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

havent done the test with the oil in the bores yet... i have now ordered a compresion tester so i can do the tests at home.

valve clearance has not been checked since the rebuild mate so i will try and do that today or tomorrow after work.

gr4h4m is correct. im from Madeira, a small island of the coast of portugal to be exact.

cheers

good evening guys..

Managed to do the compression test again today. so thought I would post my findings



cylinder 1 160 psi
cylinder 2 180 psi
cylinder 3 175 psi
cylinder 4 155 psi

i then added oil as recommended by Benross and did the test again. these are the results

cylinder 1 160 psi
cylinder 2 185 psi
cylinder 3 175 psi
cylinder 4 (battery died couldnt get an accurate reading)

Coments??

Can i assume the rings are fine as the oil didnt make much if any difference?

whats the next step? go ahead and change the head gasket? or should i check something else first?

looking forward to your replies

cheers

Edited by c2_mad on 4th Dec, 2012.

Go for the head gasket and keep us posted.

should be able to do it this weekend. hope this solves the problem.

thanks for the advice Benross

so fed up with this thing at the moment...

Never! Tire, never give in. .... one job at a time

It wont take long to get the head off and inspect. Dont forget to get the battery on charge.

Thanks for the words of encouragement Benross

will try and get to it this weekend.and get some pics up of what i find under there...

hello everyone...

well finally managed to pull my finger out and work on the mini... pulled the head off and the gasket looks almost new.i dont know if thats good or not as that was my main suspect.

i took some picture to show you guys and see if im missing anything obvious before i put it back together.. any advice greatly appreciated

head gasket:


place where the head gasket stuck to the cylinder head(only thing wrong that i can see with the gasket)


cylinder head with some head gasket stuck to it:


cylinder head:


pics of each individual cylinder






spark plugs
starting from the left,cylinder 1,2,3,4 number two look like it was hardly used,same thing if you look at the cylinder head, it has a lot less carbon build up.



Block:


bores:





what do you guys think? should i just slap a new gasket on there and see what happens?

cheers

Edited by c2_mad on 22nd Dec, 2012.

for the price of a gasket i would give it a go, i would check or replace the valve stem seals whilst its apart and might as well lap the valves while there out,
the wet compression test suggests the rings on atleast the first 3 cylinders are in decent shape, the valves or head gasket hopefully to blame for the slight lowering of compression
and that leaves the mainly stem seals or turbo for the smoke

dont forget to thoroughly clean all the old head gasket off the head and block also get some proper rust inhibiting coolant in there

Edited by Brett on 22nd Dec, 2012.

Yes i moved to the darkside

Instagram @jdm_brett

thanks for the advice mate..

the head itself has done about 20 or 30km at most. it was brand new from turbo phil. surely the head cant be at fault?

picture of the inside of the intercooler or inlet piping ?

Medusa + injection = too much torque for the dyno ..https://youtu.be/qg5o0_tJxYM

it had a bit of oil on one side but i dont think its from the turbo, as its right on the edge of the pipe that sits over the "lip" so the turbo outlet must have been dirty or something

another thing i just noticed one of the studs between cylinder 3 and 4 is a bit loose... don't know if it worked it self loose when i took the head off or what.

could this possibly explain the lower compression figure on cylinder 4?

I had this sort of thing on my car lots of smoke, it was the head that was cracked in the end.

simon.

I have started posting on Instagram also my name on there is turbomk1golf

Nothing is impossible it just costs more and takes longer.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say either the oil control rings are cunted.... or the bores are polished to fuck.

did you clean the pistons,bores and chambers on number 2 and 3 ?
i had a bad head that leaked between 2 and 3 witch also sucked coolant into them steam cleaned them it also blew a lot of what looked like smoke

4 places where oil could come from.

1.Valve stem oil seals, smoking starts/ gets worse if left ticking over.
2.Piston rings,smoke all the time regardless.
3.Turbo oil seals, same as 2
4.Head Gasket,
Are you having to top up the oil and if so how much.
Are you losing water on the coolant system,have a pressure check done to confirm any leakage.

What is your oil pressure Hot/cold at tickover.

Ahh Your No 2 post says it stops when you go for a run but when you stop and come back to it the next day it comes back.
Ok if you go for a run and then leave it ticking over (no smoke)and watch the exhaust can you see it start to smoke after 20-30 seconds ?
If so I think you have a head problem via the valve stems or elsewhere

Simon: i did read that on your thread, but the head is about 30km old. surely it cant be cracked

joe c: the bores where honed and new total seal ring installed about 300km ago.

turbo this: do you mean i should steam clean the head and the bores? dirt may be causing this?

jawd: coolant seems to stay about the same, then again i havnt really driven it much. oil i do top it up, but that becouse i have an oil leak:(

Mad,
If you go for a run (it stops smoking)yes?
ok then get out of the car with the engine running let it tick over and watch the exhaust for a few minutes does it start smoking while its ticking over on its own?
Please check this and let us know

Jawd

correct it stops, then comes back. this is from memory tho. cant check again as at the moment the head is off the car

Have you checked the oil drain for restrictions?

i have mate... oil drain is perfect.

Just thought Id mention it because mine smoked badley because of that :)

Was the head new ? or to you? as i have 3 vids the same as yours on my laptop.

Mine would smoke after i drove it hard.

I have started posting on Instagram also my name on there is turbomk1golf

Nothing is impossible it just costs more and takes longer.