Smoke on, Smoke on, GO!

[Nige]

Norma and me went home on a trailer on Tuesday . Had a B service done last week by my local (non Lotus) garage as I don't currently have the time or facilities to do it myself. Drove to work Tuesday morning, nice day, nice drive (44 miles or so) no problems. Had a meeting at Andover Tuesday afternoon so along the A303 very slowly caught up amongst all the Easter late returners from the West Country. Car got a bit hot sat in traffic but fans cut in fine, no worries.

Then it all went wrong, noticed the oil pressure was barely off the stop when sat, hot, idling, in queue, gentle revving got it up to about 2.5 bar, which is about as high as it would go once on the move again (normally 4-4.5 bar on the move once warm and 1.5-2.5 bar at idle). I know the oil was changed on the service (I checked the dipstick for quantity and colour, both good) so pulled over gave the car a couple of minutes with the engine off and checked the dipstick, no oil . OK I think have a left a large puddle of oil in the car park at Yeovilton or on the A303. Restart engine, will still hold 2.5 bar oil pressure, gently to the next garage and buy 5 litres of oil. Top car up, oil now just above min on dipstick, carry on journey still have lower than normal oil pressure but better than before (car is also cooler now as traffic has eased). Shortly thereafter without any increase or decrease in oil pressure or alarming noises the car goes into speed camera defeating smokescreen mode, instant white out for all behind me, very impressive but also of some concern.

Whilst waiting for the recovery I had a think and as the car had been stationary about an hour I checked the dipstick again (I was bored by now) I now have far too much oil, probably about 1.5 litres too much (which is what I put in) . Subsequent investigation when at home after 24 hours reveals no external oil leaks and the sump is still overfilled, all 4 plugs are well oiled.

On the basis that the cheapest fix is best I have the following thoughts. The smokescreen is a direct result of overfilling with oil (although I didn't mean to) if so by what route has oil from an overfilled sump reached all 4 combustion chambers (up past the rings?) and will draining the surplus oil and replacing the plugs solve the problem.

Or, cost now increasing, has the head gasket gone (need to check for oil in water and vice versa in daylight but no sign at present) also to oil all 4 plugs through a head gasket failure strikes me as odd.

Given that oil pressure never exceeded 5 bar is it possible that oil pressure has built up in the cam cover and gone down the valve guides?

Any thoughts on the the means by which overfilling with oil results in oil being burnt in the engine would be welcome as would any suggestions to fix. If I have to strip it down and replace the head gasket valve stem oil seals etc so be it but an easy fix is clearly preferable.

[WillS]

There are some slight differences between the smoke from head gasket failure and smoke from oil.

Oil smoke tends to be a blue-ish colour and smells of, well, oil.

HG smoke tends to be white steam, and will have a nice smell of (the only thing I can relate it to) cat pee, because of the anti-freeze.

Don't know if you noticed any of the above, hope it helps.

--Will

[Enright]

Nige, please can you start off with a warning if you should make any more posts like that?

I just got into trouble here in the office for that. At the "very impressive but also of some concern" point I collapsed into fits of laughter, which made it very obvious that I was having far too much fun for it to be involved with work!

The thing is, I could picture you in your uniform and even hear the voice from Red Leader as you said the title.

Damn I'm going to have to stop before I land myself in it again...

Sorry, I'll post something a bit more constructive when it's quietened down a bit. And when I've recovered my composure.

[muley]

Nige,

Sorry to hear of your prob.

It might be that the oil has gone up into the cam cover, then down the guides and burnt (I seem to remember this happening to a friend once).

If you drain off the surplus and change plugs - perhaps Norma will recover, I hope the car is OK.

I suppose there's no sign of water loss or oil in the water?

Cheers

Jim B

[Candles]

To answer one of the questions; overfilled oil can be blown up the breather then get ingested into all four cylinders simultaneously, providing the white smoke and the oily plugs.

Can't help with the rest though!

Candles.

[Nige]

Candles, sound like a strong possibility. I'll be draining the excess oil and changing the plugs at the weekend in the hope that will be enough.

[Candles]

Take the cover off the oil separator (the rectangular thing near the CAS) and have a look inside to see how much oil is remaining in there. It might let you know if this is what happened.

One thing concerns me is that this doesn't really answer the original question about the problem with the car, only what happened to it once you'd put too much oil in it. I'll keep thinking!!

Candles.

[ESM]

Could it be that the original problem was just the oil pressure gauge or sensor developing a fault rather than actual low oil pressure???? Does it read zero ok with ignition on and engine off?

[Nige]

Take the cover off the oil separator (the rectangular thing near the CAS)

Something else an NA doesn't have! However the principle is sound and understood.

I drained the excess oil and ran until fully warmed up definitely less smoke. After cooling down I replaced the plugs with new ones and have run the engine until fully warm again, (plugs not checked again yet). Less smoke but still some (or is it steam, not enough to tell). I opted for alternative transport for work today as although there are no signs of any oil in the water or any water in the oil I am still concerned that I may have a head gasket problem. I need to do a compression test but await delivery of a Block tester as that should give me a good steer and better not to use the car until I'm sure the head gasket is ok.

This still doesn't address the original symptom of no oil pressure but I will tackle that one (gauge, sensor) once I've eliminated all other possibilities.

[rob]

I agree with the over fill of the oil.

The original problem of low pressure could be down to 'thin' hot oil because the car is standing in traffic. What oil did you/the garge put in when the oil was changed? If they put cheapo stuff in and it went too thin with the heat it could be as simple as that.

[GeoffSmith]

This still doesn't address the original symptom of no oil pressure but I will tackle that one (gauge, sensor) once I've eliminated all other possibilities.

Nige,

Don't forget, it wasn't just low oil pressure reading, but you dipped the oil twice and it wasn't there. Question is, where was it and how did it get back - blockage in a return perhaps?

Good luck,

Geoff

[Darren]

The more I read this thread, the more I'm inclined to follow Geoff's line of thought i.e your oil got 'trapped' somewhere i.e how else can you explain the 'missing' oil when you 'dipped' the engine ?

If I were you Nige, I'd flush the system with somekind of flush solvent, then think about checking the status of the block etc.

Good luck and fingers crossed it's something nice and cheap.

Darren.