Oil Smokin

[94Jettameowpsst]

Was wondering if there was a diagnosis for bad valve seals without taking off the exaust manifold for my car is a dd and i already have 2 broke exaust studs. Other than that how hard are they to replace, meaning do you have to take the head off the car . Last question: Its probably just VERY ironic, but would running race gas (btw no knock at all) at 20+psi on the 14b cause the seals to go on me, i was running 19 or so before for about a week on pump and it seemed like as soon as i put in 110 it started smokin... Any help would be appreciated.

 

[BlandAnalogy]

i dont really understand.. you could do a leak down test to see how much air you're losing.. are you talking about valve seats? you've broken 2 studs from the exhaust manifold? are they in the head? if so you can fix that fairly easily with the right tools. i know i didnt help but go into more detail man...

 

[oldman]

Was wondering if there was a diagnosis for bad valve seals without taking off the exaust manifold for my car is a dd and i already have 2 broke exaust studs. Other than that how hard are they to replace, meaning do you have to take the head off the car . Last question: Its probably just VERY ironic, but would running race gas (btw no knock at all) at 20+psi on the 14b cause the seals to go on me, i was running 19 or so before for about a week on pump and it seemed like as soon as i put in 110 it started smokin... Any help would be appreciated.

I have no idea what's going on

 

[94Jettameowpsst]

okay,
Problems:
1. The 2 exaust studs that broke are still in the head, are they hard to fix?
2. I believe my valve seals are going bad because my car is burnin oil. There is no residue on the plugs or in the inlet for the turbo. Is there any way to tell if that is DEFINITELY the problem without removing the exaust manifold (if they're bad there will be oil buildup/residue in the exaust ports)?
3. Could running race gas at higher boost levels, although you may not have knock, still burn something up, such as valve seals?
4. Lastly, if my valve seals are bad, is it absolutely necessairy to remove the head from the car to replace them?

Thankyou, any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[oldman]

1. The 2 exaust studs that broke are still in the head, are they hard to fix?

Yes and no, depends on how and which studs are broken and what tools you'll using. I have one stud with a broken extraction screw tip stuck in the middle of it which I gave up in trying to extract. Be carefull.

2. I believe my valve seals are going bad because my car is burnin oil. There is no residue on the plugs or in the inlet for the turbo. Is there any way to tell if that is DEFINITELY the problem without removing the exaust manifold (if they're bad there will be oil buildup/residue in the exaust ports)?

When is it smoking? uder boost? idling? take off? Have you done a compression test? Did you check the outlet of the turbo, licp and ic for oil?

3. Could running race gas at higher boost levels, although you may not have knock, still burn something up, such as valve seals?

Don't know of any direct relationship between knock and valve seals but higher boost level can definitely have an effect on them.

4. Lastly, if my valve seals are bad, is it absolutely necessairy to remove the head from the car to replace them?

Yes you can change the valve seals with the head in the car but it requires a special tool, Miller's tool for $200, or find some knock offs on ebay for less. I was told it's not an easy job.

Good luck.

 

[94Jettameowpsst]

Thank you...first off, i dont exactly know when my car smokes but the burning i do believe is minimal. When you first start it, it just smells like gas. But when you rev it once or twice, the black smoke turns white. The more i run my car the less it smokes but it still stinks like oil. I just noticed after you rev it, on the motors decel, right around idle it will just plume out for a second or 2 then it will just be a steady puff puff puff.

I havent done a compression test....yet, but after checking my plugs i dont believe (by what i have heard) my blow by is that bad if any at all.

I havent pulled the intake off the turbo since i went to the track but there would only be oil there if the comp seal on the turbo was bad (catch can off valve cover and pcv). Just a thought but is it possible for just the exaust side seal of the turbo to go out and smoke when running? Or will the oil seep into the compressor side hence oil in the intake of the turbo?
Thanks for all the help

 

[oldman]

This is what I would do.

1. Compression test. The fact that you smell gas as well is an indication you may have compression issues.

2. Pull the licp and check, if the turbo seal is bad, most of the oil will be in the licp and ic, not in the intake pipe.

