Pants!!

[willard]

I thinkthat my van has a sixth sence...Havin decided to sell my van for various reasons, I just made a slight misjudgement - I managed to overfil the oil in my van (1.9DG WB), and not realise until I'd done about 50 miles....don't ask!

Anyway, I have drained down the oil, changed the air filter and breather hose, and cleaned out what I can reach which showed no contamination. Now it's running smoother, but low and behold it's doing a good impression of James Bond outrunning a bad dude with it's own faint smoke screen, which does disappear and reappear at will.

The question is, what damage have I likely caused? The engine appears to be smoking from the rear passenger side and I am guessing that something like valve seats, rings etc are fubar and need replacing? The big question is, as I was/ am selling the van do I do whatever it is thats required (fairly short of cash and could do without the bill) or do I drop the price and let someone else take on the work, being honest when I sell it? Is it likely to sell in the current state for something nearing a reasonable price? Originally it was up for £3250 ono. What do you think it could go for now...I know that the price would be different if done as a DIY rather than garage, but any indication would be good. If needs be I will get the work done if it means I can actually sell the van, but am I likely to recoup any of the cost?

A numpty awaits your ridicule.....

[kevtherev]

I am guessing

Don't guess, that's why you posted here... firstly how much extra did you put in?
overfilling by a litre isn't that serious, the extra oil will find it's way to places that don't normally deal with that much oil that's all. Seals on the crank ends are only designed to deal with oil mist not gallons of the stuff
Any more than a litre and the crankshaft heats the oil up and foams it up so then the oil pump cannot pump foam and the engine loses pressure that would kick off the buzzer and oil light, you don't say this happened so no damage would of occurred.
No extra oil pressure is or was created.

the engine appears to be smoking from the rear passenger side

which does disappear and reappear at will.

I would suspect that oil is dripping or seeping on to the exhaust or or header pipes
you need to have the engine cleaned and then you can see where it's coming from
It may well stop smoking after you have cleaned up the engine

[willard]

Kev, as ever first on scene with some sound reassurances and direction..cheers.

Didn't overfil by much - not a litre anyway. 1/2 of the miles between the overfil and realisation where done in short 4-5 mile stints, with a 30 mile trip that showed the original smoke. You're right...no buzzer of doom or flashing oil light - which I know works because I repalced the sender last year when it sprung a leak. The engine does look way dirtier than normal and I think there may be a very small drip coming off the rocker cover, but don't know where it starts...yet.

Intend to borrow a steamer with pointy nozzle to clean off as much as possible with some muck off or similar. Hopefully that will help identify any leaks which I can then deal with.

Cheers again....I'll let you know how it goes.

[willard]

ok...up-date. I have removed a lot of gunk and grime build up from the engine and the smoke seems to be coming out of the exhaust system - it is blowing slightly at THE socket joint before the silenser/ back box from the "front" pipe (from the cylinder nearest the front on the passenger side (4?)). It seems that the oil thats burning off is either in the exhaust system or burning in the cylinders. The question I have now is what damage have I done to do this? Is it oil and piston ring failure (original engine on 152K) or getting in via the valve seats or something else?

The engine is generally dirty, but it is definately coming from in rather than on the engine.

Any hints or ideas?....or is it a return to a garage/ specialist engine shop? OR does someone want a good van with a smokey engine? It's been renamed Smokey Joe by the kids!

Any help would be appreciated. Cheers.

[California Dreamin]

Ayup mate...
An overfill will often result in the engine blowing the excess up through the breather system into the air filter housing...now you can clean most of this out but often you get puddles sitting in the air box or even the inlet manifolds, getting sucked into the engine until it is all burnt.
If this is what has happened you can clean up some of it but the rest you will just have to allow to go through.

As for damage....normally this doesn't cause any apart from embarressment...lol
If it were mine I would be tempted to just run it for a couple of weeks..obviously keeping a close eye on things.

Martin

[willard]

Embarrasment is an understatement....even my boss ( a complete petrol head who has just renovated a 2 stroke suzuki) said it seemed to be smoking a bit!

I cleaned the air box and pipework, changed THE filter and breather hose. Not a lot in there in truth but sounds like you're right (speaking from experience perhaps?). I'll just have to take it on a good old run along the A30 and blow out everything thats left. Hopefully that'll clear it through and save me smoking out everyone at the next wet of lights. Not looking forward to the day the busies pull up behind me...they may have something to say.

'll keep you posted.

[kevtherev]

What colour is the smoke?

pale blue
grey
black
white
?

[willard]

white...with a hint of blue. Very light colour. Not sooty/ dark at all. Not lost any water/ coolant. Oil level's not changed.

[kevtherev]

white...with a hint of blue.

Pale blue then

[willard]

Yeah, very pale blue, more off white . Smells oily like a hot engine. The van does seem to run well though.

Do you wreckon I just keep running it to burn off any residue, or is something more sinister happening?