Oil everywhere!!!!!

1988 90 with the original 2.5 engine around 110k miles...

whilst driving along today there was a clonk from under the bonnet and clouds of blueish smoke came blooming into the cabin.

Lifting the bonnet revealed the oil filler cap completely off and oil everywhere! I replaced the cap and continued to drive, the engine now really lumpy... As soon as I gave it any revs it was off again. I ended up being towed home by the missus ( the shame of it )

I'm a complete novice when it comes to engines but am keen to learn and I'd like to fix this myself if at all possible.

Your thoughts as to the problem would be welcomed.

urgh never good.
If you have too much pressure inside the crankcase it could do this, this can be caused by things such as a stuck ring (allowing the exhaust gases to enter the crankcase) or perhaps a valve stem seal has failed catastrohpically, piston cracked... all manner of things basically. Hopefully it will be something simple for you.

A compression test on the cylinders will tell you alot about whats going on.

Just speculating, but I expect that you've cracked a piston or some such.

Get it running, then pull off the oil fill cover and see how much crap is coming out the oil fill hole (smoke/steam/pressure). Cracking off (looosening) the injection feeder pipes to the injectors should tell you what one's gone bad (good ones will cause RPM to drop, bad one will not).

A compression test would tell which one's gone bad as well as Vilguy said.

TBH, this sounds like it is going to be a job where the cylinder head's going to have to come off. Not a horrid job, but large bits of heavy iron will need to be moved about. I just had to do this myself on a 2.5D, so know well the weight of the items.

Alan

Thanks guys.

When I take off the oil filler cap (not that it needs taking off, it blows off on its own!) I get oil being splattered out in all directions!

I don't have a compression tester....

if there was a clonk - it is likely to be holed/broken piston. beware the damage that bits of floating piston can do to valves/head/bore etc. DO NOT DRIVE or run engine if at all possible.

I think the clonk was the oil filler cap hitting the underside of the bonnet

9chesh said:

I think the clonk was the oil filler cap hitting the underside of the bonnet

Click to expand...

If that's the case you might be lucky and it's just a head gasket, the heads going to have to come off anyway by the sound of it.

A easy way to start would be to whip the injectors off and poke an endoscope down there to see whats what.

You can get cheap ones off ebay for about £6 that work with your laptop. I got one and its dead handy.

or as bb suggests you could just whip the head off (this would save having to replace the injector seals).

I suppose its down to interpretation of "clonk" - there is a considerable difference between the sound made by a plastic cap hitting an insulation panel (if he has one) and a piston hitting the head.

The Mad Hat Man said:

I suppose its down to interpretation of "clonk" - there is a considerable difference between the sound made by a plastic cap hitting an insulation panel (if he has one) and a piston hitting the head.

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i dont think i would notice the noise of something like the plastic cap over all the other rattles and bangs

Am pretty sure it wasn't a piston hitting the head as I replicated it a couple of times to check!

I will remove the head I know which bit that is! However when it's off ... What exactly am I looking for?? (told you I was a novice)

turn engine over slowly and see if one piston comes up, but doesn't go down.

with piston half way up/down - see if you can move the crown about

Ok brilliant thanks... Will get started

If its ring(s) check for scoring of bore(s). to check in more detail, yu will need to remove pistons.

9chesh said:

1988 90 with the original 2.5 engine around 110k miles...

whilst driving along today there was a clonk from under the bonnet and clouds of blueish smoke came blooming into the cabin.

Lifting the bonnet revealed the oil filler cap completely off and oil everywhere! I replaced the cap and continued to drive, the engine now really lumpy... As soon as I gave it any revs it was off again. I ended up being towed home by the missus ( the shame of it )

I'm a complete novice when it comes to engines but am keen to learn and I'd like to fix this myself if at all possible.

Your thoughts as to the problem would be welcomed.

Click to expand...

Start by cleaning out the engine breathers I'm not familiar with this engine but they all normally are a pipe or hose from engine to air intake if this is blocked the engine will build up pressure and not be able to release it as normal back through the air filter again.
In the old days this pipe would have been open to let off in the open air you could always try disconnecting it so it does this and see then if it still builds pressure.
This is the cheapest solution unfortunately it may indicate that the engine is badly worn.
Hope this helps you.

9chesh said:

However when it's off ... What exactly am I looking for?? (told you I was a novice)

Click to expand...

You're looking for the problem.....obviously

REL said:

Start by cleaning out the engine breathers I'm not familiar with this engine but they all normally are a pipe or hose from engine to air intake if this is blocked the engine will build up pressure and not be able to release it as normal back through the air filter again.
In the old days this pipe would have been open to let off in the open air you could always try disconnecting it so it does this and see then if it still builds pressure.
This is the cheapest solution unfortunately it may indicate that the engine is badly worn.
Hope this helps you.

Click to expand...

It will, most likely, coat the chassis in a nice level of anti-rust solution tho

Pmsl thanks for all your comments helpful and otherwise!

9chesh said:

1988 90 with the original 2.5 engine around 110k miles...

whilst driving along today there was a clonk from under the bonnet and clouds of blueish smoke came blooming into the cabin.

Lifting the bonnet revealed the oil filler cap completely off and oil everywhere! I replaced the cap and continued to drive, the engine now really lumpy... As soon as I gave it any revs it was off again. I ended up being towed home by the missus ( the shame of it )

I'm a complete novice when it comes to engines but am keen to learn and I'd like to fix this myself if at all possible.

Your thoughts as to the problem would be welcomed.

Click to expand...

Is this a na or a td?
Head gasket would be first thought, remove rocker cover, look for gas blasting up the push rod tubes!

vilguy said:

A easy way to start would be to whip the injectors off and poke an endoscope down there to see whats what.

You can get cheap ones off ebay for about £6 that work with your laptop. I got one and its dead handy.

or as bb suggests you could just whip the head off (this would save having to replace the injector seals).

Click to expand...

All you will see on an indirect injection engine doing that is inside a combustion chamber! Not going to help!