Digifant burning far too much Oil

[Nate187]

My 8v digi is off the road at the moment as it needs a list of work doing for the MOT (one of the things being emissions).
I started the car before for the first time in weeks and pretty much instantly smoke was pouring from what i guess to be the manifold gasket and out the tailpipes (not blue smoke). It wasnt long before my drive was filled with fumes so bad my eyes were stinging.
It has always smoked but i thought nothing a digi tune up couldnt solve but now im thinking it could be something more serious. What you gurus think?

[danny_p]

your getting white oil smoke ?  if that's the case  it's really ill check the plugs  for oil  more than likely it one cylinder at fault then do a compression test if its low  on the cylinder showing oil on the plug  the engine is fubard.  more than likely stuck /broken rings or badly damaged piston. if compression ok  pull the head and check stem seals and valve guides but i think that's unlikely.

or it chould just be overfilled with oil 

[Jay]

Mine was over filled with oil a few weeks back (1.5L too much  )and it never smoked out the engine... My *guess* would be a gasket and maybe some other damage.

[Mew]

My *guess* would be a gasket and maybe some other damage.

 

Yeah, my guess would be that something is wrong too......

[Jay]

My *guess* would be a gasket and maybe some other damage to the piston rings/seals as I didn't have that problem with too much oil..

 

Yeah, my guess would be that something is wrong too......

I got half way through, got distracted and posted 

[Nate187]

Yep its white smoke. Its not overfilled with oil.
I'll check all the plugs today and read into doing a compression test.
I agree about the rings/seals. Oil seems to be getting past them and getting burnt off.

[danny_p]

it sounds terminal tbh , do the compression checks ect  worth checking to see if the head is ok (  occasionally  the lots of white oil smoke can be head gasket oil way blowing through to cyl 3 iirc but it's rare )  pull the head check the valve guides and stem seals  to see if they were cause  if not change seals anyway,  and then throw the bottom end if it's coming past the rings in that quantity  the hole lot is probably unserviceable  and chuck a 2e bottom end in  there cheep and easy to find  and give a bit more grunt whitch is just a bonus

[Nate187]

Oh god my cheap mk2 is turning into a money pit! Im currently changing the suspension and front wishbones. Its when i started her to turn it around to do the other side i noticed how bad the fumes were. Maybe its just because shes been sitting there for weeks? And my rocker cover gasket is on its way out so maybe the smoke from the engine bay was oil on the manifold. The joys of owning a 17 year old car 

[Nate187]

Right...me and old man have just finished all the suspension then went straight for the engine for a quick tinkle. We gave her her a good run and rev untill warm, the smoke isnt as bad today, none from the engine bay so it must have been some oil on the manifold.
After a quick flick through the haynes manual my old man started to adjust the timing by ear and what a difference its made! Idles nicely, revs freely and hardly any smoke so we came to the conclusion that it just needs a good tune up, thank god for that!
Also the engine was getting very hot quickly and the fan came on after about 10 mins, i think there may be a blockage somewhere in the coolant system so we're gonna give that a flush out.
Took the car for a quick spin around the block with the new wishbones & bushes, Boge dampers and -40mm eibach springs on. It handles like a go-kart now and i love the new stance. Big thanks to Paul Townsend for the suspension.