I think this is two seperate problems.
My dads car has been nothing but trouble this week and I have suggested it is time for the scrap yard but there is no way my parents can afford a new car and I cannot afford to buy them one as I have just bought a new car for myself.
When my dad starts his car there is a huge huge cloud of blacky/blue smoke its so bad that you cannot see the rear of the car. After that it settles down but it is still quite smoky. His engine sounds a bit of a racket too. I would have thought it was the stem seals but the smoke is really reallty black so it seems a bit more serious. The car runs fine but it is very vety noisy at idle. It does use a bit of oil but nothing too bad, probably about 5 litres per 10k. The engine is now making a bit of a racket but I have mentioned this on the technical bit before and the noise is more likely to be the water pump bairings.
My dad was gving me and a freind a lift tonight to Didsbury as we were going there drinking and on the way the car started making a horrible knocking noise. It was dark and I could not inspect it but one of the front wheels looked lower than the other. The suspension had been making a racket for a while as all the bushes need doing.
On the last MOT it was a big debate if it was fit for the scrap yard or not but it we manabed to scrape it through but since then the suspension sound has got worse and so has the smoke.
My blind diagnosises is the stem seals and a coil or arm that has snapped does this sound realistic? I will jack it up tomorrow and have a good look at the suspension.
Would steam seal faulure cause a cloud of black smoke?
The noise from the front passanger wheel is a rumbeling sort of sound so I assume this has to be either bearings or a failed coil?
Edited by Pugugly on 05/04/2009 at 08:38
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Just spoken to some people on a Ka site and they reckon the bottom end has gone. They seem to think the engine is knackered and my dad is planning a 100 mile motorway trip in it next week. The problem is I told him it needed a new starter motor last week when it was just the battery so I doubt he will listen to me. I swear on my life though that the cloud of smoke I saw coming out of it was even worse than something on TG when an engine blows up. It is odd that the smoke goes when it is warmed up though.
I told my dad he neede dto sell this car a few weeks ago when I discovered one of the wheel arches was bubbeling but he said just leave till MOT, but thats 6 months a way and I worried the engine will blow up before then at 70mph on the motorway :(
Edit two replies now saying the engine has had it :( They all bottom end :(.
Edited by Rattle on 05/04/2009 at 04:18
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If it oil leaking past the valve stem oil seals if would be more of a "puff" of smoke on start up rather than a "cloud", particulary to start with, though it would gradually get worse !
Dont forget this is an engine that has its roots in the 50's when 65/70 thousand mile was normal life for this sort of motor, and although better oils and manufacturing methods will have helped, it not going to be a engine that normally reaches very high milages !
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Knackered bottom end causing knocking, with unrelated black smoke?
Or a massive overfuelling problem causing black smoke and pre-ignition knock?
I know which I'd sooner hope for! Check your breather/vacuum hoses for splits/security. If it's idling rough it may not be running on all 4 cylinders - check ingiition system and leads for arcing.
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Knocking noise is from the front passanger wheel so possibly suspension or bearings not sure yet.
There was no smoke today so it is displaying the symtpons of the stem seals but why so much black smoke? I've not checked the breathers yet.
It is running on all four cylinders.
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