CJ1 Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 I hope this topic hasn't been covered in depth before, but I couldn't find the answers I was looking for in 1 post. I have a 1996 Range Rover P38 4.6 Gems Engine. I have a blue smoke problem, and before I really get stuck in and try and resolve the problem, I was hoping to be able to dive in with a comprehensive list of things to check and for the more technical stuff, detailed instructions on how to check them and exactly what to look for, ideally with pictures as well please? The symptoms of my Range Rover are, On idle, no smoke at all out of the exhaust except for the usual steam cloud as the engine warms up. But from cold, as soon as I start to accelerate there is a mild blue cloud of smoke with a blue tint to it, the warmer the engine, the bigger the cloud but only under acceleration. I mean, a cloud when you first accelerate, then a very very faint hint of a blue trail. I have put a bottle of wynns stop smoke in which has made no difference, No oil or coolant mixing. There is a coolant loss problem which is totally unrelated as it is a leak, not being turned into steam, and there is no overheating issues, no loss of power, starts fine, runs fine, idles fine, irregular and extremely hard to notice missfire which has been there since before I bought the car last year. And also for various reasons, the Range Rover has barely moved over the last 3 or 4 years. Recently it spent 3 months at a garage, and was mainly used as a security device for the garage and hardly moved. It has covered around 350 miles in the last 6 months, prior to that it covered about 40 miles at the most for the period of over a year and was mainly parked up and various locations while the last owner was working on it then while it was waiting to be sold. To start with I have now already removed the 2 top breather pipes, the right hand side once was weak, stretchy and quite badly clogged up. What else is there to check please? I hope this post helps others as well. Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 Compression test, these engines blow into the crankcase very often and not the water passages, so you get blue smoke, not white/grey/blue mixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ1 Posted March 20, 2017 Author Share Posted March 20, 2017 1 hour ago, Bowie69 said: Compression test, these engines blow into the crankcase very often and not the water passages, so you get blue smoke, not white/grey/blue mixed. Never pure blue with mine. Here are some images from when I drove it last. The pictures were with the engine at full running temperature, and I literally floored the accelerator to get it to smoke like this. Normal acceleration gives off a much smaller amount of this coloured smoke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 I'd call that pure blue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 The fact it is only on one pipe also points to some thing to do with one bank of the vee, hence head gasket possibility, or one knackered cylinder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ1 Posted March 20, 2017 Author Share Posted March 20, 2017 Just now, Bowie69 said: The fact it is only on one pipe also points to some thing to do with one bank of the vee, hence head gasket possibility, or one knackered cylinder. This is only a single exit exhaust model Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 OK, even so, a compression test will still tell you a lot about the condition of the engine, the tool is about £10 and quick and easy to do. What have you got to lose? One thing you could do is just pull each plug and check it, if one is really oily then you have something else to look at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ1 Posted March 20, 2017 Author Share Posted March 20, 2017 1 minute ago, Bowie69 said: OK, even so, a compression test will still tell you a lot about the condition of the engine, the tool is about £10 and quick and easy to do. What have you got to lose? One thing you could do is just pull each plug and check it, if one is really oily then you have something else to look at. The spark plugs look very awkward to get to for me. This is where my disabilities let me down. Is anyone in East Sussex willing to come and help me with my P38 please? I have food, drink etc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ1 Posted March 20, 2017 Author Share Posted March 20, 2017 1 hour ago, Bowie69 said: I'd call that pure blue. I am not convinced it is pure blue as I have had a car that was badly burning oil and the blue was much denser and easier to see as blue than the cloud out the back of my P38. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Having seen the state of your engine bay in other posts, I'd sort out your engine breathers before digging any deeper. The 4.6 on the ambulance has non-std breathers and coming down mountain passes (engine braking for mile after mile) it will blue smoke after a while and then clear up after a mile or so normal driving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quagmire Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 Honestly, that is oil smoke, nothing else... Sort the breathers so that they are as per the Rave manual and then if no joy do as Bowie says and get a compression tester and rope in a useful friend or neighbour to help you check what kind of values you are getting there. Then you will have some concrete findings to go on and can start ruling things in or out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybrid_From_Hell Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 Compression test hot and cold tell you so much as to whats what post up cold x 8 hot x 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ1 Posted March 26, 2017 Author Share Posted March 26, 2017 Sadly got let down with help this weekend. Hopefully will get to do the compression tests during the week at some point. I have ordered new breather pipes, but I couldn't wait for them to come as I needed to get Range Dog running again, so after they were cleaned, they were put back on, and what a difference in the amount of smoke. These pictures are screen shots from video taken of the smoke at its worst, with the engine at full running temperature, and my foot to the floor on the accelerator and 1 screen shot of me reversing showing no smoke at all in reverse, and it is the same when idling, No smoke, and when revving at standstill there seemed to be no smoke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 Just hope your lambda sensors survived all the oil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 Fingers cross all is good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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