Roger Millin wrote: > The most usual cause for oil mist being driven out of any orifice on an > engine is an over-pressurised crankcase and the most usual cause for > that is worn/broken piston rings. With the pressures involved in diesel > combustion you don't need a massive leak to cause significant ring > blow-by. So, assuming that there isn't a blocked breather elsewhere > (and I'm no expert on agricultural engines ;-))) then my first concern > would be for the rings, I'm afraid. And yes, I do remember that you had > the engine rebuilt not that long ago but a broken ring could happen > suddenly which might explain the rapid onset of the problem.
I fear you may be right. When I started up this morning it was much much worse than yesterday. I removed the rocker cover and there appears to be a lot of this hazy mist coming up through the various orifices in the cylinder head. Removing the side cover and examining the injector pump area leaves me with the impression that nothing has gone wrong there. I'm going to let the whole thing cool right down and try retightening the cylinder head - it might just be blowing across the gasket, although I'm not overly hopeful of this curing the problem. I've just spoken with Peter Thompson (Lister specialist), and he thought it more likely to be a gasket problem - oh and they don't have any head gaskets in at the moment. Expecting some in the next couple of months! Terry Streeter NB Arun - Harefield
