Club 80-90 Forums

Looking for a bit of advice folks. had my van away for its first real trip since i bought it last easter ( took a long time to get it on the road) and went to the outer hebrides for a week ( see pic below!) and travelled about 1000k. Trip went pretty smoothly in the main. My van is a 1982 with a 2l Aircooled engine which was rebuilt for me last year. I feel i'm still learning, learning, learning and don't really know what's normal for an old van and what's an issue!
A few things happened that I don't really understand. About 30 miles after starting of along the motorway travelling about 80k there was a fairly sudden loss of power. I drew over ( feeling pretty desperate )and stopped for about 20 minutes or so - and then checked the oil , added a small cupful for good measure and the van started off ok and then seemed fine and travelled the next 100 miles ok. Any ides what might cause that? On the return journey a week later it felt like it was losing power again, but it was pretty hot having climbed lots of hills and after a rest seemed okay again.It mostly ran pretty especially when just tootling along the flattish landscape, (doesn't like hills much) but sometimes the cabin was pretty fumey with a petrolly smell . Not sure what this is about either. Any ideas?
I took it for a run of about last night as it' s due to go to the garage and have an mot and I wanted to see how it was going having survived the journey from Skye to Edinburgh. The exhaust seems to have quite a lot of white smoke coming out. I stopped about 3 times to have a look and each time it was pretty smokey so it wasn't just a passing thing. Advice/suggestions on any of this would be much appreciated.
Also approx. How much oil would you think the van should use over a journey of about 1000k
Thanks in anticipation!
I've found the forum great and learnt lots of stuff from other people's postings- but still such along way to go!

cheers, Julia

H Julia wrote:How much oil would you think the van should use over a journey of about 1000k
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none.

2l Aircooled engine which was rebuilt for me last year.

what was done?
Is there a warranty with it?

hot engines lose power
hot engines are caused by missing tinware, poor or incorrect timing. weak mixture.
there should be no smell of petrol and a leak must be fixed asap.
cab fumes are caused by rusted out exausts
white smoke I've never heard of..pale blue or black is common for a petrol engine

Hello Kev
Thanks for reply. The rebuilt engine had a six month warranty - was fitted last July.
receipt says
Recondition (CU) engine
new parts include
Cylinder heads
Bearings
Gaskets
Pistons
(All other parts reconditioned)

The smoke from the exhaust might be bluey grey rather than white - I guess i meant it looked lightish in colour. Is it odd to have quite a lot of smoke coming from the exhaust at each point I stopped to have a look. I would have understood if it was just warming up etc.
About the petrolly smell - it was occasional rather than constant - does that sound like a leak? Could that be anything to do with a corroded exhaust?
There is definitley a slight oil leak from the engine and there are a few drips underneath where it's been parked up but not much, but Imust have added a couple of pints of oil during the course of the 1000 k trip.
I've got the van booked in on Friday. i thought it would be goodto get some advice before i take it to the garage so I can have a better idea in trying to explain what need to be checked out.
apprecate your help. any more thoughts be welcome.
Julia

Poss?
https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Al ... hite_smoke" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Looks interesting. Thanks for that .
So many mysteries to solve!

Take it back.. using oil like that is clearly not right.

Thanks for your help. I'm going to the garage tomorrow and will take it from there.
The garage I originally had the van at arranged for the engine to be rebuilt and I'm now using another garage ( the mechanic has a good reputation with air cooled engines) so that makes it a bit more complicated. Unfortunately i didn't know about the forum when I was deep in the depths of trying to get things sorted last year
Will update later.
Julia