Cleaning v6 breathers .....
 

Following a recent bout of blue smoke on cold starts , I am starting off by cleaning out the breather system , and removing the cam covers . Two queries for those who have done this :
The 8mm bolts holding on the cam covers have thread lock on them ; my reading-up had not led me to expect this . Is this the norm ? I have had the car for 14 years and don't believe they have been off before .
Secondly , the brillo-pad filters are heavily gunged-up . How have people cleaned these ? I squirted them with Gunk , let this drain off ( very mucky ) and have now left them soaking in white spirit overnight :shrug:
The pin holes were blocked but easily poked through :}
As an aside , the blue smoke is puzzling as it has stopped about 10 days ago with non since :shrug: I originally thought valve stem oil seals , but these either leak or they don't ; they don't get better ! :shrug:

Just done the job on my daughter’s “new” tourer.

I noted that only some of the 8mm bolts had thread lock, by no means all.

I cleaned the filters with thinners, used a jam jar, gave it a shake now and then and they came up quite well. Used white spirit to rinse after the thinners. Filters are not as new but the silt in the bottom of the jar was in indication of what was in there.

Can’t say my pin holes were easily poked through even with stainless Tig wire, used a drill in the end.

Have heard our cars don’t normally suffer from valve seal leaks, think it might have been Lovel who mentioned it.

Regards

Do you need any new parts to do this or is it just remove 5he covers clean the mesh and check the breather holes ?
Thanks

No new parts needed, some perhaps would suggest new tin, coated gaskets but I've re-used the old ones with a bead of gasket sealant and not had any leaks.

Regards

I have gone for new gaskets as it happens , and also whilst the bits are off and access is good I'm going to change the spark plugs and do a compression test . I don't plan to go in there very often ! :}

Makes sense while you're there to do the difficult to get to jobs. I was just planning on changing my daughter's low 75 -80s thermostat but as you say, might as well tackle the other jobs (I'd already done the spark plugs).

I'd suggest going the whole distance now, tilting the upper manifold allowing oil to drip out, maybe some rinsing with white spirit, same with the throttle housing and the rubber bellows. I'm wondering if some of this re-gurgitated mix of condensate and oil is making it's way into your engine hence the blue smoke. That's the theory isn't it that crankcase gases get re-introduced into the engine for burning, that the gases pick up a fair amount of sludge on their way could account for the blue smoke.

With all parts of the air intake / breather system clean it'll be interesting to see if the problem with blue smoke reappears - please let us know.

Regards

Yes , I will report back .
Having tried Gunk and white spirit on the filters , I believe I have hit on the best product now - a dishwasher tablet in hot water ! Amazing the NAUGHTY WORD-NAUGHTY WORD-NAUGHTY WORD-NAUGHTY WORD- this is producing :eek::} These filters are seriously dirty .

Update
 

Well , I said I'd report back !
Not good news , the blue smoke on cold startup is still there . It probably never went away ; perhaps I just wasn't seeing it :shrug:
So now I have to assume it is indeed valve stem oil seals , and decide whether to live with it or go for what will be an enormous strip-down just to replace 24 little bits of rubber :shrug:
I doubt I will be able to live with it as I like things to be A1 :shrug: Maybe I will wait till the spring now …...:}

Thanks for getting back even with the bad news we learn a bit more.

Regards

Hi Chris.
Did you clean the cam sensor at the same time, these can get quite gunked up, I personally like to change the metal wire filter for what they cost, it just so happens I was sorting out my boxes last night and came across these metal filters then, hopefully it is not valve stem oil seals.