sj410 santana engine rattling and very smokey

[chan]

Hi there, i am new to the forum today but have been a guest reading articles for a few weeks now!

I just bought an sj410 santana with landrover on the vin plate, very clean body pickup conversion.

heres my problem, i picked it up on sunday (29th) from the new forest, about 120 miles from my hometown maidstone in kent.
the bloke said he had rebuilt the engine just done an oil change ect. it was running fine and smooth at his house. we set off down the road and stoped in the garage to check a few things over and carried on with the journey.

it started loosing power slowly and we came to a halt and stalled. it then started and was fine for another 5 miles and did the same thing. on the dual carriage way it started to develop a knocking and rattling sound from the engine and losing power again (sounds a bit like the valves hitting the pistons, valve float) it sounded really nasty so we pulled in the services luckily another mile and waited about 5 hours to get recovered and then another 3 hours home haha.

it smells like its burning oil and theres alot of smoke!! i am going to get some new oil (thicker) so is there an oil you recommend? i really do not want to change the piston rings so am going to start with the valve stem oil seals and oil and filter change from my local parts bloke.

we think the person we bought it off had ragged the engine its got 82k on the clock but the speedo cable was disconnected so who knows how many miles he has done in it. its done 200 miles since the mot in October.


funny thing is i also bought a range rover vogue se 3.9 from his father a month ago and its a really lovely car so we had no reason to beleive that he knew the engine was rubbish! some of the things the bloke i bought the sj from havent really made sense, he said it had been sitting for 2 weeks but i have found lots of receipts in the cab dated from the last week in various stores quite far away from his home! which is strange because its not supposed to of been moved for 2 weeks! if he has been driving it and the engine was knackerd he has probably made it alot worse!!!!


any advice as to what you think the rattling sound it id love to know, its coming from the head im sure of it but could be the thrust bearing or something.


i will put some pictures up of the engine and the sj tomorrow.

sorry for the large post but i just want you to have as much info as possible

thanks for your help!

[Henry]

Hi

Firstly hello and welcome to the site. Sounds like your engine is a little worse for wear, with a knock and a lot of smoke. this would suggest that either the valve stem oil seals have gone or the piston rings. The knock could be a number of things, but it could be to lack of oil (have you dipped it)

If i was in your shoes i would just take the engine out, and buy another. i always do this mainly because i have no knowledge of engine rebuilding and because i can replace an engine and have it running a a few hours. i think there where a few for sale on this site, and i am currently scanning ebay but not having much luck in finding just a 410 engine.

Bingo http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SUZUKI-SJ-410-OFF ... 414b0073e4

Not sure where you are located but that looks cheap, and if it is in the sj then it could be a good oppertunity to try before you buy.

If not upgrades are available with little modifications.


Henry

[ScottieJ]

Hi matey welcome to the forum. is it more of a tapping rattling or a knocking? if its more of a knocking it could be the big ends! also instead of just chnging the valve stem oil seals in place its best to whip the head off and have a look properly as it could be worn valve guides that caused the seals to fail. if it turns out to be the big ends that have gone, give me a shout as i have a bottom end sat in my garage gavering dust you can have for a good price! thats if you are not to far away anyway!

Scott

[chan]

thanks for your replies. i have done a compression test and its all even give or take 5psi which is fine. i will try it with oil in the cylinders to rule out the piston rings. it really does sound like the big end bearings and the thrust bearing. also theres alot of oil around the gearbox side of the crankshaft which is a sign the big end has gone.

im in kent, maidstone so quite a trek from bath unfortunately.

ive done a engine rebuild before so id rather do that than buy an engine and it takes a long time to find an engine within distance to pick up but thanks for finding that!

i dont understand why it happened so quickly things like big end bearings wear overtime and get worse but the guy said it was running fine and it was for the first few miles!!

i connected the pcv valve up to the inlet from the rocker cover after this pic as it was blowing oil all over the engine bay





sorry for the poor quality.

the outside of the engine looks in such good nick its just the internals must be knackerd!

thanks very much.

[4eye]

i've nout to say really..........only to the forum!

[chan]

cheers mate

[Henry]

Hi Looks like a nice engine exterior, they do look cool in red

[chan]

yeah! is that a 1.6 vitara engine? looks goood!

[ScottieJ]

no worries mate! im running a 1.6 in mine now and like i said its just sitting there doing nothing and it was a good'un when it came out so thought i'd let you know.

If you're in kent then you might want to join this forum, bunch of really nice guys who have some serious trucks and they are all over your way

http://www.ragingrhinos.co.uk/

the truck looks pretty nice too mate, always loved the look of stack exhausts. You just need some nice tyres to finish it off! will make the world of a difference off road too

ScottieJ

[Henry]

Hi Yes, that is a Vitara 1.6 EFI running on su carb.

Have to say it is ok for my needs, can be a little sluggish but are readily available and are easy to fit. The conversion is easily done, and i would even go as far as saying that it would be a nice addition to your sj410. Only a 413/sammy gear box and one engine mount to pop in and you will be away.

That engine in the picture is untested, trying to get insurance cover for this weekend (its due in the mud for sunday) so hopefully a full shake down saturday and get some road miles on her!