BURNING OIL

bigjohn0

Hi guys, my car is burning oil but before i pull it to bits just wanted to know what to look at. When cold it sometimes kicks out smoke but not all the time. When driving normal its fine but when you give it some welly it smokes really bad dunno.. So i then put a catch tank on it and did a compreshion test and its showing 190 on all 4 pots but still burning oil bad.

Would the stem seals cause this problem or am i looking at rings notsure.gif The car has done 74k with full history and i also used flush in it at the last service. It had a new chain fitted 5 months back and its a sweet engine but this problem with oil burning is doing my nut as i have no option but to strip the engine now to get it sorted.

Any help with this would be great cheers..

Tubbe

My car also drinks oil. When i did the cam chain I also changed the stem seals but that made no difference to the oil consumption. It's very common these engines that the oil rings are gone.

bigjohn0

Well after weeks of messing about with it i am pulling it to bits tommoro as its using that much oil its a joke :thumbdown: I have always been a fan of the vectra and had loads of them but this is the first 2.2 i have had and its deffo the last one as it seems these have loads of problems.

So when its sorted it will be used until it dies again then a turbo conversion will take place as i really dont think they are worth the trouble. Most of the vectra's i have had ( 2.0 & V6 ) have been fantastic cars and did well over 200k with no problems but at 74k with this one you would think a kid built it from lego as they are utter rubbish.

bbr620

mine's using about 1 litre every 200 mile, .2.2 sri, smokes when cold so i've stopped nailing it until it's at normal temp..

sandyc

If you have the head off it aint alot of extra work to do the rings.Im in the middle of doing mine just now. I should have it running again at the weekend.
Conrod bolts are cheap as chips from Vauxhall.
Rings can be found for £80 on Ebay and big end shells about £30 if you wish.

jwalker

Did you get the bores honed? I was under the impression you had to when changing the rings, meaning the block has to come out etc

sandyc

I bought a deglazing tool from Machine Mart, took the glaze off and cleaned them up. That's all that is required.

bigjohn0

Hi guys, Well its in bits now :crazy: I am not shocked it was burning oil as the rings were stuck in the pistons with hard burnt oil. Number 3 piston was really bad with about a mill of burnt oil on the top and took some getting off but the worst was the valves and i really dont no how it was running. On the exhaust side the carbon was that bad it almost covered both valves so they become one,,,,,lol Spent well over 2 hrs cleaning it all up and then went to fit the new rings just to find they had sent the wrong ones :thumbdown: So the plan is to get the right ring kit tommoro and build it back up. Also got a set of big end bearings so it should be as good as new when done.

With a bit of luck i might get better mpg with the fuel rather than oil.... lol I was using almost 3 liters per 100 miles of oil in the thing.

bigjohn0

Well its all up and running again and sounds sweet so just need to keep an eye on the oil to make sure its job done.

Matt

Great news :thumbup:

Sjdickso

Thats good seems to be a very common issue now, pritty much most over 70K seem to have this now.

bigjohn0

Thanks guys cheers.. Just pleased its sorted now. It seems to me the main problem is the oil ring on the piston gets stuck with hard,dry oil and then it stops doing its job. So i would say to people keep up with oil changes and use a flush before you drop it out. There is no doubt that if your engine burns oil that you have the same problem as i had and a new set of rings will sort it out. The only good thing about the engine is they are very easy to work on once you get your mind set on doing the job.

Thanks again guys for all the help and i am looking forward to being a help to you guys one day cheers..

sandyc

I was going to finish the exact same job this weekend however the rain has brought it to a halt. Grrrrrrrrrr Typical scottish weather. My only 2 days off in the week and it rains solidly for about 36 hours so far.