4.5 Rover V8 smokey at strange times..............
Discussion
Has anybody any ideas ??..........
I have a 4.5litre Rover V8 in a Ginetta G33. The engine sounds as sweet as a nut and goes like theres no tomorrow. However, after a few laps out at a track day I would come in and turn her off for a while but when I re-started her she would blow out blew smoke for a minute or two. Then there would be nothing at all and I would go and do another few laps reving her hard with no smoke but when I came in again and left her for a while they same would happen....smoke started again when I fired her up.
Never smokes on the road even when i give her a bootful.
It is a dry sumped engine and when we checked the oil level it was quite low so we had to put nearly two litres back in. However, when I drove her home and checked the oil the next day it was well overfilled, all the oil we had put in to top it up is now what its overfilled by !! The oil was in the engine somewhere but don't know where !!
Has anybody any ideas on either problem ??
Regards,
Simon.
I have a 4.5litre Rover V8 in a Ginetta G33. The engine sounds as sweet as a nut and goes like theres no tomorrow. However, after a few laps out at a track day I would come in and turn her off for a while but when I re-started her she would blow out blew smoke for a minute or two. Then there would be nothing at all and I would go and do another few laps reving her hard with no smoke but when I came in again and left her for a while they same would happen....smoke started again when I fired her up.
Never smokes on the road even when i give her a bootful.
It is a dry sumped engine and when we checked the oil level it was quite low so we had to put nearly two litres back in. However, when I drove her home and checked the oil the next day it was well overfilled, all the oil we had put in to top it up is now what its overfilled by !! The oil was in the engine somewhere but don't know where !!
Has anybody any ideas on either problem ??
Regards,
Simon.
I wonder if it's oil draining into the bores via the valve guides? If you remove the headers and look at the exhaust valves they may be crudded up, same for the inlets.
You may see oil sitting on the piston if you remove a spark plug.
Boosted.
>> Edited by Boosted LS1 on Monday 6th June 18:21
You may see oil sitting on the piston if you remove a spark plug.
Boosted.
>> Edited by Boosted LS1 on Monday 6th June 18:21
Thanks Boosted,
We thought it might be valve guides as it seems the most obvious thing but I'd have thought that it would have burnt oil at high revs as well if that were the case. One bank seemed to smoke more than the other so we took that head off but nothing seemed to be up with anything we could see. Having said that the plugs on that side were slightly more oily than those on the other bank..........
Just don't know where the rest of the oil went.........temporarily !!!!
Simon B.
We thought it might be valve guides as it seems the most obvious thing but I'd have thought that it would have burnt oil at high revs as well if that were the case. One bank seemed to smoke more than the other so we took that head off but nothing seemed to be up with anything we could see. Having said that the plugs on that side were slightly more oily than those on the other bank..........
Just don't know where the rest of the oil went.........temporarily !!!!
Simon B.
If it is the valve guides you could do what I did, buy a set of heads from 'the bay of fleas' ( E-bay! ), I paid £20 for mine and send them off to a good Rover specialist who can machine them to accept the valve stem seals from the later engines, could even get a big valve conversion whilst your at it.
www.lundengines.com
This is the Guy ( Steve ) who did mine, great job and reasonably priced aswell.
Andy
www.lundengines.com
This is the Guy ( Steve ) who did mine, great job and reasonably priced aswell.
Andy
Boosted,
When we took one of the heads off there were clear passage ways that were pretty large in size so I don't think its had restrictors fitted. Its a JE Engineering lump built from new so I think it must be built to their normal spec.
GreenV8s.
If there is a specific routine for checking the oil on a dry sumped engine then I don't know what it is !!
Checked it when cold the day before the event having only just had an oil change, checked it again after three goes out on track so would have been hot (when we found it was low) then topped it up and re-checked it when I got back home the next day when it was cold. Maybe this was the problem ????
We wondered whether the oil pump may not be working correctly, maybe pumping too much oil up into the heads but not taking it out of the bottom of the engine very quickly, hence the low oil level when checked ????.........
Simon B.
