Uberoo Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 I was delivering pizza and was paying attention to the temp gauge because I accidentaly wired my fan in reverse so I kept it off until I could switch the wires around(fan didnt work period before so I had to do something to control heat) anyway about my 2nd drive of the night I noticed smoke coming from underneath the hood.I glanced at the gauges and lo and behold the oil pressure was reading about 5-7 psi(about a mm above 0 ).The car was driven about a mile like that(had to get it home to get a different car) First of all what went south?And if I replaced it, would the motor live long enough to be worthwhile? car was running fine before that with a slight jerking going on,also had a rough (bumpy ,felt like it had a big motor under the hood) idle.right thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey Joe Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 When this happened... Did the motor run different after it started smoking? I am assuming the smoke was burnt oil but what did it smell/look like? Have there been any problems in the recent past? Are ther any oil leaks on the engine right now that you can find? Basically give as much information as possible and you will get much more information back. Since there was still oil pressure the engine is probably fine, assuming that whatever caused this problem is fixable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted September 6, 2006 Author Share Posted September 6, 2006 Im not entirely sure there is oil pressure.I dunno maybe the needle doesnt move lower than 5 psi.as for running conditions slight power drop,jerking(sometimes violently) poor idle quality,metal on metal sound sound for 1 second or so.the smoke smelt like burning oil with maybe a hint of electronic smoke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 Usually if you run out of oil the lifters will start ticking like mad. So as long as you didn't run it out of oil, it's probably just a leak. But the other noises and jerking are interesting. You will have to determine what happened before we can comment on what the damage might be. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 would the engine try to start if you cranked it?? its a long shot, but you _may_ have had a timing belt or the tensioner go out. i had some weird engine problems from a sloppy crankshaft once, the woodruff key that keeps the timing belt sprocket locked into position on the nose of the crankshaft had worn out, causing weird variations in timing (advanced, retarded, advanced, retarded... slapping back and forth) so im thinking its possible at least that the driver side timing belt (that runs the oil pump, doesnt it? i cant remember its been over two years and i only did it once) may either be stretched, or the tensioner shot, or something.... like i said, it may be a long shot but its an idea. burning rubber, from the timing belt; metal on metal, from a tensioner bearing; and low oil pressure from the lack of pump motivation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hotrod Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 First check the obvious! Check you dip stick to see if your low on oil. Look and see if the oil looks like it has metallic flecks in it (bad sign). Look over the engine compartment to see if you have signs of a catastrophic oil leak (blown oil filter etc.) The smell and smoke could have been your fan not being happy with the current wiring. Melted wiring and oil soaked hardware could give you the smoke and smell if you had an electrical short (burn up wire and explain the jerking if the ignition was cutting out due to the short) My 88 GL shows very low oil pressure on the gauge near idle when it is hot but quickly builds pressure with rpm. If cold it displays over 40 psi. If you know you have oil in it and see no signs of a major leak, I'd be inclined to fire the engine up (while prepared to quickly kill it) and see if you have good cold oil pressure. The jerking could also be explained by you starting to spin an engine bearing or the oil pump eating itself. Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 First check the obvious! Check you dip stick to see if your low on oil. Look and see if the oil looks like it has metallic flecks in it (bad sign). Look over the engine compartment to see if you have signs of a catastrophic oil leak (blown oil filter etc.) The smell and smoke could have been your fan not being happy with the current wiring. Melted wiring and oil soaked hardware could give you the smoke and smell if you had an electrical short (burn up wire and explain the jerking if the ignition was cutting out due to the short) My 88 GL shows very low oil pressure on the gauge near idle when it is hot but quickly builds pressure with rpm. If cold it displays over 40 psi. If you know you have oil in it and see no signs of a major leak, I'd be inclined to fire the engine up (while prepared to quickly kill it) and see if you have good cold oil pressure. The jerking could also be explained by you starting to spin an engine bearing or the oil pump eating itself. Larry yah, do what he said. i was just taking a wild guess, and coming up with an idea, really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 would the engine try to start if you cranked it?? its a long shot, but you _may_ have had a timing belt or the tensioner go out. i had some weird engine problems from a sloppy crankshaft once, the woodruff key that keeps the timing belt sprocket locked into position on the nose of the crankshaft had worn out, causing weird variations in timing (advanced, retarded, advanced, retarded... slapping back and forth) so im thinking its possible at least that the driver side timing belt (that runs the oil pump, doesnt it? i cant remember its been over two years and i only did it once) may either be stretched, or the tensioner shot, or something.... like i said, it may be a long shot but its an idea. burning rubber, from the timing belt; metal on metal, from a tensioner bearing; and low oil pressure from the lack of pump motivation. unfortunately, the distributer is driven off the drivers side cam, so if that belts starts slipping or breaks, the car won't run. the thing about EA82s, as GD started at already, the hydraulic lifters will make some horrible sounds long before you're actually out of oil or oil pressure. as long as you have oil, and the engine isn't making any ticking sounds, I wouldn't worry about the oil pressure. now...the metal on metal etc. sounds, however. that's certainly something to be concerned about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbone Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 What was the temp gauge reading? Worse case scenario...... If the car overheated and the oil pressure dropped, its most likely you blew a HG. I know this from experiance:rolleyes: Just happened to my RX a couple weeks ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted September 6, 2006 Author Share Posted September 6, 2006 it got close to overheating but it never went into the red.It only got up about 1/16" of an inch from the red.so could it have over heated?the oil is not milky.the water in the radiator bubbles slightly but it only bubbles when the coolant level settles(read engine off and cold). I know the oil needs an oil