Blue smokin

[Stef]

I'm back. And equipped with another problem

After a recent head gaskett change and gear cable swop Blipi has decided to throw up another issue with me.

This jealousy of Tivi has gone too far!

Right. Well Blipi is now using oil, and lots of it! Granted she has had a bit of a thrashing recently and is running beautifully. But this oil consumption is crazy. It's not just a little after a few weeks, it's a lot! She blows a little blue on start and I was informed she blew blue on a run yesterday.

Suggestions have included, and please bear with me on my lack of engine knowledge here, some seals inside the engine and Turbo. I was recommended I go to Turbo Technics in Northampton but don't want to waste what zero money I have in areas that don't need attention.

I have also been suggested to look at the spark plugs and take the top off to have a poke at stuff I didn't understand.

With no tools, no cash and no second car I'm in need of help

Is there anyone with any kowledge and equipment who could perhaps check a few things and give a knowlegeable un-bias diagnosis?

I do have access to a pit

Thank you all.

[Enright]

Valve stem seals or piston rings would be my first thought, but then that's from someone who hasn't experienced turbo failure.

If the valve stem seals go, then a little oil trickles down the valves and into the inlet or exhaust gas flow. It then gets burnt in the hot gas and comes out the back as blue smoke. This would account for the blue puff of smoke on startup. It's a bit of a fiddly job but certainly the lesser of the two evils - at least your engine shouldn't need beheading to do it.

If it's piston rings then that's another altogether nastier kettle of fish, because you have to remove the pistons to change them. I don't think Elan pistons can be dropped out of the bottom of the block past the crankshaft, so they've got to come out of the top. This means that it's the same (labour-wise) as doing the head gasket. But then there is another step which is removing the sump to allow the pistons to be unbolted from below, taking them out of the top and then fitting new rings to them.

Valve stem seals done by your local garage would probably cost between £100 and £200. For piston rings take the cost of your headgasket job and add probably another £200 to £300 on top of that. Oh, and while the head is off you may as well have the stem seals done just to be sure.

Taking the sparkplugs out, examining them to see if any are oily, and doing a compression test to see if any of the cylinders are low should give an indication. But your local mechanic is probably the best person to ask, as he would have the experience to make a fairly accurate diagnosis based on the amount of oil he could see, and when it appeared.

There is of course the option of just living with it and the cost of burning a bit of extra oil - until you eventually fail an MOT on emissions. It just depends how bad it is. After all, you don't want to forget to top it up and then suddenly run out of oil - that would be a disaster. Can you tell how many miles it takes to get from the upper mark on your dipstick to the lower one?

What do you mean "no second car"? I thought you had a second AND a third car.

[Gary]

You could take it to a Lotus specialist (e.g. GST Performance) to get an opinion, probably wouldn't cost much for an expert diagnosis.

What's all this about no second car, thought you'd got a Russian bath tub ?

[Paul.P]

What's all this about no second car, thought you'd got a Russian bath tub ?

& a Leyland reject ?, oh, i mean classic

Think its about time you stopped taking poor old Blipi to these backstreet garages, & had her looked after properly, like all women, she needs pampering now & again

[Doug]

yeah, maybe she's got a case of the clap and needs some antibiotics . . .

[Monty]

yeah, maybe she's got a case of the clap and needs some antibiotics . . .

Stef,

Sell the Trevor to pay for the repairs
U need to get a specialist to look at u`r engine, could be a few things:-
Valve stem seals,
Piston rings
Warped head
cracked head.

just wonder if the head has been torque correctly or maybe needs to be retightened. Could be that head gasket hasn`t sealed 100% and the oil is passing accross the gasket to the piston

At the end of the day it`s all guess work, looks like a trip to a garage is needed.

[Doug]

At the end of the day it's all guess work, looks like a trip to a garage is needed.

better get out the leather miniskirt, lipstick, and stiletto heels

[Paul.P]

better get out the leather miniskirt, lipstick, and stiletto heels

Not again

Is this wishful thinking Doug ?