3. Check your oil catch can and make sure it's venting properly. My catch can frozed this past winter and blew my turbo and possibly valve seals, I would have re-route my my pcv back to intake after that but I re-tapped it to a 1/4" pipe thread and replaced it with a straight fitting. You did that as well right?

 

[94Jettameowpsst]

If the 1/4 in fitting your talkin about is supposed to replace the pcv, no the pcv is still there.
I think i smell gas cause i have it tuned for 20psi on my maf-t but am only running 14psi at the moment...didnt touch the maft settings.
You can hold your hand in front of my exaust about an inch away at idle and it'll be covered in black/browinsh specs of wetness . Im assumnig thats condensation or gas, i could be wrong. It doesnt feel slippery, it actually doesnt seem as if it has a smell, but it is sooty and kinda just feels like water.
Lastly, the licp and the fmic will have the oil in it rather than the inlet of the turbo because? I am pretty knowledgable about some things but im still a novice to a lot of things with these cars. (Forced induction in general actually)

 

[oldman]

If the 1/4 in fitting your talkin about is supposed to replace the pcv, no the pcv is still there.

You have to either hollow out the pcv or rplace it with a straight fitting because the pcv requires vacuum in order to open. The way you have it right now it would never open to vent to the catch can.

Lastly, the licp and the fmic will have the oil in it rather than the inlet of the turbo because?

Because when oil leaks out of the seal, it will immediately be sucked or pushed into licp. When my turbo blew I fund nothing in my intake pipe, very little inside the compressor housing but the licp and ic was a different story, I had at least a pint of oil sitting on the bottom of my FMIC. I'm not saying your turbo is blown, I'm saying you should check it so you can eliminate it. In fact, the suggestions i provided were to do just that, process of elimination.

edit: Forgot the "not".

 

[94Jettameowpsst]

One last thing before i check everything when i go home tomorrow, will there be residue of oil on the plugs because mine looked normal, i do believe atleast; they were all brownish with soot around everything. (race gas and -35% wot fuel still rich). Ill update as i find things out, im REALLY hoping its just my turbo and not the valve seals Thanks for all the help

 

[oldman]

Check my last post again.

 

[94Jettameowpsst]

Well i did a compression test and everything checked out fine, actually i was kinda surprised 157 basically the whole way across. I took off my licp and to no avail, NO oil in the fmic. I get good deals on oem parts but roughly how low you think itll take to put valve seals in w/ and w/out taking the head off? (have access to a tool)

 

[oldman]

how low you think itll take to put valve seals in w/ and w/out taking the head off? (have access to a tool)

Honestly, I do not know because I have not done it before. I do know when I do something for the first time, it usually takes a little longer than expected so I suggest giving yourself a weekend for this. Good luck.

 

[94Jettameowpsst]

Ill get at it this weekend, 2 of my buddies have offered to help with this little project. It just sucks though becuase i kno that something else WILL break, it always does and this is my dd. :-/ Thanks for all the help

 

[oldman]

You're wlecome, post back how the project went. This might be my next project but I won't know until after I put in the new turbo.

 

[gsxitement]

i've been getting the same thing. while i'm driving, the cars fine but when i shift, and get back on it i get a little puff of blueish whitish smoke, and if i engine brake up to a light i get a plume of smoke rolling past the car. also i noticed that if the car is idling at about 1k, where the vacuum is really high at like 19 20 inches (i have 272's so at 750 i have low vacuum at like 15-10 inches) i burn oil pretty well. when pulled the plugs i had some oil on the threads of #1 only. now that tells me valve stem seals. so what i think is happening is, when i have a high vacuum situation i.e. in between shifts and idling high, i'm pulling oil past the the intake valve stem seal, and it's getting on the plug. i did a compression test and they're all 165 round abouts. so i'm starting to think less and less about rings. but the thing is they're new seals. could the machine shop have messed up the guides when i got the head rebuilt?.... WTF