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[HughN]

Hi Guys,

After two years of having strayed from the 33 (shock horror!) I have managed to pick myself up a nice 1993 16 valver. However....

Whilst there is no smoke on start-up or revving the engine and the emissions were fine for the recent MoT (all of which were checked before any readies left my pocket), when the throttle is fully open grey/white smoke comes out of the exhaust for a few seconds. It sounds fine and goes well, but has been driven conservatively by a 'mature' gent for the last year, so I'm wondering if there is a bit of carbon build-up.

Am I deluding myself, and should brace myself for a rebuild, or if not, what is the best way to give it a clean out?

[LDA]

the best thing to do is to get a compression test. the tools are only £18 and they are very easy to use.
just take a spark plug out and stick it in the hole. run the engine and write down the result. do this for each cylinder.

yeh i know its a pain on the flat 4 esp the 16v. but this way you will be able to see if one of the cylinders is down on compression. if so then there is a problem.. if there is zero compression then its a bent valve, if there is some but not as much then there could be a headgasket problem.

another quick check. take the oil filler cap off. if there is a mayonnaise like substance on the cap then this is water and oil mixed together. good sign of a bust head gasket.

also the water in the coolant might smell burnt or have lots of oil in it. this is also a sign of a duff head gasket.

does the car still do it once its all warmed up? some older cars with coaked up engines and slightly worn tend to spit out a fair bit of steam anyway as its a by product of combustion.

have you driven it enough to see if it uses water or oil?

does the oil look very black? it shouldnt be. does it smell burnt?

good luck!

L.
_________________
A good workman allways blames his sh*t tools.

[Hugh]

Thanks for that. The jury is still out: the water and oil seem healthy and topping it up with a new tank of petrol seemed to help. Buying petrol last week may have been a mistake as it was obviously down to the dregs at the petrol station - I might have had an unintentional water-injection system!

Watch this space (or the hard shoulder of the M4!)....