Engine trouble or not?

[cid.vranken]

Hello,

I’ve got a rover v8 3.9Liter. which was an early upgrade from 3.5 with 93.5mm bore.
Some time ago I discovered that the engine was losing water.
I also saw that some white fumes were coming out of the crack case.

After removing the heads I could see some head gaskets in very bad condition.
Corroded around all the water passages.
Nr7 cylinder was steamed a little.
On the other bank the gasket short cut all 4 cylinders..
All liners are on deck level, so no liners are under the deck.

So quite convinced having found the problem, I reconditioned the heads flatten them, crack checked etc….

So after refitting the engine is running perfect, very balanced no temperature variations…
No vapor out of exhaust.

BUT still some white fumes, vapor to be precise, is still coming out of the crack case when hot.

Questions:
-I did not drive the car yet, so perhaps it is still condensation of water that was in the crackcase? Could it take a while when all water is out of the oil? I’ve got 15liter oil….
-If not, could it be that the lines are loose and leaking only on the bottom side, and not on top?
-Is there another way how water can come into the crack? Through the front cover channels?

Thanks......

[sidecar]

You should not wait for the water to come out of the oil, you need to change the oil!

[unstable load]

In short, if you run the engine and the water level drops inexplicably, then you have a problem.

Personally, I'd change the oil, load a few gallons of water in the car and go for a drive with the AA on speed dial.

[cid.vranken]

Yes I have to change the oil for sure....
But that was the dilemma. Putting 15 l new oil to see that again water is dribbling in.

So mainly question is. When water is somewhere coming into the crank case. Where would it come from? Liners 100%? I must say this is the first time I have this type of problem. Mostly exhaust fumes are a clear sign.

And If I see fumes does, this come from condense still in the engine or do I really have still a leak...

I must say I'm brave enough to drive the car because it is not a steam locomotive. Just some fumes
So that is what I will try, after checking the compression. You never know.

[DEVONMAN]

I have had an rv8 engine that leaked coolant from the bottom of the liner. It ruined 1 piston as the water was diluting the oil splash on the skirt of the piston.

When you say 15 litres of oil, what do you mean?

[cid.vranken]

Hello Devon,

Nice setup you have there. Twinturbo ?

Well when leaking I trow away again 15 liters of oil. Ok, must be more like 12liter but need 3 cans of 5 liter..
So i suppose it also made the crack case generating vapor?

I will also do a coolant pressure test to see if the pressure drops in the coolant.

Can you advice a good rv8 shop for tuning parts and/or machining?

[unstable load]

Well when leaking I trow away again 15 liters of oil. Ok, must be more like 12liter but need 3 cans of 5 liter..
So i suppose it also made the crack case generating vapor?

How much oil did you put into the engine before?
The sump capacity is nowhere near 12-15 litres.

[cid.vranken]

Well I have a "group A" sump side wing type (I think they call it)and a quite big oil cooler and tubes.
So i need a little bit more oil unfortunatelly.

[unstable load]

Ah, got it now!
Why not drop the oil into a clean transparent container and let it settle out to see if there is any water in it? If it settles free of water, then put it back and go for a drive.

As for the water issue, once the system is air free, rig up a container to catch anything that comes out the overflow pipe and go for a drive.

You may have a cracked liner or something equally unpleasant that is forcing the water out if it's not the heads at fault.

[cid.vranken]

Yes, I've changed the oil Valvoline Vr1...
After 200 miles completely gone.
What a bl@@dy gasket can do.

I changed it with cheap oil to flush it later on with added detergent.
No fumes for now.

Also a cooling system pressure test of 15PSI kept for 1/2 hour without loss.

So hope that the water stays and fumes gone.

Still a Question:
Where to buy RV8 performance parts?
v8tuner.co.uk
Real Steel
RPI
johnealesroverv8
turner-engineering.co.uk
....

Thanks for the input

[sidecar]

I'd put 15 PSI in the block and leave it for several hours, not 1/2 an hour. In 1/2 an hour you could lose say an egg cup full of water but there would be hardly any pressure drop as an eggcup of water does not have much volume.

As to your question of where to buy parts the only one that I'd avoid would be RPI, in my humble they don't know their arse from their elbow, the bloke will try and sell you their ignition 'black box' whatever your problem is! His ebay web shop has crappy statements like the Edelbrock 500 carb is not jet fuzzy!!!...what a crock, I can have seen a car become undriveable with a 1 thou change in diameter of the primary rods, i.e, it will drive with a 69 thou rod in it and it is undriveable with a 70 thou rod!

I would include V8 Developments in your list, they are reasonable chaps!

[cid.vranken]

Sidecar,
Well I did the pressure test on a hot engine. So pressure would drop due to air in the system cooling down.
Yes I could also do it when cold, will do no harm. But perhaps then the crack is closed.

Thanks for the tip. RPI shows off with a lot of knowledge on there web-page.. one would think they are THE experts.

About black box. I was thinking to buy ahttps://www.123ignitionshop.com/gb. I've got one for my Lotus with good results.