Revs drop when clutch pedal is pressed

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moony187

Member +
For starters I'm completely new to all this and I've tried doing my own research but can't seem to find an explanation as to why my car is doing this. I took it for its first long drive to see how it would cope and it did well until the drive back. It started throwing out loads of white smoke with a bit of soot every time I had the accelerator half way down. As soon as this started happening, I noticed each time I came to stop or slow down for a turn, my revs would drop completely and the engine would stall, yet the MIL light did not turn on neither did a diagnostic test show anything.

After that little episode I took it home and left it too cool off and thought I'd try it again later. Engine oil was extremely low, upon further research I figured that the turbo seals had been damaged as the BOV had some oil residue on it and had spat some onto the radiator at some point.

The part that I'm very confused at is when I took it out again after topping up the oil, I let it warm up properly and noticed that as soon as I dipped the clutch, the revs dropped and I could feel the engine start to struggle. If I held it in any longer, it would drop the revs all the way until the engine cut off and at this point I also noticed white smoke coming from under the offside front wheel arch which more or less indicates something to do with the turbo itself. Could the turbo being damaged/seals being worn affect the revs in this way as this is only happening when I press on the clutch pedal...

Need some insight on this ASAP as its doing my head in!!!
 
weeJohn

weeJohn

Lifer
Only other time I have heard of a problem like this was when a mate fitted a heavy clutch to his car. When he got to the bottom of it he found that the clutch was pushing the crank end ways enough to jam the crank journals in the block. He fitted new thrust bearings in the bottom end and that sorted it. You need to check the crank end to end play by measuring the amount the crank moves in that way, or take the sump off and just replace the thrust washers/bearings either side of the middle mains bearing cap.
 
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SalmanGT

Fresh Recruit
ok, what happens if you just start the engine, after it warms up, is it able to rev high? Can you take the REV till 3 or 4k RPM,
before you try this Disconnect the pipe going to the engine from Intercooler, also at this point u'll be able to see if the oil from turbo came this far,
if its Wet, open spark plugs and check and clean them, Now with out installing the Intercooler pipe, start the engine, try press the clutch and check if the problem is still there,
 
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Mikey4410

Member +
Icv ( idle control valve ) also may be clogged which is very common.that might not be helping,i cleaned mine out and made all the difference.
 
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moony187

Member +
Very grateful for the input guys. I think I've sussed out the problem. Decided to take a proper look at everything in the engine bay (after a quick drive) and upon inspection it seems to me that I have a piston ring on cylinder number 4 which has failed/broken. The HT lead and the spark plug were covered in oil and it had been pushed out onto the rocker cover itself. The smoke and oil which I had seen from near the front wheel arch was coming from the breather hole for the rocker cover to which I have a hose attached. This was sending the fumes directly under the car and and after stopping or coming to a halt, it was also dripping oil.

Would this also cause the BOV to have oil/oily residue coming out of it? Or would that be another problem all in itself related to the turbo?
Also guys, I was wondering what would be a cost effective way of tackling this problem. Either replace and sort out this issue i.e replace piston rings/piston,valves etc or to put in another 4EFTE?

Thanks for the advice Salman and Mikey, I'll try what you've suggested and see if it makes a difference to clutch/revs but I have a feeling it might be due to the lack of compression :/
 
4efteboost

4efteboost

Member +
Best thing to do would probs be a compression test mate. To be honest though it does sound like ringland failure as when it happened to me i also had excessive smoke from the breather and it was running like yours. I ended up buying 4 x new standard pistons and rings and had a mate rebuild it for me but you might wanna think about if you would of forged it in future as now is best time to do it
 
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moony187

Member +
I know what you're saying, its just for the time being I was hoping to just run the car and get used to it before deciding on modding or figuring out what route I'd want to take. I was considering swapping the engine over with another one as a friend of mine has got one sitting around just gathering dust. Its basically the block and head so other parts such as manifolds and piping etc would have to be used from the current engine. I'm not sure how much engine rebuilds cost but I'm assuming they're a lot more compared to and engine replacement?
 
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moony187

Member +
I meant as in before this problem occurred. Driving it would only make it worse seeing as it keeps losing oil everytime its fired up.
 
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moony187

Member +
Bit of advice guys, would I be able to replace the piston/piston rings without having to remove the engine from the car? Only asking as I don't have access to an engine crane and wondering if I'd be able to remove the head take the sump off and do it that way. Need to get hold of a piston ring clamp too -_-
 
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