newbie, 6 year old daewoo saloon in need of help.

nate_silver · Post by **nate_silver** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 3:41 am

Hi,

my names Nate, and i just recently acquired a second hand daewoo lanos. well it was given to me by my uncle, in return for finishing the bank loan on the car. about 140 us$/mnth till 2008 april. its the asian version and steering is on the right hand.

i have been reading your forums for a while now looking for info but i have no experience in cars except driving them and taking them to service.

the car has 55000++ km on it and it takes a little while to start. not long just 1 min or so, it makes a a couple of noises than it starts. It also makes screeching noises time to time, coming from the belt.

now, so far i have replaced battery. spark plugs, some cables(dunno what they are called but they are right in front the engine, three of emm) i service it a bout every three months but now im going to start servicing it maybe every two months, cause its an old car and well i dare say the previous owner didnt take care of it too well.

the car runs fine.. a bit slow with a/c and when a/c is turned on sometimes belt screeches.

based on the info above is there anything in particular i should do, to keep it running okay. anything i should check or have checked?

on that note i everymorning i need to refill the coolant. is that bad? i use water but i go out a get actual coolant every two weeks.

i will post more info on the car soon. and some pics too. i would really like to know more about how to keep my car alive.

r.
nate

cpd · Post by **cpd** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 5:28 am

Losing coolant sounds like the head gasket's blown.

Not to be offensive, but you got rorted by your uncle by the sounds of it.

daewoomofo · Post by **daewoomofo** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 5:33 am

get the timing belt changed early!

lanos2001 · Post by **lanos2001** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 5:39 am

and get one from Tom (360dynamics) b/c he has Gates timing belt kits that last about 2 times as long as oem ones. and thats at the least.

nick

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 8:54 am

hi Nate and welcome to the forum

what engine do you have? is it 1.4, 1.5 or 1.6??

late starts could be due to leaky injectors, try some injector cleaner or so and see if it gets better... if that didn't help then most probably you will have to replace them along with the fuel filter.

the screaming sound is from belts indeed... replace both the alternator and A/C belts as i recon they were not replaced at all.

you lose too much coolant... you are not supposed to lose any during normal operation so you are leaking coolant somewhere, let the car idle till the fans start to work and as soon as that happens turn off the engine... this will put the highest pressure on the cooling system and any leaks will be easly viewed.

try to look arround the engine bay for leaking water or water vapour... also look under the car to see if any water is dripping. if you couldn't find it try using radiator seal product like Radiator sealer from GUNK... it is magic indeed.

use coolant on your car rather than water... you will have loads of rust by using regular water.

what about your oil? does it look like mayonnaise? does your coolant have oil in it? when you start the car up does it blow a load of white smoak? if you got any of the mentioned symptoms then you got a faulty head gasket.

if you are not sure how old the timing belt is on your car then i recommend you replace it as well as the tensioner and water pump.

MMamdouh

Post by **PrecisionBoost** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 12:51 am

There are really only two things that will stop your car from starting..... spark or fuel.

Fuel problems.... injectors, fuel pump, fuel filter

Spark problems.... coil pack damaged, spark plugs on wrong cylinder numbers

Belive it or not.... the car will run with the spark plug wires in the wrong position (WooHoo and I fooled with it when trying to get his MSD system up and running)

The car will idle.... but when you drive it there will be very little problem

The car will also run on two or three cylinders.... but it will shake like crazy.

If the car isn't leaking coolant it might be burning it ( white smoke like Mmamdouh said ) or it might be spitting it out under load.... so it only leaks under pressure while your driving and not at idle (my truck does this.... uses coolant.... smells like coolant... but it doesn't leak it anywhere I can see during idle )

I would assume you've changed the sparkplugs.... if not... do it immediatly.... and take a picture of the end of the plug.... if I can see the color I can tell you what's going on (need pics of all 4 cylinders )

Timing belt needs to be replaced ASAP.... might as well do a head gasket at the same time.

