Thread: 2.25 litre Petrol Engine burning oil

Originally Posted by Glewis

Hi Everyone

I need your help.

I have had the motor in my 1975 Land Rover Series 3( 2.25 litre Petrol) rebuilt by the same engine refurbished company twice in the last 18 months. I am on the second rebuild and it is burning vast amount of oil (14 litres in 533kms) and the motor has only done just over 3,000kms now. It started burning oil at 2,000kms which was the same mileage as the first rebuild .
The same engine refurbished company rebuilt it after the first oil burning dramas and found nothing wrong a part from warn valve guides.

Please leave any thoughts or suggestions you might think could be, I am at my wits end. Thank you

Posted in the wrong place.

However: that oil consumption is beyond ridiculous. Is it actually "burning" it? You would be trailing a smokescreen to rival a WWII warship.

Why did you have it rebuilt in the first place?

Assuming the engine mob did a proper job the first thing that I'd check would be the PCV. Is one fitted, and if so is it working. If it isn't then the high vacuum on deceleration will pull oil from the crankcase straight into the inlet manifold.

Just a guess.

If you get smoke out of the exhaust at startup, it could simply be the valve stem seals and/or the valve guides again. Seals are relatively easy to fix, but you need to remove the head for the guides. But the volume of oil you are going through suggests something is very wrong. What do your spark plugs look like? Their condition will help you diagnose the issue.
Also, worn valve guides after 2,000kms is not right.
Remember, these are very basic motors which were designed to work as stationary motors operating all sorts of PTO devices like fire pumps, generators etc. They should happily run for hundreds of thousands of kilometres before things like rings and valve guides wear out.
There are a few simple tests that any decent mechanic can run to help you diagnose what's happening.

Did you use one piece oil rings, or multi piece oil rings? Plain SAE 30 oil?

Aaron

Originally Posted by Tins

Posted in the wrong place.

However: that oil consumption is beyond ridiculous. Is it actually "burning" it? You would be trailing a smokescreen to rival a WWII warship.

Why did you have it rebuilt in the first place?

Assuming the engine mob did a proper job the first thing that I'd check would be the PCV. Is one fitted, and if so is it working. If it isn't then the high vacuum on deceleration will pull oil from the crankcase straight into the inlet manifold.

Just a guess.

I do apologise if this is posted in the wrong place. This is the first time I have posted on the forum.

Yea the PCV seems in good condition. I conducted a compression test and all cylinders are down by 50 to 60%.

Thank you for your reply

Originally Posted by Glewis

I conducted a compression test and all cylinders are down by 50 to 60%.

I'm wondering if the pistons have been sized correctly to the bore?

Originally Posted by Glewis

I do apologise if this is posted in the wrong place. This is the first time I have posted on the forum.

My "Posted in the wrong place" comment was more for the mod's attention than a criticism of you. I've been hanging around this joint for 12 years and still get it wrong.

Originally Posted by Glewis

Yea the PCV seems in good condition. I conducted a compression test and all cylinders are down by 50 to 60%.

Like I said, I'm assuming a large amount of blue smoke? That's a massive amount of oil to burn, far more than I would expect from worn guides or stem seals. It's surprising the thing even starts.

Like DieselSE says, spark plug condition would tell a lot.

Those comp numbers are not good at all, but you know that Did you do a 'wet' compression test as well? Low compression doesn't always mean oil burning, but those numbers certainly point to a bigger problem in a rebuilt engine.

What do the engine builders say? Seems to me that this is their problem, but if they have done it twice maybe they themselves are the problem. Is there another mob in Kal that could take a look? Second opinions are common sense.

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Let's get some access sorted, then we'll move this thread to the correct section where it might get some more views.

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