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Lotus Europa Forums => Garage => Topic started by: 3929R on Tuesday,March 10, 2015, 07:21:18 PM

Title: catastrophic bummer
Post by: 3929R on Tuesday,March 10, 2015, 07:21:18 PM
Left my garage. Drove a couple miles, then rough idle at a red light, loss of power on the green light and then a huge plume of smoke out the tailpipe. I made it to the side of the road.

The smoke was from oil, not coolant, and quite a bit of oil seems to have blown back out the carbs. I see no external damage to the block or head. No loud bangs or clunks. Valve through piston? Dropped valve? Valve seal? Ring? Something else? Anyone want to wager?

I'm still waiting on the side of the road for a tow truck, the first one could not lift it without damage. My plan is to tow it back to the garage, then drink something cold and soothing. And deal with it another day.
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: BDA on Tuesday,March 10, 2015, 07:50:59 PM
I think you have a good plan.

Let's see... Off the top of my head it's NOT rings or valve guides (or seals) since I think it is too sudden for that and I don't believe either would generate the amount of oil you seem to be describing. Unfortunately, it sounds more catastrophic than that. How many miles are on the engine?

I wouldn't try to start the engine. After you have your drink, you should run a compression test. If you have access to a leak down tester (and an air compressor) a leak down test would be better. You can buy them on ebay really reasonably but my guess is that you'll probably find out the cause before you receive it. They're nice to have but you don't need them very often.

Chances are that the compression test should at least point you in the right direction in case it's not obvious when you take off the head, but, sadly, I'm guessing it might be obvious then anyway. I'd guess that you dropped a valve or put a hole in a piston. The former is more likely. Hopefully, I'm wrong. It's been known to happen! :)

Good luck and let us know what happened.
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: blasterdad on Tuesday,March 10, 2015, 07:58:34 PM
 :huh:
Wow, that is a bummer! Sounds like your plan is a good one, get her home & tuck her in.
Get a cold one, & a good nights sleep!
When you do get around to it I'd drain the oil, look for metal/coolant, conp test, pop the valve cover, just basic stuff before you get too wrench happy... Hopefully, it might be something easily fixed. Either way, we're behind ya 100 percent!
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: BDA on Tuesday,March 10, 2015, 08:06:48 PM
Good advice, Blaster! I tend to skip past the simple explanations, put the car on stands, and take out the rear suspension before I find out one of my tires is a little low on air!  ::)
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: EuropaTC on Tuesday,March 10, 2015, 11:48:14 PM
Dash pot oil from the carburetors getting into the engine ?

If there's no banging then I'd be surprised to hear of any serious mess inside the engine. At the moment I'm puzzling how you can get oil coming out (apart from the obligatory drips on the floor) but I suppose it's possible an inlet valve has burnt out & no longer sealing to let oil/petrol mixture get pushed backwards.

My first job would be to remove all 4 plugs and then try to turn the engine over by hand. If it's free  and the plugs look clean, try a compression test and let's take it from there. It is a bummer though, I don't like it when my toys break either.....

Brian
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: 4129R on Wednesday,March 11, 2015, 01:20:00 AM
If oil has come out of the carbs, that would seem to indicate an inlet valve problem. The oil should only have come out of one carb unless there is a balance pipe between the carbs and the head, which I don't think is there on a federal spec twin cam.

Take the plugs out, and one will show which cylinder is at fault.

Then do a compression test on the cylinder with the dodgy spark plug.

That should point you in the right direction. A dropped inlet valve is not the end of the world, but if it needs new valve seat inserts, that will take a while but is not expensive.

Good luck, and I hope you got the car back without damage.
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: HealeyBN7 on Wednesday,March 11, 2015, 01:54:03 PM
I had a vacuum booster fail on a big Healey that laid down an impressively grand oil soaked smoke cloud.  Might be worth a look if you have boosters.
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: EuropaTC on Wednesday,March 11, 2015, 02:16:31 PM
^^  now that is a good call, well done that man.

I'd forgotten completely about that one and it's featured a few times before on the Elan forum.
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: 4129R on Wednesday,March 11, 2015, 02:19:46 PM
I presume you are referring to the brake servo.

When mine failed on a 1965 Mini Cooper S that I owned many years ago, the brake fluid just disappeared.

