In need of serious help Esprit virgin

[fraserl]

I hope you can help, I recently purchased an esprit turbo with lots of history etc. I have done about 1100 miles in it with no problems, last night while out for a run I noticed when I accelerated hard there was a very very loud squeal from the engine when I backed off the accelerator it disappeared, this happened a couple of times till, with three miles to home, I overtook a car and there was a squeal and the clouds of white spoke from the exhaust. I nursed the car home and when I started it this morning the same clouds of white smoke, and the engine is running quite rough. Is it the Turbo or the Cylinder Head ? also what would cause the high pitched squeal could it be the wastegate not functioning properly.

[maigret]

Can you give us more details on Model etc.

The 'white smoke' is likely to be water. Smell, or lack of it will indicate that too. If your turbo is water cooled then that is the likely suspect.

[fraserl]

It is a 1984 Esprit turbo CARB havent had the chance to investigate any more than this

[cnh1990]

Take off the hose after the turbo and have a look. Tell us what you find inside of the hose. That will help us determine the condition of the turbo.
Calvin

[fraserl]

Thanks will do that tonight and keep fingers crossed but I have that sinking feeling. If I need to replace the Turbo any advice??

[cnh1990]

Do not dispair. The rebuild does not cost that much and can probably be done locally.
Calvin

[lotusguy]

Hi,

Sorry to hear of your troubles. There are two possible causes judging from the symptoms you describe.

The first, while not so great, is not fatal. Namely a blown turbo. To diagnose this, remove the air intake hose coming from the airbox into the turbo and run your finger around the inside (engine cold). If you find oil coming off on your finger, the turbo seals have blown requiring a rebuild of the turbo. The white smoke you see is oil being drawn past the bearing, through the bad seal and up into the plenum and into the intake manifold where it is being burned inside the engine. The squealing you hear is the bad bearing being oil starved. You will need to remove the turbo and send it out for rebuild. Any diesel truck repair facility authorized to do Garrette/Airesearch work can clean up the turbo, install new bearing and seals and dynamically balance it to 30k RPM. You should also include the wastegate for rebuild as well. This will run you about $400-$450USD. If you cannot find a suitable facility in your area, consider sending it to Diesel & Import Auto/Truck Service (www.dieselandimport.com) here in Mpls., they are authorized Garrette/Airesearch dealers and have done my turbo and several other turbos from friends who own Esprits. They do an excellent job w/ a 3 day turnaround. You must also disassemble the plenum, remove the carbs and clean them of all the oil as well. It's a good time to consider a carb rebuild. The kit will run you about $120 for the pair from EuroCarb Ltd. (www.dellorto.co.uk).

Worst case, you have experienced 'Piston Crowning'. This is a condition known to the early Turbos and is the result of Lotus keeping the cast aluminum pistons from the S1 & S2 in the turbocharged 910 engine. After so many heat cycles (approx. 36-40k mi.), The piston starts to 'crown' . When this happens, the rings are pulled away from the cylinder liner and permit blow-by due to the loss of integrity between the rings and the cylinder liner wall. This results in a serious loss of compression and oil can blow-by the rings to be burned in the engine. Conversely, on the exhaust stroke, hot exhaust gasses can pass by the rings and actually melt the piston (ask me how I know this). To diagnose, pull aqll the sparkplugs and get a compression tester. If the plugs are all oil fouled, it's likely to be related to Piston Crowning. With the engine warm, throttles open, do a 'Wet' and 'Dry' compression test on all cylinders. If you see a change in values between the 'Wet' and 'Dry' tests, it means that your rings are suspect and that Piston Crowning is ocurring (this is a progressive failure allowing you approx. 5k mi. before thing go really wrong). You should get values of no less than 120PSI and a variation between cylinders of no more than 5PSI (preferrably less). The fix is an engine rebuild substituting Forged Aluminum pistons from JE. You should also replace the bearings and do a valve job at the same time. If done yourself, plan on about $3,000 in parts and services, slightly less perhaps.

