General Cinq 899cc Blue Smoke (I think)

[FiatNutGezza]

Hi All...hope someone can help.

We bought an 899cc P reg Cinq for the misses. Always new it was a fixer upper but it chucked a load of smoke (blue I reckon...defo oil related) out of the exhaust on the way home and soaked the air filter in oil.

I suspected head gasket so borrowed a compression tester and tested as per haynes manual. All 4 cylinders recorded 200psi within a couple of rotations...so me thinks that is OK. So I gave it a good service (15/40 oil, new air/oil/fuel filters, new bosch spark plugs and new coolant)...also added forte engine flush before drain down. Also gave filter box...pipes to throttle body...and throttle body a good clean to remove all the oil.

Car was SORNed so after service I started it on the driveway and after initial smoking...which I put down to leftover oil in the engine...it seemed to run ok and no smoke.

Have now taxed car and took it for a drive this evening. Seemed to start ok...but then after a while...going slightly uphill it started to smoke again...blue I think...I stopped and checked air filter...still clean...left pipe off between filter box and throttle body to limp home...had to go up seriously big hill to be able to turn around and it still smoked...then weird thing happened when I pulled over again...seemed to stop smoking...even if I revved engine when stationary?? Drove home with pipe still off...no smoke and air filter still clean. Put pipe back on between filter box and throttle body and drove same route...twice...still no smoke??

Don't believe it's fixed itself...none of my other Fiats ever have (but I still love them). And the missus is moaning saying she won't trust it until I tell her what's wrong with it...therefore seeking crystal ball!!

Cheers

 

[AppleSei]

Was it definately blue smoke the most recent time?

How long had it been stood/sorned prior to a full service?

Possibly because it has been off the road for a while and is the cars way of adjusting to being used again

smoke at start - condensation possibly

no smoke would indicate being warmed up and obviously being used

 

[ycming]

hmm blue smoke tho ....

I think is an indication that oil is getting to places where it shouldn't be in !!

Ming

 

[FiatNutGezza]

Thanks AppleSei...I thought it was blue smoke...defo not as much as before. Was off road for about 1 month, then I did service 1 week ago, then taxed it yesterday so back on road today. Smoke wasn't first thing, did a quick round the block and all was well, it happened on a slightly longer run (couple of miles).

Howdy Ming, any thoughts on where those places might be that oil shouldn't be?

Engines only done about 35k miles, get the feeling it might not have been all that well looked after, wondered if as compression check was OK if anyone thought it might be valve oil seals.

cheers

 

[rallycinq]

Valve stem oil seals would be a possibility, as would stuck rings.

You would get a good compression test because the oil in the cylinders was helping with the seal.

As long as you still have oil in the sump and the smoke hasn't stopped because there is no more oil, then it is entirely possible that any stuck rings have unstuck themselves due to the duty cycle.

If its oil seals, them, usually, the smoke would be there first thing in the morning, and only reoccur if the air inlet was blocked and the car was drawing air from the crankcase.

Cheers

SPD

 

[FiatNutGezza]

Thanks rallycinq...I checked the oil level at the weekend and it's still where I left it after servicing (just a little under max...didn't want to overfill it).

There's no smoke first thing in the morning so fingers crossed it might have been a stuck ring which has unstuck itself. I might put in some more Forte Motor Flush and run it for a hundred miles or so and give it another oil change...just to help it along a bit (when I used the Forte before I could only run the car at fast idle on the driveway as it was SORNd).

Cheers,
Gez