Trying to figure this one out.....

My son's Ford Ka (Endura) broke down on the motorway on Friday. Loss of power (car would start but die under any load) and loss of coolant big time (nice trail on the hard shoulder!)

Me thought, head gasket, so set about removing head after supplying mylsef with a head gasket set from Europarts.

Stupid car to take apart, especially getting the inlet manifold off

I did a compression test and NO1 cylinder no compression.

Once rocker cover removed I spotted the power problem, pushrod was off its rocker

Head off no problems with gasket, no problems with condition of pushrods, valves look OK but will have NO1 valves out to check them.

Car has never used any coolant in the past. Stupid Ford Ka has no temp guage, think it might pop up a light if it gets too hot, but son is not mechanically minded so probably didn;t spot this if it did happen.

Trying to figure out cause/reasons. Thinking maybe water pump has packed up causing overheating of engine causing pushrod to jump off its rocker.

Any thoughts/suggestions? .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
Volvo V70 P2 2006 2.4 Petrol 170bhp Estate SE
MG Midget Mk1 1962

Previous: L322 Range Rover TDV8 3.6 2008; L322 Range Rover TD6 3.0 2002; P38A Range Rover V8 1999

Last edited by Joe90 on 20th Mar 2016 5:50pm. Edited 1 time in total

I would check headgasket closely on NO1 cylinder. Water ingress into cylinder could of forced push rod out of rocker/

Thanks Brian

I'll have a closer look.

I'm trying to figure out if the two issues (lost coolant/pushord) were related or one caused the other?

From what you say, which makes sense, I'l need to give the cooling system a good look over .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
Volvo V70 P2 2006 2.4 Petrol 170bhp Estate SE
MG Midget Mk1 1962

Previous: L322 Range Rover TDV8 3.6 2008; L322 Range Rover TD6 3.0 2002; P38A Range Rover V8 1999

Could it have been a slow leak, that eventually caused an overheat? If it's similar to my mothers 1.4 2005 fusion, the pump went and we had an overheat, but she wouldn't know any dash gauge from a bowl of cherries. So just steamed over and stopped. We were lucky, just a pump,and done. It was actually the bearing.
Do you have that symptom of the cylinder head filling up with rainwater, leaking in from the bonnet water jets, and rusting the plugs, causing coil pack to break down? That is a fusion and focus popular problem.

Pushrods engine... That sounds old design. Is pushrod bent?

To much right foot causing valve bounce, and push rod pops out especially if the tappet setting were on the large side

@ chris

My son drives like his grandfather on his mother's side, unlikely to be highly revved, but yes, could be the cause.

@ JBA

pushrod slightly bent, taking a risk having taps it straight with a hide hammer, know I shouldn't but its only a Ford KA

I am putting the top end back together, then will take a look see at the water pump

Thanks both for your time and input, it all helps  .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
Volvo V70 P2 2006 2.4 Petrol 170bhp Estate SE
MG Midget Mk1 1962

Previous: L322 Range Rover TDV8 3.6 2008; L322 Range Rover TD6 3.0 2002; P38A Range Rover V8 1999

Our pump was aftermarket, around 40 quid. It was a bit of a sod to position the gasket, with RTV sealant.. Take care.
KA stands for.........Kicks Asss!



I'm told........

johnboyairey wrote:

Pushrods engine... That sounds old design. Is pushrod bent?

It's a ford Ka!
I wouldn't have even bothered spending more than £10 on it and would have shoved it straight onto eBay and gone out and bought another. For £400 they aren't bad cars with a years ticket that can then almost be thrown away. True bangernomics which helps new drivers learn how basic a car can be! Keep fit Windows and no AC in some!!

Rust is on the spec sheets as well 😂😂😂 FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

This one has air con and electric windows

Got it all back together this morning and started it up. Engine ran fine so sorted the pushrod problem. But after leaving for 10 minutes started to overheat again.

I believe the thermostat opened as the top hose got hot, so methinks water pump is shot. Right pig to get at though. Would like to test operation but guess that would be too much of a fiddle as well.

Oh well .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
Volvo V70 P2 2006 2.4 Petrol 170bhp Estate SE
MG Midget Mk1 1962

Previous: L322 Range Rover TDV8 3.6 2008; L322 Range Rover TD6 3.0 2002; P38A Range Rover V8 1999

When I heard it had pushrods, I wondered if it was an old KA and if it had the old 'Kent' engine.... Maybe yours has a little zetec engine, ??? but I think you can also get problems with a stuck heater valve.... There some you tubes on fixing the heater valve, and diagnosing, and it looks easier to (bypass) repair than the water pump.

There are only a few things that will cause it to overheat, lack of water, u/s pump or a blocked rad, from the speed you said it took to over heat, I think I'd be looking at the rad first, then the pump also check the thermostat isn't stuck shut

And as far as the pushrod goes, does it have adjustable tappets, or are they hydraulic? which could have failed when the engine oil got too hot, when the engine went in to thermo-nuclear meltdown

If the tappets are hydraulic then you might want to think about an oil change too  Yesterday I couldn't spell Engineer... Today I are one!
Inventor of the 'Guide-o-Matic automatic wheel alignment tool'
Former long term L322 owner, Up/Down graded to a Classic Tractor!

Just had a thought, Ouch! Did the fan cut in before the water fall started? if not then the rad could be very blocked  Yesterday I couldn't spell Engineer... Today I are one!
Inventor of the 'Guide-o-Matic automatic wheel alignment tool'
Former long term L322 owner, Up/Down graded to a Classic Tractor!

Just to round this off:

Pushrod on No1 cylinder fell off its rocker, was slightly bent. Tapped straight with a hammer.

Had the head off, no visible signs of damage/blowing. All pistons OK.

'Stat tested in saucepan in kitchen, opened up just before boil.

New head gasket, put all back together, filled up with coolant.

Started up more or less straight away, tappets a bit noisy but rather have them on the loose side to start with.

Test drive up to temperature, no problems, no leaks, water pump working.

Installed ELM327 obd bluetooth reader, and son monitoring coolant temp with Torque lite app. Temp holding steady in the 90's.

Been OK for over a week now, and car has been on some 40 mile runs, so hopefully all solved, but still no idea why or how it dumped coolant.

Thanks to all for input and advice

However, tonight son let battery go flat so Thunderbird II had to go out and rescue again with jump leads  .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
Volvo V70 P2 2006 2.4 Petrol 170bhp Estate SE
MG Midget Mk1 1962

Previous: L322 Range Rover TDV8 3.6 2008; L322 Range Rover TD6 3.0 2002; P38A Range Rover V8 1999