Severe Oil Leak !!

I have recently bought a daewoo nexia 1.5l twin cam 16v (looks like old astra but with isuzu engine apparently). Its only done 58000 miles.

After 2 weeks of driving it, it cut out while accelarating at 40mph, the engine warning light came on, and after pulling over and inspecting I found a breather (PCV) hose to be split open and the engine almost bare of oil. I cut the hose shorter and stuck it back in and refilled the engine with oil.

When I purchased the car, the oil level was on max, however there is no visible signs of a leak on the engine block and never any oil on the ground when left overnight, so it must be burning it. I did think it was a little smokey when first starting up but I stupidly ignored it.

I have cleaned all my PCV hoses which were very very oily and gunked up. I couldnt clean one hard to reach hose that comes into the camshaft cover from underneath the intake manifold ( I think its coming from the crankcase ). I also replaced the split PCV hose with a new one.

I have sought advice on the matter from a professional mechanic who said it was probably worn valve oil seals. Research on the internet and in this newsgroup confirms that bad valve oil seals could well be my problem.

Strangely, the oil doesnt seem to leak in a steady manner. I can drive around happily all weekend with no noticable oil loss but one journey to work (25 miles) can cause 1/4 - 1/2 litre to disappear. Just for the record its currently going through about 1 litre of oil every

250-300 miles !!

I am a very keen DIY'er and love working on cars and I am thinking of refitting the valve oil seals myself. I know I need some fairly specialist tools like the valve spring compressor and an air pump thing to stop the valves falling in the combustion chambers. My only concern is its impossible to get Daewoo workshop manuals. They just dont exist, except in korean.

I am wondering:

a) if its worth buying a compression tester and running some tests before tackling valve seals. As I understand a low compression reading for both a dry and a wet compression test will confirm a possible valve oil seal problem.

b) if I should attempt to take off the intake manifold so I can get to the hard to reach PCV hose and clean that ??

c) if I should risk a valve oil seal replacement job without a manual, I have a Haynes for the vauxhall Astra which has a "similar" DOHC engine.

d) if I should just sell the car (I have a moral dilemma selling car on that has oil leaks though)

e) if there are any other possibilities about the cause of such a drastic oil leak ??

SORRY for the length of this message and thanks to anyone who has stuck with it this far :)

Any comments, ideas, advice is most greatly appreciated.

Thanks, An eager DIY car mechanic, mark

Reply to
Mark
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wet or dry leaktest/compression test will not confirm valve seal leaking.

Vehicles like this frequently never have any servicing before being sold on.

The engine may well be worn out. It may have clogged up oil control rings.

a: I wouldn't buy one in the first place. b: If I was given one , I would get rid of it, pronto.

The likelihood of a successful, economic repair is low.

Cut your losses and sell it, just tell the truth, if someone wants it they will still buy it, it is then their problem, your conscience is clear. Or part ex it with a dealer.

mrcheerful

Reply to
mrcheerful

GM market the same car in America as the Pontiac Le Mans IIRC. With the 1.5 Isuzu engine.

Reply to
Doki

Take it to local auction. Simple. You'll get about £500 max for it. Just buy the next Nexia that comes up if you still like them. They go through the auctions cheaply.

Reply to
David Cawkwell

How it's been driven is just as important as how far.

Make sure the hoses are secured with metal rings that you tighten with a screwdriver. On some cars (Mk 3 Vauxhall Cavalier 2.0i comes to mind) there is a metal filter fitted inside the rocker cover (it looks like a cheese grater and is the size of a cigarette packet). This filter often clogs up and causes pressure to build up until something gives way. Very easy to fix (filters cost about £5), so this should be the first thing to check.

Look for blueish smoke. If there is blueish smoke all the time, warn piston rings are the likely cause. Ask your local scrap yard if they'll swap your engine for another. With luck, you might get this job done for a couple of hundred pounds. If there is blueish smoke only when you start up or when you decelerate, the likely cause is the oil seals. This is a job I've done myself. It involves removing the cylinder head and the valves (with a valve spring squasher, but I can't remember using an air pump). It's a long job, but not an expensive one if you do it yourself. I reckon you should be able to do it with common sense and an Astra manual. Once the head is off, most of the other work can be done in your living room (if you're single). You should also skim the head (a local engineering form will do this for you once the head is off) and clean the valve seats while you are in a position to do these jobs.

The only other way I can think of oil getting out is through the cylinder head gasket. The signs of this are oil in your coolant and, when things get worse, overheating and pressure getting into the water (bubbling in the expansion tank) while the engine runs. If you remove the cylinder head, you should replace the gasket anyway.

Btw, 1 litre per 250 miles (i.e. one top up per week) could be much worse.

___

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Reply to
DP

Could I point out that modern vehicles with cats do not blow smoke when warmed up as the cat removes it, a worn out modern vehicle only smokes (visibly) when the cat is too cold to work,

mrcheerful

Reply to
mrcheerful

The message from "mrcheerful" contains these words:

Or too shagged to burn the smoke.

Reply to
Guy King

How does it do this?

Reply to
Tom Burton

Cold cat does not burn the oil smoke. Hot cat burns oil smoke. May be accompanied by rotten egg smell from exhaust.

mrcheerful

Reply to
mrcheerful

I keep saying I'm going to pull and old cat to bits see what's inside,

Are you saying all rotten egg smelling cars are burning oil..?

Reply to
Tom Burton

Not necessarily all, but it certainly seems associated. I have cut up several cats to repair them !! Inside is usually two pieces of hard ceramic with millions of holes through, looks like something from a gas fire. When cats rattle, the fault is usually that one piece of ceramic has broken or become loose, they are only glued in place !!! Several times now, I have cut the box open, removed the broken bit and welded the box back up. The cars still go through MoT with only half the cat in place !!! I usually cut the top of the box so that the mod is not obvious, use a thin cutting disc and mig welder. The box material is quite thick, so this is quite an easy weld up (in exhaust repair terms)

mrcheerful

Reply to
mrcheerful

The message from "Tom Burton" contains these words:

A ceramic block with thousands of fine passages leading from end to end. Rather like a very long thin honeycomb. Very fragile to the touch.

There's a sketch on here

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I've not met the pellet type.

Reply to
Guy King

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