Club 80-90 Forums

Just got to a campsite about 2 hours drive from home and we popped into a supermar just before we got here.
While my wife was in the shop I noticed smoke coming from the left rear wheel arch and fresh air intake behind the rear window. It wasn't pouring out like from a fire but it was visible if you looked. I thought it might be the usual oil on the heat exchangers but there was no drip or anything and it had stopped after 5 mins. Had a look through the rear flap and there was no smoke in there and no fire so drove the last mile to the campsite. Checked engine room but no sign of burning or fire and no smoke.

Wondering where this could be coming from as the vent leads only to the engine room doesn't it? So smoke must be coking from there? Also no sign of smoke from the right side of vehicle. Scrapping myself a bit because I've got 2 young kids in there as well.

rear brakes over adjusted or adjusted up with worn rear wheel bearings causing the rear shoes to rub and get hot

I just got it back from the garage after having the brakes done so its possible but the wheel wasn't any hotter that the others, just normal temp. Still I'll bare it in mind.

Just to be safe check fuel lines are good and tied away from any hot metal. Also might be worth checking that fan is operating smoothly with no obstruction.

Is there a pipe from the crankcase breather to the carbs aircleaner?
If so is it still attached?

Had the same thing happen a few weeks back (wisps of smoke from under arch and up through the air vent) and it turned out the pipe had come off and it was oil vapour not smoke. Crapped myself looking in the mirror and seeing smoke coming out the vent.

Thanks for the suggestions. I gave the engine the once over on the campsite and tied up a couple of cables that had been dangling but had caused no problem before and there was no sign of melting. Hose from crankcase to breather is attached, at least I think so as this would be pretty noticeable. I also found the screw holding the tinware to the heat exchanger on the left hand side was gone and to the tinware wasn't as it should be, so I did a fix on that.

Strangely enough as we drove home yesterday I stopped after about an hour and a bit and had no issues at all, air vents were cold. Another 90 mins drive in 30°C though and I noticed a wisps of smoke coming from the right this time but not the left as before. Left side vents were coolish to the touch while I could feel the hot air coming from the right side. The smoke/vapour was barely visible, not like before and there was none coming from the arch. I opened the engine bay but could find no smoke or anything there, but it was damn hot. Very hot bumper (black paint and hot day probably didn't help mind) and very hot engine lid. It was ok to remove but you couldn't hold it for a minute or two without it hurting. Engine was pretty hot to the touch as well. I've noticed the rubber seal from the engine bay lid has a 6 inch long damaged part so I'll change that as a precaution but would that be enough for the engine to overheat?

yup, engine bay seal is critical. otherwise its not cooling properly

Cheers Jason, will definately get it sorted. Just seen this thread https://club8090.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.p ... g#p7766947" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and it seems the tinware should only be warm rather than hot unless the engine has been off and the heat rises. I was a good 10 minutes before I checked the engine temp so that would explain the heat. Must say the van ran perfectly on both legs of the journey though, no loss of power, flat spots or anything else. The van was full of the wife's packing and two little ones so lots of extra weight but still performed I am used to.