10 replies to this topic

[psycho mini driver]

my car is burning oil, alot of oil, about a pint a week. and so i would like to sort it out. what is the first thing i should do to try and cure it? and a rough price guide for the parts would be very nice too.
thanks in advance!

[Rob]

Do you know if it is the valve guides and seals that are worn or is it broke piston rings/worn bores? If its the latter then it would probably be easier and cheaper to fit another engine if its a common one.

[Dan]

Apart from disappearing oil what else is happening?
How much smoke and when?

[Guess-Works.com]

Any big oil spots on the drive ???

[miniman5]

DEARY ME! it could be a number of things, is it V smokey when you start her up?? if it is then the valves mite need grinding/bedding in again, although say that it could be carb related or a gaskets/oil seal's gone

[psycho mini driver]

small patches of oil, but there are clouds when accelerating hard, there is also burnt oil all over the back of the car. i was thinking the valve need doing as compression is equal on all cyliders.

[Dan]

How's the cooling system? Could just be the head gasket but if it's all over the back of the car, that's a lot of oil. Big clouds of white/blue smoke under load (uphill or hard acceleration) generally mean cracked rings sadly, but since you have no compression problems at the moment I'm not so sure.
Valve guides generally present as a big belch of dark smelly smoke on startup and a little puff when changing gear.
You could try thoroughly cleaning out the breathing system but to be honest this sound more serious.
I think the least you are going to need will be a valve job. You would need to do more than re-lap them though, you'd need new guides. So I would suggest you pull the head and see what's going on. Something is broke and needs fixing and you aren't going to do it without looking inside the plant. If you get the head off and the gasket's OK and there's no problem with the short block then get the head done. If the bores are scored or worn or the pistons or rings damaged get it oversized or get a new engine.

[psycho mini driver]

cool, thanks for the help. i was thinking of doing the head and getting new valves and seals, but wanted to check that it couldnt be anything smaller or cheeper.
perhaps i may see if i can get a seconhand unit to recon as i need a new gearbox too. that way i kno il have a good motor and gets all the jobs done whilst off the road for minimum time.

[Bluemini]

I would say its both rings and valves are worn.

[miniman5]

the piston rings could be worn! if its got un eqwal compression i wouldnt drive it hard as you will blow the head gasket! :sad:

ours smokes but only when we start her up after that she's fine! i think the valves need re-grinding

[Dan]

You won't cure that just by lapping the valves Miniman5. The thing is that there is oil in the ports which is building up while the car is standing still and being burned off when you fire it up. But oil should not be able to get to the ports in the first place. It is getting there by seeping down the valve stems through the guides. If it is a very small leak you may fix it by fitting new valve stem oil seals, but longer term the only cure is to replace the valve guides and possibly the valves too.