3B bj42 crankcase breather (1 Viewer)

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Hi All,
Need some assistance and advice as to what could be the issue or if this is normal. My car was idling and noticed a bit of smoke comming out of my crankcase breather underneath the car. The cars a 1982 Bj42Lx. Any advice would be great.
 
How much smoke are we talking? Is it new?

Some blowby is normal on an older engine, a bit of moisture can also be steamed out if hasnt run for a while. If its a lot of smoke and its new, well, there's no good news.
 
How much smoke are we talking? Is it new?

Some blowby is normal on an older engine, a bit of moisture can also be steamed out if hasnt run for a while. If its a lot of smoke and its new, well, there's no good news.
Well it’s a older engine has 300k on it. It doesn’t do this all the time. And it’s not too much smoke. It does it every now and then. But it does have a few drips of oil over night..maybe size of 20c coin. Engine feels good…drives and pulls ok. 110km on the freeway with no worries, but soon as you hit an incline you just see the speedo drop and it struggles unless you drop it down to 4th gear and reach the flat spot again. Oh and at idle car vibrates a lot…maybe I need to up the idle.
 
Sounds like a normal Bj42 to me. Check the compression if you are worried. 284 PSI minimum and 28 psi max difference between cylinders according to the Engine manual. It's normal to get spots of oil regularly out of the breather as it's just a pipe that sicks out. Many people put a catch can setup or plum the breather back into the intake. When cold a 3b vibrates, worse in cold weather. I changed the engine mounts and it helped a little, however it still shakes a bit when cold and a lot if I start it at -15C without preheat. Is this a new the truck for you or is this a new development ? If it's something new that wasn't there before, then there is probably an issue, if you are wondering if it's something normal for BJ42s than you are in the ball park.
 
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Sounds like a normal Bj42 to me. Check the compression if you are worried. 284 PSI minimum and 28 psi max difference between cylinders according to the Engine manual. It's normal to get spots of oil regularly out of the breather as it's just a pipe that sicks out. Many people put a catch can setup or plum the breather back into the intake. When cold a 3b vibrates, worse in cold weather. I changed the engine mounts and it helped a little, however it still shakes a bit when cold and a lot if I start it at -15C without preheat. Is this a new the truck for you or is this a new development ? If it's something new that wasn't there before, then there is probably an issue, if you are wondering if it's something normal for BJ42s than you are in the ball park.
Thanks for that mate. Does the compression get
Sounds like a normal Bj42 to me. Check the compression if you are worried. 284 PSI minimum and 28 psi max difference between cylinders according to the Engine manual. It's normal to get spots of oil regularly out of the breather as it's just a pipe that sicks out. Many people put a catch can setup or plum the breather back into the intake. When cold a 3b vibrates, worse in cold weather. I changed the engine mounts and it helped a little, however it still shakes a bit when cold and a lot if I start it at -15C without preheat. Is this a new the truck for you or is this a new development ? If it's something new that wasn't there before, then there is probably an issue, if you are wondering if it's something normal for BJ42s than you are in the ball park.
thanks mate. The compression was checked when they did the new injectors but they did it when it was cold…these are the numbers : Cyl 1 = 370psi Cyl 2 = 350psi Cyl 3 = 320psi Cyl 4 = 350psi.
It’s a new truck for me and never had one before, just want to know if I should bother rebuilding or not. it starts perfectly first click, doesn’t blow smoke at all and drives good through town..only thing is going up hill, I could prob jog up quicker lol. I’m planning on taking it touring and camping so just want to make sure it’s normal. If you have any suggestions or if you think it’s best to rebuild then I might do so. But I’d hate to rebuild it and it drive the same lol.
 
It's getting down in the numbers for compression but nothing too crazy especially if they checked the compression cold. The fact that there is a big difference between the other cylinders and #3 may explain the smoke and vibration especially cold. Ideally recheck hot and if things might even out, and give you piece of mind. If it was mine I wouldn't rebuild it for those numbers. Naturally aspirated 3B's are not going to get you up hill at any speed to impress. On the highway before I put the turbo, there was a hill that would force me down to 3rd gear to maintain 80 Km/h. The same hill in my 2011 VW wagon with a 2.5 I have to floor it in 5th gear to maintain 120 km/h. Just to give you a reference on what you might find as "normal" going up hill in these things.

3B_Engine_Manual.jpg
 
It's getting down in the numbers for compression but nothing too crazy especially if they checked the compression cold. The fact that there is a big difference between the other cylinders and #3 may explain the smoke and vibration especially cold. Ideally recheck hot and if things might even out, and give you piece of mind. If it was mine I wouldn't rebuild it for those numbers. Naturally aspirated 3B's are not going to get you up hill at any speed to impress. On the highway before I put the turbo, there was a hill that would force me down to 3rd gear to maintain 80 Km/h. The same hill in my 2011 VW wagon with a 2.5 I have to floor it in 5th gear to maintain 120 km/h. Just to give you a reference on what you might find as "normal" going up hill in these things.

View attachment 2935864
Thanks for all that mate. Much appreciated. I drove it today and didn’t smoke at all maybe a faint mist when I looked under the car in park. And like you said when it’s warm she doesn’t vibrate at all. I guess she just has standard ware and tare. I’ll keep driving it as it is until it get really bad and then rebuild and turbo it. She’s very good on fuel so I guess that’s another good sign for now. Hopefully she will get me around Victoria with no issues lol…I’ll just take my time going up hill.
 

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