So where does the oil come from if it involves the brake servo? That should only have suction from the inlet manifold and brake fluid. I suppose if the brake fluid leaked out of the servo, the vacuum pipe could suck the fluid into the inlet manifold, and cause a misfire on possibly two plugs.
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: 4129R on Wednesday,March 11, 2015, 02:21:39 PM
I forgot that the federal has two servos, so each must be operating off either one pair of siamesed inlets or there is a balance bar somewhere with two take-offs, one for each servo.
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: EuropaTC on Wednesday,March 11, 2015, 03:18:53 PM
Servo failure was a topic on the Elan forum a while back and the most common failure mode seemed to be that the servo would leak internally and end up with fluid getting sucked back into the inlet manifold through the vacuum pipe.   No obvious external leaks and at first minor leaking would just produce some extra smoke,  but there were a few cases where there was a serious loss of fluid.  Nobody seemed to notice it happening in the early stages so presumably there was still servo assistance whilst the fluid escaped and burnt off.

It's a good call and one that's easy to check - if plug #4 looks markedly different from #1 & #2, then it's worth checking the brake fluid as well ! (vac take off is on #4 for the Federal cars isn't it ?)

Brian
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: 4129R on Wednesday,March 11, 2015, 03:32:29 PM
Looks like #4 to me:-

Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: BDA on Wednesday,March 11, 2015, 05:21:37 PM
I'm kind of liking a servo failing for this. I think 4129R & EuropaTC have probably nailed it.

If that is the problem, I'm sure there are places in CA that rebuild those boosters. You might ask over at Dave Bean for somebody ((209) 754-5802). If you can't find one, White Post Restorations in Virginia does them, I'm sure (whitepost.com, (540) 837-1140). They rebuilt my m/c and rear calipers and did a very nice and quick job.

Some have done without their boosters and reported no problems. Of course, that will require some plumbing and you may want a smaller dia. m/c. That might be more trouble than rebuilding the boosters, though.

Good luck!
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: jbcollier on Wednesday,March 11, 2015, 08:55:18 PM
Fingers crossed here that it's a booster, not that it will be cheap if it is.  I would recommend either fitting new boosters or removing them.  Many times it is difficult to properly rebuild old boosters.  Very common for them to hang up after being overhauled.

Also, your engine is missing the spacer with the balance tube between the two carbs.  The spacer gives more bottom end torque and Strombergs run better with a balance tube.
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: 3929R on Wednesday,March 11, 2015, 10:01:25 PM
THANK YOU FOR THE REPLIES!

My garage is not at my house but I made a quick stop by tonight and first pulled the plugs. All a bit black and a bit oily. #1 was maybe slightly oilier? Piston tops looked ok through the plug holes. Next I did a cold compression test, all four within ~145 to 150. Consistent but low, but the car was stone cold. I'm not sure but this seems ok? So I reconnected spark and she fired right up. Damn I was surprised and 150% confused. I'm not an experienced mechanic but the smoke cloud she blew was thick enough to obscure my rear view. It was like a smoke screen from a James Bond movie. In hind sight (pun intended) I could have driven home but based on the smoke cloud and oil issuing out of the carburetor plenum I feared a valve doing damage to a piston or a piston doing more damage to the head or....

The car is still blowing smoke but at least you have to walk to the back to see it. The smoke sure smells like burning oil and looks bluish to me (I'm color blind). I ran out of time tonight but I plan to do a hot compression test next.

My father bought my car new in '73 when I was 5. "The Lotus" was always just there and I never thought to ask him any specifics about it. Dad was a good mechanic. I would call him, describe a problem (about whatever car I had at the time), and he'd usually be able to tell me what was wrong and how to fix it. He died very unexpectedly at age 52. When I pulled the Europa out of storage the speedo cable was seized so I don't know how many miles are on it. The seals on the brake MC were shot (as were the slave cylinders). I assumed the boosters were also toast so I removed them and swapped in a Datsun F10 master cylinder. I also plugged the booster vacuum port on the intake manifold. I never drove the car with boosters but really can't see why you'd want or need them. The car is so light, as far as I can tell it seems to brake great without them.

