Club 80-90 Forums

ok my 2.1 has begun to smoke , and number 1 is the culprit , its nice and oily ,also ifi i have a poke in the spark plug hole the piston is covered in orrible deposits ,its looking like either the piston is on its way out or the rings or the head .. or i'm i missing something ?


anyway ... looks like it will have to come out so i can have a good look at it .. mercdoc has come up trumps with a 1.9 dg ( cos my old one is frelled) , and it a plug and play ( hopefully)

just an idea, could be a worn valve guide, though you'd expect em to wear at the same rate, not just in one pot.

My guess is piston/bore problem.

busted or stuck ring even

hopefully it will be coming out this week , so will know more then

still pulls like a train

Does it smoke or does it have a misfire?
is it going the same way as your earlier engine?
Do you think there is a problem elsewhere causing the problem(s)

Simon Baxter wrote:Does it smoke or does it have a misfire?
is it going the same way as your earlier engine?
Do you think there is a problem elsewhere causing the problem(s)

mmmm yes it is smoking , more so on petrol .. misfire maybe at tick over ,
i dont know about it going the same way as the 1.9 , but you never know , why wadda ya thinking simon ?

what about trying a compression test on the pots see if no 1 is way down if so rings , or bore ?

T'Onion wrote:

Simon Baxter wrote:Does it smoke or does it have a misfire?
is it going the same way as your earlier engine?
Do you think there is a problem elsewhere causing the problem(s)

mmmm yes it is smoking , more so on petrol .. misfire maybe at tick over ,
i dont know about it going the same way as the 1.9 , but you never know , why wadda ya thinking simon ?

I just saw the pics on the other forum, and it just seemed to me that what could have caused your first engine to expire may be making the second expire too.

I was thinking air leak into inlet - lean mixture.
lean mixtures run hot, this could burn a valve out, which would lead to low compression and missfire, and plug fouling.

Hard to say as Im sat at a computer miles away, just seems you have 2 very similar engine problems on the same van in a short space of time.

could also be too much right foot

too much rite foot

oh dear






Simon , i tried to phone you but tha'd shut up shop .i'll try tomorrow ..
i dont think i had an air leak on the system but could be wrong , reason i doubt it is why only on no. one? but before i set off in the morning i'll check no.1 for leaks
thinking back to me rebuilding the 2.1 , no.1 was a pig and it was also the one that i replaced the con rod , call me paranoid but i also knew it would come back and haunt me .. watch this space

Could be detonation has eaten the piston.. funnily (or not!!) I had no1 eat a piston too....

well that was interesting , just done a 200mile round trip to pick up a temp replacement from Mercdoctor ( CHEERS MARCUS AND TRACY )
It smoked like an old steel mill on over run and tick over , but pulled like a train and used no oil i'm thinking its the rings/bore , its got a weird rattle not unlike tappets but more metallic ,
another thing i noticed was that if i used the torque of the engine ie set off in second it didn't smoke ?

ok its nearly out , just 4 bolts and i lift form little brother and i will know more

and then of course its a lift with the t'other one

righto the 2.1 out and awaits post-mortem , the replacement 1.9 is in and running , a bit tappety but hopefully that will settle down , off to the woodfest so a run may help it along