Vectra's got a bad smoking habit

Brad666

Hi guys, done a bit of searching around on here and it looks like my piston rings are on the way out 🙁 I've only had it a month and a half lol oh well, looks like my wallet will be lighter over the next couple months :LOL:

pottsey

mine was the same ,how much oil you getting through

Brad666

Not a lot mate to be honest, when I bought the car it was on the min mark so i topped it up, I've done roughly 750 mile since then and it has used half a litre, its when i go past 5500rpm she kicks blue smoke out(which isn't often at all). It was the day i bought the car i noticed it, I got a little excited and wanted to see what she was like up the slip road with my foot planted....

Brad666

Still put a smile on my face though (y)

pottsey

750 to half a litre is good compared to what mine was using I was getting 300 miles to a litre :eek:

Brad666

:eek: Yeah thats quite bad lol, am i right in thinking its only burning/drinking oil when it smokes? Or does it do it all the time but not enough to notice it? I got a friend to follow me and he said it was clean until 5500rpm. Sorry for the questions but i have not got a clue lol

Sjdickso

Depends what it is but it seems a common issue with this engines at certain mileage and history, my old lump burnt oil esp after a shoddy VXL warranty job if I kept in the lower rev range it would still use some and anything over 5k used to cover the road and consume more.

Clogged / worn rings, maybe but if you go for a overhaul then chains and stem valve guides and seals would be done 🙁

Brad666

Thanks for the reply, the car has done 88,000 and it has full service with one previous owner, that was the main reason for buying it, i guess moral of the story is never judge a book by its cover :cry:

Sjdickso

Any sign of the chains been done?

Maybe just monitor the oil levels and do a fresh change with genuine filter and GM 10-40 oil.

Brad666

There's no receipt in the service wallet, is there any other way of checking? Thanks

Sjdickso

If you haven't got any receipt of this sort of work then its going to be hard to tell, there should be cuts on the tensioner bolt I think for newer ones but again this could not confirm it.

If you are thinking keeping it, it would be high on my list of things to do.

evocarlos

yeah good point
have a look down the back of the engine on the left side and see what the nut is
if its flat like the middle one then the chains need doing 3 years ago 🙂

Brad666

Ok mate will have a look in a mo, thanks lads

Brad666

Just a little update guys, I've fitted a new middle section without silencer and changed the back box. It still smoked after changing these (obviously) lol thing is after a few weeks of giving it some it's decided to stop smoking, it's now clean all through the rev range . 🙂 Comp test was done by a friend and he said it was fine, so I'm really baffled, should i still be worried? Thanks guys

evocarlos

Brad666 said:
Just a little update guys, I've fitted a new middle section without silencer and changed the back box. It still smoked after changing these (obviously) lol thing is after a few weeks of giving it some it's decided to stop smoking, it's now clean all through the rev range . 🙂 Comp test was done by a friend and he said it was fine, so I'm really baffled, should i still be worried? Thanks guys

what were you compresion test figures ?
just keep an eye on the oil level ""turn the dipstick thru 360* before pulling out""

Brad666

Hi Carl, i wasn't there when the test was done. I'll have a word with him later and find out. I'll let you know. Cheers bud