Compression Test And A Smoking Sport 160

[innivodave]

Hi guys,

does anyone happen to know what readings I should be expecting with a compression test on a sport 160?

 

Thanks

Dave

[Martin R]

This may help although the fuel pump fuse is in a different location

 

http://forums.mg-rover.org/showthread.php?t=283162

[innivodave]

Thanks for the link Martin.

My results are coming out slightly higher, I'm getting 15.8, 16.2, 16.2, 16.4 on a dry test, and 17.3, 17.8, 17.3, 19 on a wet test. It was getting dark towards the end, and I think I put more oil in cylinder 4, so not entirely sure how accurate those results are. To be honest, I'm not really sure what these readings tell me, are the variations in an acceptable range?

 

Thanks

Dave

[Dr H]

No idea on the actual readings but that variation is very little. I'd say it's looking pretty good.

[Martin R]

I would be happy with them as well. Why did you do the test ?

[innivodave]

I would be happy with them as well. Why did you do the test ?

 

I've got smoke pumping out of the exhaust. Well, when I start the car from cold, there's not much, if any. But as the engine warms up, the smoke pumps out more and more. After ticking over for 10 or so minutes, the engine starts to sound like it's about to stall, which it eventually does. A couple of people have told me that it smells/looks like it's burning oil. Also, the car is running too hot, temp went up to 115 on the way to work. It does seem to be regulated tho, seems to go up to high temps and then come back down to 89/90 within a few seconds. Also, if I put my foot down to overtake, the engine spits and splutters.

 

I made the mistake of taking the car to a local garage recently for a service, and it's come back worse than when it went in. It went in originally because there appeared to be steam coming from the exhaust, and I was losing coolant. Turned out that the inlet manifold gasket had a crack in it, so I had that replaced along with cambelt, water pump, oil, coolant, thermostat, etc. They've put the wrong oil in for a start - semi synthetic 10w/40 instead of the recommended 15w/50 or 10w/60. They've put the cheap blue coolant in instead of the pink OAT stuff. Apparently they haven't used genuine parts either. I've always used main dealers before, but thought I'd try to save a few quid this time... big mistake.

 

Any ideas what might be the problem?

[Martin R]

Hard to diagnose online. Unfortunatly it sounds like HGF or inlet manifold gasket. If you update your location we can recommend a good independant for a proper opinion without hopefully costing the earth.

[innivodave]

Hard to diagnose online. Unfortunatly it sounds like HGF or inlet manifold gasket. If you update your location we can recommend a good independant for a proper opinion without hopefully costing the earth.

 

Thanks Martin, I've update my location now. The inlet manifold gasket has just been replaced, and someone else had suspected it was a HGF, so unfortunately that's probably it. Although I had thought that the compression test might show something if it was that? maybe not.

 

Thanks

Dave

[JonS]

Hi Dave,

 

You could give Top Gear Automotive in Wolverhampton a call. I use them and am very pleased with the service.

 

You can also try Paul Matty in Bromsgrove. His team are very knowledgeable and my Dad got his two Lotus' from there and they look after him very well. (They also have quite a showroom now as well)

 

Hope its not too serious.

Jon

[danwebster]

I'd be inclined to think the smoke and the stalling are unrelated.

 

Mine stalls if I sit in traffic for a long time, get some heat soak and the IACV packs up and it won't tick over. Restart the car and its fine.

 

Your temperature woes sound like air locks - they can take a fair bit of bleeding after the coolant is replaced.

 

The smoke could be as simple as stem seals, or you could still have an issue with the inlet manifold.

[innivodave]

Thanks for the replies Dan and Jon.

I've heard good things about Top Gear Automotive, will def give them a call if it's looking like something serious.

The stalling thing is a weird one, never noticed it before, but as Dan mentioned, restart and it's fine, not too worried about that.

I'd be v happy if my temperature woes are air locks - a nice cheap fix How quickly would the temps go up and down if it was? my temperature seems to gradually go from 88 to around 105 in about 10 secs, and sometimes take a while to come back down, when they do, it drops in about 5 secs.

At the weekend I thought I might as well sort the oil out, so I drained the 10w40 from the engine and oil cooler, and replaced with the recommended Mobil 1 Motorsport 15w50.... and no more smoking Now, I'm not sure if that's an acceptable fix, or if it just means that the thinner oil has shown up a problem sooner than the thicker oil would. Any thoughts?

[Martin R]

The difference in oil thickness between the 2 must be marginal at best. Not smoking now, how strange im glad its stopped though. Ive done a guide to how i bleed mine. I will have a look and copy and paste it.

 

Here you go

 

Lotus recommend you pressurize the system to bleed it properly. I presume this is due to the rad being at the front as opposed to the normal K series configuration.

 

I used a Gunnerson Ezi bleed from Halfords to do this. Its for bleeding brakes but works on cooling systems as well. It comes with a variety of cap sizes and one fits the Elise expansion bottle.

 

I dropped the pressure in the near side rear tyre to about 15 psi as you dont want to blow the pipes off. Attach the cap from the Ezi bleed to the top off the expansion bottle. Pressurise the system by attaching the other end of the Ezi bleed to the tyre. If the level drops significantly refill the header tank.

 

Undo the bleed screw on the radiator outlet pipe. Its under the N / S front wheel arch liner. You can get at it by peeling back the wheel arch liner. You may want to remove this first to make it easier though. Tighten the bleed screw when water comes out. Dont undo it too far.

 

Slowly undo the bleed screw on the engine coolant rail till water comes out as well.

 

Remove the Ezi bleed at this point. With the header tank cap removed start and run the engine at idle till the temperature guage reads 60 - 65. Increase engine speed to about 2000 rpm. If you watch the temp guage as it rises you should notice the temp drop back as the thermostat opens. With mine it was at about 85 but i expect they all vary slightly. After its done this twice, rebleed at the radiator bleed screw with the engine still running.

 

Continue to run the engine at 2000 rpm till the radiator return pipe feels hot. At this point replace the header cap. Run the engine at 2000 rpm till the fan cuts in. Let the engine and coolant cool fully and top the tank up to the normal level. I top mine up to the min mark.

 

Dont forget to pump the tyre back up. Hope this is of some use.

 

This has always worked well for me HTH

 

Sorry about the red words. It because i searched for bleeding and coolant.

[innivodave]

Thanks Martin, that's a nice bit of info there. Cheaper than a pressure test pump, and my local halfords had one in stock .... Yeh, I thought it was pretty strange for the oil change to make such a difference too, but I know for sure that it was smoking before, and now it's not - I'd be interested to hear if there's an explanation for that. Now if I can just sort this temp thing out I'll be a happy man - will try re-bleeding tomorrow, thanks for the tips again Martin.

[innivodave]

I tried re-bleeding the coolant, but unfortunately it's made no difference. I got someone to have a look at it last night, and he suspected it could a rad problem. He noticed that the rad was cold on one side and burning hot on the other. I'm guessing that some temperature range across the rad is inevitable as the water cools down, but should it be too hot to touch on one side, and cool enough touch as long as you like on the other side?

[danwebster]

Hot one side cold the other sounds like air lock to me, i've had it a few times due to faulty expansion tank caps not pressurising the system and allowing it to boil, get air in etc etc.

 

Try it again, get the car properly hot - up to operating temperature, then reach in and open the bleed valve on the passenger side - it can take a long time for the air to come through, you might lose a load of coolant so make sure theres plenty in the tank, but the air will come out eventually.

 

When its bled correctly the rad will be hot all over.

 

Also, make sure its not parked on a slope nose down, if anything park it uphill....