Smoking 356..!

[Milly]

Hi,

I'm not particularly mechanically minded so bear with me...!

When my 356 is warm it blows a hell of alot of smoke (oil) out from the breather pipe . . . and when it's warm and I start her up again it puffs smoke out the exhaust but only on start up . . . obviously this isn't normal so what is this a symptom of..?

It seems to run OKish (still need to get the carb spindles replaced..!) but don't want to do any long term damage to the engine

Is this bad and will it cost me a fortune to fix..?

[Paul @ P R Services]

You most certainly have worn valve guilds or piston rings.

What is happening is that the oil is getting burnt along with the compressed fuel mixture.
Because your valve guilds are worn and not sealing or you have broken or worn piston rings, the oil is finding it's way into the combustion chamber.
It is then exploded and fired out with the exhaust gases (smoke from exhaust) and also fired back into the crank case (crank case pressure or heavy breathing).

We would advise you get it looked at.

All the best
Paul.