Arg, Smokey...

[NoSkill]

Hmm, just had some 'bad' news about my MR2 (only recently back on the road )

Went out for a meet with some people from another forum and I've been told that my car 'smokes like a ******* train', more specifically an oil smoke (and bad enough that the car following had to close his window),

I haven't noticed anything when driving, and it doesn't seem to be down on power (but then I've not driven it, or in fact any car, for over a year until recently, and it does feel slow compared to my motorbike, but then it is :p)

Also I checked in the garage, started it up and revved it from the engine bay and it didn't seem to smoke at all. Checked the oil and it's very dark/black, and worryingly registering over the full mark (engine still warm but not hot)...

So, my first step is to do an oil change on it, then give it a bit of a run and keep an eye on the oil level/colour etc, but any other idea's?

It has been sat unused in a garage for ~1 year, could this have affected something like the piston rings (seems the a semi-logical explanation of an engine that produces oil smoke only under load???)?

[HT]

Hi - how long have you had the vehicle? Have you stored the vehicle or recentlt bought it too put it back on the road for yourself?

An obvious thought would be any oil leaks causing external burning of oil??

[NoSkill]

I've had the vehicle for 3 years, it broke down on my when I had no money and it ended up being in the garage for a year, before really I needed to move the car (rented garage that was running out) hence the getting it fixed,

It did used to 'use' a bit of oil, about a litre every 3-5k miles give or take, so not a staggeringly high usage, but probably more than it should be. There doesn't appear to be any actual leaks though, which again I guess points towards it being burnt in the engine for some reason...

[Lauren]

Redline it in second, then lift off and look in your mirror.

If there is a fair bit of smoke, could well be your rings.

[crazylegs]

try coming off the accelerator downhill you may get a cloud of smoke. worn valve guides or rings. dont worry too much we know of a man called `stinky pete`for the very same reason. he is now just pete again with his new SC (bling, bling )

[mr2mk1chick]

After the oil change, and checking the above advice, you can take it somewhere to get it checked for overfuelling under load (or have a fiddle) but best done using an exhaust thingy to meter the gasses.

[NoSkill]

Hi, Cheers for all the replies,

Just got back from the first drive in it since I posted,

Tried redlining it in second and then lifting off, no noticeable smoke (tried several times), same with the lifting off whilst going downhill.

I did notice a small amount of smoke but nothing major when revving it from cold (literally start car, stand next to car and rev it whilst looking where the exhaust is, and there was a small amount of black smoke, still none once the car has warmed up)

I'll do an oil change this weekend, got all the bits for it now, although not sure how to tell wether it's worked as I can't tell anything is wrong :p but i'll keep an eye on the level and colour and see how it goes...

When driving earlier I've been watching the oil pressure gauge like a hawk, not sure whether it's normal but there are a few things i've noticed:

At cold and at idle the oil pressure is below the mark in the middle of the gauge,

Once it's warmed up, and I've been driving for a bit at 2.5k+ rpm it sits pretty much constantly on the middle of the three marks, and when I stop at lights at whatever and it returns to idle it initially stops at exactly the mark in the middle of the gauge.

When you sit at idle for a while the pressure slowly drops back to a couple of notches below the middle of the gauge, and from there it takes 45s-1minute of >2.5k rpm before it'll reach the middle mark again

Does that sound normal/ok?

With the fuelling, it did fail it's mot initially on emissions, but they 'fixed' it, they said they adjusted the fuelling, but they may have just used another car, dunno, would any garage be able to check the fuelling for me?

[mr2mk1chick]

The oil presure guage will sit lower when idling than when driven, and imo all the mk1's i've had sit at various different levels to start with. Waay below half is not good, but yours i think is fine

As for testing the fuelling - any garage with a diagnostics exhaust gas analyser will be able to check for it. Just say you want a tune-up or something - explain your prob and they will tell you if they can test it.

[crazylegs]

probably just condensation in the exhaust and oil that has seeped down the valve guides.

[crazybrightman]

yep your valve stem seals and rings will have become a bit hard or gummed or from standing once hot and had a good run they will have re seated them selves. i wouldn't worry about the oil level always keep it on the max or a little more to stop starvation at high revs and hard cornering.