I have a Cavalier 1.6 and as soon as you start the engine, blue smoke comes out of the head, the only way to keep the car running is by taking off the oil filler cap off.
There is no oil in the water and the oil in the engine is clean,
There is also no knocking noises coming from the engine
I beleive this is more than likely a problem with head or head gasket, Can anyone confirm that this is deffinatly the problem.
Or is it something that I might aswell change the engine.
|
If you have to take the oil cap off to keep it running, then it must be back pressure in the sump thats building up. I think this is caused by knackered piston rings, as the engine is pressurising the sump.
Is the breather pipe from the engine to airbox clogged up at all?
Piston ring wear wouldn't cause a knocking noise, but not sure about lack of other symptoms.
|
No breather pipe is not blocked because if you leave oil cap on and take off the breather pipe the car will stay alive, but as soon as you put it back on the car will die.
So you would not think that a oil seal in head has gone or in someway the oil is getting trough places onto the pistons to burn the oil
|
If it were an oil seal in the head, then it'd be one or more valve stem seals.
HOWEVER I can't understand why it causes the engine to stop - maybe there's so much smoke that when its fed back to the engine via the air filter its making the car run just like its on full choke (i.e. no air supply) and therefore it stalls.
One trick I've seen in the past to aleviate sump pressure is to drill a hole in the oil filler cap. I've got a feeling that it'd fail the emissions test, though, if its burning that much oil.
|
|
|
Surely removing the breather pipe has the same effect as removing the oil filler cap.
Definitely sounds like a blockage with the engine breathing side of things.
Does it have a breather on the head as well as the crankcase. Has the oil been changed regularly on the car, else the wire mesh filters for the breathers will be badly blocked with sludge.
|
If you leave the breather pipe on the air box and take off the oil cap it will run, but there is a hell of a lot of smoke, I have never seen anything like it, I do not know when the last oil change was I have not had the car that long.
I have not checked the breather pipe from the cranckcase, could this cause it to smoke so much if it is blocked up though
|
How old is the car?
Wots it worth?
I'd be very temped to part-ex it with a distant garage (one that you'd never go to again) and get something better...
|
Well the thing is, it's a H plate, it is still Mot'ed till April next year.
I did not pay a lot for it, so even if I had to replace the engine, it is still worth doing, because over than what is happening know the car is immaculate.
I was just hopeing that I would not have to change the engine.
But it looks like I might have to know.
Never mind
|
Why don't you take it to a small independant garage that someone recommends?
I'd avoid a Vauxhall garage as they'll be expensive, but a small one-man-band style garage will probably give you an honest answer as to whats wrong, and maybe a reasonable price to fix.
Good luck!
|
|
Thanks for all your help mate, really appreciate it
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chris:
This has got me interested!
1 - Has the problem started suddenly, gradually got worse, just go the car with the problem, don't know...?
2 - You say that smoke "comes out of the head" Can you describe where it comes from more precisely?
With a bit more info, someone will probably guide you in the right direction.
Andy
|
The smoke from the oil. Is it excessive? Most old cars will produce a little smoke if the oil cap is removed.
Perhaps the blocked breather is affecting the fuel mixture (the breather will eventually go into the carb/injection system)
|
I don't know this engine very well but I go along with those who suggest a breather blockage.
If there is a gauze or 'brillo pad' element fitted inside the top cover ('rocker cover') where the breather pipe goes in, this could well be blocked with gunge. This was common on the older Vauxhall engines at high mileages and the cure was to remove and wash out or replace.
|
|
|
|
Well basically what happened was, Idrove it home it was fine. Then later on I went out to restart it, and it had trouble trying to fire up.
I could not work it out, so we took the breather pipe from the air box off, just to see what would happen and it fired up, please do not ask me why we took off this pipe because I can not remember, anyway the car was running all lumpy and all this blue smoke was firning out of the breather pipe and as soon as I took of the oil cap, the blue smoke was just pilling out the top off the engine.
If you put these parts back on the car will just die.
This only as precise as I can be.
Sorry I did not get back to you yesterday it is just I am doing this from work at the moment and I finished at 4 o clock
|
|
|
|
In the first instance I'd go with blocked breather. If it's been blocked for some time though this can eventually lead to knackered oil control rings, which in turn leads to knackered pressure rings.
Go to a local garage and have them check out the breather system and do a compression test.
On many cars the head can be removed, the sump dropped and then the pistons removed with the engine still in place. Its then possible to do a manual deglaze on the bores, fit new rings to the pistons and rebuild (if you're going to keep it have the head decoked and valves lapped too). This should work out much cheaper than a recon unit, but how effective it is depends on the state of the engine and of course you must cure the root cause of the problem first.
|
|
A blocked breather system can cause all sorts of problems. I've seen filler caps blown off and dipsticks blown out. Oil leaks appear from anywhere they can. But - I've never known a blocked breather to create any sort of smoke or fumes. Sounds like a set of rings is the least the engine needs.
|
Yes it can.
A blocked breather causes positive pressure in the crankcase. Depending on how bad this is and the state of the ring sealing this can force fumes and oil past the rings on the intake stroke. These are then burned during the power stroke resulting in blue smoke, some of which may be forced back into the crankcase. These fumes and oil can also be forced past the valve guides.
|
|
I wouldnt waste time and effort trying to solve this one! It is definitely a bore problem probabbly caused by lack of servicing leading to worn or glazed bores.There is so much oil vapour being blown out of the crankcase it is smothering the engine when routed through the breather into the carb. If the car is in otherwise good condition fit another engine from the breakers. These engines are an absolute doddle to change and cheap(less than £150 locally to me, Sussex).
|
Chris, I'm sure Andrew is spot-on as usual. The rest of us were far too optomistic in hoping that it was simply a case of a blocked breather.
Obviously (now!!) the engine is producing far too much blow-by for the breather to handle and that is why bypassing it by taking off the filler cap is letting the engine run better.
|
Please fit a new engine , then I can switch off from 'recirculate'.
Why is it usually knackered Vauxhalls that smoke?
|
|
|
|