In conclusion..... I'm more befuddled than before.
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: 3929R on Wednesday,March 11, 2015, 10:19:20 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8UPtCT_AQw&feature=youtu.be (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8UPtCT_AQw&feature=youtu.be)
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: EuropaTC on Wednesday,March 11, 2015, 10:55:25 PM
In conclusion..... I'm more befuddled than before.

 :)   me to ! 

I thought HealeyBN7 had caught it with the servo/booster idea but if you don't have them I'm back to square one.  My Elan has compressions in the 155-160 range which is very similar to yours and plods along ok, so as long as they are consistent I wouldn't worry too much just yet. I've also changed both cars to a slightly hotter plug, again on advice from the Elan forum, which does run cleaner.

The only time I've seen oily smoke was due to worn valve guides, but that problem was a long time coming and pretty obvious - very noticeable when you put your foot down after a short period on overrun/trailing throttle.

A few random thoughts - do you have the crankcase breather connected and feeding into the carbs ?  How much oil does the car actually use ? 

Brian 
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: 4129R on Thursday,March 12, 2015, 12:24:03 AM
Have you checked the level of the brake fluid in the master cylinder?

I think brake fluid is a hydraulic oil, so would burn bluish.
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: blasterdad on Thursday,March 12, 2015, 03:47:01 AM
The seals on the brake MC were shot (as were the slave cylinders). I assumed the boosters were also toast so I removed them and swapped in a Datsun F10 master cylinder. I also plugged the booster vacuum port on the intake manifold. I never drove the car with boosters but really can't see why you'd want or need them. The car is so light, as far as I can tell it seems to brake great without them.

^^^^^

The booster theory has been ruled out...
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: jbcollier on Thursday,March 12, 2015, 05:54:18 AM
Time to do some careful testing.  Start with a hot compression test and then repeat with a shot of oil in each cylinder.  Lotus twin cams are commonly a wee bit smokey, usually from the guides.
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: 3929R on Thursday,March 12, 2015, 08:55:53 AM
Looking at the video I posted of the car's exhaust from last night, would you call that a wee bit smokey? or woefully smokey?

Could bits of gasket or other such flotsam have temporarily plugged an orifice in the oil pump or elsewhere, causing a spike in oil pressure, in turn causing a surge of oil to blow through valve seals? Is that even a possibility? Might explain the plume and current smoke if the seals were damaged.

I'm planning a hot compression test and draining/changing the oil to see if any bits are in it. Dependent upon the weather I had plans to sail on Friday/Saturday and ski on Sunday. So I may not get back to the garage for a week.

Once again, thank you all for the feedback.
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: BDA on Thursday,March 12, 2015, 09:45:25 AM
That looked like a fair amount of smoke to me. My thought when I watched the video was that it might be steam because it looked white, but it was hard to tell. I don't think a spike of oil pressure would cause oil to leak past the valve guide seals.

Someone may probably need to correct me on this, but I THINK that valve guide seals or valve guides generally produce more oil smoke on when you let up on the gas because I think you would have less pressure in the port. I don't really have a lot of experience with worn guides or seals. I believe there should be a vent in the cam box and if that is plugged up, that could force oil past the seals and guides.

In any event, when you do the compression check dry and compare it to one where you squirt oil in the cylinders, you'll be able to rule rings in or out.
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: EuropaTC on Thursday,March 12, 2015, 10:20:44 AM
causing a surge of oil to blow through valve seals? Is that even a possibility? Might explain the plume and current smoke if the seals were damaged.

In the all important quest for lightness, uncle Colin left out the valve seals.....   :)

Being serious, there aren't any. You just have the cam bucket over the valve stem/spring and then a cast iron valve guide. So you'll always get a touch of oil going down there and burning, unlike more modern engines which might have seals ahead of the guides.

I watched the video and couldn't make my mind up. Like BDA I thought it more whitish than dense blue, but it's a difficult thing to photograph and get the colours on screen exactly as you're seeing them in real life.  My car will produce smoke like that before it gets up to temperature and even at temperature if I let it idle and then rev it up to 3 or 4k then you'll see smoke. I don't think it's a sign of impending doom (fingers crossed ! ) because it's always done that, in fact they both do. It's easy to compare with a modern engine and think it's falling apart, but these were designed before emissions and are going to burn some oil.

