Looking for some insight into my issue. I am currently sat at the side of the road awaiting recovery after my engine started to make strange noises, then started to smoke/burn oil and the engine continued to turn over with the ignition switched off and main HT lead removed. I had to stall the engine to make it stop. Clearly I’m burning oil as how else could it run but is this a holed piston scenario or busted rings. Any thoughts? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
You mean turn over, but engine not firing? Could be the starter solenoid jammed and not disengaging. They can make some weird noises if the engine's making the starter go round at a million rpm.
I mean turning over as in the engine ticking over slowly and lots of smoke coming out the exhaust. Yet there is no ignition/power to the spark plugs and I have a fuel cut off switch so no fuel going to the engine yet it’s turning over on the oil it’s dragging up from the crank case. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Trust me on this. Ignition turned off. Fuel shut off valve activated so no petrol going to carburettors. Main HT lead from coil to distributor pulled off and the engine was still slowly ticking over with blue smoke bellowing out the exhaust. I removed the air filters and tried to block airflow but still it continued to run. Only way to stop it was to stall the engine. It’s a 1776 type 1 motor. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Strange ...not uncommon for motors to run off there own oil rare in a petrol more common with diesel as they have higher compression . The rings must be worn to let the oil pass but shouldn't have much compression ...unless its been seeping petrol into the oil making it more volatile and loads more fuel and oil in the sump . When did red light come on ..if at all .
If an engine was running rich it can develop enough carbon on the pistons to provide an ignition hotspot. Not true diesel operation but a glowplug engine. Its why there is a shutoff solenoid - that bit is normal VW aircooled. Simplest fault: a fail of that solenoid could be all that is wrong. Plus a reasessment of air cleaners and jetting to reduce the carbon buildup and a small amount of diesel sold in a proprietary pretty bottle can be used. Worst fault: The petrol in fuel suggestion would allow rapid wear to the point that a more easily combustible mixture can be metered in past the piston rings. Is your oil level now very high ? The red light might not have come on if the fuel/oil mix was not too dilute, and you started off with a good oil pump If this is so, your engine has used up so much wear lifetime in this last journey you may find a rebuild/replacement is needed..
I've had enough today. Tomorrow will hopefully shed some light on what's gone wrong within. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Though with full bowls it would idle for quite a while. I'll vote for it having been over-fuelling, loads of carbon build up igniting the petrol left in the carbs, but still pretty odd for it to keep running long enough for you to get round the back, pull the king lead off and still running while you went back, got in and stalled it! Maybe ye olde fuel cut off gives a false sense of security, masking the damaged float valve.
My old mini had a habit of running on as I remember, over advanced timing I think it was. Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk
The engine just kept on running (lumpy and very smokey) for some time as I removed the air filters on the dual Kadrons and stuffed towels down the Venturi's but the engine just kept on running regardless. I had already turned the ignition off and removed the main HT lead from the coil to the distributor cap too. I know the fuel cut off solenoid is working as at this time I have not had to clamp/pinch the petrol pipe whilst removing the engine (I will be clamping it as I'm a bit belt and braces that way). At this time it is beyond me as to how the engine was still running and I can only assume the oil being burnt was the fuel source. My plan tomorrow is to remove all the tinware and the flywheel/clutch (the bell housing is full of oil so presumably the main crank seal has gone). Then I'm going to do a compression test on all cylinders before the rocker covers come off then the heads. I have not yet drained the oil but the oil that ran out of the pipes to the remote oil cooler and oil filter is not thin and does not smell of petrol. I have had a valve stick on this engine before and bend a push rod. Also I believe the valve seats have been cut too deep and the valves are possibly pulling through the heads. The noise appeared to be emanating from No3/No4 cylinders and as we know No3 is the one that tends to be the weakest with all the heat. Hopefully I will be wiser by the end of tomorrow. The sad thing is we were due to be going to Camper Jam on Friday and that now looks like a lost weekend. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I removed all the spark plugs and turned the engine over by hand whilst swapping the pressure tester from cylinder to cylinder. Results were; No 1 = 63 PSI No 2 = 60 PSI No 3 = 55 PSI No 4 = 60 PSI The valves on cylinders 3 and 4 are all moving okay and no excessive or to small re the valve clearances. All pushrod tubes are straight and undamaged. There is some carbon build up in the cylinder heads and on the piston heads which I will address. There are no broken piston rings and the barrels are not scored and honing marks are still slightly visible. The oil was drained and appears to be U.K. contaminated with fuel. I've yet to remove the head and look at cylinders 1 and 2. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
That's lousy compression, but you are doing it by hand. A lot of carbon in that engine! Was there fuel in the oil?
Having been sat here racking my brain as to what has happened I think I may have the answer...... The idiot that is me...... The van has been running fine recently apart from a bouncing speedometer so I replaced the cable and drive/grease cap. I took the van out to test the speedometer (which now works okay) and thought I would top up the tank ready for Friday...... this is where I have made my mistake. It was 1/2 a mile after filling up that the engine started to make strange noises and then 1 and 1/2 miles when it started to smoke and then would not stop. A check of my fuel receipt shows I have placed 26.67 litres of ultimate diesel in my tank so it mixed with the 32 litres of E5 fuel that was already in the tank. The fuel in the float bowls got me the first 1/4 mile and the diesel/petrol mix is why it would not turn off. So now I've got to decarbon my cylinder heads and pistons before I rebuild the engine and drain 60 litres of useless fuel from the tank. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