change but it needed a change before the incident. car is a 1987 GL wagon carbie.1681XX miles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted September 6, 2006 Author Share Posted September 6, 2006 the oil pressure was something like 5 psi at 4K rpm.so not good.the fan wasnt on when it was smoking(I wired the fan on accident so it blew through the radiator and the hot air landed on the grill,in any case it wasnt on) the jerking was more of a miss than anything(car be down on power,then 1/2 a second latter full power so car lurches forward a few MPH) also it had some issues starting(thought it might be due to heatsoak or something)also if its any help the engine only jerked/ran rough when the temp was 3/4 of the gauge and up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted September 6, 2006 Author Share Posted September 6, 2006 started it.It has oil pressure.Not sure why it wasnt reading yesterday.the motor on the driver's side seems to want to try jumping out of the engine bay.If I open the oil fill cap while its running the idle doesnt change but a gargling sound comes from the tube.I dunno could the belt have skipped a tooth?If so should I get a new belt or... if it did jump that would explain the rough idle and down on power... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbone Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 It could be that you broke the passenger side belt and its running on 2 cylinders. You will have to take the cover off to see if its broke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey Joe Posted September 7, 2006 Share Posted September 7, 2006 I say do that, it will take 20 minutes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted September 7, 2006 Author Share Posted September 7, 2006 passenger cover off.the belt is still intact but it seemed loose(about 1/2" of play up and down)one thing I cant understand why everything under the hood seems to smell of burnt oil(rather strongly,too). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted September 8, 2006 Author Share Posted September 8, 2006 yaa!!(sarcasm) I have a dead hole.#1 to be exact.I guess a valve started sticking when it got warm.would a can of seafoam in the oil ruin anything if I need to change the oil anyway? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted September 8, 2006 Share Posted September 8, 2006 yaa!!(sarcasm) I have a dead hole.#1 to be exact.I guess a valve started sticking when it got warm.would a can of seafoam in the oil ruin anything if I need to change the oil anyway? no, theoretically (from the side of the can) you can run it for as long as you'd like, but I've heard from many sources that it should only be run in there temporarily. also, when you're done with the oil change, add some Marvel Mystery Oil....it seems to do wonders on the valvetrain of these cars (HLA's and such) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted September 8, 2006 Author Share Posted September 8, 2006 will the seafoam unstick it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffast Posted September 8, 2006 Share Posted September 8, 2006 somtimes seafoam may work i would , i unstuck a valve once by trying to kill my car long story involving redlining 2nd then down shifting and dumping the clutch, i don't reccomend it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted September 9, 2006 Author Share Posted September 9, 2006 I put a full can of seafoam in the oil.the first couple of minutes were interesting.I had to apply gas pressure to keep it from dieing.The once I got to the place I had to go I shut it off and it dieseled for like 30 seconds so I put it in first and that stopped it.its gonna sit for about 5-7 hours then I will drain it after I get home from work:( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted September 9, 2006 Author Share Posted September 9, 2006 Its fixed!!!I let the seafoam sit in the oil for about a day.started it up this morning and the engine wasn't trying to jump out of the engine bay.it was low on power so I went to the parts store to replace the fouled plug(#1 hole was dead=fouled) replaced the spark plug not expecting anything to happen.fired it up.1st crank it kicked into life.took it for a test drive.it felt like someone straped a big supercharger to the motor.It has power,yaaa!!!! just draining the oil now... next up,axe ASV,unneeded hoses,emisions junk,etc,etc.I'm not gonna run a weber,Im gonna find some SPFI components and do the conversion... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted September 10, 2006 Author Share Posted September 10, 2006 It worked for 7 hours then it burned the same valve or something.anyway the #1 hole is dead...for some reason the temp spiked from 1/2 on the gauge to the red in about a minute.There was nothing I could even do to stop the gauge from climing.(it climbed that high with two fans on max...) is there anyway I might be able to find a ej22 out of a legacy that would run forever?also how would the stock 1987 EA82 carbi clutch hold up to 140 hp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted September 10, 2006 Share Posted September 10, 2006 Either you have the worst luck with cars I've ever encountered, or you need to stop weilding a wrench while you still have something resembling an automobile. Slow down and explain things. First - how do you know #1 is "dead" and what exactly is "dead" about it? And I want technical terms..... Second - what tests have you performed and what results did you get? Compression, spark, vacuum etc.... Third - quit adding strange chemicals to the mix before you know what's going on. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted September 10, 2006 Share Posted September 10, 2006 gd-- sometimes bad advice can be mistaken as bad luck, too.. everything that we say is nowhere near as loud as who knows what may be being told to him by well-meaning people he knows out in that "real world" thing I keep hearing so much about... but youre right. calm down, and analyze carefully. you have fed us insufficient data, and nothing adds up. and, most of the "fixit" chemicals are crap, he's right. any stop leak is a dont touch. there is no substitute for proper long term care, and if your car did not receive that before you got it... join the club. speaking of which, has anyone ever bought a car with a mystery PO (not from someone you know) and actually been PLEASED at something they had done? everyone has stories of maintenance records, and thats great.. but has anyone found any "kustomizations" from a previous owner that were actually beneficial or positive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted September 10, 2006 Author Share Posted September 10, 2006 #1 hole is dead because it has ZERO compression.One of the valves sticks open=no compression,no power,etc.At the same time the left side of the motor tries to exit the engine bay stage left by jumping out.even though the mounts are good.the jumping of the engine is bad enough at idle that Im pretty sure some girls would like to sit on the shifter knob (in neutral non the less!) I live in a hilly town and even some of the small hills 1% or less the car loses power and I have to downshift on a 1% uphill grade...much less tring to drive up the more common 10-15% grades... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.