Engine question.

[BenzBoy]

Gentlemen,
May I seek your collective wisdom and advice about as car that comes from a place other than Stuttgart?
The car in question is a 1966 Daimler 250. That is, the small Daimler V8. I am having some difficulty assessing the following:
25,000 miles since 1966 - one owner - motor smooth and just a hint of tappet noise. Oil pressure at hot idle a fraction below 15 lbs per square inch - a fraction above 20 lbs per square inch on the move - but run the engine with the oil filler cap off and there is slight fumimg.
No smoke at start up or under accelaration. I ran the motor hot and took off the oil filler cap and got slight fuming - let it stand for 30 minutes and got the same - but it was not smelling of burnt oil. There were a few drops of condensation on the inside of the cap. Oil clean (changed last in Dec 07) and the radiator fluid showed no signs of oil contamination.
What do you think?
Regards,
BenzBoy

 

[Styria]

Hi BenzBoy, it looks as though you're back from your trip ?..or is this coming from overseas ?

Anyway, no matter. Daimlet SP 250 - I presume you're referring to the fibreglass bodied Dart ?..or even the Jaguar look alike Daimler 250 with the small Turner V8.

In my view, oil pressure, in this instance, is a bit of a worry. At idle, you can go as low as, say 7lbs./sq.in, with red light showing (if it has an oil pressure light as well). Once on the move, however, any engine in reasonable condition, should show no less than 3lbs./sq.in. Once you're below that, you have far too many clearance problems.

Also, bear in mind that the 'old style, orig. British engines, are expensive to recondition, see Rover 2000. Yet, anything with Yankee descendancy, see Rover V8, are dirt cheap in comparison. The Daimler V8 has heads that are studded to the block and they can be stubborn, stubborn (!) to remove. Regards Styria

 

[BenzBoy]

I'm back!!!
Thanks Styria but maybe read again the oil pressure figures?
Regards,
BenzBoy

 

[Styria]

I did, and I have in line with your suggestion, and my verdict is no different - in fact, 20 lbs./sq.in. is far too low for MY comfort zone. Regards Styria - BTW. welcome back.

 

[BenzBoy]

Thanks Styria, you have confirmed what I suspected but did not want to believe was true. Of course it could be a faulty gauge but then again it might be far more serious......I don't want to spend big bucks on rebuilding such an engine when I could spend much bigger bucks restoring an engine on a Bentley. I guess I am just going to have to take the leap, buy an S series Bentley and build it to my liking over a period of years......
At least I know a good trimmer, a good paint person and a good engine re-builder. Now I need a good bank manager...
Regards,
BenzBoy

 

[Styria]

Hi BenzBoy, you do raise a good point as far as a faulty reading is concerned. On the Rover 3500 V8's, it is not uncommon for the oil pressure transmitter to be faulty and thereby giving you a false reading.

I know of one such car with those symptoms, but I tend to ignore the low reading and rely on the oil pressure light itself which tends to be more of a robust instrument. Regards Styria

 

[BenzBoy]

Hi BenzBoy, you do raise a good point as far as a faulty reading is concerned. On the Rover 3500 V8's, it is not uncommon for the oil pressure transmitter to be faulty and thereby giving you a false reading.

I know of one such car with those symptoms, but I tend to ignore the low reading and rely on the oil pressure light itself which tends to be more of a robust instrument. Regards Styria

But what about the fuming?????
Regards,
BenzBoy

 

[WGB]

One of my partner's has one of these I will see him on Tuesday and ask him what his oil pressure is.

That 2.5 Turner motor is known to be a little weak in the crankshaft and I would say there is a serious bearing problem possible.

The fuming is another problem and all in all I would let somebody else worry about it.

Having driven a few of them in years gone by the 250 engine is a little jewel and easily outperformed the Jaguar 2.4 of the era but I would not like to stump up for the cost of a full rebuild.

