Iltis smoke question.

[Pedro Bedard]

Hey guys, I thought I'd ask this here where others are far more knowlegeable about the Iltis than I am.

Here goes;
I finally got my Iltis on the road after 7 frustrating months of repairs and delays on Friday. Saturday, I decided to take it to a friend's place who lives about 20km away. Taking it on the highway, I got up to 70, she starts shuddering (what Iltis doesn't?) and then at 80 I get this massive loss of power, and a huge cloud of smoke behind me. I slow down and she seems to even out. Not one to press my luck, I take it home (I wasn't far) and parked it.
Opening the hood I noticed that there was a lot of oil all over the carb. I thought I blew a gasket or something but there was no oil on the engine.
On a hunch, I removed the air filter and found quite a quantity of oil in the botton next to the air hole that is connected to the carb by the snorkel.

One problem is that there is too much oil in it. I know this because when I got it home I check the oil level, and it looked empty! I now know that it was just see-through due to a complete oil change. But I made the mistake of putting more oil in it.
So, could it be that excess oil, being pushed through the rings via blow-by, accumulating in the snorkel and running downhill back towards the air filter? And when it get's to the higher RPM's, is slurps up some oil, giving me that problem?
I'll be draining some of the oil out tonight to the normal level but I'm wondering now if she needs new rings/rebore?

Thoughts? Comments?
Pedro
Winnipeg

[chris vickery]

Dump your oil and try again!
Excessive amounts of oil in the engine is paramount to blowing your gaskets, seals etc. Sounds like it built up extreme oil pressure and found the easiest way to shuck it-through the carb, hence lack of power. I surmize that the oil probably blew past the rings and was compressed out. Did you have oild residue coming out the tailpipe as well?

[Grant Bowker]

You have identified 1 problem (overfill), the oil in the air filter housing could be as simple as having been picked up from the crankcase ventilation system if it is laid out like the VW Rabbit used to be (1976 vintage). Without being an Iltis expert, I suggest fixing the overfill and cleaning the housing first, possibly a test drive then doing diagnostics for compression or leakdown if a problem remains before spending money (and time) on anything else. Take a look at the spark plugs, they may have gotten oiled and need either cleaning or replacement. Also, if the oil pool in the air filter housing was ahead of the filter I suggest a new filter as it may have become oiled and will either restict flow now or collect dirt very quickly once oiled and clog.

[Pedro Bedard]

Originally Posted by chris vickery

Dump your oil and try again!
Excessive amounts of oil in the engine is paramount to blowing your gaskets, seals etc. Sounds like it built up extreme oil pressure and found the easiest way to shuck it-through the carb, hence lack of power. I surmize that the oil probably blew past the rings and was compressed out. Did you have oild residue coming out the tailpipe as well?

Nothing coming out of the exhaust I'm happy to report.
I've taken out the oil and replaced it with the correct amount of oil.
Seems to run fine but I'll have to wait until thursday to give it a proper test.

[Pedro Bedard]

Stuart,
Yes it looks like that is the case.
I'll be taking it for another test run soon. I'll have my Cell phone and the number to CAA on speed dial with me too