I have a 1985 380SE with 560 engine and LPG (rebadged as 560SE)

The engines suddenly started making a ticking sound and it now blows blue smoke on some cold starts. I thought at first this might be due to the wear and tear then I thought this should gradually happen over time, not overnight. It was also about two weeks after I changed the oil & filter.

I was thinking it needs some new internal engine parts. But any good advice would be great, thanks.

 

it's burning oil

 

Sleepwalker is correct, probably need rings valves, maybe a head gasket, does it overheat? a rebulid is probably in order. How many miles?

 

Well I know blue smoke is oil. But it only makes one puff on some cold starts and thats it. I check the oil frequently and it doesnt seem to drop much. I changed the coolant about 5 months ago and it hasnt lost a drop and never overheated.

Hard to say how many miles, total is 190,000 Miles but the engines were changed at 145,000M with a 2nd hand 5.6 engine (from japan apparently), so its done 45K in this car, who knows how much it did before.

 

If its blowing blue smoke on startup, but doesn't blow any smoke after that, it is probably seeping some oil pass the ring. The ticking could be the oil pump, oil isn't getting up into the block fast enough. Might just need a cleaning, when blue smoke comes out the exhaust all the time, then worry. I had a 86 Porsche, with 89K when I bought it. A salesperson owned the car, bought it new and it was in beautiful shape. Porsche, especially back in those days, had the tendency to blow blue smoke (oil) on initial start up, they all did and it was considered normal. If you let the car sit for 4 or 5 days, and then started it, it blew out a smoke screen. Around 100K I had to add a quart of oil every 500 miles, even with a 12 quart capacity. I took it to a very well known (around here) Porsche shop and they said it was time to rebuilt the engine, which would have cost around $10K wiith the mods I wanted, this was 1/2 of what I paid for the car. I foolishly sold it a few months later. But if your car is not over heating and the oil level is good and there is no anti freeze in the oil (headgasket problem) wait and see what happens. Too bad the original engine was swapped out, Is the engine in the car the correct engine? You said you recently changed the oil, did you put the proper quanity in?
Also, what viscosity oil do did you use and what kind of climate do you live in?

 

Thanks for your reply, I put around 8 Litres of oil in, I should be able to check the exact amount and viscosity, ive got the remains in the bottle somewhere. I think I remember I may have put a little too much in actually, I live in Sydney-fairly warm and dry climate. The oil was changed 2000Miles ago. I've been checking the oil level often since this problem has come up and its always been between 1/2 and 3/4 on the dipstick range. The level has dropped slightly from the service, but a lot less than my old car which didnt really blow any smoke at all. Somthing I have noticed is that the oil hasnt got dirty, it still looks just as clean as it was in the bottle. Normally when ive changed oil in cars its gone black quite quickly, but in this car its still clear.

The engine is sort of the correct engine, it originally had a 3.8 V8, then swapped with a 5.6 V8, which was from the same series of engines, they look virtually identical, except I get 220KW instead of 163KW!

I'll try getting the car to a Mechanic soon, problem is, Being a LPG engine work must be carried out by a LPG licenced mechanic and theres only two in my area which I dont like all that much, so I'm pretty cautious when I go there.

 

Interesting, is LPG used in a lot of cars in Australia? Perhaps LPG powered engines use a more oil then Gas or Diesel. You would be hard pressed to find any LPG cars sold in the USA. Gov vehicles, Post Offices use some and some bus companies, but LPG is mostly used here for heating. How is a LPG powered cars performance? In the USA electric, gas combo's are the rage right now.

 

There aren't many LPG cars, all Taxis run on straight gas and these a small amount of dual fuel private cars and a tiny amount of straight gas private cars like mine. Its SO much cheaper to run on gas, its less than 1/2 price to buy it, apparentely its sourced within Australia. Performance seems about the same, though I drive a duel fuel Van at work and it has fractionally more power when running on petrol. Apparentely ones that run on straight gas dont lose as much power, I've got my car to around 155mph\250km\h so it's cant be losing much power.

I went to a mechanic, he didnt really say much, somthing about a piston ring and it may need a full overhaul. He said he couldnt do anything about it and gave me a number for someone else who doesnt appear to be open today.

 

Was this car converted to LPG? Do you know who did the swap and if they converted the engine? Ticking and smoking, could be serious and then on the other hand not that serious. I would try and find out who did the conversion. When you write 220 KW, pardon my lack of knowledge of metrics, but KW represents what? Mileage? If the engine has over 220 km's/kw's on it, how many KM or KW was it ran before the conversion? The top end probably needs some work.

 

Yea it was converted properly, about 30,000Miles ago, I've got the receipt from the conversion (cost US$~1400). I also spent a few hundered getting some fauly LPG bits replaced. The engine also has a bottle of "valve saver" or somthing that gets fed through it to protect it from a lack of lead or somthing on the gas/unleaded.

Kilawatts is the metric measurment for power and 220KW equals 300 Horsepower.

Anyway I've booked my car in for a inspection by a cylinder head specialist, they said somthing about bad tappets, they're taking the rocket covers off for a look and then let me know what needs doing.
They also said that overfilling the engine slightly with oil shouldnt really do any damage and that clean oil doesnt mean any problems.