Having spent a big part of last week and the weekend changing pcv assemblies on other zeds and dealing with many zed owners who have or had issues with smoking exhaust and possible turbo seal problems, I must admit to been a bit relieved to have not had any major problems with that or oil leaks etc of any kind on the few zeds I have, however that all changed last night as I returned home on the M42, after cruising at 70 mph for a while a typical sales rep on his way home provoked me into the "eat my dust situation" which is so easy to do with a zed. But dust was not what he was eating, despite my zed creating a 5 car gap in no time the smoke screen it left was a series hazard to other traffic, to say I was instantly heart broken is a miss understanding.... off the gas on the gas again another huge plume fills the sky, lowered the boost and tried again less smoke but still a major worry. By now I can sense smoke in the car and smell it too!

 

Trickling home the feeling of forboding getting more, got it on the drive and got the bonnet up to survey the damage, through half open eyes I spot oil everywhere! mainly over the passenger side but all up the scuttle and the battery, I venture a look and....hey where is my dip stick!!! another look and there it is at the back of the engine sitting on the wiring loom where it was left by the guy who removed it the previous day to check the air con refridgerant!!!

 

Suffice to say,after replacing the dipstick spent most of this morning cleaning the engine, turbo`s exhaust and underneath of the car completely, a road test on the motorway and all back to normal even at high boost and booting hard no smoke, no heart attack, no big bills ....got to say will have a bit of a different viewpoint now when speaking with guys who`s turbos have popped...eek!

 

Jeff TT

Phew. Lucky for you mate

good news mate hope mine is as easly cured

how much are a pair of turbos fitted or can you just do the seals?

turbo upgrade would be nice?

 

steve

Lucky........ I say so! the thing though these cars get so under you skin that as I slowly drove back last night I was mentally working out what the best course of action was to be and allocating the money out of the missus`s housekeeping!! like that would have gone down well...not!

 

steve: Yes hope your zeds as easy to correct, not that I am religious but a zed god that guys could prey to may be a good idea (lol) maybe throw a few sacrifices to it, like some of the dodgy second hand car sales !

 

Jeff TT

Jeff good news for you mate.

 

Just changing the subject slightly, mine is smoking a little on idle and when it's cold, I was wondering if the pcv's would cure mine. I already have some on order from the states. The drivers one is coated in oil. Do you have much experience of PCV's fixing smoking problems?

 

Ivan

A new tightened PCV hose cured my smoke problem on idle (thanks SMW1 :D :D :D)

 

After anyone works on my car I check all of the connectors and various fill points, on a few occasions i've caught problems.

Ivan,

 

The pcv assemblies are at the least worth trying in many cases. It really depends on what the level of smoke your getting and when and how.

 

Most if not all of the valves I have removed have weak springs in them causing them to not close correctly, the symptoms that causes is tick over smoke if the engine is left idling for long (ish) periods especially after a hot shutdown and restart where the car is then left to idle and not driven away. However turbo seals can give similar symptoms, the key is to identifying the difference.

 

At least 50% of the time it will cure it completely so for the cost of the job it is worth trying first and as I said when the valves are removed you can see whether they were working or not.

 

One thing though it does not tend to give instant results and requires a period of use before it will work, most likely due to oil been in the wrong places from the faulty valves, 200 to 300 miles tends to be the norm.

 

Jeff TT