Z22SE carb cleaning piston rings

KevinH

Senior Member
richard165, as I keep recommending to you use a fully synthetic oil, here is my Vectra B SRi 150 (2001) at 103K miles (now 112K) which has always had GM fully synthetic 5W30 from new. :)

IMG_0694.JPG
 
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Berto

Regular Member
that's beautiful has it always been on full synth?

Honestly no idea, but this car was exceptionally well preserved and maintained when I got it with 194K km, previous owner probably did regular oil changes with synthetic. Since then it has only tasted Mobil 1 stuff.
 

richard165

Member
hi all after piston soak I've noticed a drastic reduction in oil consumption, so much so it is leading me to believe it is now the 'normal' ingestion through inlet manifold causing oil usage.

I've travelled 250 miles with over half being around 70 to 90mph, a few short and long journeys.

I've used about 2mm worth off the dipstick after 4.3l oil added, by now i would have used 0.5l!

I'll keep you updated, but I've been watching the "is this how positive crankcase ventilation works" thread so I've asked the relevant questions there.
 

Fordy

Member
I've been having the same issue with my Z18XER daily. It uses a considerable amount of oil on motorway journeys.

When I bought the car (from the old dear), I serviced it and took the rocker cover off I noticed oil sludge build-up in the corners of the head (this car had been serviced by Arnold Clark through the service package that she purchased with it).

Since the service, i kept getting the oil low level warning on the dash after a motorway journey. The old dear said that she never had the warning light come on which lead me to believe that when i dropped the oil, the sludge was dislodged and blocked somewhere else.

After numerous engine flushes and oil changes, the oil consumption seems to be slightly better but still not great.

Think i may give the piston soak a go and see if that helps.
 

richard165

Member
as detailed in the thread, for 12 to 17 quid for a bottle of seafoam, might as well give it a go. after 250 miles I noticed a huge difference, and the engine runs smoother.
 

Fordy

Member
Good to hear mate! Hope it continues that way.

Just waiting for my next motorway trip to see if the piston soak has helped any. I just went with the carb cleaner option rather than seafoam.

Decided to take the sump off and give it all a good clean out as there was a slight leak anyway and noticed there was a bit of play in the big end bearings. As it was a Sunday and I didn't have any spare bearings lying around I put my refreshed sump back on knowing it was going to have to come back off soon.
 

richard165

Member
let me know how your oil level is. I hope it stays!
if mine had dropped I would have tried the soak a second time provided there are no obvious leaks of course.

im going to do it every service now and swap to full synthetic oil.

im sorry to hear about your big end bearing, is it an easy job? ive never done one
 

Fordy

Member
Fingers crossed it has helped.

Its fairly straightforward:
Sump off
Conrod bearing caps off
Remove and inspect bearings and crank surface
Fit new greased bearings
Refit conrod bearing caps
Torque conrod bearing cap bolts
refit sump
 

KevinH

Senior Member
Fordy, for info, it's recommended that new con rod big-end cap bolts are used when refitting as they are 'stretch' bolts (part # 90537293 - screw, connecting rod (8 reqd)). They are £1.16 + VAT each from Vx dealers but currently none available in UK so they're having to back order from Germany.
Also, ensure that the bearing caps are marked relative to the con rod piston number so that they are refitted back to the respective con rod.

Hope that's useful :)
 

Fordy

Member
Fordy, for info, it's recommended that new con rod big-end cap bolts are used when refitting as they are 'stretch' bolts (part # 90537293 - screw, connecting rod (8 reqd)). They are £1.16 + VAT each from Vx dealers but currently none available in UK so they're having to back order from Germany.
Also, ensure that the bearing caps are marked relative to the con rod piston number so that they are refitted back to the respective con rod.

Hope that's useful :)

Cheers Kevin
 

Berto

Regular Member
I'm noticing that my oil consumption seems to be decreasing steadily since I switched to a thicker concoction (akin to 5W50 grade) as I put more km on it.

This guy prescribes copious flushes with 5W50 for stuck rings, he may be onto something after all:

 

richard165

Member
great research! the only problem im facing now is oil ingestion. sadly I can only think of using a catch can but oil will still be wasted. :(
 
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