Smokey Vectra..Any Idea's??????

Last week I bought 1997 p-reg 1.8LS Vauxhall Vectra.
The previous owner told me that it smoked badly and it was a suspect head
gasket.
Once I saw the car I could see and smell that it was infact burning oil.
Putting my finger in the exhaust tailpipe there was oil.

There was no pressure in the water bottle and no oil in the water or water
in the oil.
I trailored the car home and was certain that it was either a dropped valve
or cracked head.
I did a compression test and they should the following

No 1...220
No 2..220
No 3..210
No 4..220

I then stripped and removed the head but could see no obvious fault.
As I had a checked and spare head I rebuilt the engine using the replacement
head.
Before I put the replacement head on I replaced the valve stem seals to be
on the safe side.

To my dismay when I started the car up it was still chucking out lots of
white smoke.
I did another compression check and they all were high and even.
I removed the spark plugs and found they were covered in oil.

It does not sound like the piston rings as the compression is and always has
been good.
Yet even with a replacement head it still smokes really badly.

Has anybody ever have the same problem?
Any help or advice would be really appreciated.

 

If the bores are full of oil you would not get a true compression reading as
the oil creates seal around any damaged/worn piston rings. It is why you
call it a wet or dry compression test.
Oil smoke is blue not white - white is a water problem. You can do a
"block test" which checks for co content in the water - most garages will
have this equipment - cheap as well.
If it has blocked breathers it would smoke too.
When you take the oil cap off with it running does it smoke badly out of
there? Sign of piston problems.
Check it has the right amount of oil in it - if it has had wrong dip stick
fitted you may be over filling it and not have realised.
Hope this helps.

 

Funny you should mention the breather pipes because when I stripped the
engine down the breathers were blocked.
When I say blocked I mean solid with sludge.
When I saw how bad it was I was surprised it had even started.
I cleaned them thoroughly then put them back.

The car smokes white but it smells like it is oil.
Also the exhaust pipe has oil dripping out of it.
I removed the oil cap but there is no smoke coming from there.
I also have no loss of water or no pressure in the water bottle.

I changed the oil filter and have so far have only put 4 litres of oil in
it.
So I know I have not overfilled it with oil.
The frustrating thing is I have been repairing cars since I was a teenager.
This one is a real puzzle to me.

 

usually on a vauxhall I'd say it was cylinder/piston ring wear if it
smokes all the time. Did you check the bores when you had the head off?

 

If the exhaust is dripping, it sounds like oil has pooled in the
silencers, cat etc.

You can try this: 1st - drop front downpipe at manifold and then
start engine (obviously not at an anti-social time/area). Check
for smoke with exhaust disconnected, if clear from manifold, then
your rebuild is ok. If it is clear, you can try to salvage
exhaust by recconecting it and taking the motor for a good long
thrash (at least 20 miles, after car warmed up to normal
operating temperature, holding it in 3rd at 6000rpm for length
periods should burn off the oil out of the silencers). You'll
definately need a new cat though.

If it still smokes with the exhaust off - it could be oil control
rings.

I trust you are running fully synthetic oil - the genuine
Vauxhall stuff is more than adequate and quite cheap.

Just another thought - sticking your pinky inside the tail pipe
isn't really a good test - even motors that don't burn oil, but
run very rich, can leave a slippery sooty residue in the
tailpipe. The carbon build-up just doesn't get burnt off because
the tail-pipe doesn't get nearly hot enough, compared to upstream
in the exhaust system.

Sean

 

Yep a friend of mine had this scenario with his Volvo estate; the Volvo
garage changed half the engine before realising that the oil had
collected in the exhaust system. Cost two grand to repair & then sold
teh car for 1500 quid...:-((

 

Had the same scenario with an old (long gone) Astra diesel.
The EGR valve had been replaced prior to me buying it.
The exhaust was full off oil as a result. It took ages for the "warm
oil" smell to disappear.
In the original posters situation I would start by checking all the
breather hoses and valves, then the EGR valve (if fitted) and finally
for combustion gases in the water. If the above are OK then the only
remaing items are oil control rings/bore wear.
Dave

 

I am just experiencing the same problem.
I have had a problem over the last 6 months of misfires and very slow
coolant loss.
Recently the engine has started to smoke badley.
Does not seem to be the type of blue smoke from an oil burn but is
definitely not just steam.
I have had an exhaust gas in coolant test with no signs of gas. There is no
water in the oil and no oil in the coolant.
I have tried removing plugs from each piston to see which pot seems to be
burning the oil. This did not show anything, the car still smoked no matter
which piston was not firing.
Why would the smoke still be produced from engine if the cylinder in
question is not firing?

There is no excessive smoke coming from the rocker cover when the cap is
removed.
The car does seem to be running very rich, as it has done for a long period.
The plugs go black within minutes of running the engine. Could the smoke be
a very overfueled engine.
How can I make the engine think it is running rich thus reducing the mixture.
If I take a vacuum hose of the Lambda sensor will show a weak mixture then
add more fuel?

Can a head gasket blow and get worse thus not just blowing from the exhaust
to water but then blowing from pot to oil?


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I wonder if a leaking inlet manifold gasket where the coolant comes in? If
it is leaking into cylinder would cause misfire and coolant loss but may not
show up on a coolant/gas test.