Mi16 Non Starter, Oil Above Pistons

[dicky20014 4]

Hi Guys, been a while since I've been on here but could do with a little bit of help.

 

So my Mi16 205 has been in storage for 18 months, turned over every 3 or 4 months by a friend. I returned home last week, car started fine, drove round the block a couple of times, no misfires, no problems.

 

Came to start it today, car won't start at all, backfiring badly when turning over. Took the spark plugs out to see what was going on and 2 of the plugs came up dripping in oil. Not just a little bit, literally dripping. The car had a full rebuild around 4 years ago and is fairly well set up, never had any issues before.

 

Without wanting to assume the worst, what are the options this could be? Piston rings / possibly head gasket sprung to mind but I'm hoping not!

 

Fire away.....

 

Rich

 

 

[Ozymandis 97]

I had a similar thing with an MGB engine, rings were stuck on two pistons that had been at bottom of worn bores for all the time it was off the road.

But if you turned it over regularly it shouldn't be that?

[welshpug 1,657]

most likely just cam cover seals gone and dripping oil onto the plugs as you remove them, clean it up and re-assemble.

 

check you have spark.

[dicky20014 4]

The oil was only on the threads of the plug though, not on the whole spark plug

[welshpug 1,657]

sounds about right, the plug lead boot cover most of the plug

[dicky20014 4]

Thanks for the advice so far, managed to get chance to have a look at the car again today (in between more house painting!).

 

So, I don't think my compression testers too great but I managed to get between 200-210 psi out of each cylinder at some point on a cold engine at WOT.

 

Have cleaned the plugs up, they all spark consistently when linked with the HT leads outside of the engine. When re assembled and turned over, they are not oiling up again, even after repeated engine cranks / vaguely running. I managed to get it to 'run' a couple of times. Running at very low idle and totally unresponsive to throttle so obviously something still amiss. Even after this the plugs had not re oiled up again. Most of the time it was just cranking and nearly catching but not quite. Then backfiring.

 

If the plugs aren't re oiling up, would this still point towards cam seals or not? I can't really see why its not running now. Pretty sure its got fuel as its backfiring, if i have all of the plugs out, fuel mist comes out of every cylinder, can hear it priming as normal on the second turn of the key.

 

I have an emerald ecu which has a light that is red then turns green on cranking as normal. I'm not sure if this is saying certain readings (tps, crank sensor etc) are ok or if its just a general I have ignition green light if you will? Basically I am wondering if the light going green helps me eliminate anything?

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Richard

Edited April 30, 2016 by dicky20014

[Anthony 1,003]

Green light on cranking means the Emerald ECU is seeing a valid signal from the crank sensor.

 

If you've got fuel, spark and compression and there's no oil on the plugs then I'd plug a laptop into the Emerald and double check sensor readings are all looking OK