Went for a nice short 10 mile drive tonight whilst it was quiet. Anyway, down a hill I gave it a few beans to 69.9mph and I hear a poof and then lots of white smoke suddenly appeared from the exhausts in the rear view mirror! So, I drive to a layby and see what is causing it and when I open the engine I see this...

http://s265.photobucket.com/user/gregthay/media/20130606_201531.jpg.html

So there is oil over the fuel filter, battery and on this side of the engine only. I notice white smoke from both exhausts though..

So I look underneath..

http://s265.photobucket.com/user/gregthay/media/20130606_201555.jpg.html

Then ontop...

http://s265.photobucket.com/user/gregthay/media/20130606_202058.jpg.html

I have oil coming out of a bonnet vent!

So I limp home, albeit a few miles, but steadily between 40-55 mph without issue, loss of power yes, lots of white smoke, most definitely, with the engine sounding very rattly, but still running. So have left it to cool down..

http://s265.photobucket.com/user/gregthay/media/20130606_201815.jpg.html

So, what do I do now? If it is the head gasket blown, what are the best options? Note - current mileage is 140k+, and recently serviced so I would have thought it would have coped with a bit of acceleration...obviously I was wrong!

So has the dip stick blown out?

Sounds like youve popped a hose, as long as you havent driven on no oil, you may be lucky. Give it all a clean up and you may be lucky and see the cause.

Doubt it is the head gasket.

Sorry to hear that GregT! I hope it's nothing to serious... Glad you managed to limp her home!

I would clean all the oil off and check oil lines to turbo's, oil return's to sump, oil cooler lines and oil cooler..... check to see no pipes split....

I would check to see if the dipstick has blown out of the tube due to pressure in the sump.....

If everything looks okay I would get it to one of the knowledgeable mechanics that are on here..... Jimmer has an extremely good reputation with engines...... Not sure who is near to you...... so much knowledge between all the members....

Sounds like you need a friendly Z mechanic to fully check her over.... I wouldn't run her without getting her checked out first....

Sorry to hear about your probs.....

Russ

 

Typical, as i was typing someone else suggests the same as me.....lol

Oppps lots of oil everywhere there, strange you got white smoke pour out, quite possible its a turbo that's shat the bed. however got knows what it will have done to the block. Sorry to hear this and I hope it isn't the end of the line for you bud.

Sorry to hear this, I hope you can get it repaired without too much wallet damage.

No the dip stick has not blown out, but then it is sort of held in place by the hoses.

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii202/gregthay/20130606_201524.jpg

I did notice a loose connector though - and so I pulled it up to have a look and I have no clue where it should connect to..

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii202/gregthay/20130606_215700.jpg

The oil has stopped leaking out now, I have half a cm of it in an oil tray, so before I start it again, I will be putting new oil in without fail - even if it has to go to local garage half a mile away!

Thanks for all the comments, I just hope it is repairable...

Its a classic symptom of piston ring land failure,check the breather elbow has not come off on the n/s rocker cover,if its in place do a compression test.the oil is pushed out he dipstick tube by boost pressure entering the crank case.

If you want to diagnose things further, I have a compression tester and know my way round the VG30 enough to tell you whether its died a death bud, so I could come over somewhen and we will pull the plugs, inspect the damage etc. Unfortunately Im pretty busy over the next week.

Yes, that sounds like a good idea. I'll PM you and arrange a date. I am away for the next two weeks anyway, so nothing will happen in this time. It would be great to have a second opinion on things though so thanks. If it is as Jimmer says, and a compression test confirms this, then it would be good to work out "what next?" also.

 

What is normally the next step if it is piston ring land failure? A replacement engine, or is it easier to replace the broken parts? Which is cheapest I suppose the question will be!

Yes, that sounds like a good idea. I'll PM you and arrange a date. I am away for the next two weeks anyway, so nothing will happen in this time. It would be great to have a second opinion on things though so thanks. If it is as Jimmer says, and a compression test confirms this, then it would be good to work out "what next?" also.

 

What is normally the next step if it is piston ring land failure? A replacement engine, or is it easier to replace the broken parts? Which is cheapest I suppose the question will be!

 

Yeah, as your probably already worked out by now jammer is the daddy where these engines are concerned. With that in mind we will quickly be able to see the damage I suspect with just the plugs out looking at the engine bay, we can then compression test it cold or preferably hot if it will run long enough.

TBH mate that really depends on what you personally want to do, cost effectiveness wise its cheapest to buy a known good second hand engine, give it a once over with the service items and set it up in the bay. If your looking to spend some money and look at the car in terms of future proofing and upgrading then a rebuilt block would be best but is obviously more expensive. What rings alarum bells for me is the recent tuning work done... Anyways that's by the by, done now.

what sticks out to me is the recent service.. too much oil perhaps??

First thing that popped into my head was ring lands.