Don't let this engine intimidate you, being based upon race technology, the engine is in fact quite straitforward and uncomplicated. Once you have it removed and on a stand, it's just like any Ford or Chevy, perhaps even less complicated. Let me know how you come out and if I can offer any further assistance. Happy Motoring! Jim '85TE

[rob.e]

Fraser - if your uk based, turbotechnics in Northampton did my turbo rebuild. Good quality of work and quick turn around time.
www.turbotechnics.com/
cheers
Rob

[fraserl]

Thanks guys,
I have emailed the Turbo guys for a price it looks more like I will be buring the night lights and replacing the turbo unit, anything else I should replace / check at the same time. Any pitfalls to look out for.

[lotusguy]

fraserl said:

Thanks guys, I have emailed the Turbo guys for a price it looks more like I will be buring the night lights and replacing the turbo unit, anything else I should replace / check at the same time. Any pitfalls to look out for.

Hi,

First things first. Before going and getting the turbo rebuilt, determine if, in fact, that is what's causing your problem. It would do no good to repair the Turbo only to find the problem lies elsewhere.

There is no simple test to diagnose the wastegate function and condition, but, as it is 19 years old, I would simply elect to rebuild it. You need to check the turbo seals by removing the intake hose and feeling around for oil. Also, you must do a compression test of each cylinder to both rule this out as well as to establish a baseline with a new car with which to judge future health of the motor as outlined in my earlier post.

If it does turn out to be the Turbo, you also need to disassemble the plenum and carbs and clean the oil out of them which has been drawn up into them to date, so you'll need to order some gaskets as well as plan on replacing the old, oil fouled sparkplugs, possibly the air cleaner. You need to drain and sift or strain the oil out of the sump to determine if any metal, which could come from an exploded turbo bearing, or failed piston has gotten into the engine and caused other damage as well. It really is not so simple as just removing the turbo and sending it out for repair.

As far as removing the turbo, you need to saturate the nuts on the turbo with Liquid Wrench, PB Blaster or other penetrating oil overnight to get them off. You will need to remove the wastegate extension and wastegate to get easy access to all the nuts. Be prepared to have to cut the nuts off if they are frozen tight. Your repair shop can easily replace the studs and nuts. You'll need several 13mm wrenches and sockets of varying lengths and angles to get all the hardware off. Happy Motoring! Jim'85TE

[cnh1990]

There is a short test with a hand pump and a pressure gauge that will check the capsule but not the gate itself.
Calvin

[fraserl]

Firstly Thanks for all the replys it is very comforting to know there are people out there with more knowledge than me (which wouldnt be hard) and willing to help.It is really apprieciated. checked the compression on the cylinders all around 14 (PSI) well it reads 14 on the clock thingy.took off the plenium and there was some oil so I cleaned that started to take off the Turbo and realised that I couldnt bend my fingers and wrists into the weird shape required. Phoned around the various specilist garages and found one "Autotec" who's chief mechanic has owned and run several lotus cars (good start), he is going to pick up the car tomorrow and will fit the new turbo, check the cylinders etc change the oil, filters etc, and give the car a good going over all for just over 1K. which seems very reasonable. I will let you know the outcome. Thanks again for all the help

[superdave]

fraserl said:

Firstly Thanks for all the replys it is very comforting to know there are people out there with more knowledge than me (which wouldnt be hard) and willing to help.It is really apprieciated. checked the compression on the cylinders all around 14 (PSI) well it reads 14 on the clock thingy.took off the plenium and there was some oil so I cleaned that started to take off the Turbo and realised that I couldnt bend my fingers and wrists into the weird shape required. Phoned around the various specilist garages and found one "Autotec" who's chief mechanic has owned and run several lotus cars (good start), he is going to pick up the car tomorrow and will fit the new turbo, check the cylinders etc change the oil, filters etc, and give the car a good going over all for just over 1K. which seems very reasonable. I will let you know the outcome. Thanks again for all the help

If you haven't already bought your turbo and it this that needs replacing, you could give Garry Kemp a bell as he sometimes has these knocking around at reasonable prices (usually on Ebay).
For future reference, depending where you live, Mark McKenzie live Edinburgh way. He's done alsorts to his car and has owned varoius models of Esprit. Take a look at the owners pages/ Stevens shape on www.lotusespritworld.com

Hope this helps,


Dave Walters

[lotusguy]

fraserl said:

checked the compression on the cylinders all around 14 (PSI) well it reads 14 on the clock thingy.

