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[shyboy]

I recently bought a 2001 Y reg 2.6l estate, at 75k, which is in great condition and has everything working except for a rear speaker, which I'll get to sorting in the near future. It has a good although not fully complete service record and the cambelt etc. was changed at 65k according to the invoices which came with the vehicle. I don't know whether the breather systems have been properly cleaned.
However, I noticed a burst of light blue smoke on starting from cold recently, (I must say this wasn't noticed when I collected the car) and it certainly isn't obviously evident during normal driving or when starting when warm. Oil consumption doesn't seem to be out of the ordinary although I haven't had the car long enough yet to be accurate about this. My first reaction is worn valve stem seals allowing oil to settle in the cylinders during a lengthy rest, which is burned off on first starting in the morning, rather than worn bores or piston rings, which I would have thought would show oil smoke under all running conditions.
The tickover is absolutely steady and sweet at exactly 500rpm, (slightly low, perhaps?) and she runs beautifully throughout the normal driving range. I'm afraid I really don't know exactly what performance to expect from a 2.6l but it has plenty of power when the right foot is used. There is perhaps a very slight hesitation at around 15/20 mph when accelerating but it's so slight that I might be imagining it.
My experience of engines is based on the days long before electronics and ECU's etc. and I'd be grateful to learn whether my 'diagnosis' is likely to be right or whether there are other factors in modern power units which might cause the same effect.
Any opinions would be very much appreciated.
Cheers,
Bill
  

[Dazzler]

I would say vave guide oil seals may have gone hard, but do try and make sure that the breather system is all clear and clean first.

[hotel21]

Would tend to agree with your diagnosis and reasons for getting there.  Ensure the breathers are clear as this will assist in ensuring oil loss to minimum, although effect of worn stem seals when running is nil as combustion pressure is greater than breather pressure.

[kcl]

It's the valve guide oil seals, very common problem with the 2,6/3,2 engines. The seals are OK but they do not hold on their place. I don't know what has been changed from 2,5/3,0 because they don't seem to have this problem. Some people have managed to have the seals repaired/refitted as guarantee job by local dealer. The repair is (as far as I know and from what I have heard, don't know all the facts) to make threads to the guides and then put new seals on with some glue. In my opinion it's a huge job to start, I think that you'll have to take all cams and lifters off first... A nightmare to me at least...

Mine has this symptom also. Blue smoke sometimes during start, not always, no matter cold or hot engine etc. Annoying, but according to Opel, nothing to be worried about... We'll see

[shyboy]

Thanks for your very interesting comments.
I'll leave things as they are for the moment, but will thoroughly clean the breather system ASAP. In a way, I suppose a little extra oil in the combustion chambers can't matter too much unless things start to get really gunged up. I might try a slightly heavier oil at the next change to see if that makes any difference.
Has anyone any info. about changes made to the valve stem oil seals on the 2.6/3.2l engine? And is anyone else suffering the same symptoms?
Thanks again.
Bill.  

[Marks DTM Calib]

Thanks for your very interesting comments.
I'll leave things as they are for the moment, but will thoroughly clean the breather system ASAP. In a way, I suppose a little extra oil in the combustion chambers can't matter too much unless things start to get really gunged up. I might try a slightly heavier oil at the next change to see if that makes any difference.
Has anyone any info. about changes made to the valve stem oil seals on the 2.6/3.2l engine? And is anyone else suffering the same symptoms?
Thanks again.
Bill.  

Cant find any info on stem seal changes.....Vx use the same stem seals on pretty much the entire engine range (i.e. the V6 ones are alo used on the 4 pots).

I wonder if they changed the guides....

[shyboy]

Would you agree that there's no need to embark on major surgery just yet? It's interesting that the problem might be common on the 2.6/3.2l range but not on others. I suppose asking a 'stealers' opinion would be a waste of time, but I might try anyway, just to see what gems they offer.
Thanks for your interest.

[Tony H]

Would you agree that there's no need to embark on major surgery just yet? It's interesting that the problem might be common on the 2.6/3.2l range but not on others. I suppose asking a 'stealers' opinion would be a waste of time, but I might try anyway, just to see what gems they offer.
Thanks for your interest.

They would probably recommend that you have them changed even though it may not be needed at this time. This would give them the perfect opportunity to bend you over the work bench lube at the ready, and remove thick wads of cash from you wallet at the same time

[Marks DTM Calib]

Would you agree that there's no need to embark on major surgery just yet? It's interesting that the problem might be common on the 2.6/3.2l range but not on others. I suppose asking a 'stealers' opinion would be a waste of time, but I might try anyway, just to see what gems they offer.
Thanks for your interest.

Its interesting because Vx engines have never been ones to wear stem seals unlike Fords and Nissans.....

[JamesV6CDX]

Would you agree that there's no need to embark on major surgery just yet? It's interesting that the problem might be common on the 2.6/3.2l range but not on others. I suppose asking a 'stealers' opinion would be a waste of time, but I might try anyway, just to see what gems they offer.
Thanks for your interest.

Its interesting because Vx engines have never been ones to wear stem seals unlike Fords and Nissans.....

I agree - my Veccy ones were still OK after 210,000 miles!

[Grumpy]

I haven't worked on the V6, so haven't physically looked at the layout.
What can happen on the 2.0L, is if the breather system is not clear,
then when you start from cold, the oil has had time to separate from the fumes
and coalesce into droplets in the IACV and the bottom of the Inlet Manifold
and gets dragged through and burnt at start-up.

Is the V6 layout also capable of doing something similar to this?

[shyboy]

Would you agree that there's no need to embark on major surgery just yet? It's interesting that the problem might be common on the 2.6/3.2l range but not on others. I suppose asking a 'stealers' opinion would be a waste of time, but I might try anyway, just to see what gems they offer.
Thanks for your interest.

They would probably recommend that you have them changed even though it may not be needed at this time. This would give them the perfect opportunity to bend you over the work bench lube at the ready, and remove thick wads of cash from you wallet at the same time

I'm tempted to say I'll try anything once,  ,  but there's no way they'll get their hands on any car of mine again. I had a bad and expensive experience entrusting a main stealer with idling problems on my 2.0l.
My 1998 2.0l has done 106k with no sign at all of this problem. I'm beginning to wonder whether the car's been run short of oil at some time, possibly causing rapid deterioration of the seals. No way to be sure, I suppose.
Just to re-cap, I'll make breather cleaning the first priority.
Thanks for all your comments.
Bill.