smoking engine thoughts?

[gekellogg]

I have a 1970 2.2T which has started to smoke significantly. The leak down tests I had done about 1.5 yrs ago (less than 500 miles since) showed 4-9%, but since then it has started to smoke progressively more. Smokes on start up, after warmed up, at idle, and significantly under throttle, but it still seems to run quite well.

Any thoughts before I take it in?

[NZVW]

How much oil has it consumed over the last 500 miles??

2.4 engines as per the manual eat through 1.5-2 quarts per 600 miles and mine gobbles on the lower end of this pending drive style.

500 miles in 1.5 years is not much,, Does your motor drip tears of 'driverless depression" on the garage floor as well.

Take it for a good drive,, if it is running quite well I can see no harm done and it may be what she needs.

Mark

[Frank Beck]

I missed that one in the fac manual Mark...
2 qts every 600 miles?

OP, First make sure your tank hasn't been overfilled. Fully warmed up at idle the level should be between the two marks, give er take. To be safe run it closer to bottom mark than top mark; easy to overfill.

[NZVW]

Frank,

Took me a while to re find it, but I knew I had seen it somewhere.
Single entry bottom of Page 97 1972 T Owners manual ( Performance Section ). Not sure if its on same page in E or S Manuals.

Mark

[Frankr]

Take it out every week and run it hard for an hour. Nonuse is an engine killer.

[RSTarga]

You found the problem yourself:
" 1.5 yrs ago (less than 500 miles since)"

[raspy2point2]

do not let it sit more than 2 weeks. Chris

[gekellogg]

I missed that one in the fac manual Mark...
2 qts every 600 miles?

OP, First make sure your tank hasn't been overfilled. Fully warmed up at idle the level should be between the two marks, give er take. To be safe run it closer to bottom mark than top mark; easy to overfill.

Thanks - could be part of it, have been topping up the oil perhaps a bit much. Will let it burn off & see what happens as the oil level drops a bit.

[gekellogg]

You found the problem yourself:
" 1.5 yrs ago (less than 500 miles since)"

agree - i've been neglecting it. Its been either wet or salty the last few months on the weekends here in Vancouver, so its been hibernating, aside from smokey start ups in the underground parkade.

[Gearby]

2 quarts every 600 miles seems like an awful lot. So I need to take a case of oil with me when going on a trip back and forth across the state?
If any newer car was consuming that much oil, I would say you have a rebuild in your near future.
I have a 1972 E manual here and it does say that is the consumption. Thinking about it I guess I never took my car on long trips.