Quick Bit Of Help....

[zebedy101 0]

hi there everyone

 

i have just had a pretty random experience pulling out onto a main road i gave the 205 the beans and when i looked behind in the mirror there was clouds of white smoke shooting out of the back which cant be a good thing, after a couple more minutes of driving i thought id see if it happened again but it didn't however when i stopped it was ticking over just above 2000rpm which isnt normal for it either. It still drives and performs as good as ever no over heating etc... has any one else experienced this or have any knowledge to what could of caused it?

 

cheers seb

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

Main thing is to check all the fluid levels- for some smoke to appear "something" must be burning to produce it. That is the starting point anyhow.

[zebedy101 0]

i think its burning oil because the levels gone down a considerable amount for 36 miles of driving. am i right in thinking this could either be headgasket or valve stem oil seals? cheers seb

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

Headgasket is more unlikely, valve stem oil seals is very possible, the other possibility is worn piston rings. Having said all that, oil smoke is normally a very "blue" colour- white smoke suggests water.

[zebedy101 0]

Cheers for the help Tom. I checked all the levels when I left my house this morning and the water level is roughly the same its just the oil that's gone down it does use a little bit of water and has been for a while now but not enough to make me worry just yet and i know were its leaking from so i don't think this is linked to the smoke, the smoke was fairly thick and covered the road and car following me but it stopped after a couple of minutes and went back to normal which confused me quite a lot, it could have been blue i didn't pay as much attention to the colour as I should have done to be honest though.

 

would worn rings affect performance? I am sure its not as quick as it should be but I'm not to sure because ive never driven another 1.9 however I used to own a rover 200vi (1.8vvc same k-series engine as an Elise) which has pretty much the same performance specs to the 1.9 gti but slightly slower 0-60 however the 205 has never quite seemed to be as quick but the 205s handling is on a whole different level and so much more fun than the rover ever was. sorry about that ramble.. anyhow, is a compression test the best way to go about finding out the condition of the rings? and should i refrain from driving it when possible?

 

many thanks seb

[richsmells 2]

A compression test will give you a good indication of the engine's health. Conduct a search on here as there are lots of threads covering recommended readings etc.

 

As a rule, you want to see fairly even readings across all cylinders. Drop a tsp of oil down the bores and repeat the readings. If they rise significantly, this would indicate bore wear.

 

I did mine at the weekend and they went up a bit, but not by much. (1.6 135k)

Edited June 9, 2009 by richsmells

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

Compression test is a good start, do it with the engine warm, throttle held open. Note the readings. Then squirt some oil down each bore in turn and test again. If the readings with the oil are higher this would tend to point towards the rings.

[zebedy101 0]

Looks like another trip to Halfrauds for me then 3 in 3 days I'l be on first name terms soon. I fired it up earlier and took it for a drive and the smoke is defiantly blue so its defiantly burning oil so I'm one step closer to the problem lucky i keep a few spare liters in the boot for emergencies.

 

On the plus side though i have my refurbished wheels nearly finished and ready to fit and a new set of spark plugs to go in and plenty of other things to do.

 

cheers for all the help its very much appreciated.