BosnianLanos · Post by **BosnianLanos** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 1:22 am

The Lanos usually tends to leak coolant (if it leaks at all) around hose ends and the water pump. Since the car has been around for a while, I wouldn't seem surprised if the seal of the water pump is shot. Also, check to see if your heater works. If the heater is damaged in any way, there will be a buildup of coolant around of it and it will be released through an upsided-down "L" shaped hose on the engine side of the firewall. If you notice any leaking from it, you'll either have to change the heater, or simply bypass it.

The screeching noise is 100% the belts fault. They squeak because they are loose. All you need to do is tension them up better and you should have no problem.

The slow starts can be attributed to any number of things. I've seen problems from vacuum leaks, bad starters, and like MMamdouh said, dirty injectors. Make sure that all of the thin vacuum hoses around the intake manifold are attached and not broken. Run fuel injector cleaner through the system to clean away some deposits off of the injectors to see if anything improves. You can't really check the starter. If it goes, it'll just go, and you'll need a new one.

Since your AC system still holds a charge, simply recharging it could rid you of the slowness. Also, tension up that belt too to make sure it doesn't squeak again.

nate_silver · Post by **nate_silver** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 2:47 am

Hey thanks for the info,

yea i found the leak, seems to be dripping in two places and well im waiting for payday to come around. oh i was wrong the card doesnt have 55000++ km on it, it has more like 100,000++ km.

the car is a 1.4. im gona see the workshop in regards the timing belt as well as the leaks.

umm..at the risk of sounding very inexperienced when it comes to cars. my two front wheels, the rims are always dirty. could that be a problem with the brake fluid line? or its normal.

anyways will post some pics up soon.

Thanks for the help.

R.
nate

FearTheWoo · Post by **FearTheWoo** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 4:40 am

Dirty front wheels is going to be something you'll see on a lot of cars that aren't washed (or rained on) often. This is not a mechanical problem, just brake dust accumulating. When braking, the load of the car is shifted forward (the sensation that you are being pulled against your seatbelt, same principle), this combined with primary braking done on the front end results in the brake dust only appearing on the front rims.

If you have any doubts, my reccomendation would be to clean 'em off real well, then watch em for the next few days/weeks of normal driving (in dry weather, rain will cause the dirt to run, which might make it look like you're losing brake fluid or something). Unless you end up with splatter marks or anything else outside of a relatively even distribution of the dirt, then you have nothing to worry about.

Not going to parrot any of the earlier posts, these guys covered all the bases.

Welcome to the forum and good luck with the 'Woo.

Geoffrey

JohnnyC · Post by **JohnnyC** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 5:25 am

Welcome Nate. I'm pretty new here too, but these guys have been very helpful. What year is your Lanos? Is it a sedan, or hatchback?

Hmmm first let me say that I'm glad you have a Lanos. I'm quickly falling in love with mine.

Your uncle? Not so much. I worked out your total cost of just the payments on the car assuming you don't get fees added in... $3640. Seems like it's too much. Is there a chance of re-negotiation with your uncle? Hmmm wait... what exchange rate are you using? I just typed 'Brunei' in Google maps which puts you north of Australia. I have no idea what money on that island is worth in comparison to here.

<---- Holy crap... I just saw that I'm 'Super'!!

cpd · Post by **cpd** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 5:53 am

Saloon = Sedan. :P

JohnnyC · Post by **JohnnyC** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 6:32 am

Oh... hehe sorry. Didn't pick up on that slang. Oh... and I just realized he said it was 6 years old in the topic. *bonk* so it's a 2000. Sounds like it's just like mine accept in need of more love.

Is it a stick or automatic?

nate_silver · Post by **nate_silver** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 5:49 am

hola,

bringing the car to workshop this weekend yea, will post up afters with the lowdown.

daewoo sx 1.4, make year 2000 ,automatic, badly in need of love heheh ...will be working on that

r.
nate