The engine sounded all right on the video so here's hoping there's no real crisis. As John says, a hot compression test is probably the next useful step, but if you're getting 140 cold and more importantly within 5-10psi between cylinders then I think you're all right there. 110-120 or a big drop on one or two adjacent cylinders is when I'd start to wonder.

Valve guides I do know about because I did them on the Elan. Before I'd stop at traffic lights for a minute and there would be a diesel engine cloud behind me when I took off.   Also coasting downhill on a trailing throttle tended to suck oil in and when you put your foot down you'd see a puff in the rear view mirror. The car ran ok though and it was only embarrassment at the looks I got from other drivers which pushed the job to the top of the list.

Brian
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: 4129R on Thursday,March 12, 2015, 11:24:20 AM
All sounds like a modern 2 stroke to me !
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: BDA on Thursday,March 12, 2015, 03:20:13 PM
I agree with Brian. There is almost certainly nothing actually catastrophic going on so that should be a relief. It does seem like it is the valve guides. Interesting that they are cast iron! I would have thought they were bronze. I would think bronze guides can be had and I would think they are better than cast iron, but I really don't know the practical difference. I also seem to remember that the guides are shorter than optimum so they do wear out quicker than they might (as has already been said).

What happened to the idle and the power? From the video, it didn't seem to be running poorly.
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: jbcollier on Thursday,March 12, 2015, 09:03:42 PM
If the head gasket blew, it would blow a cloud of white smoke with a slight sickly-sweetish smell.
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: Roger on Friday,March 13, 2015, 05:04:51 AM
The vacuum pipe is still there. Where does it go?
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: BDA on Friday,March 13, 2015, 06:32:49 AM
If the head gasket blew, it would blow a cloud of white smoke with a slight sickly-sweetish smell.
Couldn't the gasket fail at an oil passage and thus cause blue oil smoke? Or is that less likely for some reason?
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: BDA on Friday,March 13, 2015, 06:34:31 AM
The vacuum pipe is still there. Where does it go?
I believe there is only one vacuum pipe - on the manifold for the rear carb. That is for the boosters.
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: TCS4605R on Friday,March 13, 2015, 11:59:06 AM
Mark,

A couple of things come to mind.

I understand you have removed the servos, so that problem can be eliminated.  If the diaphragm inside a servo fails, the brake fluid can get sucked into the engine via its connection with the intake manifold and the engine burns it - happened to me some years ago before I removed my servos.

There is a rubber 'tube' that connects the head to the block.  The tube is located on the right hand side of the engine in front of the mechanical fuel pump.  If it gets clogged up, oil cannot drain from the head back into the engine sump.  This excess oil could then be sucked into the combustion chambers via the intake valve stems and cause a lot of smoke.  Have you taken the cam cover off?  You should be able to poke a long skinny screwdriver or welding rod down the tube and touch the bottom of the sump pan.

Other than that, it could be worn intake valve guides or a broken ring.  I have a 1958 MGA that smoked a lot some years ago and used a qt. of oil every 500 miles.  When I disassembled the engine, the rings were not only broken, but had worn a groove up to the top of the piston and half of the top ring was gone - evidently jettisoned thru the exhaust valves and out the tailpipe.

Do a leak down test on a hot engine with all plugs out and each tested piston about 10 degrees short of top dead center - a piston at top dead center may be just close enough to starting down that the rings move to the top of the piston ring groove - you want to avoid that - you want the rings resting on the bottom of the pistons grooves.

Have you changed the oil lately - any metal fragments (looks like silver dust or larger) in the oil?

Tom Berkeley
75 TCS - 4605R
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: 3929R on Sunday,April 12, 2015, 10:30:47 PM
No catastrophic bummer but I'm still befuddled as to what happened.

I did a hot compression test- a very consistent 150 on all 4! I'm at roughly 4,500' elevation and I believe that 150 equates to 170 at sea level. The manual calls for 160 or higher. Given the consistency I did not re-test with a shot of oil in each cylinder. Should I?

I visually checked the carb dash pots and they still have oil. Coolant level in the swirl pot is fine. I didn't check the brake fluid but my servos are removed and the brake system is no longer connected to the engine (the picture earlier in this thread with the red valve/cam cover is not my engine).

