murph7355 Posted January 21, 2002 Share Posted January 21, 2002 OK, after numerous pain in the backside type niggles, I now think I've got something a bit more costly to play with. Which is always nice! My 1800K appears to be getting a thirst for oil. Probably around 1 litre every 500-750 miles. It runs brilliantly and smells very nice after a thrash (Castrol R type smell), but is using a lot of oil. There's nothing seemingly amiss externally - no leaks under the car, all joints are as clear of oil as you'd expect and the inside is reasonably clean (when I double check the filler cap is still there). The catch tank is all but empty. Which is starting to make me nervous and think "were forged pistons and steel banded liners really worth the expense"! So, whilst there's not a huge amount of info given, does anyone fancy a punt on: - whether my suspicions are probably correct. - what tests I could do to prove them so without huge work. I was thinking that maybe a ring was buggered on the pistons or something. But then I'd have thought you'd notice this quite easily? Would a compression test do the job? I don't think it's anything to do with the head gasket as this was changed not very long ago and the coolant seems fine (certainly doesn't look like it has litres of oil in it!), and whilst I've heard that the liners have to be carefully honed to the block, I don't recall it using this much oil in the first 8.5k of its current incarnation. Input welcomed and more info will be happily provided for those who enjoy such things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Carmichael Posted January 21, 2002 Share Posted January 21, 2002 Valve guides... If only on the exhaust side, not too much of a problem. If on the inlet side you could have a lot of oil burning going on which will make a mess with heavy deposits and liklihood of detonation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnty Lyons Posted January 21, 2002 Share Posted January 21, 2002 Took the words right out of my mouth seemingly absent. jj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oilyhands Posted January 21, 2002 Share Posted January 21, 2002 Heed those words.. if you have shortened the guides and are using an 11mm lift cam then the guides will meet their maker fairly soon, they are only sintered, one they wear a little the tilt on the valve on opening is enough to overcome the stem seals authority and oil will leech down the guide, have a peek down the inlet ports to confirm.. The answers is some Colsibro guides, full length but suitably tapered, these run much closer tolerances and are far harder wearing. Oily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyedwardc Posted January 21, 2002 Share Posted January 21, 2002 Andy it doesn't seem all that long ago that your engine was rebuilt/upgraded. I seem to remember that you didn't do the work yourself so perhaps you have some comeback on you engine builder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHRIS CLARK Posted January 21, 2002 Share Posted January 21, 2002 Yep, I too would plump for the guides. Was the head 'used' when you DVA'd it? There is not a lot of guide left and if the seals are a bit worn too, well .................................... Good Luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murph7355 Posted January 21, 2002 Author Share Posted January 21, 2002 Oh dear. I'll get them looked at. gary - you're not wrong. However that was a fair few hard miles ago. And whilst it could just be my general pessimism I've yet to meet an engine builder that will warranty work like that. Which is a bloody good reason to (learn to) do the stuff yourself I suppose. Will report back but I guess I better limit the revs for a bit until it gets looked at! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger King Posted January 22, 2002 Share Posted January 22, 2002 It may be a valve guide problem, especially if they have been shortened. Be warned that one of the commonest causes of a dropped valve is worn guides, because the valve no longer shuts true onto it's seat and is forced to bend a little. Many valve materials are good in tension but poor in bending - E214N in particular. Shortening valve guides generally leads to accelerated wear. Were the new liners plateau finished? The type of ring fitted to most uprated K pistons really need a plateau finish. Unfortunately, you can't really tell by looking with the naked eye, but it is fairly common to see rings that don't bed-in with unplateaued (is that a real word?) bores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murph7355 Posted January 22, 2002 Author Share Posted January 22, 2002 Not sure Roger, but will find out. Thanks for all the input gents. Will let you know what gives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murph7355 Posted January 22, 2002 Author Share Posted January 22, 2002 Just remembered. When my throttle cable snapped (it's been all go of late smile.gif) I looked into the throttle trumpets and there seemed to be a lot of black gunk in there (around the bottom of the trumpets). Thought it had come from outside and that the filters were shot, but I wonder if it was coming the other way. I've certainly not noticed any detonation, but then is it always noticeable ("pinking")? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Carmichael Posted January 22, 2002 Share Posted January 22, 2002 Andy, If you have black gunk in the trumpets start being very careful. You will have a heavy deposit build up on the pistons if you continue to run it and that will be visible in higher compression test readings. Something to check at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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