Leaking oil, rattling when hot

[hanvyj]

Still having problems with the reconditioned 1275. Only had a thousand miles on it at most.

It's now leaking oil worryingly fast. If it gets up to temperature after a drive I can see it drip from the bottom of the car. I noticed that it could be coming from the dip-stick, which suggests the sump is somehow pressurised? I may be wrong that it's coming out there though, may well be somewhere else around the back.

Its also getting rattlier. Idle is fine, usually, but at a certain rev range it sounds like a tractor. Pull off the accelerator it's normal again. Put my foot down a bit more, normal. That certain point: rattly. Someone told me it sounds like the timing chain, but that should be duplex, and new. It gets worse the hotter the engine gets.

Oil pressure is at 60 most of the time until it gets hot, in which it goes down only so far as 40 (until I ran very low on oil and then it dipped so low as 20 when not under load until I topped it up asap). Cylinder pressure is very good, 190ish across all four.

Still seems to have an overheating problem after more than 15 minutes on the motorway, but I haven't let it get over 95 degrees. Temperature is normal during non motorway driving.

It still seems to pull fine. I've had very occasional misfires/blips while driving, but could be unrelated.

[kennatt]

what was done on the recon.full reconn top and bottom,pistons ,rebore, re ground shaft and new bearings,new cam ,and bearings,refurb on head, valves, guides ,new oil pump,waterpump ,timing chain and full set of decent gaskets.? Need to know before anyone can comment.

[dalebrignall]

hope its under warrenty i would take it back to where it was reconditioned

[hanvyj]

I've sent an email asking full details, I got it second hand from the guy who got it reconditioned (never run) so I'm not confident on the warranty... we'll see.

Not sure about top and bottom, I would hope they replaced the bearings. I will ask.
*New pistons,
*no rebore (apparently it was very good, compression seems to confirm this)
*recon head (assume it was skimmed with new valves etc, it was a large bore metro head. I will ask to confirm)
*new duplex timing chain
*new gaskets
*push rods replaced
*metro cam, unsure if it was reground etc
*new water pump & oil pump

I'll have to confirm a lot of these though.

[mike.perry]

The 1275 sump operates with a negative crankcase pressure and the ventilation must be through the carb as discussed frequently on previous posts.
If the engine is rattling under load and losing oil pressure it could be bearings

[kennatt]

Your compressions indicate that the top of the engine ie, bore and pistons are ok,But the next MOST important point is, has the bottom end ie crank shaft and bearings been done,if the shaft has worn they may have only fitted new shell bearings,the easy option but the wrong one. And if so ,1000 miles would be about the time shells would fail if the shaft is badly worn,and from your description of the rattle being as you lift off the throttle,I hope not,but its one of the classic signs of big end knock.
It may be something else,but I am always a bit sus. when I see' reconned engine' because that covers a mass of unknows,but as said the oils loss could be down to crankcase ventilation.
I would be more concerned about the low oil pressure and rattling.Is the timing Ok,its not simply too advanced and pinking because being too hot would also make this worse.My scimitar I extremel;y prone to loud pinking when hot unless retarded sligthly to suit the new cr...p petrol
Hope it all turns out well Good luck

[bmcecosse]

As above - you MUST have good suction on the crankcase. Do you have timing case breather - and rocker cover breather?? Join them and connect to the carb. Your compressions are fine - but the oil pressure is v low, and you have potentially ruined the shells if it was running at 20 psi...... It probably needs a crank regrind. Why did the oil run low - is it burning oil? A 'Metro' cam is no better than what was in the engine - it HAS to be an MG METRO cam to have any advantage.... Sounds like a 'con' engine, rather than a 're-con'.......

[hanvyj]

Both breathers connected together and to carb. It only spent seconds at 20 psi and normally sat at 50-60, but yeah :/

I don't think oil is being burned (no smoke, white or black), but it leaves a neat breadcrumb trail of drips behind it.

[hanvyj]

Temp gauge has it running reasonable temperature most of the time, never went over 95 and spent almost all its time about 80, so I don't think that's causing the oil loss.

[bmcecosse]

Oh dear - 95 in this weather doesn't bode well for summer..... Do you know who did the 'reconditioning' ?

[mike.perry]

Meanwhile be careful whose new block paved driveway you park on

[kennatt]

what happens when you take the oil filler off is there signs of blow back out if it, just hold your hand over it you shouldn't feel anything ,much,with a good engine,

[hanvyj]

Take off the oil filter and put my hand over the hole, then run the engine?? Could you be more specific kennatt I'm not sure what you mean.

Thanks

[Rasputin]

He said oil filler,not oil filter.

[bmcecosse]

Hot engine - idling - remove the FILLER cap and rev up - do you see a plume of smoke or fume ? If you put your palm over the hole and rev up - do you feel any pressure?

[hanvyj]

Ah, duh. I'll give it a go tonight.

[hanvyj]

Okay, running at temperature, filler cap off, hand over hole: I can feel some negative pressure (suction), no fumes or smoke when revving.

One thing: I took a hose clip off the tubes connecting the breathers to carb a while back, so could have been a slight air leak there. Have replaced it with a cable tie for now.

Oil seems to be coming from the rear. Someone suggested it was the wilko oil getting too thin because of the temperature (had an overheat after coolant leak a while back) so I'm going to do a quick oil change, see if that helps.

[hanvyj]

coming from the rear and timing chain cover.

[chickenjohn]

I've sent an email asking full details, I got it second hand from the guy who got it reconditioned (never run) so I'm not confident on the warranty... we'll see.

Not sure about top and bottom, I would hope they replaced the bearings. I will ask.
*New pistons,
*no rebore (apparently it was very good, compression seems to confirm this)
*recon head (assume it was skimmed with new valves etc, it was a large bore metro head. I will ask to confirm)
*new duplex timing chain
*new gaskets
*push rods replaced
*metro cam, unsure if it was reground etc
*new water pump & oil pump

I'll have to confirm a lot of these though.

"Recon" probably just means somebody wire brushed it and painted the engine green!

[chickenjohn]

Okay, running at temperature, filler cap off, hand over hole: I can feel some negative pressure (suction), no fumes or smoke when revving.

One thing: I took a hose clip off the tubes connecting the breathers to carb a while back, so could have been a slight air leak there. Have replaced it with a cable tie for now.

Oil seems to be coming from the rear. Someone suggested it was the wilko oil getting too thin because of the temperature (had an overheat after coolant leak a while back) so I'm going to do a quick oil change, see if that helps.

If you are putting cheap oil in the engine this is possibly the cause of your problems if the re-cycled oil is contaminated with brake fluid and antifreeze etc.

If the leak is coming from the rear, drop the sump and replace sump gasket and the rubber crank seals front and rear. The timing chain gasket is easy to change once you get the pulley off. But please, give the engine a go with decent oil in it, with an API rating.