I drained the oil and it looked great. No chunks, shimmer, shine, nor any notable pollution. Likewise the oil filter looked fine, though I did not cut it apart.

The only thing I've found a miss was the oil level was over full before I drained it. I would guesstimate about 1/2 quart, but maybe it could have been as much as a quart. Could this alone have caused my sudden symptoms but nothing else before????

Even before draining the oil (when still over filled) the engine was no longer blowing smoke when I warmed it up for the compression test. Now the exhaust shows a bit at start up up nothing noticeable when warmed up. It starts right up and runs great. I feel like Chicken Little! But dang it blew a big cloud of smoke!

TCS4605R said: "There is a rubber 'tube' that connects the head to the block.  The tube is located on the right hand side of the engine in front of the mechanical fuel pump.  If it gets clogged up, oil cannot drain from the head back into the engine sump.  This excess oil could then be sucked into the combustion chambers via the intake valve stems and cause a lot of smoke.  Have you taken the cam cover off?  You should be able to poke a long skinny screwdriver or welding rod down the tube and touch the bottom of the sump pan."

I started to remove the cam/valve cover but it seems to be glued on tight with gasket sealer. My thought was to use a thin putty knife to break the seal/gasket. My putty knives were not at my garage, I didn't have a new gasket at hand, and I wasn't sure this was the best approach. 

I haven't driven it yet, mainly because I was trapped in the garage by construction materials in the driveway.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: EuropaTC on Monday,April 13, 2015, 12:04:46 AM
Hi Mark,

We all have different attitudes to what's acceptable or not in terms of guideline specs, and for me getting a consistent 150 across all 4 would be good enough even if it's not technically within the tolerance given in the manual.

More important to me would be that it's a marker against which I could judge future deterioration rather than an absolute "it's not in spec, it's knackered" type of thing. Heck, my compression gauge might be +/- 5% out and I have no way of knowing. So I tend to look for uneven compressions  -  150,120,120,150 for example, which could indicate a blow between 2 & 3.  Or 150,150,150,110 where the last one has a valve or gasket problem.

If you have a serious valve/piston ring problem then there will be big differences, far more than 10 or 20psi from spec.   Even if your 150psi is 100% accurate, that just indicates an engine with normal wear and tear to me, nothing to start raiding the piggy bank for just yet.  I'd probably re-test myself with oil in the bores just to complete the picture, but I'll bet you're at 170/180/OMGthat'shigh  with oil gumming up the bottom end   ;)

I re-read the original post and for some reason I'm wondering if it wasn't just a plug fouling or missing a beat as you coasted to a stop at the lights ? The stutter when you started could  have simply been a temporarily over rich mixture with unburnt fuel in one or more cylinders and once that cleared everything came back on line.

I don't have a sensible reason why that should happen other than a plug nearing the end of it's useful life.  I'm aware it sounds very optimistic and overly convenient but we seem to be knocking out the usual causes for smoky engines. Especially as it doesn't seem to be recurring, which you would get with valve/bore wear. I'm told high oil levels can cause burning but again, that wouldn't be a single event,  it would be all the time.

Given the engine sounds ok I would be tempted to give it an oil & plug change and drive it with a careful eye on oil usage/pressure for the next few miles. Oh, and carry a mobile phone/credit card at all times !   ;)

Brian
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: BDA on Monday,April 13, 2015, 06:25:52 AM
I think Brian, as usual, might have this figured out. It's probably time to look into plugs, wires, and distributor cap, but Brian's probably right that a plug is the most likely culprit. Do you know how old those parts are?

Your compression is fine - actually, I'd say great! I compression is important, but the consistencey is probably just as important. Doing a test with a squirt of oil just to get a baseline for both wet and dry is a good idea.

Since you've run the engine since your "catastrophe" you probably won't be able to read the plugs very well, but you might want to look for anything out of the ordinary from one plug to the next. The insulator should be a dark tan color and be dry. Obviously, nothing should be broken, bent, or otherwise mangled on it.
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: 3929R on Monday,April 13, 2015, 06:27:11 PM
The plugs have less than 1,000 miles on them. The car runs rich and the plugs tend to be more black than brown when I've checked them in the past. When I removed them for the cold compression test they were blackish. #1 plug was also a bit wet. I assumed this was a result not the cause of the problem?

