MichelleWRX1994

My engine is shaking in the engine bay causing the car to quiver......

I started her up this morning and she choked and spluttered then fired up taking a while to idle properly (whilst shaking) at the same time lovely plumes of bluish white smoke churn out of the exhaust......there is a faint ticking noise which disappears when warm.......no check engine light (for once!!!!) temperature remains normal and car runs okay when warm.......but the smoke is very obvious when warm or cold......

What do I need to check for for you guys to basically help me diagnose what is wrong, I cannot get it to a garage at the moment.

I am very unhappy.......please help....

MorayMackenzie

Is the cars being maintained on the standard servicing schedule?
When were the plugs last changed?
Have you checked the oil level recently?
Is there evidence of oil (a film on the surface) in the coolant header tank?
Have the coilpacks been changed in recent history?
Am I asking too many questions?

Moray

MichelleWRX1994

Okay had a service done approx 2 or 3 weeks ago when I was in the states........the plugs should have been change and the oil etc it was treated like a 60,000 mile service despite being on 55,000 miles........


The car is cooling down so I haven't been able to check for signs of oil in the coolant system etc and it is raining too [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

Coilpack wise I have no idea what you are on about if you could put it in dumb speak for me and tell me what if I can at all to check

Thank you Moray


[Edited by MichelleWRX1994 - 11/27/2001 12:02:02 PM]

MichelleWRX1994

I am gonna keep this top as I really want this sorted, please help guys and girls - thank you very much in advance....

Michelle

IanW

The car was serviced and the following bits were changed :-

Spark Plugs
Oil/Filter - Mobil1 15x50 IIRC
Air Filter (changed to ITG Foam Filter)
New Headertank fitted (due to leak)
Fuel Filter
Diff Oil
Coolant changed

Thats all I can remeber off hand, but basically the guys worked to the 60,000 mile service specification. The Coil lead things (whatever they are called) were not changed at this point.

fast bloke

Have you driven it much since the service?

IanW

Odometer was just under 57,000 when it was serviced I think.

MichelleWRX1994

Since I have had it back I have driven it approximately 170 miles it was only today that I noticed the smoke and when I posted the original shake thread was when I noticed the initial shaking - I am now not going to use it unless I know whether or not it is wise to........

I am not sure how many miles Ian drove it for........

IanW

I did about 500 miles in it since the service.

dannyn

Probably a silly thought but have you just changed to Optimax? There have been reports on other thread about smoke and running roughly. My feeling is that this is probably whilst the new stuff is working its magic and cleaning the cr4p off the valve stem etc.

fast bloke

The shaking could be an worn/loose engine mount. Do you know what they did at the service?

Easiest way (I'm sure someone will correct me in no time) I have found to check engine mounts is to look at the engine while someone else keeps the brake on and lets the clutch out gently to biting point. If the engine moves by more than a few mm, then one of the mounts is probably worn or loose. Smoke could be caused by being overfilled with oil.

It would probably be useful if you could give a list of all the stuff covered at the service

IanW

All the time i had the car i ran BP SUL...as I had problems with my Calibra Turbo on Optimax.

MichelleWRX1994

It ran on Optimax before its service and though it ran poor it didn't have these kind of symptoms..........people driving behind are backing off THAT is how much smoke there is.......

It has had Optimax since the service and needless to say it doesn't feel quite right I have filled with normal SUL today as I ran the tank really low and still the same symptoms.......

IanW

I'll give the garage a call and see if i missed anything from the list above.

MichelleWRX1994

Ian could you do that please?

I am going to call my mate and have him look at it.......

If that is the case fb then thank goodness but I want to make sure, it doesn't fire up nor idle well when cold that is what is worrying me ..........the engine visibly shakes side to side very fast by a good 3-5mm if not a little more............causing the whole car to shake slightly at idle.........

MichelleWRX1994

The engine shouldn't really have loose/worn mounts as it has been repaired after that shunt...........could they have worked loose over say 4 months???????????

fast bloke

oops - started typing before the other posts.

Serious oil related problems will usualy show themselves either through overheating, or through excessive loss of oil.
Check for
oil in water (oil film in rad tank)
water in oil (white gunge round the hole where you put oil in).
Oil level.
Engine
Engine mounts (as above)

fast bloke

The engine shouldn't really have loose/worn mounts as it has been repaired after that shunt...........could they have worked loose over say 4 months???????????