[Stef]

Tivi is receiving private health care with a few improvements

Mini is, um, fekked also. She's just been hanging on for ages really, very old engine and is not not sounding right so time to stop using her or she might pop. She' now no longer under my care either. However, I should be getting some details of a lovely Mini pick up...

Will try to do some Blipi stuff once I have recovered from last night. indow switch to fit (cheers Sy!), rattle from zaust to fix and to test some bits on the engine.

Cheers for your suggestions. I also expect oil use has been higher due to the spanking she's been getting so will re-fill and monitor levels this week.

[Exbury]

I got told of a possible way to identify between valve seals and pistons. When driving normally, you will not readily identify smoke from behind if the valve stems have gone. However when you come to a stop at say traffic lights, idle the engine for 30sec+ and then pull away, there should be noticeable smoke, which will disappear on getting back to normal driving. With piston rings you get smoke all the time.

However as identified in a previous post, if it has just started to happen after the head gasket has been replaced then I may suspect this area more. Did the head get skimmed and all traces of the old gasket removed? Also on some gaskets there is a seperate oil passageway an O-ring that sometimes gets left off. Also was the head torqued down exactly to instruction with a good torque-wrench?

Good luck, hope it turns out to be the lesser of the evils!

[Don.Hasi]

Sad to hear such things, Stef

What circumstances is your engine all about (milage, tracks, ... ) ?




Hope you can get the story positive sorted

Kind regards

[Stef]

Just over 97k. Hardly bothered with oil loss since the Head Gaskett.

But then also I haven't really been using Blipi this hard this often since I got her back.

She really did look blue on startup this morning. I'll get someone to follow and tell me what thay say.

[GeoffSmith]

Blue smoke at startup is often an indication of valve stem seals. The blue puff :gray: (sorry, wrong colour) someone else saw is also consistent - If you were running with your foot off the throttle, the resulting vacuum can suck more oil down the stems, which gets burned off as you put your foot down. As Exbury says, you can get it after idling for a time. If you can find a decent hill however, try descending in a low(ish) gear at 3-4000 RPM with your foot off the throttle then welly it. If you see blue smoke, it's probably valve stem seals and probably not piston rings.

Good luck.

[GeoffSmith]

Good to see a decent car on your avatar. What happened to the blue car with smoke pouring off the wheels ..... sorry, how tactless

[Paul.P]

Good to see a decent car on your avatar.

[Stef]

Good to see a decent car on your avatar. What happened to the blue car with smoke pouring off the wheels ..... sorry, how tactless

It was too much fun I couldn't help but post it!

Blipi is still #1 baby, don't worry!

So, valve stem seals...? Um, how are they fixed? Is it an easyish one? Would the wear be noticeable by looking at them?

I've had no chance to test or do anything with her at the mo. I'm of on a run tomorrow so I'll ask a few people to watch her rear.

[GeoffSmith]

You probably don't need anyone behind you, you should be able to see it in the rear view mirror (not forgetting to turn it slightly up and to the left first of course - you can return it to makeup/hair adjusting position afterwards). I used to get some quite good smokescreens going on the Scirocco but nothing quite up to Nige's standards!

Valve stem seals should be relatively easy (Scirocco's were pretty quick to change) so comparatively cheap. As Neil said, probably a hundred or so. They are at the top of the engine under the cam covers but I haven't first hand experience of the Elan. It should be relatively easy, so take your spanners and a bottle of whisky with you when you go camping with all those Scotsmen!

Again, good luck and watch your oil level carefully (i.e. daily) as you don't want to run dry - that would be expensive.

Geoff

[Paul.P]

You probably don't need anyone behind you, you should be able to see it in the rear view mirror (not forgetting to turn it slightly up and to the left first of course - you can return it to makeup/hair adjusting position afterwards).

Oh Geoff, naughty, but nice

[Sy V]

You need 16 and they're a fiver each from PM.
Maybe cheaper elsewhere...