VE V8 randomly blow smoke - a lot of it !

[Illerom]

My beloved VE V8 Calais will randomly blow blue smoke like a switch on James Bond’s dash and then run perfectly well until the next time. It happens when I’m going slow and usually accelerating but not hard acceleration.
When I say smoke, I mean smoke - and plenty of it. Today it blew for more than a few seconds and stopped just as fast.
Anyone have anything similar or any answers ??
Thanks in advance !
Cheers,
Illerom.

 

[gossie]

Worn engine.
Incorrect oil.

 

[Illerom]

Hmmm thanks for your reply. Oil is definitely correct. Engine worn ? At 193,000 kms it has been serviced religiously through the years. I was thinking a broken ring or rings ?? It can go for weeks without blowing any smoke. Very weird.

 

[marty351]

Something blocking up gradually and then unblocking itself? Does it happen under hard acceleration throughout rev range or just normal stop-start traffic driving? Does the engine run rough before and/or during a smoke cycle? And what viscosity is the oil?

 

[UTE042_NZ]

Valves. Seals and guides. Oil running down the warm valves into the cylinders as you decelerate or coast down hills, followed by a big puff of blue when you ignite it all with your first squirt of gas. A litre a week yet? More?

 

[bluehighway]

Check under car it could be oil/fluid leaking onto exhaust from somewhere..

 

[Pollushon]

Valves. Seals and guides. Oil running down the warm valves into the cylinders as you decelerate or coast down hills, followed by a big puff of blue when you ignite it all with your first squirt of gas. A litre a week yet? More?

That's what my moneys on, or the PCV system

 

[Illerom]

Hey. Thanks for all the replies. A couple of comments from me.
Usually happens when accelerating .. be that slow or fast, but the other day was when I was just almost idling up a small incline … smoke screen plus ! It does splitter slightly, but keeps on running and then stops and runs perfectly again ! I have read elsewhere Re the PCV, but when I asked a mechanic he was dismissive.
If it is valves wouldnt the smoke be more regular ?
In terms of oil leaking into the exhaust … no, the internal of the pipes are black - soot almost !
Oil viscosity is as per oil cap filler and recently topped up. (10-30? Can’t remember) …
She is due for a rego check in 2 weeks I’ll be asking the mechanics to check her out - again.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I was hoping someone else had experienced the same issue.

 

[Pollushon]

Ask for a compression/leak down test. That's a good place to start

 

[Skylarking]

I‘ve never experienced an engine that intermittently blows smoke. It either blows smoke under acceleration or under deceleration or it doesn’t blow smoke.

Curious whether you’re loosing oil and how much you’re needing to top up each few weeks? Regardless it’s a head scratcher.

As @Pollushon says, start with a leak down test as it’s a good way to determine internal engine leaks Via rings, valves and such…

But as a simple first step I’d remove the PCV pipe going to the intake and check if it’s got lots of oil pour ing out. You can also remove thenintake pipe before the throttle body and have a look inside and check whether you’ve got pools of oil siting in there… if both are clear of pools of oil then you know it’s not the PCV system allowing oil into the intake

As a side, lots of oil burning in your exhaust will kill catalytic converters quickly and they are expensive to replace so it’s something you want to sort out sooner rather than later