Smokey joe

[scott.parker]

Right after a few comments at the track day at Oulton park of the car producing smoke etc i though nothing of it, i know it did do it some times with hard corning etc, put this down to surging oil etc, but i took the car out today for a blast and it kicked out a fair bit of blueish smoke when i was booting it (ONLY ON THE ONE OCCASION THOUGH) and i could smell it in the car, it always has produced this smell with the TB's, but it has seamed to got worse whats coming out the exhaust now, so any ideas? have i screwed my piston/rings some what by leaving it on base map for too long? will i need to get the head re-built if so, and then get it mapped up etc? :(

All idea's welcome please.

Scott

[craig green]

The rings wont be rectified taking the head off. I'm not sure if the stem seals suffer on the XE's like the 8v's can, but it might be those. Blue smoke is oil though, so you have an issue there somewhere.

Any catch tank going on? With the SFi setup on a std motor, you have all the top end breathing being drawn through via the inlet, wheras without, the top end gets a chance to build up a little pressure at high revs, maybe pushing it out in one go.

Compare each plug then; Comp test maybe?

[scott.parker]

I dont have a catch tank, i just have the piper breather on it, humm maybe i should fit a catch tank as well, stop any oil surge build up etc?

As for plugs there always either dark as it's rich on the fuel side on the base map or if there left a long time their damp from fuel etc.

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/7218/picture324.jpg

Scott

[Adam]

It cant be oil surge because youve got no breathers connected to the inlet... lol
(Youve got that filter on the rocker cover outlet)

Was the smoke definently blue?? Compression test "dry" and wet(bit of oil down the bore) is worth doing. Stem seals shouldnt give smoke with the engine under load, only on idle/overrun

If its been running v.rich then bore wash may have started to wear the piston rings, but tbh i cant remember seeing any black fuel smoke when following you...

[scott.parker]

This is why im getting annoyed,and im not sure whats going on, dont want a mega repair bill if i take it to a tuners etc.

[Adam]

TBH if it aint majorly bad id just live with it for a bit!!!
Mine smokes sometimes too, but its nothing i dont expect from a hard used engine.....

[scott.parker]

Maybe i should check the front breather pipe and also give it another oil change, and i guess it being stood since Oulton wont help much??

[craig green]

I hate those breather filters.

Give it a ragging & get it mapped aswell.

[mowgli]

tbh, a head gasket, some valve seals & a set of rings is a small price to pay for a motor that sees some proper action. maybe a freshen up is all thats needed

[Damo]

Al agree with mowgli on this one scott replacing the rings headgasket and stem seals is a small price to pay for an engine thats gets well used IMO.

[AlexW]

Get a compression test as said.

Mowgli thats ok but its a lot of work and you might find the bore is ****ed, so not worth spending the money anyway.

[mowgli]

Get a compression test as said.

Mowgli thats ok but its a lot of work and you might find the bore is ****ed, so not worth spending the money anyway.

yep, but if a bore was shagged, it would run really rough.... buying oversize rings & filing the gap to suit is an easy job.

as colin chapman once said 'i'd be worried about an engine that doesn't use any oil'

[scott.parker]

TBH it runs OK, and only burns oil on massive revs, so i guess it wont kill it.

Scott

[Adam]

tbh, a head gasket, some valve seals & a set of rings is a small price to pay for a motor that sees some proper action. maybe a freshen up is all thats neededPlus having to remove the engine to get the block honed for the new rings......
And the cost of that

[mowgli]

adam, i've re-ringed engines in the past & used a honing tool without removing the block, my old 1400 had it done on my driveway.

[Adam]

Fair point

[Will F]

So under (max) load it smokes a bit?

Was it consistent or just a random puff?

I wouldnt worry too much tbh - you are revving the guts etc out of it you will always burn a bit of oil - could be down to poor breathing too tbh..

If it isnt consistent (ie every time you rev it passed 7k for example) dont worry... it wont be rings, if it were - it would do it all teh time.

[alan b]

check your breather from the sump to rocker cover, if its not breathing easily through there youd have a nice bit of crank case pressure, causing it to put i little more pressure on the rings. how much oil did it use doing the track day?

[scott.parker]

So under (max) load it smokes a bit?

Was it consistent or just a random puff?

I wouldnt worry too much tbh - you are revving the guts etc out of it you will always burn a bit of oil - could be down to poor breathing too tbh..

If it isnt consistent (ie every time you rev it passed 7k for example) dont worry... it wont be rings, if it were - it would do it all teh time.

Well it's still a strange one this, as you say Will it's not the rings are gone, as i know this els it would be MEGA blue smoke constant etc..

Anyway took it out again tonight, and as i gave it some out onto the main rd up to 4k rpm it did it, and carried on into 3rd gear, but then it stopped and didn't do it again, so im guessing it's either something to do with something expanding as it gets warm, meaning it stop's it, or it's just one of these niggly things that will happen now and then, or it's as the cars not used much and this is oil that seeps past the rings after the engine is turned off and sat etc?

OR worst case it's early signs of something bad! lol
Shouldn't really joke...

Alan, i will give it a check over after work tomorrow as it got dark when i got back tonight.


Scott

[Will F]

Well it's still a strange one this, as you say Will it's not the rings are gone, as i know this els it would be MEGA blue smoke constant etc..

Anyway took it out again tonight, and as i gave it some out onto the main rd up to 4k rpm it did it, and carried on into 3rd gear, but then it stopped and didn't do it again, so im guessing it's either something to do with something expanding as it gets warm, meaning it stop's it, or it's just one of these niggly things that will happen now and then, or it's as the cars not used much and this is oil that seeps past the rings after the engine is turned off and sat etc?

OR worst case it's early signs of something bad! lol
Shouldn't really joke...

Alan, i will give it a check over after work tomorrow as it got dark when i got back tonight.


Scott

Mine does the exact same thing - only does it on the first blast and then stays clear for the rest of teh trip...

I put it down to fuelling and oil that has 'leaked' through stem seals when cold and it just burns if off on teh initial blat....

[scott.parker]

Will the probably why it did it on the first corner of every time i took it on track then, so once it rested it would do it on that first "blat" Hummm..