Help-Burning Oil

[Rod]

To my shock this afternoon I looked behind my Ute running a 138 grey and seen a light to medium trail of smoke haze.

Stopped to investigate where this was coming from thinking I've broken a ring or two. To my suprise no smoke was coming from the exhaust even when giving sharp revs. However, there was excessive fumes coming out the breather, some out the oil filler cap and slightly at the top corner of the side plate or it may have been the tappet cover. It only came out the rear of the ute when moving along.

My question is "what is going on?". I still suspect broken rings but whats confusing me, is theres no smoke out the exhaust and the motor hasn't seemed to have lost power.

Things were OK just over a week ago when I last drove the old girl. The motor has done about 30000 miles since being rebuilt.

To me there seems some sort of pressure build up for pushing the fumes out as they are currently. Could valve/s be a problem. Any help suggestions before I investigate further would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Rod

[cruiser056]

Rod,
       I had the same problem with my FE about five years back, no smole from the exhaust but out the oil breather and the side plate breather.  It tuened out to be two pistons were broken away at the top of the piston and No. six piston had a broken ring.

       For your sake I hope it is not this for you.  I had to source two pistons and a ring set, and this being a standard bore 132, a little harder to acquire than a 138.

Best of luck.

Michael

[Rod]

Thanks Michael,

I pressure tested all cylinders today and I think it may have confirmed your thoughts. All cylinders were about 90psi (1st stroke) to 120-130 (4th stroke) except for No.5. To my shock horror, I was unable to record a reading. Looks if theres maybe a stuffed piston.

Any other thoughts before I take the head off and go nuts.

Cheers


Rod

[nicko]

with that reading you have no choice but to remove head im afraid,,good idea is to get a container to put all nuts and bolts in so nothing goes astray and label everything with a bit of masking tape and pen. also put all pushrods into a piece of hard cardboard with holes in it in exact order they are in head so you put them all back in the matching holes when you finish re installing head.
you probably know this already but its easy to forget sometimes.
cheers Nick

[Rod]

Finally took the plunge and took the head off the ol girl. Number 5 piston was damaged but not to the extent I thought it may have been. On the outer lip of the piston a small piece (5-6mm long x 2-3mm wide) had broken away and you could see partly the way down the skirt.

Looks like I now need to source a replacement piston.

Has anyone got a spare in good order 138 piston?

Cheers

Rod