Potenital engine needed - does anyone have anything?

[Jon Brown]

So after some wasted time at a unnamed garage it would appear that my piston rings are allegedly knackered, although i do find this strange that it happended relatively overnight, with the smoke being white rather than blue as well as happending at the same time my power steering pump being replaced and my vacum advnace being changed. Still need to do a proper leak down test, but don't particually want to spend anymore money at the garage in question.

Anyway...I may potentially need a rebuild or a new engine qand just wondered if anyone had something interesting lying around that they may not need.

Unless anyone has any other bright ideas on what might be causing my smokey engine. If it makes any difference before it went to the garage it was only when the car got hot.

[Jon Brown]

CHIMV8 said:

If you need a rebuild have a chat with Rob at V8 Developments,you wont get a better service or advise on the way forward

Thanks, I already have a load of options from them. Just thinking if there were any alternatives

[Jon Brown]

JRA400 said:

I have a 4 ltr. Serpentine engine less flywheel, front cover and ancillaries in the corner of my garage that was running perfectly before I replaced it with a 4.6 if your interested, it had done 51K

That sounds interesting, I have tried to send you a message but didn't work. I will try again later.

I would love to upgrade to a 4.6 but don't think I can stomach the bill at the moment. Maybe a couple of years down the line

[Jon Brown]

Thought I would provide an update, the garage I took too was indeed Austec and a waste of time that was. Shocking service and the car came back with mud on the carpets, boot scuffs on the door panels, the list goes on and they didn't even bother to respond to my email. Won't be using them again even if they paid me!

Anyway, me and my mechanic friend have performed a leak down test with satisfactory results, but still smoking but only when hot. Bit of a strange ticking noise from cylinder 8 and when the injector is disconnected the smoke reduces and ticking stops.

So seems to be the only option is to take off the head and see if there is a dropped liner, cracked head or something

[Jon Brown]

carsy said:

I`d look at this first as well.

Anyone got a spare knocking around

[Jon Brown]

QBee said:

If it was my car I would get it to a trustworthy TVR expert first and have a proper diagnosis.

I was told by no fewer than 5 garage types that excessive oil use on my Saab was a failing turbo.
Mat Smith Sportscars in west Norfolk took a look and diagnosed piston rings.
A minor rebuild later and they were proved correct. Car now spot on.
Mat Smith is my TVR guru. I'm sure we could get your car trailered up to him.

Alternative is Taylor TVR at Aylesford in north Kent. I hear only good things about them too.
All you need is a trailer.

That would be good but pretty sure it isn't rings, compression readings are too good for that, that said something is definetly wrong with cylinder 8. Had live readings off the lambas an changed one as it wasn't switching, same bank as number 8, also doesn't seem to run much differently with the injector unplugged.

Unfortunetly things come in threes, jacked the car up and put a hole in the outrigger corner and also about to lose my rented garage, what else can go wrong?

[Jon Brown]

Thanks chaps, Bromley is only 20 mins away or always up for a drive

Be interesting to see what happens

[Jon Brown]

Spent the afternoon replacing the injectors (thanks Peter), sadly to no avail. She continues to smoke again only whilst hot.

This also continues for a while after the engine has been switched off, almost like its smoldering. Any other ideas, this all seems very strange. I guess next step will be to whip off the heads and have a look to see if anything is a miss

[Jon Brown]

QBee said:

So to recap, your car runs fine, but when hot you see white smoke.

Clouds of smoke, so nobody behind can see you?
Or just a little?
Driving straight or turning?
Constant or intermittent?
What starts it?

Yeah quite a bit of smoke but not clouds. Not driving the car at the moment as the mot has run out. It's constant when hot, which makes it a little more complicated. there does seem to be some condensation when cold and a little water comes out of the exhaust on start up.

[Jon Brown]

I did check the brake fluid and pipe on Wednesday, just checked again and appears to be normal level with no trace residue in the pipe. Good suggestion though.

Some of this started when I had power steering issues, including a leaky u bend which has since been replaced. Im tempted to drop off the exhaust tomorrow to make sure it doesnt have any oil in it, especially as over a three week period it dumped the entire contents on the floor

[Jon Brown]

Pre cats long gone, I was thinking that it could have gotten in the joint between the y piece and single exhaust.

I guess I could run it without the y piece but might ps off the neighbours

[Jon Brown]

So the good news, ran the car up to temp and as usual starting smoking. Disconnected the y piece with the engine running and no smoke from the manifolds at all.

So after all that it does appear to be pas fluid that got in the exhaust, which was exactly what Austec told me it couldn't be!

Thanks for the help and encouragement, nice to finally have a resolution and plan to solve it