The compression is consistent but I think it is also well within spec (high enough) when adjusted for my elevation above sea level. I am at roughly 4,500 feet above sea level and from what I've read on-line that gives an altitude/elevation factor of 0.88. That is why I said my 150 equates to 170 at sea-level (150/0.88=170).
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: BDA on Monday,April 13, 2015, 08:06:45 PM
I don't think there is anything about your compression to worry about. Black is not necessarily bad. Someone might need to correct me but at idle speed, they may end up black because the mixture is rich. I used to cut the engine while at full throttle and coast into the pits to read the plugs when I was racing. The wetness should be checked out. Is it wet with oil or gasoline. Given your compression, I might guess gasoline so maybe that plug isn't firing all the time. What kind of wires do you have? How is your distributor cap and rotor, points and condenser? If all those check out, I'd start to drive it in larger and larger concentric circles - with your cell phone!
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: TCS4605R on Wednesday,April 15, 2015, 08:48:45 PM
You say the plugs only have 1000 miles on them.  I have had plugs that were bad 'out of the box' - try a new set of plugs next time you fire it up.  How many miles do you have on the plug wires.  My wife's 1991 Miata has gone thru at least (4) sets of plug wires - the old ones worked great at low RPM, but gave up at higher RPM.  It is either spark or fuel - I think it is spark related.

Tom
74 TCS - 4605R
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: EuropaTC on Wednesday,April 15, 2015, 10:44:30 PM
Hi Mark,

Following on the spark plug idea, although they are relatively new it might just be that if they are always running black you've managed to get enough fouling on the insulator to cause one or more to break down or stutter every now and then ?

There has been a lot of debate on the Elan forum regarding plug selection for our engines and the general view seems to be that the Lotus recommendation of Champion N7Y is too cold for your average driver these days. (maybe we all used to drive around on the red line in the 60s ?   ;)  )

Anyway I decided to try a hotter plug as both the Elan & Europa run rich with dark plugs and I changed to NGK BP6ES, which I think are roughly equivalent to Champion N9Y. I don't do enough mileage to shout "Eureka !!!" but having had them in both cars for a couple of years now, I do think they are more suited to my driving as they appear to run cleaner. Some folks seem to use BP5ES which are even hotter and I might give them a shot next time. (NGK and Champion helpfully use opposite numbering systems from hot to cold which confuses me no end)

Brian
 
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: 3929R on Saturday,April 25, 2015, 08:36:54 PM
Thanks again for all the replies, thoughts, and ideas.

I drove the car today and she ran just fine. I swapped the number 1 plug for the number 4 plug just to see if the same plug would be a bit wet in a different cylinder or if the #1 cylinder would be a bit wet with a different plug. After my drive all four plugs looked about the same and were a bit blacker than I believe they should be. I would guess I'm running rich because of my elevation, ~4,500 feet.

My plug wires appear to be in good shape. I do have a new set that I was waiting to install when I put in my new distributor and pointless ignition. Maybe I'll move that project up on the to do list.

I've been running Bosch WR7DC+ spark plugs, which are equivalent to NGK BP6 and Champion N9Y. I think I'll  try a hotter plug and see how they look.

I'm still not sure what caused my smoke plume. Maybe spark failed in the #1 cylinder??? In this case I'm happy you can call me Chicken Little.

Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: jbcollier on Saturday,April 25, 2015, 09:42:51 PM
If you tend to putter around, by all means try a hotter plug.  However, flat out you may well run into problems with pre-ignition due to overheating plugs.  Just something to remember if you ever find yourself charging up a long hill flat out.
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: Bainford on Thursday,April 30, 2015, 08:55:34 AM
I have a very strong suspicion that the smoking issue was caused by over filling the sump with engine oil.
Title: Re: catastrophic bummer
Post by: 4129R on Thursday,April 30, 2015, 09:02:32 AM
That happened to my diesel land Cruiser. The diesel was leaking into the sump, the oil/diesel filled up without me checking, first thing I knew was serious quantities of blue smoke out of the exhaust so the lorry behind had to stop, he couldn't see the road. The only way to stop the engine was to stall it in first gear with the brakes full on.

I have seen that happen to others.

Oil smoke is very worrying, and can be very expensive.