M

mbeeken

New Member
Hello, looking for some help/advice.

My Series 3 produces thick white (could be blue?) smoke, usually when rev'ed after sat idling/travelling in a low gear for a while. It clears if I rev the engine and doesn't usually smoke in higher gears.

Here's the events leading up to this:
  • It was making a knocking noise and losing power so I replaced the head gasket
  • The gasket had blown between cylinders 3 & 4 and you could see there was a leak between 2 & 3.
  • Replacing the gasket stopped the knocking noise, but power still wasn't great
  • Soon after fitting the head gasket I drove through some flood water. The water came to the bottom of the door sills, so I think it's unlikely that it entered the air intake (no snorkel).
  • I drove it a little more, then I discovered a split in the pipe from the oil filler tube to the crankcase emmison valve. I replaced the pipe and that's when the smoke started.
  • Power still wasn't great and timing mark didn't advance when rev'ing. The distributor vacuum diaphragm seemed broken so fitted a new electronic distibutor. Timing advancing better, but still lacked power.
  • Found accelerator pedal had slipped so was hitting floor prematurely. Fixing that made it accelerate normally again.
  • I still have the smoke problem
  • Oil is leaking from around the head gasket at the front of the engine.
  • Compression test results today: 1 - 49 2 - 54 3 - 54 4 - 65
I think the following is separate and unrelated, but will mention it in case it is relevant:
  • A problem has since developed with the clutch (subject of a future post). It is making a rattling noise when idling that disappears when the clutch is pressed.
Any help or advice on what to check next would be very much appreciated.

Mark
 
Last edited:
Are those compression results in psi? They're really low, even my old worn engine managed 120. Perhaps you've a low compression head though and they're normal? Maybe you've got valve seat damage from using unleaded fuel? Just a thought.
 
They are in PSI, yes. They are low aren't they. The Haynes manual says in the region of 145-170. When I replaced the head gasket I also ground/re-seated the valves so I wondered if my compression kit was not great. Do you think maybe this is the clue? Cracked/warped head?

Thank-you for your reply....any help/thoughts are really appreciated.

A bit of an update that might provide more clues. I drove the 3 miles to work this morning, and back tonight and no smoke. I wonder if the engine temperature has anything to do with it?
 
Could be a problem with your emissions valve that showed up when you fixed the split pipe.
Them compressions are very low are you suer your gauge is ok
 
Hmmm, you're right, I think I'm going to test the compression on another vehicle to check the compression testing kit is reading accurately.
 
Just a mini update. I tested the compression on the car (that had a new head gasket about 3 months ago) and there was no reading. I think my compression testing kit's no good. I will buy a new one and re-test the Landrover. I'll come back next week-end. Thanks for your help.
 
OK, I'm back. I bought a new compression testing kit and the readings are a lot different.
1 - 132 psi
2 - 142 psi
3 - 150 psi
4 - 155 psi
Note: These were taken on a cold engine because I didn't want to drive it too much because of my gearbox/clutch problem
I'm presuming the readings are all within the right range and difference between cylinders isn't too bad? Maybe the head, gasket, valves and cyclinder bores and piston rings are ok?? If so, what would be my next line of investigation? I was thinking: re-checking valve clearance....then try some radweld??
 
if theres oil seeping out of the head gasket where the water pump is on the drivers side you havent torqued the head bolts down enough

when i did mine i got thre same **** because id torqued the bolts down to the specified setting but forgot to give it the 1/4 turn after hitting the torque setting

the 2nd head gasket and propper procedure of this sorted the problem out :D:D
 
johnny curt 1 said:
... id torqued the bolts down to the specified setting but forgot to give it the 1/4 turn after hitting the torque setting

the 2nd head gasket and propper procedure of this sorted the problem out :D:D
Click to expand...

Do you think it's worth just giving each bolt a 1/4 turn then before trying a new head gasket?
 
mbeeken said:
Do you think it's worth just giving each bolt a 1/4 turn then before trying a new head gasket?
Click to expand...

yer can try it but what i did with being a bit of a stickler for doing it right and trying to find out why i took the head off and visually checked it first :rolleyes:

i dare say id have got away with it

the other thing i noticed was the cork gasket on the rocker cover was overtightened and shifted under its own pressure right behind the thermostat housing and trickled oil down behing it giving the illusion that the head gasket was leaking oil aswell :( i changed that and all was well again

also with the smoke front when you renewed the air intake pipe did you clean out the oil bath air filter box

sometimes if theres too much oil in there it can offset the airflow and cause the fuel mixture to be inbalanced in such a way it gives out white/blue ish smoke

if this doesnt cure it id look at what the smoke does on overrun ( winding down from high revs in gear ) if it smokes noticably more when doing this but stops when yer put the power back on id say yer timing chain is stretched and needs replacing :eek:

hope this helps matey :):)
 
johnny curt 1 said:
also with the smoke front when you renewed the air intake pipe did you clean out the oil bath air filter box

sometimes if theres too much oil in there it can offset the airflow and cause the fuel mixture to be inbalanced in such a way it gives out white/blue ish smoke
Click to expand...

you could discon the pipe/filter for a quick test
 
I thought I would update you on my progress.

At the week-end I:
- tightened up the head bolts by about an eighth of a turn (a quarter felt too much). This was about 180 lb/ft (compared to 165 recommended in the manual)
- checked the valve clearance (mostly ok - I re-adjusted two to be better)
- cleaned the air filter - the oil was a light brown colour and had a white scrum on the bottom. It was quite dirty around the air intakes at the top.

It ran a treat after this. I know...cleaning the air filter is the basics . I wonder if what had happened is that air was being drawn through the split pipe from the oil filler tube to the crankcase emmison valve. When I repaired this, the dirty air filter created greater suction and pulled oil up creating smoke? Does this sound logical?

Anyway, after giving it a good run (running as good as it ever has), suddenly it started coughing and spluttering again with a lack of power. I limped home. I'm guessing it's running on 3 cylinders? The next opportunity to check it over is at the week-end, but any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
With it running, take each plug lead off in turn, listening whilst you do it, if the engine noise doesnt change when you take it off, this will confirm which cylinder is not firing. I had a similar problem, turned out to be a cracked valve.
 
It turned out to be a loose wire in the electronic distributor. It was shorting on the wire each revolution. I tucked it in and it's now working a treat again.

Still gettting a bit of smoke on start up, but it goes immediately.
 
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