Still Smoking....

[willard]

Posted a query on here a few weeks back (or thats how it feels) having overfilled my engine with oil and it smoking. Got plenty of advise and tips which helped me feel that I hadn't killed it.

Well, I have followed the advise and clean air intake, changed filters, cleaned the engine and run the van (as gently as I can) to burn off any excwss oil in THE system. The problem I have now is that I have an oil leak that I have found from the rocker cover on the rear left (passenger) side which leaks on to the hot exhaust and smokes merrily as long as the van is running (easy fix), but also getting a lot of smoke from the tail pipe and oil once run. I thought that it had started to reduce, but having driven it at the weekend realise its as bad as ever. The engine didn't smoke at all before the oil incident, but I know the piston rings were worn on at least one of the cylinders.

I'm hoping to book it into a BMW/ VW garage to get a full diagnosis of what I need to do in the next day or so (not as costly as it may sound as it's run by 2 brothers who are BMW and VW trained and broke away who own T25's). Anyway, my question is does anyone have any idea what sort of damage I may have done to still be getting oil in the exhaust? And the sort of money I'm looking at spending (guestimations I know) because I was selling the van until the incident and don't want to, and can't afford, to spend much. Do I sell "as is" for less (how much?) or bite the bullet on the plastic and pay off once sold (assuming I get my money back for the owrk)? The van will be going one way or another...

Any tips and advise will be really appreciated as I really don't know what to do for the best.

If anyone want to buy it no sensible offer will be ignored.

[kevtherev]

Cheer up mate..
Can you do this work yourself?

A warrantied engine will cost £900 or so fitted
So knock that off.

Or get a cheap used engine for now, from a trader on here or ebay.

[willard]

Argh, the Reverend Kev returns with Yoda knowledge...cheers, I knew you'd be along sooner or later.

I can' t do the work myself - don't have the tools and parking is strictly on the (narrow) road outside the house. I may have an alternative to the original posted garage.. I have a firend who used to build bugs and his mate sstill does work on vans on a hobby basis and has given me his number, so will find out if he has any donors that may help me out.

Feel like a fool as I enquired about a donor 1.9 a few weeks back and decided not to bother, but now wishing I had bought it (would have been £500ish all in). Would a recon engine make me the money back? Were do I get a warrantied engine for £900? I can't find anything close to that! Would I need to deliver the van to them...I'm in Cornwall so everywhere is a long way off Would rather get an older donor for convenience, but they don't seem to come up that often.

Any more info would be greatly appreciated. Thannks again Kev

[Plasticman]

You know fella, if youve overfilled and then run it then I reckon there will be loads of oil in the silencer, if it was an eassy job to remove then Id be inclined to do thast and rev the b*gger till it burns it off, if it was local to me it would be on a mates farm so no noise issues, I would do a lot like this rather than throw money at an engine.
just my halfpence worth
mm

[California Dreamin]

I still think you might be premature in writing off your existing engine.
The way you engine spat out and then drank the oil is an indication that there is likely to be a load of oil sat in exhaust system heating up and burning off particularly when hot.

The dealer will want to sell you a new engine so be sure you explain exactly what happened and the senario I have described.

Martin

[willard]

Cheers for your replies....my concern is running the engine if I could to do more damage than already done...if it's just burning off then I'm happ yo tkeep going til its gone.

Might try and find an isolated beach car park and rev the guts out of it for a bit and see what happens; like you say I'd rather keep my hard earned cash in my pocket - it's not a dealer as such but one of the possible garages is owned by 2 VW and BMW trained mechanics who are very good and reasonably priced, and will understand the predicament. The other option if I can get him to take a look is a hobby mechnic who has worked on VW's since the early '70's.

I'll let you know what happens after it's been for a run at the end of the week...it may be I take a drive in the dark so no=one can see me and save THE eternal embarrasement.

Cheers for now...

[California Dreamin]

Well....the eternal embarassment might continue to show you up for 200 - 500 miles yet.
Keep an eye on your oil and if it isn't going down dramatically (a pint every few hundred miles) then this smoke is old trapped oil.....

Martin

[kevtherev]

Elite engines... Just use google.

[ghost123uk]

Hang on folks, aren't we missing the old "look at your spark plugs" thing.

If it is burning oil via rings then the plugs will be sooted up to heck (though fitting a new, or known good clean set, will make it easier to tell)

If the (new) plugs look clean after a run then it ain't the rings and might be just as said, oil in the silencer and therefore worth persevering with.

Also worth considering doing a compression test at a local (reliable and trustworthy) garage as this will tell you a lot about the general condition of your engine and won't cost much.
You could even get an oil pressure test whilst you are there for a full "check up".

[willard]

Cheers all. Had thought about getting a set of plugs at the weekend and change before I go for a run and see how they look after. If not too good then will ge tthe other garage checks done - thanks for the info.

Did some googling and found Elite...couldn't remember the name before, cheers Kev. If it comes to it they appear the best option in my situation. Hopefully the hard run will prove the "old" oil syndrome and save me some ££££'s before it goes back up for sale.

Cheers all. I'll let you know how it all goes.... (literally)

[willard]

Well, the van came back from a local specialist I managed to track down - they'd moved premises...Mr Allen VW at Tregaswith outside Newquay (01637 880301). It has to be said that the guy is a genuine great mechanic, and all round nice bloke.

Took the plunge and booked the van into his workshop for last Tuesday to be diagnosed and repaired (if possible). Had a call Tuesday late morning to confirm that after he had picked himself up off the floor due to the state and sound of the engine - he was surprised I had even made the 15 miles to his garage (I have to agree with him it was a nightmare drive as I knew it wasn't firing on one cylinder and chucking oil out all over the place!).

Anyway, a full diagnosis showed a repalcement push rod required (end was damaged from over revving - don't ask - and cylinder was staying open) and resetting the tappets that you could drive a car between - I knew it was getting noisier, but it always has been tappety. All sorted, timing and carb set, a full service, coolant flush etc was a steal at £200! Couldn't believe it.

I now drive a (very) quiet, throaty sounding van that pulls like it should and is once more a pleasure to drive. It''s due it's MOT in April and although Allen's don't do MOT's they will pre-MOT it and use a garage up the road to do the test so it'll be going back there then if I still own it. It is now going back up for sale....

Anyway now a very happy camper. Thanks to you all for providing support and help in the van (and my) hour(s) of need.

[KamperKev]

Pretend its a Diesel like mine ( always smokes, smells and drips ) and after two weeks if its still no better, then get it looked at.
Best of Luck
Kev