broken piston ring?

[Pascal]

Hi,

My moggy was running like a dream until now (just been to a 1300 miles round trip to Ireland in April without any problem) however recently the idling has become irregular, like if it was running on 3 pots, with puffs of black smoke at the back. It's leaking exhaust gas in the engine bay, though I couldn't spot where from. When you rev up everything sounds fine and the car drives normally.

It had been leeking oil from the manifold side for a while, apparently from the head gasket, but I didn't pay too much attention. The oil leaking seems to have increased recently.

Could that be a broken piston ring? If this is the case is this repairable at a reasonable cost (I will have to have it done by a garage), or am I heading for a recon engine? (I believe my engine must have about 100K miles)

Regards

[rayofleamington]

poor running at low revs is often just a burnt exhaust valve, but you need a compression test before making any initial conclusions.

[bmcecosse]

Yep - sounds like exhaust valve to me too - but of course could just be needing the valve gaps reset if a little bit of 'recession' has set in. Could also be first signs of head gasket failure!! Try the gaps first - if not that then off with it's head!

[kennatt]

if you have a broken piston ring,its not just a case of replacing the ring it will had damaged the cylinder bore,so rebore, new pistons.but if the engine has done 100k then you would be also wise to have the bottom end done as well.Therefore better option is to do as other say get a compression test done and have a look at the tappet setting.If it turns out to be piston problem.The cheapest route is a decent second hand engine,there's still a few about also possible to upgrade to larger unit.Also with recon engine you have to be careful with where you buy ,some reconners are conners. They only replace the essential bits,and leave other things as they were,so you don't get a fully reconed unit good luck with it