1EL smoking - Not stem seals or head gasket - Compression is consistent between cylinders :/

[Bramham89]

Sorry but what's a PK test?

Edited September 4, 2014 by Bramham89

[Stu]

Sorry, TK test. Its the technical name for the "sniffer" test. Shows if their is any combustion gasses in the coolant.

Could also pressure test the coolant system and see if its leaking back into the cylinders.

You do get moisture out of the exhaust on start up/warm up - its condensation from cold exhaust/hot gases, but this should go after a good drive as the whole exhaust system should get pretty warm.

[Bramham89]

I've finally got some good evidence that my piston rings are causing my issues.

The first leak down test was done with the rocker cover on. I've just tested again with the cover off and found that the valves are only shut on one of the strokes where the piston is at TDC on this engine. All 4 cylinders leak through the crank case, and not through head, inlet or exhaust.

I also did another compression test with some oil down the spark plug holes and the compression shot up to the 180 PSI mark.

So it's not what I was hoping for but at least I know what needs to be done now.

I learnt some lessons that hopefully some others can learn from too:

1. Putting oil down the spark plug holes for a compression test really is worthwhile if you suspect worn piston rings (don't know why I didn't try this before)

1a. Don't put too much oil down, only about a cap full. The first one I did spewed oil everywhere with the push on rubber type connector on the compression tester and then with the screw in adapter made 250 PSI woops!

2. If your doing a leak down test, do it with the rocker cover off and check that the vales are fully shut on the cylinder your testing, if not a full revolution on the CRANK will sort things out.

3. Blue smoke caused by burning oil really can look white if you want it to badly enough. Don't kid yourself lol.

4. 150 PSI compression is really NOT OK for these engines. I'm guessing it should be closer to 180 PSI

So there you go, I've no idea how I've knacked the piston rings, could just have been from a couple of hundred miles with slightly low oil. Could have been the broken timing belt, that's when it first started, even though there was no damage to the valves or the piston tops or the bores.

Anyway thank you for all your time, help and suggestions. It is much appreciated!

Edited September 4, 2014 by Bramham89

[nEP71n]

I have changed this bottom end twice and put 3 engines and a bottom end conversion... and lost count on turbos... clutch good though.... going for a big reliable na

[Bramham89]

I've got the block stripped and checked my ring gaps with the old piston rings and got somewhere around 1.5 mm

I took the block to a local engine shop and they said it looked like an engine that had done very high mileage. It had worn 2 grooves inside the bores top and bottom. (I thought that was normal)

I need to take the pistons and rings so they can check if there is anything they can do with it, but it's not looking good.

It would need a re-bore but there's not any O/S pistons/rings big enough for the bore it would require, and putting liners in is just stupidly expensive.

So I've gone back to looking at a replacement engine, which is way more work than I had expected. Basically nothing from my existing set-up bolts onto the cylinder head of a 4efe. So my only option is to do a full swap with EFI.

OR

I could fit my 1e head to the 4efe block. I have already checked the alignment and it should bolt on without any problems as the block is almost identical with a slightly larger bore (from 70.5mm on the 1e to 74mm on the 4efe).

I have absolutely no idea how the carb setup would cope with the extra CC. There may also be a chance that I could use my 1E crank to reduce the stroke and compression ratio for the smaller combustion chamber in the 1e head. That would bring it down to a 1100cc and everything else should cope well with that set-up. So fingers crossed the crank fits and I should be onto a winner. I won't need to bother changing it on the log book either as there's barely any difference.

Having said all that, might be worth pricing up a rebore to 74mm to take 4efe pistons and fit new rings, I can't see any reason why that wouldn't work. That way I can rule out any further piston ring leakage too.

Too many options!

I'm liking the last one the best I think. Seems cheapest/safest.

Edited September 14, 2014 by Bramham89

[Bramham89]

The engine machine shop has honed it and fitted new rings which should last about 2000 miles they said. It will have to do for now as I'm moving house in December and need to get the car moving. As long as it passes one MoT that'll keep me going for a year.

I might have time at a later date to do a 4efe swap or failing that there's the odd 1e starlet breaking on ebay from time to time.