When we took one of the heads off there were clear passage ways that were pretty large in size so I don't think its had restrictors fitted. Its a JE Engineering lump built from new so I think it must be built to their normal spec.
GreenV8s.
If there is a specific routine for checking the oil on a dry sumped engine then I don't know what it is !!
Checked it when cold the day before the event having only just had an oil change, checked it again after three goes out on track so would have been hot (when we found it was low) then topped it up and re-checked it when I got back home the next day when it was cold. Maybe this was the problem ????
We wondered whether the oil pump may not be working correctly, maybe pumping too much oil up into the heads but not taking it out of the bottom of the engine very quickly, hence the low oil level when checked ????.........
Simon B.
Sounds like the stem seals to me, as already mentioned.
As for the dry sump, my 911 has one, and you have to check the oil level on the dipstick with the engine running. The routine mey be different on your motor, but it's likely there is one.
As for the oil system, IIRC, on the 911 the reading is low, if you check the dipstick when the engine is stopped. If you then fill it to the mark and start the engine, the excess is burnt off.
If your oil system is similar, this could be another explanation for your smoke cloud.
Edited to add;
This can be tricky if you don't know how much oil is in the system. You have to drain out completely and refill with the correct ammount.
If you don't know the capacity of the system, I'd find out before you contemplate an oil change!
>> Edited by dilbert on Monday 6th June 21:05
As for the dry sump, my 911 has one, and you have to check the oil level on the dipstick with the engine running. The routine mey be different on your motor, but it's likely there is one.
As for the oil system, IIRC, on the 911 the reading is low, if you check the dipstick when the engine is stopped. If you then fill it to the mark and start the engine, the excess is burnt off.
If your oil system is similar, this could be another explanation for your smoke cloud.
Edited to add;
This can be tricky if you don't know how much oil is in the system. You have to drain out completely and refill with the correct ammount.
If you don't know the capacity of the system, I'd find out before you contemplate an oil change!
>> Edited by dilbert on Monday 6th June 21:05
I assume your sump pan looks like this:
[IMG]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y241/pitsnow/Drysump03.jpg[/IMG]
As for an oil check with dipstick, my guess is you don’t have one?
If you don’t want to miss the oil that was stored in the heads and engine, you best check the oil level in the tank when the engine is running.
Therefore an dipstick in the oil tank would be good.
Otherwise you will miss all the oil that was draining to the sump after you switched the engine off.
Blue smoke on start-up:
Could it be that you have so much oil storing in the engine that during start-up, the oil is pressed past the oil rings in the pistons?
Maybe your scavenger pumps are not working as good as they should?
Could the wire mesh of the pick-ups in the pan be blocked?
Or the pumps are knackered?
Cheers Peter
[IMG]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y241/pitsnow/Drysump03.jpg[/IMG]
As for an oil check with dipstick, my guess is you don’t have one?
If you don’t want to miss the oil that was stored in the heads and engine, you best check the oil level in the tank when the engine is running.
Therefore an dipstick in the oil tank would be good.
Otherwise you will miss all the oil that was draining to the sump after you switched the engine off.
Blue smoke on start-up:
Could it be that you have so much oil storing in the engine that during start-up, the oil is pressed past the oil rings in the pistons?
Maybe your scavenger pumps are not working as good as they should?
Could the wire mesh of the pick-ups in the pan be blocked?
Or the pumps are knackered?
Cheers Peter
Pitsnow,
Yes, my sump does look something like that with a pipe at either end of the sump.
Your right I don't have a dipstick but the previous owner told me where to fill the oil to and says he always kept it at that level.It has a specially made oil tank by JE Engineering with two feeds in at the top where it then 'swirls' around before going into the tank resevoir.
I'll have to check what the capacity of the oil should be before I change it next time.
Simon B
Yes, my sump does look something like that with a pipe at either end of the sump.
Your right I don't have a dipstick but the previous owner told me where to fill the oil to and says he always kept it at that level.It has a specially made oil tank by JE Engineering with two feeds in at the top where it then 'swirls' around before going into the tank resevoir.
I'll have to check what the capacity of the oil should be before I change it next time.
Simon B
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