Lots of smoke!

[Jon S]

Having failed the emissions test on the MoT (not below 5, limit is 3), I decided to run a bottle of Redex though and drive the 8 miles to the test centre in 2nd gear, keeping the revs at around 3.5-4K.

Getting out of the car at the test centre, the exhaust was chucking out loads of blue smoke. When I tie this in with very high crankcase pressure, my guess is that the rings are worn (?). My truck only has 120k Km on the clock, but when I bought it, there was a K&N fitted which may not have helped.

Questions: How long does it take to change the rings, how much does it cost and how difficult is it? Also could this be the reason for my very poor fuel consumption? (Av 18mpg).

It's a 2lte.

All help greatefully recieved!

Jon.

[Guest]

Jon.

Changing the rings is time consuming though not that difficult (except removing the rear bolts/nuts from the inlet and exhaust manifolds to remove the head.

All up it will take you about 2 days if you go at it and are handy with the spanners, a garage would probably charge about 30 hours labour I would think.

You need to remove the Head, Front diff, engine mounting bolts, lift the engine (best with a jack and a block of wood on the extension of the front of the crankshaft), unbolt the sump, unbolt the steering idler arm assembly from the chassis and move the steering arms forward, then you can drop the sump. You then can unbolt the big end caps (mark them as you go as they need to go back on the same pistons in the correct way) and push the pistons out the top of the engine (that's why you need to remove the head) using a long piece of 1x1 timber.

You will need a piston ring compressor to reinstall the pistons and a screwdriver to remove them.

Then reassemble.

Then count all the bolts and nuts you have over and then throw them in the bin .

Did this recently on mine and it's a pain but not difficult if you are handy with engines. The cylinder head and reinstalling the front diff is the worst if you are doing it on your own.

You may want to try using some Wynns Stop smoke as a stop gap.

Cheers

[Jon S]

Wow thanks Lucky, that's a pretty comprehensive reply.

Would you agree with the diagnosis about the rings? before I go through that is there anything else it could be. Would it be worth doing a compression test?

Are there any specialise procedures required after (such as re-tracking the steering) or can I do the lot myself?

One final question, how much did it set you back when you did it?

Thanks,

Jon.

[Guest]

OK to answer all the questions,

Yes I would do a compression test, you may find the oil smoke is due to your turbo oil seals, however when combined with high crankcase pressure, rings is a pretty good diagnosis.

No you don't need additional checks afterwards, when you drop out the diff you disconnect the driveshafts on the inner joint and don't take apart the outer. Removing the idler and refitting won't disturb steering angles as you don't need to discoonect the track rod ends.

When I did mine, it came to quite a bit but the basics were.

1 Piston and ring set - £80 - rings should be about £15 per set (3 rings).
Big ends I can't remember exactly but I think it was about £40 the set.
You will need a new cylinder head gasket and timing belt - about £80 I think for both together.
A tube of silicon gasket (the sump doesn't use a gasket but uses the Silicon instant gasket stuff (not Hermetite blue gasket sealant or the halfords red stuff - the stuff I got was Orange and to be honest is pretty much the same as bathroom sealant. About £3 should get you a tube.
A tube of Heremtite blue or halfords red sealant.

One thing I would suggest is getting a set of ramps and a mate to help with refitting the front diff, it's quite heavy and awkward to refit - only 3 bolts but a Bu**er all the same.

Hope that this helps.

Oh and by the way, if you are going to do it, invest in a set of ratchet spanners - screwfix do them or halfords profession range. Will cut 30% off the time of taking the Cylinder head off.

Cheers

[Jon S]

Just to really confuse things, my truck just PASSED the emissions test. I just found out. Now I'm really confused (but happier).

Should I even touch it at all? it doesn't use a significant amount of oil and there seems to be sufficient power.

I know that in the long run I should probably do the work. What kind of trouble am I storing up for myself?

Why would I kick out so much blue smoke after 8 miles of very high revs?

Thanks again,

Jon.

[marky]

Just to really confuse things, my truck just PASSED the emissions test. I just found out. Now I'm really confused (but happier).

Should I even touch it at all? it doesn't use a significant amount of oil and there seems to be sufficient power.

I know that in the long run I should probably do the work. What kind of trouble am I storing up for myself?

Why would I kick out so much blue smoke after 8 miles of very high revs?

Thanks again,

Jon.

If it aint broke dont fix it.

[paulh]

Don't forget that the Redex will be contributing to the smoke!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest]

If it's running OK and passed the emissions test then leave well alone. It may just be that the Redex did a good job of cleaning and removed the ring of carbon from the top of the bores - you will get a bit of oil smoke for a while until this builds up again.

Cheers

[Jon S]

If it's running OK and passed the emissions test then leave well alone. It may just be that the Redex did a good job of cleaning and removed the ring of carbon from the top of the bores - you will get a bit of oil smoke for a while until this builds up again.

Cheers

Oh no tragedy! it overheated last night on the way home from the garage. Found massive airlocks in the system. Tried filling it up and bleeding it, but it seems like the engine is putting an awful lot of pressure into the system. Couple this with the huge amount of smoke that it now puts out when stationary (and possiblly when moving), and I really can't see any other possibility than it's the head/gasket.

Smoke was blue yesterday morning before MoT, but could be white or grey now.

When I put all the pieces together, it seems like all the symptoms point to a failing head/gasket for some time. High crankcase pressure, small bubbles coming from the join between the head and the block, the overheating and cooling system pressure and the huge amounts of smoke.

Now, where's that guide you wrote and that nice fella that sells the replacement heads...