Burning oil
Turbo Mini Forums

I rebuilt my engine 1600 miles ago, and it has been burning oil ever since. Prior to the rebuild it didn't use a drop. It is still a 1275 on 9.4:1 compression, and still on standard boost. It had a deglaze and total seal piston rings fitted as part of the rebuild. I followed the hard run in procedure. When last used in anger last year the oil level went from max to min on a 200 mile motorway journey.

There are no plumes of smoke when driving, but there is an initial cloud when started up after standing. The head was changed as part of the rebuild with one I bought from giallofly, which had previously seen little use. I did nothing to the head other than fit it, but perhaps at least new valve stem seals might have been a good idea in retrospect.

The turbo is a brand new Metro T3.

I warmed the engine up to do a compression test the other day, and I found the plugs in 2 & 3 were a little oily when I removed them. The results were:

No 1 - 160/190
No 2 - 146/160
No 3 - 150/169
No 4 - 174/190

First number was the initial figure, second was with a squirt of oil. The lower compression on 2 & 3 combined with the oily plugs doesn't fill me with confidence.

Any thoughts on this? Does it just need more miles to bed the rings in, or is something worse going on?

Headgasket? letting oil in to 2 or 3 through the broken bit

heres the give away

No 1 - 160/190
No 2 - 146/160 *******
No 3 - 150/169 *******
No 4 - 174/190

do a wet test if the compression raises theres your problem! total seal rings,

make sure the valve stem oil seals havent hardend also .....but i doubt it very much

Yes i moved to the darkside

Instagram @jdm_brett

It runs spot on. I'll have to whip the head off and have a look. I'll be overjoyed if it is just the head gasket as I don't have the time to do a full strip down this year.

Got the head off and there may have been an issue between 2 & 3. What do you think?




Underside (the bubbles are just a bit of coolant)


Top

Looks like the beginnings of failure to me

Certainly looks like it's been burning a fair bit. I'd check for oil between turbo and carb and valve seals/guides while the head is off.

In the 13's at last!.. Just

it is the start of a failure,

i still think the problem is the rings and maybe the lands could have shat themselves

build it up and keep us in the picture.

There isn't a drop of oil between the turbo and carb. It is absolutely spotless. I have changed the valve stem seals, but the ones that were on it seemed ok.

What is the clearance supposed to be between the valve guides and the exhaust valves? It has bronze guides and there is an appreciable bit of movement, but it may be by design?

pic of the inlet port?

1 & 2


3 & 4

dosent look oily in the inlets, pointing more towards rings/pistons :(

I wish I could disagree :(

mibby your bores wernt round or had a lip at the top so a simple hone wouldnt suffice? or your ring lands are baggy. Either way my moneys on the rings/lands/bores but your gasket was starting to go and that also requires investigation.

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.

pic of the exhaust guides please inside the port .

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

1


2 & 3


I can't get a decent pic of number 4 as the camera just won't focus on the guide. I think the oil that can be seen is from when I took the head off and oil spewed out as I was putting it down, but I can't be certain.

Edited by metroturbo on 23rd Mar, 2012.

that lloks pretty oily in there for an exhaust ,maybe a lot of play on the ex guides ,and no seals .the turbo will suck the oil out of the guides given the chance .

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

I finally got around to rebuilding the engine this week. I checked the play on the exhaust guides and it was ok (I can't remember what it was, but it within a stated measurement I found on here), and I replaced the valve stem seals, adding seals to the exhaust valves. If nothing else, it has stopped the smoke on start up.

I took it for a ten mile drive to see how it was, and to warm it up. It drives fine, still with no plumes of smoke. However, I have noticed that if I blip the throttle while idling I get a little blue smoke.

Compression readings are now:

No 1 - 155/183
No 2 - 158/185
No 3 - 160/180
No 4 - 168/186

The issue with 2 & 3 is resolved, but it still points to a problem with the rings.