Help - Huge Clouds of Smoke!

[bunnysquasher]

Hello,

I am new to the forum so please be gentle .

I was driving up to a junction (cold engine driven approx 0.5 mile), so dipped my clutch to change gear, the engine rev's went up without me touching the accelerator (to around 2000 by ear) and the van produced a huge cloud of light smoke out of the exhaust!

I immediately thought it was running on engine oil so whacked it into gear and stalled it, this means that I don't know if it would have stopped by simply turning the key .

I called a mate for a tow and whilst waiting I checked engine oil and water levels (both seemed fine) and nothing obviously untoward under the bonnet. So I got bored waiting and tried starting the van. It started easily, idled normally and produced like a smoke machine, I immediately turned it off with the key which worked.

half an hour later after a tow (behind an Alfa which is probably now broken down) I started it to get it into its parking space and it hardly smoked at all!

I'm stumped, if anyone could try to point me in the right direction of what I should do next I'd be really grateful.

Should I drive it and see if it gets better/worse/happens again? or is driving it a really bad idea(I can stay on private land for this kind of testing)

Many thanks

*van is actually an LDV convoy but the engine is the same.

[teignrower]

Mine did this twice,both times at same roundabout about 2 minutes drive from home. It was running on oil from the breather, there were 2 x 6mm bolts (10mm socket) fallen out from the rearmost rocker shaft caps, fortunately they were lying next to a couple of pushrods, so I put them back in and tightened them (The front bolt can be seen by looking down engine filler cap). 2000 miles on had no more trouble and using no oil.

[bunnysquasher]

Thanks so much for the reply, definitely sounds like a similar problem.

Sorry for being thick, Ive a fair bit of experience, but not that familiar with the terminology. What are rocker shaft caps? Are these somehow related to the breather?

Sorry if my questions are silly, Hopefully I will have the chance to have a look at it tonight and all will be obvious.

Cheers

Mine did this twice,both times at same roundabout about 2 minutes drive from home. It was running on oil from the breather, there were 2 x 6mm bolts (10mm socket) fallen out from the rearmost rocker shaft caps, fortunately they were lying next to a couple of pushrods, so I put them back in and tightened them (The front bolt can be seen by looking down engine filler cap). 2000 miles on had no more trouble and using no oil.

[alanwh]

The bolt that hold the rocker posts on to the head can come loose, oil pours into the rocker cover, out through the breather itno the inlet manifold. then the engine runs on its own oil

[bunnysquasher]

Ah, gotcha,

I really hope it is that simple, I'll report back later with an update.

Thanks again.

[bunnysquasher]

Amazing! I hereby buy you both a virtual pint.

I took the rocker cover off and what do I find... A hole with no bolt and a spare bolt just lying there.

I didn't have time to clean all the bits that shouldn't be oily so haven't put it back together. But the missing bolt would definitely cause the problem, so I am over the moon, that could have taken me weeks to find the problem!

Thank you both so much.

[big red van]

HI, MY LDV 2.5 DIESEL HAS JUST LOST A ROCKER SHAFT BOLT, TOOK ALOT OF FINDING OUT, EVERY ONE TOLD ME TO SCRAP IT AS BLOWN UP, THE ENGINE IS LOW MILEAGE AND VERY GOOD ORDER.
HAVE STRIPPED AND SORTED BOLT, EASY ENOUGH BUT HAVING PROBLEMS WITH ENGINE NOT ABLE TO TURN OVER PROPERLY, ITS AS IF SOME OF THE CYLINDERS ARE FULL OF OIL , IS THIS POSSIBLE, IF SO CAN I GET RID OF OIL WITHOUT STRIPPING ENGINE DOWN, WOULD A GOOD TOW CLEAR IT WITHOUT DAMAGE TO ENGINE, HAVE SPUN OVER WITH INJECTORS OUT, WAS SPINNING FREELY, OR COULD IT HAVE DONE SOMETHING ELSE TO ENGINE, ANY HELP OR ADVICE IS APRECIATED, CHEERS BIG RED VAN ......

[ginsambo]

HI, MY LDV 2.5 DIESEL HAS JUST LOST A ROCKER SHAFT BOLT, TOOK ALOT OF FINDING OUT, EVERY ONE TOLD ME TO SCRAP IT AS BLOWN UP, THE ENGINE IS LOW MILEAGE AND VERY GOOD ORDER.
HAVE STRIPPED AND SORTED BOLT, EASY ENOUGH BUT HAVING PROBLEMS WITH ENGINE NOT ABLE TO TURN OVER PROPERLY, ITS AS IF SOME OF THE CYLINDERS ARE FULL OF OIL , IS THIS POSSIBLE, IF SO CAN I GET RID OF OIL WITHOUT STRIPPING ENGINE DOWN, WOULD A GOOD TOW CLEAR IT WITHOUT DAMAGE TO ENGINE, HAVE SPUN OVER WITH INJECTORS OUT, WAS SPINNING FREELY, OR COULD IT HAVE DONE SOMETHING ELSE TO ENGINE, ANY HELP OR ADVICE IS APRECIATED, CHEERS BIG RED VAN ......

Is it in gear?