They could have worked loose since the service if they have been off for anything - same reasoning as checking your wheelnuts 200 miles after you change a wheel

MichelleWRX1994

Well it looks like my car is *burning* oils somewhere as I can smell it and the exhaust smoke smells oily..........

When it stops raining I shall rest in on flat ground and check it when the levels settle, I tried at a petrol station (sat around for 10 minutes) but the reading was very dodgy if it is correct then I am losing a lot of oil, I just wanna be sure before over filling it as I know there is a problem with overfilling scoobs.

IanW

OK i pretty much covered everything that was done in the list i posted earlier.

One other problem the car did encounter was the suspension on the front drivers side had become loose (the nut at the top) and was causing a knocking noise.

fast bloke

Get your mate to have a look - a well trained nose can pick up a blown head gasket or oil seal at 200 yards. The joys of having rebuilt complete engines (badly) in my yoof.

MichelleWRX1994

If oil has got into the coolant system or wherever then how can this happen, what are te effects and what do I do about it?

dannyn

Cross contamination of this kind is *almost* always the head gasket which is supposed to keep the BANG in and all the lubricants coolants etc appart! Check for oil film in the water emulsification (white gloop) in the engine (will usually appear on the oil filler but not sure about scoobs). Another test is to run the engine with the header tank cap off, gently rev the engine and if bubbles appear in the coolant it is a pretty sure sign that the gasket has gone. All the above can indicate a blown gasket but 'passing' the tests does not mean that the gasket is OK :-(

MichelleWRX1994

So okay why will it have gone?

What are the factors that lead to this? Is there anything I have done?

fast bloke

Oil in the coolant system means there is a leak somewhere that join the two up. Head gasket is about the weakest point, so it usually happens here. If you take the cylinder head off you will see lots of holes. Most of these take water or oil to somewhere it is needed, generally under a good deal of pressure. The gasket is made of metal and cork. If the pressure/temp get to high for whatever reason, the pressure blows a small channel in the cork, allowing oil into the cylinder and/or coolant. Coolant will usually leak back in to the oil, and then become emulsified at the highest point, so you will see the white gunge on the oil filler cap. If there is no water in the oil or vice versa, then the oil is probably getting into the cylinder from somewhere else. Worn engine bits, cylinder liners, o-rings etc etc. This is where it gets expensive - also a good excuse to upgrade engine internals.
Oil can also gunge up cylinders, making it hard to start and lumpy when cold. It would usually smoke more when warm, or when you are caning it, as the oil becomes thinner, and the oil pressure is greater at high revs.
If I understand correctly, it runs OK when warm, doesn't smoke when warm, doesn't overheat and you don't have any loss of power. If these are all correct then the problem is quite probably not as serious as any of the above.

Let us know about the oil and coolant

fast bloke

dannym - you took the words right out of my mouth.
'Chelle - caning it or letting it overheat/running with no coolant can cause this. Sometime it just happens

MichelleWRX1994

It overheated for a VERY small amoutn of time when the rad leaked I guess that might be the key........but that was ages ago!!!! And was sorted straight away more or less..........

The engine still smokes when warm .........but runs fine

RICH WILD

Hi,

Sounds like you MAY have a problem similar to something that went
wrong with mine recently.

It happened whenever I left the car out overnight. Car ran like cr@p, wouldn't idle almost stalling, engine vibrating, until the car was warm, then it would be fine. Driving the car like this, it had no power and spluttered a lot. I didn't get any smoke though. But I did get the ticking you describe.

Fault was diagnosed as a cracked coilpack which was arcing when damp got in (hence the ticking) so I was running on 3 cylinders effectively.

Get all your coilpacks checked (as someone has mentioned). I think they are about £50 each.

Cheers

Rich

firefox

Get a comp/leak-down test done on each cylinder

get a hydrocarbon/water test done.

And gas analyser on the exhaust.

J.

Stephen Cole

I was going to mention coil packs (or duff plug or shorting) also
Any chance of pulling out the plugs the examine them after it had been running rough for a few minutes ?
That would possibly show if one was 'oily/not working' compared to the others

One other thing to check is the big electrical plug(s) just behind the battery, and under the bonnet vent, and as such convientently situated to get wet under certain circumstances.
Has been known to cause wierd running (or non running) problems
Clean. dry and reseat it

Let us all know what you find out, and hope you fix it easily and cheaply

Stephen
Gee, theres a lots of early MY new problems creeping out of the woodwork recently