Need advise on what to do? Smoking,Head work

[BOBS90TURBO]

Every since I did my turbo upgrade my car has been running great, I have been so happy with my speed and power but today I noticed a little puff of white smoke go by my window while I was sitting at a stop light, so I pulled over and sure enough, it's puffing a little, here is why I thinking valve seals, around where the exhaust manifold bolts to the head, I see wetness(oil) around the studs. I am 100% sure it is not head gasket probs.

I need advise on the easiest way to replace the valve seals, will I need to replace the valves?, I am very happy with my H/P , I do not want to do any upgrades, just fix the prob at hand, advise plaese THANKS

 

[RossY]

go to vfaq.com, i believe that they have a guide on how to change the seals. If you have a high mileage car i would think about changing the valves just to possibly save you a headache down the road. However, it is common for people to just change the seals without changing the valves.

 

[terefic181]

If it is in fact white smoke: Most people will tell you white smoke = coolant.......... bluish smoke=oil
Take a look at this thread and see if you can make it thru it.

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=143938&highlight=white+smoke

Here's another one. Use the search feature the forums are full of these.

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=143644&highlight=white+smoke

 

[TSIfreek]

Bob you will need more than just seals to cure the oil problem. The valve guide stems also need replaceing because as they wear the clearance between the valve stem and the guide allows oil to pass by and gets waisted. Only thing you can do is pull the head off and have it rebuilt around 400- 2000 depending how crazy you want to get but a basic rebuild is all you need in your application. You can drive it the way it is but just watch the oil level. Mine went thew 1 qt mobil 1 10/30 a week from the turbo seals, valve guides and seals being original at 103k but the engine ran awsome. Dont feel bad my engine is still out and is now getting the machine work done. Feels like a year since I last drove it but it will be all worh it when its done. Shooting for the end of december hopefully sooner.
Probally a good Idea because it sounds like the head gasket is starting to go.

 

[BOBS90TURBO]

I did do a search but could not find advise on the easiest fix on my prob, plus I could not find anything about any exhaust manifold studs being wet all around the stud, I was hoping someone would be able to say if it was rings or stem seals.

Hey Kris, Your car still not done yet, what all are you doing to yours, did you remove the ballance shafts? and go all out on your head, oversize valves etc.., If I end up having to take off my head, what all should I do while it is off, should I just go ahead and put in some new rings etc.. my car has 127k on it and runs great, I ran a 12.4 @111 two weeks ago, that was the first time I ever really ran it hard, I just can't belive that a car thats had such a easy life could start smoking so early(it was a one owner by an older lady) this sucks. Anyway some more advise would be great.

 

[terefic181]

Did you decide it was blue smoke?..........................White is probably not going to be oil.

There have been post addressing exhaust studs possibly being tightened to much and entering an oil passage and being wet with oil.

 

[sonicnofadz]

This doesn't really sound like burning oil to me. If the smoke is white, then its your headgasket. I had a really bad smoke problem before, and I noticed that my oil level NEVER went down. But my coolant level sure did. Check to see if you have excessive oil consumption or coolant consumption. Oil smoke is NOT white. Oil smoke is a bluish black. If I were you I'd just pop off the head and swap in a new headgasket, its only a 5 hour job. Might as well throw in some arps while your at it =) After I swapped in a new gasket, (along with a million new other parts, as well as the valve seals) my white smoke problem completely disappeared (and my engine now runs like beast). IF IT IS your valve seals, and you ARE burning oil...then changing the seals with the head still on the car is tough. Its much easier to take the head OFF the block to do this. The vfaq.com way to do it is pretty difficult if you ask me. You have to have a valve spring compressor capable of compressing the springs while on the car, plus you have to apply lots of pressure to the cylinder to make sure the valves don't fall into the engine (keep the valves floating upwards). Its VERY tricky. But again, in my opinion its your headgasket, so it looks like your head is coming off anyhow. BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING MAKE SURE YOU DO A COMPRESSION CHECK. This will tell you more about the problem than anything else. It will eliminate alot of guesswork.

 

[BOBS90TURBO]

Ok, check this out, today I noticed that the end 10mm stud that I tapped in has stripped out(overtightened it I guess) and I have a little valve cover leak right there and a small amount of oil is leaking down to the area of the stripped stud, anyway I cleaned all the oil around the area and drove the car around for a while and no smoke at all.

This is a weird deal, the car runs great, and when it was smoking it was a not very much, the cars temp never gets over the mid point(even at idle for an hour in hot weather) it does not burn any coolant, I have never put any in it since I bought it(a year or so,6-7k)
and it burns a little to normal oil, the coolant has no oil in it, and the oil looks perfect.

I am goin g to do a compression test saturday. Thanks for the advise so far

 

[sonicnofadz]

no problem, Im glad to hear that everything is turning out ok. It might have just been a bad valve cover gasket the whole time...takes only 10 minutes to fix that. Good luck, happy dsm'ing! =)