My ZS is Dead! What should I do?

[StevePem]

I went to start the ZS yesterday and it seems to have decided it has had enough.

No problem with the battery and sounds like the engine turns over but the main sound is a loud mechanical clatter I can best describe as a machine gun with no bullets in it. Any ideas?

This was particularly not good news as I had already sold it on ebay and the buyer was scheduled to pick it up that evening - ho hum.

So I have now SORNed it and need to decide what to do with it. Certainly don't want to spend any money on it so option One is sell as a spares or repair and option Two is take off and sell the wheels. spoiler and any trim bits that are easy to get of and sell the shell as scrap.

At the moment I am leaning in favour of option two. When lee broke up his F I seem to remember he got £150 scrap value for the bodyshell and I would hope to get at least £100 for wheels and spoiler all in plus what ever additional bits may sell for.

What do you think?

Anyone want a project ZS?

[cejsmith]

whats happened, cam belt broken?????

[StevePem]

Hi Col,

I don't know to be honest, I have not had time to look yet. Car has been running fine and used daily up to the weekend.

Monday morning I used it to take all the bin bags to the end of the drive, did sound a bit ropey and the engine light flicked on for a little while. Some mornings it is a bit ropey when first fired up (as if leads are damp) but by the time I am of the drive and down the road it is always running smooth.

I did think maybe the clatter was the valves but by the time I thought of it, I must have already "machine gunned" the ***** out of the piston heads!

[Sambomonkee]

Quick test, just whip the cam belt cover off, you only need to do the top bolts, should be enough to peer inside.

Could be a broken starter motor, or flywheel I suppose though, check the cambelt first though, the belt may look ok, though and it could be a collapsed water pump or a sheered cam pulley bolt, all resulting in head to valve contacting

When I scrapped the shell I only got 40 quid for it, but they did come and pick it up. If you get it to the scrappy yourself, about 100 pounds. I sold all the other parts close to 2k, but it did have some nice bits on it.

If, as has snapped, at least it was running slow, so I suspect you pistons are OK, you will just need a new head. Out of interest is the noise top end of bottom end

[Sambomonkee]

Monday morning I used it to take all the bin bags to the end of the drive,

Ps, do you live in a castle??

[StevePem]

Monday morning I used it to take all the bin bags to the end of the drive,

Ps, do you live in a castle??

LoL no, on a farm - the bin men, sorry I mean Refuse Engineers, will not come down private drive to the buidings on the farm

[StevePem]

I will take a better look at the week end - I have only really listened from the drivers seat so difficult to say if it is top end or bottom end.

I may give it a short run on ebay as a "Spare or Repair - collect by trailer" and see if I get any bites, if not, will just sell the bits that come off easy and scrap the shell

[Matt Parker]

Not good news at all Steve

Bit awkward to try and diagnose to others when your not really sure of what exactly to pick up on but anyway, when you try and start it does it sound about the same speed when turning over as before with the added noise, or does it sound like to turning over a lot quicker? if it sounds quicker then its an indication of a lack of compression which will be a serious issues as you could have a broken belt which may have allowed the pistons to contact the valves and clip/bend them.

I could easily throw a lot of possibilities at you but that may start to get you confused, as Lee mentioned if you want to have a quick and simple check yourself then remove the upper cambelt cover to inspect the cambelt to see if its intact and taught between all the pulleys (five 8mm head bolts hold the upper cover in place)

What to do with it in the end is a bit of tough one as the value of the car as a whole or parts is not that high and it will be what would you prefer to do. Scrap value atm is just under £100 per ton and when you scrap a car if you still have wheels with tyres fitted, fluids like brake coolant etc still in then they deduct cost due to the service involved in removing and disposing of.

If you want to repair it then I think I will be able to help you with parts so just say.

[Captain Slow]

Steve if you want me to pop over and have a quick peek this weekend I'm free

[Sambomonkee]

The spinning thing worries me, as Sunday mine just span over very quickly as well and didn't start, I just assumed the starter motor wasn't engaging as its been playing up, but when put in gear it moved the car and then the starter died for good.

I just hope mine hasn't snapped as well, although good knows how it would do it over night on its own. I have ordered a new starter motor and cam sensor.

Is there a quick way to test belts of a KV6.

Maybe we might be looking for a double scrapping

[StevePem]

Thanks for all the responses guys and thanks for offering to come over Iain.

As I only was getting £400 for it as a runner I don't want to spend too much time and no money on it. I will have a quick check to see if it is cambelt and will see if it looks feasible to at least get the engine running.

Either way I will cut my losses and put on ebay as a spare or repair. I have SORNed it and there is already the thought sneaking into my head that I could take the "lump" out and put a1.8 Turbo in there.

Wife's company car arrives Wednesday and I really need to lose the ZS of the drive ASAP so need to sell quickly before the turbo transplant idea takes root!

[Sambomonkee]

Thanks for all the responses guys and thanks for offering to come over Iain.

As I only was getting £400 for it as a runner I don't want to spend too much time and no money on it. I will have a quick check to see if it is cambelt and will see if it looks feasible to at least get the engine running.

Either way I will cut my losses and put on ebay as a spare or repair. I have SORNed it and there is already the thought sneaking into my head that I could take the "lump" out and put a1.8 Turbo in there.

Wife's company car arrives Wednesday and I really need to lose the ZS of the drive ASAP so need to sell quickly before the turbo transplant idea takes root!

If its only 400 quid, sell the alloys, put some steelies on it and send it off the the scrap man, you around 300 pound for all that.

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