Engine problems

[JynX]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Hey peeps,

Had my car serviced recently and asked the mechanic to check the head gasket which I believe is the source of the oil leaking on the rocker cover. Anyhow, his solution was that my car is burning oil and he changed the oil to Penrite 40/50. The engine has only done just shy of 140K so my initial reaction was this was a little too thick, but he said it was fine and I left thinking all was ok.

Last few days (week or so after service), the car has been running like a peice of **** when its cold. Starting the car after its been stationary for about 10hrs is a nightmare. The engine turns over fine, but the idle is _really_ low and she blows a nice mushroom cloud of grey smoke. I have been reving the car to around 1500-2000rpms just to warm it up and then after 30secs-1min the idle drops back to normal.

Taking off, I have had a number of different situations occur.

a) as normal, car has power and takes off nicely
b) car has reduced power and is sluggish too take off but power returns after changing through the gears.
c) car has absoutely no power and bunnyhops forward as the engine struggles to give power to the wheels. I actually had the engine stall at one point.

Note: I do live on a hill which has a pretty nasty incline. I have not had problems before apart from case b which is due to me not letting the car warm up and attempting to take off after turning the key - my bad.

So what do you guys make of this. Need some opinions so I can go back to the mechanic and tell him his head is up his arse.

Cheers.[/color:post_uid0]

[ezin]

Blowing Grey smoke cold is a sure sign of worn or stuck oil rings man! I would do a compression check on it before making anymore assumptions! Oh! do it cold! Not hot Cause when it warms up the rings + piston expand causing better compression! Good luck!

[Cosmo Dude]

Don't let the mechanic squirt oil into the bores either, this WILL mask a potential problem.
Drive the car until warm and stop on a flat level surface for 5 minutes before restarting. If you get a blue cloud from the exhaust when you re-start (one that quickly goes) then you may need new valve seals. Take this oppertunity to have some head work done :wink:

Rod

[ezin]

Ah! Yeah squirting oil in the bores car raise the compression! but if not the Valve Seats "not the seal"may be a problem!
To check for worn valve stem seals let the car idle for 5 min then give it a full boot! Then is white smoke is seen, the seals are F'd!

U see this all the time on the road when u pull up to the lights behind a ****er and theres only a tiny bit of smoke from the exaust! U sit there for a bit, then when the ****er drives of white smoke goes everywhere for a couple of sec's then cleans up! Thats the seal on top of the valve! U dont have to remove the head to replace them!

[.::Astina|Brad::.]

From the instructions you guys said to test for what the problem is mine definatly is having worn seal problems... and similar problems to jynx with power loss... would burning oil cause power loss?
You said when they remove the head to replace valve seals we should take advantage of doing some head work... what head work can be done?

thanx guys

brad

[JynX]

Mine got progressivly worse, we have come to the conclusion the rings are screwed, im not going to rebuild the motor im just gonna replace it with turbo in the next few months. Car looks like its suckin on two big fat durries in the morning... quite funny.

[BigMal]

Mate all that racking the crap out of it straight after turning the key
has probably tipped it over the edge. Could be worn valve seats or
seals or rings. Its a tired old motor and you haven't loved it much.
Maybe put some of the stuff to reduce the smoke out the exhaust and
just crawl it around until you have the money for the conversion.
We can pull the old engine down and keep it for exchange items or
as the base for a big engine build. If only you had pulled your finger
out and swapped it for my 53k motor before it went to FNQ.

Looks like Turbo is a sure thing now :D

Mal

[JynX]

Ah well **** happens eh....

Give us somthing to play with soon... Tony had expressed intrest in pulling it down and rebuilding it if I do the conversion as well.

[BigBoyLemonade]

hmm well if I can sell my car for the right price I might be able to use it in my next project.

Just gotta get through the next 12months financially first

[93SP]

Man that oil is WAY too thick for your engine, that's the reason it's running like **** when it's cold (40W/50)... drain it and whack some thinner oil in (15W/40 should be ok), even if you do burn some of the thinner stuff it will be worth it for driveability... just keep a regular eye on the oil level if you do. I carry a 1 litre container of oil in my car just to top up.

Most common area for oil leaks is the rocker cover gasket, a cheap fix.

Did you buy your car new or used? Sounds like it may have had thick oil in at at some stage earlier in its life (which wears bits out in our engines when they are cold) due to standard service numpty type places treating it like a 1980s Falcodore, then had thinner/correct weight oil put in later on. A lack of servicing and flogging the engine when cold will do it too... The engine will burn the thinner oil as it seeps through the worn areas (rings and so on) on start up and for the first few minutes of running....then the Astina looks like a KA/KB Laser or early gen 323 with a nice plume of oil smoke trailing behind...