Smoking engine ?

[carrierbarry]

Just started my mk2 carrier after a several months laid up. She started on the button but a lot of blue smoke. I let it run for a while to get hot., but still smokes and smokes a lot when revs”. Thought maybe stuck valve or dirty old fuel. Any ideas?

[Lynn Eades]

Black smoke is fuel, Blue smoke is oil. How long have you run it? Oil is likely getting past stuck rings. Make sure there is enough oil in it and then work it a bit. A stuck valve is going to give you a dead cylinder (which btw might help it pump oil, due to no load on the rings)
I assume oil is coming from both pipes and sort of even?

[rob love]

I theorize stuck valves on these older motors may be because of the ethanol in the fuel. If it is a stuck valve, you can usually fix that right on the vehicle by first identifying which cylinder is the culprit, and then pulling that sparkplug. With a small punch you can gently tap the valve back in place, then crank the engine over and repeat until the valve moves freely again.

To identify which cylinder has the stuck valve, you can start at the exhaust pipe and with the engine running, and your hand in the exhaust stream, feel for the side that has a miss. That will narrow it down to one side. Now for the shocking part. With the engine running, you need to pull the wires one at a time and see if there is a loss of RPM, or an added roughness to the idle. If the plug is pulled and there is no change, then you have found the bad cylinder. This was often referred to as a poor mans compression test. Replace the wire and move on to the next cylinder.

These jobs are much easier with a second person.

[carrierbarry]

Thanks guys I’ll report back

[lynx42]

Originally Posted by rob love

To identify which cylinder has the stuck valve, you can start at the exhaust pipe and with the engine running, and your hand in the exhaust stream, feel for the side that has a miss. That will narrow it down to one side. Now for the shocking part. With the engine running, you need to pull the wires one at a time and see if there is a loss of RPM, or an added roughness to the idle. If the plug is pulled and there is no change, then you have found the bad cylinder. This was often referred to as a poor mans compression test. Replace the wire and move on to the next cylinder.

Instead of pulling the plug leads off why not just use a screw driver to short out the plugs one at a time. (That is if there is no insulating cap on the plug.) Just link the plug wire to the head with the shaft of the screw driver.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Y'know that feeling you get when the zap goes right up to your armpit? I'm getting it now just talking about mucking with the spark...and I'm nowhere near an engine.

Careful as you are and with due regard for proper electrical insulation you just KNOW you're going to get zapped when you do stuff like this.

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by rob love

Now for the shocking part.

These jobs are much easier with a second person.

It's what you're NOT saying here is the important part.

If your Ignition Leads are in less than optimal condition (especially the rubber or plastic insulation that fits on to the tip of the plugs, although the leads themselves can be leaky), then pulling them off and pushing them back on while the engine is running can give you a bit of a HT shock (don't worry, while it's 40,000 volts, it's very low amperage ). That can make it difficult to hear if the engine revs have changed as you're waving your arm around shouting "Holy Mother of a Cow!"

Having a second person do the job is not always easier, as the involuntary muscular reflex of the electrical impulse can see them thump you in the side of the head, often some time later when the job is finished and you're having a

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Tony Smith

It's what you're NOT saying here is the important part.

If your Ignition Leads are in less than optimal condition (especially the rubber or plastic insulation that fits on to the tip of the plugs, although the leads themselves can be leaky), then pulling them off and pushing them back on while the engine is running can give you a bit of a HT shock (don't worry, while it's 40,000 volts, it's very low amperage ). That can make it difficult to hear if the engine revs have changed as you're waving your arm around shouting "Holy Mother of a Cow!"

Having a second person do the job is not always easier, as the involuntary muscular reflex of the electrical impulse can see them thump you in the side of the head, often some time later when the job is finished and you're having a

I think if you have your #2 work the plugs and #2 gets the inevitable zap then a plonk on the side of your head would be the correct and expected thing your #2 would do to you. Once they got feeling back in their arm that is.

I've asked my wife to help me bleed hydraulics and hit the starter button from time to time but I'm not thinking making her my #2 go-to person for spark plug work is a good idea.

[rob love]

I meant that the other person would be to crank the engine, or to feel the exhaust for the miss. If I ever had the missus pull the plug wires and get zapped, well, I can't say for sure what would happen. I know it would not be a good thing to laugh at.



My own rule was that whomever's vehicle it was had the job at the sparkplug wires when trying to find a bad plug. When I was in the service, the old 5/4 ton chevs got a new system of shielded plugs and wires. There were a lot of failures early on, and rather than rip out everything and install 8 new wires and insulators, I would have the operator pull each wire one at a time while I felt the exhaust. I was attached to an infantry unit at the time, and some of those guys were pretty tough. But they all said ooookkkkkay the same when a spark plug wire was pulled. I would say OK if I felt a new miss and they would put the wire back in. If I could not quite discern the miss, I woudl say "do it again" and they would pull that wire out again, and say ooookkkkay? I would find the bad wire and unsulator, and have them back on the road (a little worse for wear) within a half hour vs the several hours to tailor the wire set and replace all the insulators in the shields for the plugs.

[Ron Pier]

The screwdriver to earth method is the easiest if there are no plug caps. Otherwise I disconnect all the plug caps and just rest them on the plugs. Then with some insulated pliers, lift each one in turn away from the plug. You can also hear the clicking of the spark which confirms that the lead and ignition is ok, and if the engine note changes when the cap is lifted clear, you can assume that plug is ok. Ron