Help!!! excessive oil usage & smoke from breather

[Car Fanatics]

Hi all sorry Im new here hope Im doing this correctly. I recently bought a 1997 Friendee 2.5T diesel with a headgasket problem. The mechanic fitted a brand new head & headgasket, also blocked off the EGR where it comes out the manifold. When everything was removed to do the job, turbo & cylinders etc were checked & all seemed in good condition. There was no oil on the intake side on the turbo nor on the impellers either so apart from blown headgasket & cracked head all seemed good. Now after the repair job it has used 8 litres of oil per 1000kms, blows serious smoke from breather pipe & intake to turbo is now also full of oil. I have run it without airfilter connected & it still blows smoke & oil out of breather pipe, cant find pcv valve & there are only plates inside the tappet cover. Does anyone have any ideas as to what could be wrong? As this has also got my mechanic confused. Thanks

[Simon Jones]

Sorry to hear of your troubles. My first guess would be a problem with the valve stem seals. Where did you get the head from and was it pre-assembled with all new seals. However while that would explain oil being burnt and resultant smoke coming from exhaust, it may not explain the smoke from the breather.

Do you know any history of the engine? Could it be that it was like this before you had the head replaced, but I was not apparent due to the coolant issues?

What engine oil are you using? Could it be too thin a grade?

[Car Fanatics]

Hi, thanks for the reply. The head was purchased Brand new as a bare head & assebled by the mechanic. I dont think that the problem was like this before as there was no evidence of oil on the intake side or the turbo or pressure side & after installation of the new head, it is FULL of oil, so I think whatever the problem is was caused from new head installation but both mechanic & myself are unsure as to what. I am using SAE 20w-40 oil but I think that with the amount of oil blowing out the breather I could use a nice thick ATF fluid & it wouldnt help lol

[Northern Bongolow]

the oil you should be using is 5w 30 or 5w 40 semi, but some are ok on mineral or full synth. but 20w is far too thick even for summer use.

i would check the front air inlet to the air filter/box, and the air filter itself, and all the pipework between. if it cannot get enough air it may pull via the crank case / rocker breather to gasp air when the turbo gets going. as you will know the rocker breather joins the air/turbo pipe at the back of the head so if the airfilter is blocked or pipework to it it will pull up the rocker breather.

[Car Fanatics]

I have run it without the filter pipe connected to the turbo & it still blows out the breather

[Northern Bongolow]

try it with the correct oil and see what its like then, they all chuff a bit, some worse than others though thats why the manufacturer push it back into the air intake to burn it off.
i must admit im going to put mine back to atmosphere soon to get mine burning more fresh cool air.

[teenmal]

Hi Car Fanatics,

Sound like a faulty gasket and or the O ring seal between the head and block.Did you replace the O ring seal?

Have you run the engine with the valve cover off and checked the valve stem seals.
Iam presuming that the vehicle is driving as it should and not running erratic,?

Cheers..

[Car Fanatics]

Hi Where is the O ring situated? what does it fit on to?

[Simon Jones]

Theres's a tiny metal tube that fits into the block and carries the oil up to the camshaft. You can see the hole just to the left of the head bolt hole underneath no.3 cylinder.



On top of the tube is an O-ring and if this was missing or damaged then pressurised oil could seep through the gasket and make its was into the coolant or cylinder. Obviously, only way to check it is to remove the head again, so try to eliminate all other possibilities first. I know Bellhill Garage can supply the tube and O-ring for a few pounds, but it is a bugger to remove it from the block. You'll need freezer spray and a really good quality pair of Mole grips with sharp teeth which won't slip.

[ELZE]

Guys

I am no mechanic but this kind of thing often happens when the engine oil is overfilled? causing back pressure.. just a thought

Mike

[Car Fanatics]

Hi. I got my Bongo back today. Appears to be better but we will have to see. The airfilter was extremely dirty. Mechanic also put some stainless steel Pot scrubs inside the tapped cover before the breather outlet (there is a small square cavity under the plate). Im still not convinced it will work but only time will tell. I changed the airfilter to an aftermarket pod filter, certainly has more power now but only because the original filter was so filthy I think. Mechanic also re-rooted the breather pipe into a coke bottle to see if any oil comes out & it didnt so fingers crossed its ok now!!!!!!!!
Thanks for all the replies I will post some pics as soon as the 18" mags are fitted etc etc.

[Car Fanatics]

Ok so I got my Bongo back this week after a complete rebuild. Turns out that this motor had been overhauled before & who ever did the job was a monkey!!!. He had fitted the rings upsidedown, on pistons 3 & 4 not only did he fit them upsidedown but in the wrong order, idiot. I have done about 600ks now with no problems. Thanks for all the replies

[westonwarrior]

great that you got it going properly

the fix sounds expensive but at least you have it done right now

[Observer]

Ok so I got my Bongo back this week after a complete rebuild. Turns out that this motor had been overhauled before & who ever did the job was a monkey!!!. He had fitted the rings upsidedown, on pistons 3 & 4 not only did he fit them upsidedown but in the wrong order, idiot. I have done about 600ks now with no problems. Thanks for all the replies

What a 'wally'