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Engine Ran out of oil......

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3K views 39 replies 10 participants last post by  Abbott84 
#1 ·
Ok so last year the engine used around 3.5l of oil in like 3days, and went, well just went.

stripped the sump off the bottom and took a look at the journals and the bearings (sorry if my terminology is not quite right and fairly new to this end of the engine)

The bearings and the crank journal from cylinder 3 looked like this:



Plan is to get the crank reground and replace the bearings, all of them.

Also as the engine is out going to do the clutch, all belts (replacing the plastic tensioner for the metal one), the variator as it sounded like a diesel since i've had her. Clean and spray the engine bay and engine.

Will post more pics up as i get things out and off.

is there anything else i should be looking at changing, not really keen on replacing the rings or valves, or removing them, was possibly going to get the cams reprofiled but not sure.
any suggestions and help will be appreciated.

Thanks

Nick
 
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#2 ·
I read somewhere (I think it was Auto Italia) that it is a good idea to change the oil pump when an engine has been run low on oil.

Not sure whether others would agree with that though.
 
#3 ·
might be an idea, the pickup was covered in fragments when i pulled it out, so who know what could have got through.
Not sure how to clean/flush the system
 
#4 ·
There is a good chance the the whole engine will be full of metal fragments, as the oil filter will soon clog and the bypass valve open.

A blow out with an Air line down the oilways shoud shift most of it.

Smaky is the man to ask on this, he has rebuilt loads of engines with bottom end issues.
 
#5 ·
Dont have an airline..... lol, may rent a compressor in that case.
Was planning on changing the filter, (do a full service, excluding the plugs as they have only done like 200 miles.)

Hopefully he will see this then if not i may well PM him.

Thanks
 
#7 ·
not sure, and tbh i have doubts that it was filled up fully, but checked the dipstick 2 days before and it said full so.... who knows
I realise that the sensible thing to do would be to remove everything, but dont have all the tools and the know how to start stripping down pistons and rehoning bores etc.... if im gonna start doing that i might as well get the engine rebuilt, or source a new engine...

Will look at the bores and if there is signs of scouring or marks i will replace them then.

Could a nackered variator use lots of oil?
 
#9 ·
really, all the ones i've found are around the £800 mark.....

There is a scrap yard near me with a 156 in that has a 2.5 V6 in her...... what are the complications of replacing my 2.0 ts with that?
 
#12 ·
i see, still after getting it back form the locations its gonna put the cost up isn't it? correct me if im wrong.

I live in SE London. I have been looking at doing that, or giving the car to autolusso, but fancied giving it a crack my self.
 
#13 ·
It would be stupit not to find the cause for the sudden oil los.
If the oil have leaked out, you would have seen it when taking the engine out and stripping the bottom end.
Alfa 2,0 TS/JTS engines often consume lots of oil, not all, but many. If you take off the cyl. head, you will be able to see and check for wear.
Just my 2 p.
Erik
 
#14 ·
have only taken off the sump so far, havn't actually got the engine out yet, thats going to be this weekend. so will have a look.
Yes you are correct it would be advisable to look for the reason for the loss of oil.
Did about 700miles in the 4 days after an oil change. and it lost the oil on the 4th day, not sure if it was gradual or just all of a sudden.
Would it burn off the oil that quick? or does it indicate a real issue??
 
#17 ·
in the words of james may "oh c0ck!"

strange it did it all od a sudden.

Did an engine flush before the oil change. could this have caused anything??
 
#20 ·
rebuild the engine, are we talking piston rings the lot.

Sorry first time doing all this so need a bit of laymans terms here.

What does this entail? and what sort of cost am i looking at roughly, dont need exact amounts.

Thank you all for your comments
 
#21 ·
It depends on how much you want to spend, and whether you want it as good as new. You could quite easily spend over £1000 rebuilding the engine, but whether that would be cost effective on a car that is getting on in years is open to debate.

You could go out and buy a secondhand engine, but how do you know that one won't start knocking in a few hundred miles?

The oil burning probbaly isn't the bores or rings, it is probably the inlet manifold gasket. They leak around the variator oil channel and allow oil to be pumped into the inlet manifold, this then gets drawn into the engine and burned.

You won't need to take the head off to check this, just the inlet manifold.
 
#22 · (Edited)
That i like the sound of!
I dont really want to spend 1000s or i would go to autolusso and get them to do the rebuild with a guarante.

Having said that makes sense, there is oily residue in the throttle body.

was planning on replacing all the gaskets anyway, bar the head gasket
 
#26 ·
was planning on replacing all the gaskets anyway, bar the head gasket
Why would you not want to change the head gasket while it's all in bits? Seems to be a false economy.

Also then with the head off you can check the cylinder bores for scratches, etc. It's amazing how much oil can get used with just a hairline scratch ....
 
#23 ·
Engine is out!



quick question, possibly a stupid one, if i remove the cams am i going to get valves flying out all over the place? if so what is a sensible way to remove them?

thanks
 
#24 ·
quick question, possibly a stupid one, if i remove the cams am i going to get valves flying out all over the place? if so what is a sensible way to remove them?

thanks
bump. as I'm gonna attempt this tonight.
 
#30 ·
Apparently yes, but no metal tensioner, i spotted that as well. gonna change all the belts anyway.


The more and more i take off i'm getting nearer to taking the whole thing apart, am nervous if im honest about doing the valves and pistons as i have never touched them before but am fairly confident that i could do it. The only thing stopping me, apart from the whole thing of messing it all up, is the cost of it all, it keeps going up lol, but on the other had if i don't do it and the thing goes again due to not changing a piston ring i'll be kicking my self.

every seal is getting replaced, if it comes off it gets replaced seal wise, am planning on painting the engine and the bay as well so it looks real nice and smart when it goes back in.

No clouds of smoke at all, nothing, it just suddenly cut out coming towards a junction and that was it.
 
#27 ·
For what its worth if it were me - while the engine is out and your having the crank reground.

I would whip the head off and inspect the bores and pistons. You could replace the rings quite easily at this stage, but it maybe worth having the bores rehoned and fitting new rings, you would need to make an assessment based on the bore conditions.

While the heads off inspect the valves again now would be the time to replace the guides / seals if necessary and reseat the valves. This isn't a hugely costly job if you strip the cams and springs out yourself.

Get the head checked for flatness and have it skimmed if necessary.

Then check everything is spotlessly clean, oil ways, waterways, surfaces etc...

Of course if you wanted to push the boat out you could look at having the bottom end balanced.....

Reassemble carefully using new bearing shells on the crank - make sure they give you the correct ones when they grind it. Use new gaskets throughout. Fit new tensioners, belts plus and filters, new oil seals everywhere! Just buy a full gasket set!

Check your sump plug while the engine is out... these seem to be a weak spot so best fix it now.

Make sure you run it in do 1000 miles generally then change oil & filter and torque head down again! Make sure there are no leaks anywhere!

This doesnt have to cost that much if you can strip the engine down to its component parts yourself and are confident enough to fit it together again correctly - but while the engine is out it seems silly not consider all the key areas!

The amount of oil you used seems way to high it must be going somewhere did you notice any clouds of smoke behind you? Is there oil along the underside of the car? Its either a piston ring / bore issue, valve guide / seal issue, oil seal leaking somewhere, or leaky sump...
 
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