar to your problem.)

2. Check to see if they installed the correct spark plugs, as they should never come loose and if they do, you could be losing spark and compression.

Also, like mmamdouh said, do a general cleaning of the engine (filters, spark plugs, wires, vaccuum hoses, sensors, throttle body), cause if it has never been cleaned before, you can see a world of difference.

mikefortwayne · Post by **mikefortwayne** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 12:00 am

WOW 8 replies already!! You guys rock!!

Well lets see, this car has been to the dealership shop almost more than I've had it in my garage. At 30somethingk or so I had the following done;

New head gasket

Heads machined

new plugs / wires (they kept my bosch platinum 4's and put in NGK singles

)

New fuel filter

New injectors

Something was done with piston 1 since it was always misfireing, not sure what though

It's just weird because every trip it just started to run like crap every now-and-then and then be ok for a long time. I am not exactly sure where it is leaking oil from (I looked down behind the motor with a flashlight and still cannot see where). All I know is that when I move my car in the morning there's an oil spot, but it doesn't drip constantly, only while it's running, then the oil that was in the process of dripping down the back of the motor somewhere ends up on the garage floor. So I should be leaning further away from the head gasket being blown right? When I get some time I plan on doing all the things you guys told me to. Hopefully by the weekend (I work 10-14 hrs a day, but off weekends).

Thanks to everyone that threw in some advice, I REALLY appreciate it!!

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 10:12 am

this is the problem with doing so many things at one time... you just won't know which one caused your problem or even if any is related to the problem.

as for oil leak while you drive... seems the leak is related to oil pressure but still it can be a gasket or so, to really pinpoint it you should clean your engen very well (as clean as a brand new car in a show room) then drive the car and keep monitoring the engine bay every now and then till you spot the leak... dirty engines hide leaks very well.

MMamdouh