Engine Breakdown!!!

[TourAce]

The baby is a 95 318 it has 140,000 km. on it. I bought it two weeks ago, never drove it over 140k/h . Anyway on my way to work i check the oil and it was low and dirty so, I decided to top it up. Put a quart and check the level and I put another quart. Never check it again and drove away, about a couple of hundred yards away a thick smoke came out and I was losing power. Towed it to the michanic and his finding was broken piston rings so oil went to the chamber which causes the smoke. Visible amount of oil coing out of the muffler.

My question is could it be me putting too much oil? If it is what would be the worst that could happen to my engine? Or was it that the piston rings were already damage that when I put the right amount of oil it it went to the engine chamber?

Advance thanks for your input!


LOst and Frustrated!

Tour ACE

 

[Kirby]

I heard of this a long time ago, it's a long shot, but is it the CORRECT dipstick in the car? I read about this in a magazine years ago. Somebody replace the dipstick with one TOO SHORT and of course the engine was over filled.

Did the mechanic do a compression test to determine that the rings are shot, or did he assume it based on the smoke?

IMHO I don't think (I could be wrong!) that over filling oil would BREAK a ring. Cause lots of smoke, foul the engine, cause leaks in gaskets due to excess crankcase pressure, yes.


I'm thinking that you bought it like that and the PO (previous owner) kept the oil low to mask the problem.

 

[TourAce]

Once again thanks for the reply.

To tell you the truth I wouldnt know if it is the right dipstick It was kinda weird cuz when I fill it the 1st quart seems like it didn't even touch the dips. ( yes I ran the engine for a good 2 minutes)

Am not sure if he did check for compression but he said he's a 100% sure.

Sure it wouldn't break the ring by over filling but would it go to the chamber through the muffler even the rings are still good?

It is still in warranty but I just wanna get to the bottom of it. Is there a symptoms , noise rather from the engine if the rings are bad?

 

[mjbst111]

too much oil would make it smoke like mad. We had a guy who had to add oil to his car, so he figured he would have to add it often. So with out even checking every once in a while he would put oil in it. One day he drove a lot and thought hey it must need a lot of oil, so he dumped in tons of oil. Then he was frustrated when his car ran like crap and smoked like CRAZY! We figured out it was too much oil and gave the car back to him.

So kirby could have an very interesting point. It'd be great if thats all it was. Then again it's under warrenty so i guess he wouldn't be trying to rip you off.

 

[Kirby]

Once again thanks for the reply.

To tell you the truth I wouldnt know if it is the right dipstick It was kinda weird cuz when I fill it the 1st quart seems like it didn't even touch the dips. ( yes I ran the engine for a good 2 minutes)

Am not sure if he did check for compression but he said he's a 100% sure.

Sure it wouldn't break the ring by over filling but would it go to the chamber through the muffler even the rings are still good?

It is still in warranty but I just wanna get to the bottom of it. Is there a symptoms , noise rather from the engine if the rings are bad?

If it is seriously overfilled, the oil ring may not be able to do its job, minimizing the oil on the cylinder wall. A broken oil ring will also cause the problem, as your mechanic says.

If you want to prove that it is not overfilled and the dipstick is correct, drain the oil, change the filter and add exactly the spec number of quarts. Check the dipstick, see if it is correct. Then drive it. If it smokes at this point, it's the rings. If it doesn't smoke, you were overfilled.

 

[TourAce]

Yes! I finally got my car back today. The mechanic try to explain it to me what he did, but according to my low knowledge of engine and excitement that my car is much alive again. It didn't really sunk in. Good news is its running smoothly But the bad news is it is noticable the loss of power. It doesnt have that aggressive pull anymore . Is this normal to the engine that has been rebuilt? Is there such a way to gain at least a little bit of that power?

 

[outperformit 36]

use a compression gauge and test the rebult motor. The dude could of screwed up when he replaced
the gaskests. loss of compression is loss of power.
I wouldnt go "uping" the motor until its running properly again.