In a message dated 4/11/01 3:21:21 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
Louis.Mehr@eml.ericsson.se writes:
> 1/ I finally got my Sprite started for the first time on last Sunday and it
> seemed to run pretty well.
> Last night I ran it again and discovered that all was not well.
> I ran the car for a while (fair amount of smoke, some of it blue).
> I noticed fumes coming from somewhere around the engine bay and there was
> sizzling black oil on the exhaust manifold.
> Any ideas where this oil leak could have come from? Cylinder head gasket?
>
> 2/ I filled the cooling system with water but the radiator did not heat up.
> How long should it take for the thermostat to open ?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Well, at least it runs. Now for fixing the details. The smoke could be
normal if the car has not been run for a long time. To find out, you should
do a compression test. Take out all the spark plugs and test each cylinder.
Write down the numbers. Then, squirt a little oil in each cylinder and test
them again. If the numbers go up significantly, the rings are probably not
sealing well and you are burning oil. A simple engine rebuild will fix it.
All four cylinders should be within a few pounds of each other. If one is
way low and the squirt of oil didn't bring it up, adjust the valve lash and
test again. Adjusting the valves may fix the problem. (Or you could have a
burned valve, which means a simple head rebuild will fix it.)
If that doesn't help, you could have a bad head gasket.
As far as the leaking oil on the manifold, clean the engine and run it for a
while. When it leaks again, you should be able to pin it down to the head or
more likely, the valve cover gasket. If you replace the valve cover gasket,
do not tighten it too much or you will distort it and cause more leaks.
The thermostat opens after a few minutes, up to maybe 10 minutes, depending
on ambient temperature. Watch the water temp gauge. When it starts to move,
the thermostat is open. You can also feel the radiator hoses, which will be
cold until the thermostat opens. WATCH THE FAN!!!! If it catches your arm,
you will be out of the LBC business for a while!
(See...you thought I only surfed the web and told jokes!)
Allen Hefner
SCCA Philly Region Rally Steward
'77 Midget
'92 Mitsubishi Expo LRV Sport
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