just before xmas my wiring loom had loads of problems with melting wires and blowing fuses and things not working so over last 5 weeks ive slowly put a new loom in,new payen headgasket,new turbo etc.
got it all up and running,but its smoking quite bad so just did a comp test its got 90, 100, 125, 50 in the cylinders. and this bottom end has only done 3k miles


update,
ive just drove home from work with a mate folowing me and he dont reckon its rings as it ent smoking that much.car fires up 1st flick of the key aswell.but the car is quite flat to drive,does anyone think it could b a head problem?

 

thanks mate.gonna have to try get a new bottom end i think

 

WTF has happened to it, how did the rings get fried so quickly??
Or is the head/block warped, or even the HG gone already, maybe cracked ring lands?
Feel for you mate!!

 

were you running big boost rick?


cheers james

 

God what a bummer, never heard of such a mixture of readings on all 4 cylinders. Possible head gasket failure i know its unlikely it being payern. Did you use new bolts

 

May well be a top end issue mate, ie valves not seating properly.... Hope its not the bottom end mate!

The yanks are fond of blow by tests, this will tell you if the compression is being lost through the crank case (meaning rings (usually) have done a poo) where as a compression test will test the compression of each cylinder so could be a valve issue, head gasket etc etc.

Rob,

 

Good point Rob, could be a valve issue!

 

how do i do a blow by test? what does that involve.i had the valves relapped last week before head was fittedi think the head gasket is ok and i used new head bolts.it was smoking before i took it apart but i was convinced by many people that it was the turbo even tho it hardly had any play in the shaft.

as i said before the engine has done 3k miles but the last time it was in a car was 2003,then it got put in my car last year.unless sumat has happened to the rings while in storage?

ive been offered a fiesta turbo efi bottom end with rings gone.so may put new rings in that lump and swap it over.that way it will have the cps hole if i ever want to swap management.
will my clutch bolt strait on to it or are they different sizes?

 

If it was smoking before then my money is on the rings, if you had a couple of bent valves you would of thought that would have been noticed when lapping them in.

Blow by test meassures exactly what is getting past your rings by monitoring the crank case breathing using a blowby flow meter attached to the rocker cover.
You will of course need to know what a healthy engine should read to be able to compare the results, and I have no idea what they cost.

FRST Bottom end is a good move as you say with CPS ready for EFI at some point, just make sure you have the bores measured before splashing out on new rings (rule of thumb is that if you can feel any lip at the top of the bores then you need to go ovresize), also get the crank meassured and fit new big end and main shells whilst your at it! Yes the clutch will bolt straight on!

 

update,
ive just drove home from work with a mate folowing me and he dont reckon its rings as it ent smoking that much.car fires up 1st flick of the key aswell.but the car is quite flat to drive,does anyone think it could b a head problem?

 

+1 It's the only way forward mate!

 

ud have that it would have been noticed when my mate relapped the valves last week tho.dont know if its worth trying another head on it before rip the bottom end out???

 

To be fair unless it's black smoke and running really lumpy like it's firing on 2-3 cylinders I doubt it's the head, running and starting fine (albeit a bit flat) with blue smoke points to rings to me.

 

my mate reckons it is black smoke.it sounds as tho it may have a small misfire and is very flat pulling away until it comes on boost

 

but yeaterday the smoke looked blue in the mirrors

 

Your loosing a lot of compression mate, just take the head off then you will know for sure. Black smoke=rings but such an irregularity could be head gasket.

 

cant be gasket as it smoked b4 i changed it the other day

 

Rings it is then, build up that efi lump. Pick up sensor bonus too!

 

yeah think its my only option,just dont wana change it all if theres a possibility of it just bein head

 

Are the plugs oily?

 

Black smoke does not = rings!
Black smoke is fuel (ovefuelling, running on 3 etc..), blue smoke is oil (rings, turbo) and white smoke (actually steam) is water (HG).

 

Didn't mean to right black i meant blue
Blue smoke= Rings.........Valve stem seals........turbo

 

lol No worries!

 

try putting a squirt of oil down each cylinder then do a compression check with full throttle, if the readings don't go up then its possible valves/head gasket, if they do go up then rings as the oil seals them temporally

 

good idea wet compression test

 

no wonder RST's get a bad name with 2nd hand engines/fitting new rings to probably a fucked engine to start with!


Do it once, do it right.....Always money to do it again but never enough to do it right

 

worth a try

 

goint to get a wet compression test done this week so i will know once and for all.

i actually did a normal compression test before i changed the headgasket and reground the valves in last week and got these figures 80 115 100 110

my tappets were shot so i changed them. and as said ,the most recent comp test figures were 90 100 125 50. im finding it really strange and its really got my thinking it could be the head after all.

it seems to smoke only occasionally and not under full throttle.anyone ever had same problem?

 

i would hazard a guess with the black smoke you were getting that the engine is massively overfueling resulting in bore wash, did the bores look shiny when the head was off or could you still see the honing marks ?

 

to be honest mate i didnt notice,the bores felt ok,but i didnt have a good look as i didnt suspect anything would be wrong with bottom end as it has only done 3k miles

 

ah assumption, the mother of all fcuk ups.

 

i dont know bout a blow by check, but the best thing i suggest is a CYLINDER LEAKAGE Test. this should tell you exactly where your losing compression without having to whip the head off!
its a very simple but effective test!
like a compression test, you have to fit an adaptor to the spark plug hole,
but instead of fitting a guage to it, you plug an airline to it! you must ENSURE that the cylinder that you are testing, the piston MUST BE AT T.D.C
otherwise the pressue from the airline will simply send the piston down!
at T.D.C the valves are shut and the con rod is dead straight / vertical, so the pressure will just sit in the combustion chamber! NOW all you do is listen for where you are losing pressure!
if you can FEEL / HEAR AIR coming out of the following:

Oil filler cap = Rings
Exhaust Pipe = Exhaust Valves
Inlet Manifold / Throttle = Inlet Valves
Header Tank = Headgasket

 

thanks mate seems like a good test to do cheers