help, smokey engine, low power(update)
Turbo Mini Forums

hello everyone

I need everyones help to solve a few problems with my mini. any advice is greatly apreciated as i don't know what to do with it anymore.

let me give you a bit of history first. the engine is a ebay special, which has never run right since i bought it 4 years ago. after messing around with it and it never running right, smoking all,very little power etc. then i decided to bite the bullet and took it out and gave it a rebuild. i replaced everything. had it honed, using stock turbo piston with total seal rings, 266 cam, 11 stud conversion new main bearings etc, everyitng new in the block. i left the head untouched and the t2 turbo also. got it back together. it had never driven that nicely before. only one problem, it smoked, a lot. so i thought only thing left to do is the head and the turbo so it could only be ones of these things. when i took it apart i did find a bit of oil pipe in the induction side on the turbo. so i got a turbo rebuild kit for the turbo, rebuilt it at home. all went fine. and got me a turbo phill head with the works. 26cc, with bigger valves etc. got everything back together. and now it still smokes. a lot less and a different colour. but it still smokes. i have added a video of it running and would like to know your opinions as i really dont know what to do with it. when i made the video i had just changed the spark plugs and tried disconnecting the spark plugs leads one by one. 1 and 4 make a lot of difference. 2 and 3 almost no difference at all. i suspect the head gasket has gone. but cant be sure. any way to diagnose this? would the head gasket cause the symptoms mentioned above?

another thing i have noticed which is visible in one of the videos is when i press the clutch the revs go down, sometimes it almost stalls. is this normal?

i also notice very little power low down, if i have to pull away on an incline, forget about it. on a long uphill same thing, towards the end of the incline the engine almost stalls.

i have only done about 200km since rebuilding the engine.


here are videos:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7v1d6sp34qbxai9/MOV_0233.mp4

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qyzgx3brnt3b19k/MOV_0234.mp4


any help is much apreaciated

Edited by c2_mad on 4th Dec, 2012.

Clutch Problem: tell us the oil pressure, and what clutch it has?

Smoke: does the smoke ever go away? to me it looks like water vapor.

As for testing the gasket, you cant unless you take the head off, however you can get a compression tester and check the compression in the cylinders which will give you some info on what could be happening.

Sounds like the gasket has gone between 2 and 3.

If you're loosing enough revs for it to stall you may have munched the thrusts. As above what clutch are you using?

Saying that, if its only running on 2 cylinders it wouldn't take much to stall it, do maybe sort the gasket first.

In the 13's at last!.. Just

sounds very poorly, compressions first, likly 2-3 blown, you have run it in with mineral oil in?

hello everyone

thanks for the feedback.

it has a grey clutch. very very rarely stals.i have been real carefull with the clutch, not reving it when i have my foot on the clutch and all that other jaz

the smoke goes away if i take it for a drive, it clears for a for a bit. then next time i go and start it. its back to normal.:S

i have run it in on cheap synthetic mate.supermarket brand. thought that would be fine for runing in.

so the first step would be to change the head gasket in your opinions then?would the head gasket cause the smoke?

should i change the oil for mineral oil after i change the head gasket? i have done 200km if that much since rebuilding it.

Do a compression test, that will tell us alot, then will take it from there ? Is your cam timed in at 106 that cam the 266 is a little temprimental, on timing and is your valve clearance. Set @ 0.016"?

hi benross

pretty sure the cam is timed in correctly, i doubled check it it a couple of times. i did alloy for chain stretch as it was a new chain. what would a miss timed cam do? low power? smoke?

the valve clearence is what bil solis states on his dvd, not sure what it is now, but i can double check the valves also. again what would this cause?

thanks again for all the advice guys.

i will only have time to work on it over the weekend. so will get a compresion test done and get back here with my findings

Mine makes the same smoke, but I dont have the low power issue and im also running a 266

have you figured out what the problem with yours is?

Edited by c2_mad on 27th Nov, 2012.

I put it down to the car not being tuned, my co2 readings are up at 5% for example

the clutch can cause the engine to stall when you dont have any oil pressure. do you have a gauge? hot oil takes longer to suck up into the engine and circulate. mine did this. you should always make sure you have oil pressure before you use the clutch especially with the grey one.

Did you run it in on synthetic oil ? A basic mineral oil is far better for this to allow the rings to bed. This could be your smoking issue.

WWW.TURBO-MINI.COM

Sounds like head gasket , also I would ask why the head gasket has gone, have you checked your mixture and ignition timing, what system are you running , ecu ? Or dizzy ?? . I had the same thing and ended up cracking my rings as the fueling and timing were out , went through 2 head gaskets before it happened so I can speak from experience .

hello everyone

i do have a oil pressure guage yes, it sits at around 50-60 psi if i remember correctly.is that enough? i can double check this weekend.

phil: yes mate i did run it on synthetic up until now.(200km in total) should i switch over to mineral? or is it to late now?

redrat: I'm using a dizy, i drove it around with about 4 psi. timing was checked and was set to standard timing as stated in the haynes. as for fueling, it has the standard needle and green spring with the regulator set to 3.7/3.8.

this weekend ill be doing a comp test and post my findings on here.

i do have a wideband ready to go one, so i will try and get that sorted this weekend also and see what it says.

Edited by c2_mad on 28th Nov, 2012.

Oil pressure is ok at that, the compression should be 150psi in the head if it is lower Your head gasket is definitely gone there ! At worst case piston / rings too . My suggestion is to take the head off and pour fluid in each of the bores, you will then see if you have a broken ring or cracked piston . The standard needles often need to be profiled in order to obtain the right mixture , I would suggest that you may have been too lean ? One other thing to check is if the engine is breathing heavy through the 2 breathers either side of the engin as this is also a sign of broken rings .

Good luck with it mate .

Edited by redrat on 30th Nov, 2012.

Let us know when you have results of the compression test, I do have a tester I can post to you if you need one. Fingers crossed for you mate

Edited by redrat on 30th Nov, 2012.

i would edit your last post incase someone else miss-reads it when using the search.

i would be really surprised if it was the rings, as i havent really given it any stick, i have hardly gone past 3000 rpm.

will get the compression test done asap and get the results up here. i hope its just a head gasket.

thanks for the offer of posting the tester mate, but i have sourced one locally

thanks again to everyone for there thoughts/advice

hello everyone

finnally managed to get a compression test done and these are the results

cylinder 1: 10kg (142 psi)
cylinder 2 12kg (170 psi)
cylinder 3: 11kg (156 psi)
cylinder 4: 11kg (156 psi)

tried removing the plug leads again one by one: 1 and 4 make a big diference 2 and 3 not so much, you can hear the eingine note change but only slightly

the guy that did the compresion test for me said those values are pretty good and that the problem could be with the ignition system?

your thoguhts?

cheers

Megajolt ftw

Well that Guy must be smoking mass!! weed stating that.

Clearley something wrong you need do the compression test again squirting. Oil in the bores if the compression figures rise? Compared to your original. Figures then its the rings what are. Not sealing in the bores, .......I would change the head gasket first! Going on your test with the leads

And take it from there

hi guys

i think i will take you advice and change the head gasket and hope thats the problem.

what psi should a healthy eingine produce in a compresion test?

have you checked the valve clearances yet?? and the compressions with oil in bores?

and where are you, please update your location may have someone local to you.

From the number plate on the vid and the fact the poster refers to km's I would guess they are overseas.

I run a supercharger and I don't care the TB is on the wrong side.
VEMS + 12 PSI + Liquid Intercooler = Small Bore FUN!