1600TD using lots of oil, blowing white smoke!

[Andy Wardle]

Using lots of oil......
I use the bus as a daily driver and every week I get through about a litre of oil, i.e. if I fill it to the max mark on the dipstick, by the end of the week it's down to the minimum mark or below. It starts fine and pulls well. It had a recon head before I bought it and has done about 6000 miles on it. Been told it's likely to be worn rings..so bottom end rebuild.

It also blows white smoke, which I've been told is over fuelling and nothing to do with the fact it's using tons of oil (as the smoke's not black).

Not had a lot of experience with Deisel engines so am a little perplexed. Any ideas?

Ta

[Westy.Club.Joker]

Do you get a bit of blue smoke until it warms up properly? Mine did this, cleared once it was warmed up, turned out to be the turbo. Once it gets hot the oil seems to vaporise so you don`t see it in your mirror, uses oil though

[Andy Wardle]

Do you get a bit of blue smoke until it warms up properly? Mine did this, cleared once it was warmed up, turned out to be the turbo. Once it gets hot the oil seems to vaporise so you don`t see it in your mirror, uses oil though

Sometimes has a slight blue tinge but mostly white, to be honest. I don't think it's terminal as it pulls like a train but would be nice not to have to keep putting so much oil in. I don't like to take it on long journeys for fear of it running dry. The oil light has never actually come on, other than at ignition, though the level has been well below minimum on several occasions.

[tonytech]

I'm not a diesle expert, but I've read on here about some diesle conversions dumping oil due to being over filled. Fitting an engine from another type of vehical changes the angle it is fitted at, and the dipstick no longer tells the true depth of oil.

Tell us what engine it is.....

T

[Syncro G]

Genrally, burning oil (badly) produices blue smoke.

The white smoke I think will be unburned diesel which is shouldn't do if the timeing is setup properly and its up to running temprature. (on cold days you might see a bit of whitesmoke as it starts up, especally if it misses a bit). To cure that I'd check the timeing is set properly. When its set right it should produice black smoke (soot) when under heavy load, this is the excess diesel it can't fully burn.

Getting the above right will help the engine run but probubly won't make much difference to heavy oil consumption. Check the valve clearances and then the compression. If thats down a bit then it'll probubly be the rings. Does it breathe heavilly if you take the top off the oil filler? is it hard to start? Both would be caused by poor rings and suffer low compression. If that all seems fine then its probubly the turbo.

Turbo engines of this age will use a bit of oil and smoke (mainly black) so you'll never stop it completely, but there is a massive difference between normal and excessinve.

[Andy Wardle]

Thanks guys' I'll get all that checked out. hadn't thought of the turbo being a possible cause so that's interesting.

Anyone know of anywhere in Leicester I can go with this issue? I use Lion Garage on Jarvis street normally. Any diesel specialists??

[Andy Wardle]

Actually there is some blue smoke too!

[Westy.Club.Joker]

Oil must be going somewhere if you are fulling it every week, so it`s either leaking it, or burning it
Leak that big will be obvious, so...
is there spots of oil on the tailgate after a fast run?
Burning oil, could be worn bores/rings or valve-stem seals or more likely a worn turbo.
Pull the hose off the top breather mushroom on the cam-box lid and check for heavy breathing this would indicate internal wear. If it`s breathing a lot then this could be producing the smoke, as it will burn that oil vapour through the engine as the hose is connected back into the inlet system.

Then check the turbo side of things, pull off the rubber inlet swan-neck hose from the turbo and check for excessive oilyness in there, then look at the exhaust header pipe to silencer joint for any oil leaking out of there (may not see it as the joint could be properly sealed) if nothing obvious then would be worth pulling the header pipe off the turbo (soak those exhaust nuts well with WD40 first) and check for oil.

[Andy Wardle]

I will check all of the above and let you know what I discover.

Thanks for the good advice people