1980 Questions for all other cars Holden blue motor

 The blue smoke is oil being completely burned, and the black smoke is the oil not being completely burned. This means that your piston rings are wearing out. Oil is slipping past them--getting into the combustion chamber--and burning. Also, your lifters are knocking because fuel is slowly getting into your oil and breaking it down. This will cause the lifters to stick and make a knocking sound. Sorry, but it sounds like the engine needs to be rebuilt. The good news is an engine from 1980 is pretty easy to take out and rebuild. If you do this, be sure to have the valve seats replaced in the head. The seats should be upgraded because in 1980 unleaded fuel was just coming out, and it burns hotter than leaded fuel. The valve seats in 1980 were not designed for this.

Hi there, re the solid lifter on Holden blue motors,

Solid lifter are just that, solid, what your problem is valve adjustment, solids have to be checked on a regular basis, they will come out of adjustment often, these are best suited for high performance engines, as standard hydraulics tend to pump up and hold open valves, at higher engine speeds obtained by performance engines. They eventually bleed down, but that a pain in the bum. For every day use go back to hydraulics, you wont have a problem with pump up and things will work so much better. The blue smoke is an oil burning problem as has been indicated by previous post.

Mark (mhpautos)