Fraser,

14PSI is 1/10th the spec'd compression for the 910 engine. I doubt that it would even start with those readings. You should be reading anywhere between 120PSI (low end for a used engine) and 150 to 170 PSI (Stock new, low mileage engine).

I suspect that you didn't properly do the test. That you didn't open the thotttles when cranking the motor. If they are not open, no air is drawn into the engine to compress, resulting in such incredibly low readings. You merely compressed the limited volume of air naturally present in the cylinder.

You need to disconnect the positive (+) low tension lead on the coil (so it doesn't start), disconnect the fuel pump relay (so it doesn't flood or Hydro-lock), open the trottles full (propping the gas pedal to the floor with a stick or rod) and crank the engine at least 4 revolutions for each cylinder, then record your values. This is referred to as a Dry Compression check.

Next, you need to repeat the above procedure for each cylinder, only this time, squirt a few cc's of motor oil into the cylinder before connecting the compression gauge. This oil will pool around the rings, temporarily sealing them. This is what's termed a Wet Compression check. If the values you record from this test differ significantly from the Dry one, it identifies your pistons/rings as a likely fault.

Your mechanic will know this and take the appropriate steps. Be sure to ask him what the values are, so you can record them and refer to them in the future as a baseline with which to judge the engine's health.

The presence of oil in the Plenum is a classic sign of Turbo seal failure and hopefully, a rebuild of the Turbo will be all it needs. Happy Motoring! Jim'85TE

[fraserl]

Sorry Guys please excuse the terminally incompetent, the reading is 140 the dial thing is X 10. I S*** myself when reading the response from Jim, thankfully it was just me.Followed the instructions received from Steve by email and the reading is 140/142/141/142 Also checked the receipts for all the work done to the car 2.5K miles ago which included resleving the cylinders with an upgraded thingy begins with NICK**** which is supposed to be the newer engine standard. also complete rebuild and recon turbo total bill 15K. Anyway waiting for the report from Autotec will let you know the outcome Cheers Guys.

[cnh1990]

Nickasil is a good thing.
CAlvin

[lotusguy]

Fraser,

It's good to hear. And, using Nikosil liners w/ matched pistons is the 'cadillac' of rebuilds on a 907 engine. Your P.O. paid about $4800 in these parts alone if he bought them new. I considered them when rebuilding my engine last year, but I simply couldn't bear the expense, so used the money I saved to perform a sundry of other fixes.

Sounds like once you get the turbo rebuilt, you'll be good to go. Happy Motoring! Jim'85TE

[fraserl]

Hi guys,

Yes it is the Nikosil things total for that and the pistons Gaskets Labour etc was 8K, I have just found out the the Cylinder head Gasket is also Fubar Having the cylinder head compression tested the head and ports have been polished and the bottom end has been completely rebuilt previously so the Mechanic says this should put the engine in A1 condition. Turbo was also Fubar seals and bearing new Turbo cost £395. Well it looks like I will have the car back around Monday 1st sept, will let you know the final outcome.

Thanks again Guys

[lotusguy]

fraserl said:

Hi guys, Yes it is the Nikosil things total for that and the pistons Gaskets Labour etc was 8K, I have just found out the the Cylinder head Gasket is also Fubar Having the cylinder head compression tested the head and ports have been polished and the bottom end has been completely rebuilt previously so the Mechanic says this should put the engine in A1 condition. Turbo was also Fubar seals and bearing new Turbo cost £395. Well it looks like I will have the car back around Monday 1st sept, will let you know the final outcome. Thanks again Guys

Fraser,

If your existing turbo was part of the recent rebuild, I would think that whomever did the work should be contacted to stand behind it. A rebuilt turbo is just as good as a new one and should last at least 40-50K mi. w/ proper oil changes and maintenance.

I would certainly contact them before rushing to plop down another 350BPS for another one. It may do no good, but what's lost in trying? Happy Motoring! Jim'85TE

[fraserl]

Hi Guys,

thought I would give you an update!. autotec received the Cylinder head back from the engineering shop NO DAMAGE YEEHA. Ports have been polished Brass insterts in valve guides skimmed etc all done reciently. Car should be back on the road Tue with new turbo watsegate serviced ? and a new MOT Cannot wait, Next job retrim the seats and replace Alpine Power AMP.Ordered Manual from SJ and booked the day off work to give some TLC and Polish.

cheers