Bill

 

[BenzBoy]

Thanks for the advice Bill.
Much appreciated.
Regards,
BenzBoy

 

[WGB]

Hi Benzboy,

He contacted me today about a patient so I asked him what the oil pressure should be in the Daimler 2.5 motor.

He checked in the book and it says 35 to 45 PSI - his own car runs about 45psi all the time with very slight reduction when hot and at idle.

He has no fuming whatsoever and a little puff of blue smoke from the exhaust with a cold start is all he gets.

Bill

 

[BenzBoy]

Hi Benzboy,

He contacted me today about a patient so I asked him what the oil pressure should be in the Daimler 2.5 motor.

He checked in the book and it says 35 to 45 PSI - his own car runs about 45psi all the time with very slight reduction when hot and at idle.

He has no fuming whatsoever and a little puff of blue smoke from the exhaust with a cold start is all he gets.

Bill

Well that's the end of the Daimler then Bill. It was a special factory order by the matriach of a well-known Sydney family and would be a concours winner with just a wash and a dust-over. I suspect then that it has been driven to church on Sundays and nothing more - that is, it has never warmed up and has simply worn badly as a result. It's the old story - a well used/well cared for engine has a long life. A life of cold starts and short trips will kill anything.
Regards,
BenzBoy

 

[Styria]

Hi Bill, those oil pressure figures are in fact quite exceptional. Obviouisly, I have had no experience with the small Daimler V8, but I have found that one can run a Rover V8 engine with oil pressure at less than 25-30lbs.squ.in. when hot for probably the best part of about two years. Those engines were just about foolproof, except for wearing mains more so than big ends, and I have also come across one broken crankshaft and two engines with shifting cylinder liners.

I have worked out that any Rover engine with British ancestry (say the Rover 2000 - 4 cyl.) will cost twice as much as the American sourced Rover V8 to recondition. Some years ago, I could buy a set of new pistons, gudgeons and rings (Taiwanese made) for $150.00 for the full compliment. Hepolite piston assemblies for the Rover 4 cyl. worked out to $800.00. Regards Styria

 

[WGB]

If you are really interested in that Daimler beacuse of interesting provenance it may be worth getting the oil pressure checked by an expert and a leakdown test performed at the same time.

My mother was (is) also something of a Matriarch and she could trash perfectly good Rovers in very short order by 300 metre daily drives to where she worked. I have yet to see anyone else wear out a Rover 3 litre in under 50,000 miles.

It would be a shame to miss out on a good car because it had a faulty oil pressure sender unit or gauge.

Bill

 

[BenzBoy]

If you are really interested in that Daimler beacuse of interesting provenance it may be worth getting the oil pressure checked by an expert and a leakdown test performed at the same time.

My mother was (is) also something of a Matriarch and she could trash perfectly good Rovers in very short order by 300 metre daily drives to where she worked. I have yet to see anyone else wear out a Rover 3 litre in under 50,000 miles.

It would be a shame to miss out on a good car because it had a faulty oil pressure sender unit or gauge.

Bill

Bill - I have arranged for the oil pressure gauge and sender to be tested. That does not answer the question of the fuming though. I don't like a motor that fumes - could it have been steam from the oil simply because it needed to be driven hot for a while?
Regards,
BenzBoy

 

[Michel]

Anymore news on the baby 2.5 ?

 

[BenzBoy]

2.5 is not going to grace my garage. SMB went for a drive in it and said his heart sank - whilst it might be a good example of a Daimler 2.5 he felt it was so 'ordinary'.....
Back to the Hunt for a Flying B. I suspect I will have grey hair before I find one...
Regards,
BenzBoy

 

[Michel]

2.5 is not going to grace my garage. SMB went for a drive in it and said his heart sank - whilst it might be a good example of a Daimler 2.5 he felt it was so 'ordinary'.....
Back to the Hunt for a Flying B. I suspect I will have grey hair before I find one...
Regards,
BenzBoy

Good Luck......
I think all these 'test-drives' are just a bit of fun.
Miss Olga would not accept anything made outside of Crewe.....

I'll keep an eye out for any cruising around the shores of Lac Leman