Hi all,
I’ve got an 01 Cuore that I’m having troubles with. It blows gray smoke when revving, is burning oil and smells of it when running.
I’ve done a compression test and a leak down test and all surprisingly looks good. I had 11% 12% 10% leak with no obvious hissing in the usual places.
I’m no mechanic, so next I’m thinking to look at vacuum system. There’s a fair bit of oil in the throttle body. Does the EJ have an egr valve? I can’t find that that’s for sure.
Hate to say it but typical of an EJ-DE that hasn’t been looked after properly what has happened is the oil rings in the piston have gummed up due to infrequent oil changes so requires a rebuild more than likely and either spend the time redrilling the holes or new pistons
Does these EJDE engines have a pcv valve? egr valve? all i can see is a rubber hose running from top of engine to somewhere. I owned an 03 BMW E46 318i Auto before my current Daihatsu and I used additives and thinner in the fuel tank,cleaned throttle body and pcv hoses and my BMW smoke alot less. I was told the rings might be worn in my engine (N42B20 engine) and also to replace my pcv vavle which I didnt,I just cleaned it (without removal) also I was told my valve stem seal are worn on my BMW. Unfortunatly I kept driving it (has some colling system issues) and blew the head gasket :-(.I couldnt afford to fix it. So,I thought I would buy something more reliable and easier to fix like a Daihatsu. Great on fuel too.
Your on the same thought track as me 99d. I’ve done a leak down test and that’s said my rings and valves are good (phew)
Next place to look is the vacuum system, and my lines do have oil in them. PCV is the obvious answer but I can’t find any on my car or in the manuals. I’ve got a larger tube and a smaller tube coming off the valve cover. One goes to the snorkle on the throttle body intake pipe and the other goes into the pressure sensor/regulator on the efi.
The larger pipe has a chunk missing out of it, looks like a dog bit it … I’m replacing that today but I don’t think that’s the cause.
Can any EJ experts confirm there’s no PCV or alternative on the Cuore?
No there is no pcv valve on them. It’s a semi straight through system, what i did was to drill out the rivets holding the plate on inside the rocker cover cleaned the baffle and all inside rocker cover with degreaser, wire brush and elbow grease then drilled where the rivets were and put plate back on using small self tapping screws. Also i am no expert, just started playing with EJ’s myself
no i didn’t take pics sorry. what happened was i buggered the intake manifold gasket and was sucking water into the motor, gave it all a good flush and replaced with a proper gasket and no more problems
Been there fixed that a few times. As mentioned above the oil rings jam up and no longer scrap like they should. If u dare get it to op temp it will reduce the smoke but theyres no additive that will fix it.
Can be done in chassis in a m100, head off, sump off. New rings are required most likely standard but double check bore. Pistons are slavageable generally. Comp rings usually come off no worries . Oil rings might need digging out be careful not to damage piston. There are 4 holes that need cleaning out. A 2mm drill bit sorts them out. Carefully scrap the carbon out of the grooves i snapped a top ring in half to get most of it out. Then a flathead screwdriver just a tad smaller than the groove to get a bit more. A gentle wire wheel to clean up the rest and ur done. Use of carby cleaner is recommended too. Lightly hone the bores to remove the glaze. Dont hit the crank as it will damage the stone. I allways put a new set of big end shells in too.
If your your doing valve stem seals make sure u dont mix up which valve came from where. Setting up valve clearances can be a pain but still check them.
Ive never come across a corroded head yet.
The upper water pump o ring isnt in a vrs.
The job isnt that hard, just time consuming if u havent done one before.
Thanks a lot Andrew and Mokeman. I guess that’s why my leak down test was good, if the rings are gummed up rather than worn.
Seems I’ll have some decisions to make as I bought the car for $1200 and highway driving is pretty much required where I live to get anywhere.
I’ll start investigating the engine on the weekend.
what has happened is the oil rings in the piston have gummed up due to infrequent oil changes so requires a rebuild more than likely and either spend the time redrilling the holes or new pistons 
