oil useage

Having a issue with my 1.3efi
If you leave it for a few days you get a cloud of blue smoke on startup but its fine if used every day when driving or warm it doesn't seam to smoke.
What should i be looking at to fix?
Also the engine light has come on showing fault 22 witch i understand is the 2nd oxygen sensor but i can only find 1 and that is got 4 wires instead of the 1 shown in the manual.

I asume the sensor needs a clean but its stuck fast so any tips on getting it off

What year is it Matt? My guess is it's a 2001 or something.

You can't clean lambda sensors, and if your getting blue oil smoke cloud on start-up then the sensor will be knackard because the metals that they are made from cannot be contaminated with any oil otherwise they are dead.

I'd guess you have valve stem oil seal wear which is causing your smoky start-up.

Thanks for the reply yes its a 2001 looks like i better start saving had a look and found one for £112
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Meat-Doria-Lambda-Oxygen-Sensor-81075-/180948234002?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&fits=Model%3AHIJET&hash=item2a215aef12

Or a universal one £17.25
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UNIVERSAL-LAMBDA-SENSOR-OXYGEN-SENSOR-4-WIRE-HIGH-QUALITY-/250984739999?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3a6fdb349f

are they really that different even if it doesn't last you can get 6 for the same price.

Also i assume its a head off to to the valve seals any thing i should look out for

Universal sensors don't have a plug on the end so you have to wire it up yourself. Normally they have a couple of blue wire that feed the heater coil, then a white for the signal and a black for the ground.

Always buy branded Lambda sensors, Denso, walker, Bosch, etc. I have wasted so much time with cheap copy ones where they have lasted a few weeks then given up the ghost.

I have have also ruined a few sensors on Vtec Honda Civics that have been burning oil, you fit a new sensor, it works sweet, couple of weeks later the sensor isn't working right.

thanks looks like i better sort the oil problem first i assume its ahead off job to do the seals anything i should look out for.

found this site for the sensors seam cheapest just got to work out the part number now

Yeah whip the head off, check the valve guides etc for wear, rebuild it, probably will solve it.

If its got loads of miles and the engine is really dirty orange/brown stained then it could have buggered piston rings, but then it would always be smoky.

Smoke on start up 95% of the time is valve guides and stem oil seals.

Its done 66000 so not that high its a shame as overall its very tidy not been messed with and no sign of overheating.

Wonder if its had plenty of oil changes? It's quite premature for valve stem oil seal failure, but at the same time they can just crack and give up.

Replace the lamb bhoona sensor

mattyo wrote:If you leave it for a few days you get a cloud of blue smoke on startup but its fine if used every day when driving or warm it doesn't seam to smoke.

Then the answer is obvious, drive it daily

I need to do this on my van, not touching the lambda sensor until my oil usage is sorted. Did a 200 mile journey full of oil, ended it on below the low mark. Yet I can do loads of little journeys and hardly have it go down at all. My guess is that as it heats up it thins out and leaks into the cylinders easier. Never done any work on an engine head before, so should be a good learning experience, will hopefully have a friend who's done valves before help me out on it.

If it doesn't smoke on start up, but just burns oil while running then it's more likely to be piston rings. No promises mind you!

Normally when the valve stem oil seals go, when you park the van up, the oil creeps down the valve stem and into the inlet/exhaust port area. Then when you start it up it get burn't either in the cylinder or the exhaust system causing the blue cloud.

Piston ring failure don't behave like this, tend to get gummed up scraper rings which leave oil in the bore.

Sometimes you can solve scraper ring gum up issues by giving them a few engine flush treatments and oil changes. Use cheap oil as your about to bin it, but buy something really thin that can penertrate better. Also you can take the plugs out, and squirt loads of WD-40 down the bores, and crank the engine over, wash out the bores with petrol, fill them up let it soak down to the sump over night etc and you can get the remains out with a blow torch but watch your eyebrows. Do a few cycles of this game etc and you might free them up. Never done it to a hijet with it's lean over engine mind you.

When I fire mine up I get a fair bit of white smoke, and it carries on smoking until it's warmed up nicely, at which point it hardly lets out any. The exhaust also smells very fuel rich on startup, I don't know if this is significant?

LBV that is classic valve stem seal symtom what oil do you use? we have an owners manuel and it seems you can put whatever oil you like in so you could go thicker which will reduce the oil creepage. for example those that do not know 10w40 means 10 sae when cold and changing to 40sae when hot the idea that it stays the same thickness at all times as the oil gets hot it thins so the oil behaves like a thicker oil does at the higher temp and a thinner oil at lower temp hope it makes sense.

Yeah, I use 15W40, partly due to recommendation from a motor factors in the local industrial estate, and partly because it's the most common oil where I live, on a farm, where all the vehicles and tractors run on 15W40 so there's always plenty in supply. I heard a suggestion that I could use 15W50, which I assume would be thicker when it's hot.