Yeah took the rocker cover off first if all and checked all tappets and anything else could see - everything seemed as it should be. Clearances fine. Compression test results same as last year (ie not perfect but not rubbish either and no change since the cloncking started).
Been suggested I do oil pressure test so looking to get hold of a tester - tho am nervous of running it even to do that.
Fear I need to take the head off and am just delaying the inevitable necessary investigation!
 
When you removed the rocker cover could you see oil?

remove main coil lead and crank it over once you have a pressure gauge.pressure will still rise without the engine running & hopefully cause less damage.

Another thought is if that filter ifitted correctly.(not done a S2 filter in over 30years)
 
Everything seemed as oily as normal under the cover but did wonder in earlier post yesterday if I’d arsed up the filter fitting. Not had an issue before but it’s fiddly with that spring and it was the last thing I did and I was knackered by then so could have botched it.
Cheers for tip on coil lead. Will aim to test pressure that way then drain new oil and redo filter and see if anything amiss. If nothing the. I guess take sump off again to have a look and if still nothing obvious will move on to head removal. thankfully I now have another daily drive so not in a mad rush. And hey, could be worse , least I wasn’t attempting to drive to Africa in it when it happened as some others seem to want to do ;-)
 
Pop oil feed pipe off the back of the head, coil disconnected and crank it over.

The old saying, if the fault was not there before you touched it, means you have messed something up, has saved me loads of times over the last 30 years.

Good example engine ecu blowing fuse, spoke to works electrician, he told me the above saying, and he was right I had removed the defunct horn and the now loose wiring was touching the downpipe popping the fuse, a valuable lesson for a young apprentice me.
 
I’m praying it was something I messed up as hell of a coincidence if not and will save me a lot of hassle
Pop oil feed pipe off the back of the head, coil disconnected and crank it over.

The old saying, if the fault was not there before you touched it, means you have messed something up, has saved me loads of times over the last 30 years.

Good example engine ecu blowing fuse, spoke to works electrician, he told me the above saying, and he was right I had removed the defunct horn and the now loose wiring was touching the downpipe popping the fuse, a valuable lesson for a young apprentice me.
sorry to be dumb but did you mean this pipe?
F2C49A4B-3DEE-4BE0-97F2-6753F446ADE9.jpeg
If so removal and cranking produces nothing…
 
Last edited:
Yep. That thin spindly pipe is the only thing lifting oil to the head. If it ain’t then the pump may be the issue or something as simple as the feed pipe from the sump.
 
Have you had the distributor off , the oil pump works from the cam and on diesel shaft also drives injector pump , petrol prob similar I believe there is an intermediate shaft too and all needs to be lined up connected in correct splines
 
*sorry, long post but wanted to give as much info as possible to aid suggestions *
Took the sump off again today as well as the filter and the oil feed pipe.
Filter was fine and looked normal and fitted right.
Oil pipe seemed blocked - least there was a flake of muck on the top screw which appeared to block the little pin hole. Removed it and cleaned and could now at least blow air through. Put it back on.
Sump itself had, guess what, bits of sealant in it. When I fitted it i put hylomar on the sump, then a paper gasket, then another thin line of hylomar and went to offer it up to the engine. I think what happened was a scraped some hylomar off on the way in - pushing bits into the sump. Rookie error. No bits of metal or anything else in there tho - nor in the drained oil which i passed through a sieve to check nothing nasty in there (just more bits of sealant).
Had a good look at oil pump filter and pipes - all looked good.
Crank also looked good - nothing loose or rattling. Turned it with the starter handle while looking up at it and turns fine and nothing looked odd (not sure what I was looking for exactly, but certainly nothing loose or banging and all seemed to move fine). Could hear air being pushed up as crank turned. Don't think there was anything amiss there.
Cleaned sump all out again and replaced - this time without sealant and just the gasket and a smear of grease to hold it in place as per the manual. Refilled with oil and started her up nervously but since I hadn't found anything wrong wasn't hopeful, but was hoping oil would flow at least.
Noise still there.
Cracked the filler pipe at the block while ticking over - oil came out. So oil definitely getting to the rockers - if it wasn't before, it is now..
(BTW... I did get an oil pressure gauge but, of course, all the adapters that came with it are the wrong size to thread into the pressure gauge hole so couldn't test pressure but as mentioned it did come out the feeder pipe at the head so reckon ok)
Didn't run the engine for long but it got very hot very quickly. Like sizzle hot on the exhaust within a couple of minutes. Exhaust now also phuttering madly and black smoke - whereas before this all happened it was a gentle puff, no black smoke and not hot.
I'm guessing (maybe??) I starved it of oil after the bad sump refit before and on that short test drive something went wrong. But I don't know what.
Can see nothing wrong from the bottom up so would I be right in thinking I now have no other options but to strip it down and take the head off and see if i can see anything wrong from the top down? Is there anything else at all i can try? Is it possible to run the engine with the rocker cover off so i can see / hear better where the noise might originate? I did peer in the filler hole while it was running and the 2 tappets i could see looked to be moving ok.
Am now moving into newbie territory so any suggestions gratefully received - usually i can diagnose the issue and work through the fix. Not this time...
 
Last edited:
Oil as far as feed pipe. Next… is it entering valve cover area. Lots of oil ways to navigate before it dribbles back to sump.oh and is there enough at the right pressure.
 
Quite possibly not your silicone. Could have been in there for years. You just freed it.
No need for head off yet. You need to find out if that oil is entering the tube that the rockers slide along.
 
Yes you can run with rocker cover off can always put some newspaper around to catch the drips, perhaps take a video and put on u tube to see all tappets working properly

what does the temp gauge say when the exhaust is hot
 
Last edited:
Quite possibly not your silicone. Could have been in there for years. You just freed it.
No need for head off yet. You need to find out if that oil is entering the tube that the rockers slide along.
Will try and get hold of an adapter for the pressure gauge that will match the sender hole to check pressure. but how do I check the oils getting through everything ok? If I run it with cover off would I see it flow?
 
Yes you can run with rocker cover off can always put some newspaper around to catch the drips, perhaps take a video and put on u tube to see all tappets working properly

what does the temp gauge say when the exhaust is hot
Thanks- when I’m next off work I’ll give that a go and get a video if I can. Not sure what the temp gauge was reading - panicked and turned it off quick without looking !
 

Similar threads