oil in the inlet manifold, none before the carb?
Turbo Mini Forums

I decided to remove the head on my metro turbo (see previous post smoking)and have a look.
When I removed the inlet manifold there seems to be oil in there and on the locating rings and inlet chambers?
There does not appear to be any oil in the plenum inlet or the alloy pipe from the turbo???
The pistons are really coked up and were cleaned before the engine was fitted probably 20 miles. Pistons 1 +2 look oily carbon and 3 + 4 dry carbon?
I have taken the valves out of the head and although there is a tiny tiny bit of play in the valves/guides not what I was expecting and all inlet stem seals seemed ok.
One thing I did notice is that i thought the valve stem seals normally had little springs/ties around the top pinching them to the stem but these haven't?
If it is piston rings how could the oil get into the inlet?
If it is valve guides how could oil get in the manifold?
If it is turbo how come the pipes before the plenum are clear/dry?
I did a compression test before removing and found 175 across all four cylinders. When we tested the compression though we only removed one plug at a time and tested with the throttle open. A bit late but should we have removed all plugs to test?
Another thing i noticed is that a new 'copper' head gasket had been fitted.

Patina=old and knackered and won't clean up

I think it's oil coming down the inlet guides.If the inlet valve is shut,then it goes down the inlet port.I have found if I top up with oil,then leave the car standing for a day or two,on startup there is a cloud of oil smoke.Change those inlet stem seals to begin with I would say.

'Where does the engine go?'

I had a car before that had valve guides gone and it smoked on start up but then cleared?
This was no worse on start up in fact when cold you got a bit of smoke which cleared a little and then got steadily worse as the engine warmed up?
I'm not saying its not valve guides but there was a fair bit of oil in the inlet manifold?

Patina=old and knackered and won't clean up

is the crankcase plumbed into the carb or manifold?

dash pot oil running through into the inlet?

The oil breathers are not running to the manifold as I moved them to under the car at the moment until I got a catch tank.
I did refill the dashpot before the engine was started. The carb is supposed to be a reconditioned one which was bought just before I bought the car for £200. How could I tell if its coming from the dashpot? i'll check how much oils in the dashpot now

Edited by Steve A on 31st Jul, 2013.

Patina=old and knackered and won't clean up

just checked the oil in the dashpot and doesn't appear to have lost anything substantial but did smell of fuel a bit I think

Patina=old and knackered and won't clean up

why not take an inlet valve out and see what the guides are like?

They are now out but without something to compare them to its difficult for me to tell. I would say there is not much wear. There is very small amount of play that you can only just feel it from side to side.

Patina=old and knackered and won't clean up

Mystery might be solved? The inlet port nearest the thermostat end appears to have had an attempt at some porting lol! It looks like they have hit the pushrod hole and tried to sleeve it unsuccessfully.
I blocked off the bottom of the pushrod hole and put diesel in it and get a very tiny bit seaping into the inlet port.
Would this increase as the head gets warm?
Is it worth scrapping the head or repairing it?
I have a second hand turbo head which I have 'borrowed' to try on the car tomorrow to see if it really is the problem?

Patina=old and knackered and won't clean up

Some would save some would scrap probs down to cost mate

Get one of the resident head fettlers to sleeve it properly.