1990 Festiva, Engine leaking

[Bee]

Hey guys, I just picked up a Festiva that my buddy bailed on. He took pretty good care of it and the engine runs great (when it has oil), but the engine is leaking... everything. Like, clouds of white smoke.

Anyway, I have some extra time and funds this summer to put into this project. My friend suggested an engine rebuild. I have practically no experience but I'm willing to learn. I've been doing some research on my own, and I figured I'd pop in here to see if anyone has any experience or resources on fixing these leaks.

Thanks!
-Bee

[WmWatt]

I'd start with a compression test to see how bad it is. Dry and wet. Tester should cost under $20.

[TominMO]

If it's just leaking you're concerned with, first clean the motor so you can see where oil is leaking from. Then, as necessary, replace the valve cover gasket, camshaft seal, and front crank seal. The rear crank seal requires pulling the motor. Personally I wouldn't bother with the two crank seals if the other repairs stopped 90% of the leaking.

The white smoke sounds like coolant is leaking into the combustion chamber, so new head gasket. You can do all this in an easy weekend of work, and under $50. While you have the coolant out (for the head gasket), replace the water pump, timing belt, and front crank seal just on general principles, unless you know they have been done recently.

Get a Haynes Festiva repair manual at a McParts store, and a factory manual on eBay.

[Bee]

Thanks guys, exactly the info I was looking for

[Eaglefreek]

Mine has one bad cylinder that causes excessive blowby and it pressurizes the crankcase and blows oil out of a few gaskets and seals covering the engine in oil. With your engine running, take off your oil cap and see how much pressure is coming out. It technically should be a vacuum if the engine is in good health.

[ryanprins13]

1990 Festiva, Engine leaking

Welcome!
How much oil does it use? A lot can leak out the crank seals and oil pan gasket if they are bad. It may not actually be burning enough to warrent a rebuild if its just the seals. Spray degreaser everywhere, Wash it well and observe where the leaks are from.

How much coolant does it use? Probably the head gasket but that should be confirmed before you just go and replace it.
Did you ask him what happened to it? Did he overheat it? Run it out of oil?
A rebuild would be a lot of fun but you should find out what you need to do first.
Buy a haynes manual


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