Should i be alarmed?

[MatMan]

Hey guys

I have had this happen before with a car... with less warning signs but it happened. I have a 91 nissan navara dual cab 4wd 4 pot petrol. This morning i started her 5 mins before i go (as always) and i noticed what i thought at first was just steam you get on a very cold morning like today. It was smoke... and worse still in the water dripping from the exsaust there was some oil.
A little worried as my last car blew its rings big time before i had even paid it off. I also have noticed that the lilttle warning light (!) usually reserved for the hand brake being left on it almost constantly on except on left hand corners (that might be more a nissan tech problem).

A bit of input here would be very helpfull as i have had such a bad run with cars and if the navara goes kerplunk it will crush me finacially for a long time.

Thanks
Mat

[Dave_STR]

Mate I reakon its condensation and the carbon mixing, my old Pintara TRX use to do it on cold mornings. The TRX ran the KA24E, which I am assuming your Navara runs aswell.

As for the brake light, check how much brake fluid you have in the master cylinder reseviour.

Cheers Dave.

[Marc 1]

Why do you idle the car for 5 mins before you go?

[v6hilux]

Why do you idle the car for 5 mins before you go?

If it's diesel and it's 5 degrees C, then it's OK to get the oil to a viscous state before driving! Also, diesels don't really operate efficiently under 70C.

[Mikey0211]

Why do you idle the car for 5 mins before you go?


Why wouldn't you ?

[MatMan]

i let it idle because i exit my drive way straight into stop start traffic and if theres not enough temp in the engine she just stalls all the way too work. Let it warm up and its fine.

The brake light being on only happens in the morning, yesterday afternoon on the way home it was not on at all so its got something too do with the cold. Brake fluid is about half way... checked it 2 days ago.


-Mat

[Marc 1]

If it's diesel and it's 5 degrees C, then it's OK to get the oil to a viscous state before driving! Also, diesels don't really operate efficiently under 70C.

If by efficiency you mean fuel burned compared to work done then sitting in the driveway doing no work (no moving) for 5 minutes is totally inefficient. Bdesides, aren't the various viscosity ratings of oil meant to help with this? I know both of my vehicles require different oil if used in a seriously cold location (manual obviously has europe or nroth america in mind)

[Marc 1]

Why wouldn't you ? Because its a total waste of fuel. I just start up, wait for the revs to stabilise to a fast (rich idle) for about 10 secs then I go, driving conservatively, by the time I've left my suburb the engine is at operating temp and the idle speed is normal (both cars have aluminium engines, they warm up pretty fast). If the car hasn't been used recently and the car has sat for a week or two I'll start up and maybe let it idle for about 30 secs or so, but that's it.

I'm not advocating starting a cold engine and valve bouncing it all the way down the driveway, but I was under the impression that warming up an engine went out with kerosine lights and putting butter on burns.

[v6hilux]

Oops, my mistake. This is the petrol tech section. I was thinking Patrol - Nissan - Navara Diesel!

Yeah, modern petrol engines don't really need a warm-up time, but diesels still do. Warming petrol engines up, is a waste of fuel and reduces engine life!

The only disadvantage of not warming a modern petrol engine is a short trip. Condensation gathers in the exhaust system and rust is a problem. Thats why Taxi exhausts hardly ever rust.

As for the oily discharge, it could be a soot and condensate mix, not a problem if it only occurs for a short time after start-up.

[MatMan]

What your not taking into account is that it is an old engine and without at least a few mins too let the revs settle i dont get far without having too restart. About 5-10 mins of stop start driving and i am at work.

On a somewhat unrelated topic i am doing my first oil change on this car this weekend and i dont quite know how much oil she will want... anyone know?

[v6hilux]

On a somewhat unrelated topic i am doing my first oil change on this car this weekend and i dont quite know how much oil she will want... anyone know?

You can't go wrong with 5L bottle. After draining oil, replacing sump nut and changing the filter, pour in 3L.

Try and remove the coil lead from the dissy cap or ignition fuse if EFI and crank engine (without ignition) to get the oil light to go off or pressure to register on the gauge. This primes the oil in the engine and filter and brings the dip stick level to a true level after filling the new filter.

Next, check the dip stick. Keep adding about 1/2 L at a time till your at the full mark. A fraction over won't hurt (couple of mm's), but a lot over will.

Keep the remaining oil (prolly 1/2 to 1L) for top-ups every month or so.

[MatMan]

Thanks guys, as you can imagine with my last car blowing its rings and pretty much costing me 1000 bucks for nothing i was worried. I know 1000 might not be much too some but at the moment 100 dollars takes weeks of planning too spend.

[ravofireman]

yer navman i am with u mate,,


U have nuffin to worrie about the oil stuff out zhorts its normal

I know i own one haha

And yes i warm mine up on a cold morning or it stalls and carries on the same

And it drives way better and way better on juice when warmed up

[MatMan]

If rave says its fine then i am happy. I also know never too tow any fork lifts on his advice lol.

[ravofireman]

yer if i was u i wouldnt be snathcin 2.5 tunna forklifts out of a bog lol

But yer its make a good laugh

[Stomper]

Has anyone considered that the idle fuel mixture may need adjusting?
Could be pulling too much vacumn on idle.... had a car once with the Mooreys upper cylinder bottle, and within half an hour on idle (trying to put some charge in dying battery), my motor started blowing smoke...

I nearly SH*T my pants , but later put it down to excessive vacumn.

P.S... Please ... any Mechanics or mechanically minded people out there, please dont bag me , im just trying to make a suggestion, not a fact.

Cheers

[MatMan]

I have been thinking about putting the old girl in for a big service and tune... needs money first.

[ravofireman]

i have had mine tuned, and a full carby rebuild,,

New coild, Dizzy, leads, filters, pump, electronic spark moudle,, and more

[GROVER]

If It Stalls and carries on only on cold mornings and it has a carburetter check that the heat riser tube is on and the vacuum butterfly is working on the air cleaner intake . If it is not working the carby could be freezing up . I had the problem on a 91 navara king cab with a snorkel i had by past the heat riser tube and it would stall at every corner , if i turned it off and waited 5 minutes for the heat to rise up to warm the carby it would be fine for the rest of the day . Hope this helps cheers ken