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97 GST Cutting out and blowing blue smoke during boost

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sbz0kgx

Proven Member
54
1
Jan 12, 2013
Salt Lake City, Utah
Hi,

I have searched through the forums for a few days now and I can't find the same symptoms as mine. I just bought a 1997 Eclipse GST with 77k. It was abandoned at a shop after the owner could not pay for the repairs and surrendered the car. They replaced the turbocharger, water pump, timing components, head gasket, had the head resurfaced, and the starter motor. The car sat for 7 years before I bought it. The problem I am having is it idles high "between 1500 - 2000 RPMs", car starts to boost but bogs at 3/4 - WOT, and the last is only under boost, it blows a considerable amount of blue smoke from the exhaust but when in boost or trying to boost "bog" i guess I could say. Oil is clean I noticed that the honeycombs in the MAF are bent pretty badly on the sides. Check engine light is on and the Mechanic says that it is an EGR code. The factory intercooler is twisted but after testing, it doesn't seem to be leaking. The car idles beautifully and drives smooth until it boosts. So far I have replaced: factory BOV was leaking badly under boost, I was able to open it by blowing into it, I replaced with a Greddy, PCV, fuel filter; filled tank with 91 octane and added lucas fuel system cleaner, spark plugs, and vacuum lines to the fuel pressure solenoid as the previous owner had a gauge or something hooked to it at a T with poor quality vacuum lines. I took it for a test drive after replacing all the above, I had the battery out while doing the repairs and it was the first time starting the car of the day, the first two pulls seemed like the problem was fixed with the bogging, but the third pull the problems returned.

could it be valve seals or turbo for the smoking? I have searched high and low for boost looks but can seem to find any. The only mod is the Greddy BOV, however there are holes cut in the dash from mounting hardware and I found instructions for a turbo timer and boost controller. Maybe a wiring or vacuum issue?


Please help
 
Some things to do:
  • Check for play on the compressor side of the turbo.
  • Boost leak test.
  • Check spark plugs for oil or being fouled.
  • Complete a compression test.
  • From there, you can complete a leak down test if needed.

Blue smoke is indicative of oil being burned. Likely seals on turbo are blown, or valve stem seals based on symptoms.
Report back with results after completing these tests/checks.
 
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Have you checked the turbo for any play? That could be the blue smoke, valve seals are a possibility also. Compression test/ leak down will help also. I no it's new but it sat for 7 years. Wouldn't think head gasket, rings are always a thing to think about also. But hope not.

After you found the BOV leaking and replaced it, as well as vacuum lines, did you do another BLT ( boost leak test) it's possible you popped off a coupling during one of the two first pulls.

:idontknow: Just some thoughts that might help.
 
Considering the length of time the car has say up I would suggest check the mas air sensor plug and clean it with some sensor cleaner those things will get the green battery build up and will hinder good contact between plug and sensor and will cause similar symptoms as you have described.
 
sounds like rings to me, hate to say it, but its not to bad to replace if you have a garage and time
 
Ok well, I just checked the turbo and there is no play, however there is oil on the blades and on the housing, Picture attached. I am performing a compression test right now. I found a wire from the MAF sensor that was busted and soldered it back. Cleaned the MAF, throttle body, and IAC valve. Its weird, no smoke today however that could be because the motor was cold.
 

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Theres seals inside the turbo to block oil from coming out so probably leaking to the exhaust side which would cause smoking to but i dont think it would really cause a performance issue unless it was a really bad leak. The intake side in the pic dont look to bad
 
Ok well, I just checked the turbo and there is no play, however there is oil on the blades and on the housing, Picture attached. I am performing a compression test right now. I found a wire from the MAF sensor that was busted and soldered it back. Cleaned the MAF, throttle body, and IAC valve. Its weird, no smoke today however that could be because the motor was cold.

The broken wire to The MAF could be the big issue as air was not being metered properly. FYI, the MAF on the DSM should not be cleaned with any cleaner (even MASS/MAF cleaner). On the back of the cleaner it will say something like "not for use with Karmen - Vortex style MASS." The oil could likely be from the crankcase. It has a vent going to the intake pre-turbo. This is normal as the turbo spools creating a vacuum assisting to release crankcase pressure. If you are worried about the oil, you could plumb a sealed baffled catch can. A good cleaning of the inside of your inter-cooler would also be helpful. Your car does not care much for short trips. With colds months, warm the car for 5-10 minutes and try to use something else for short trips (only a couple miles). Get that boost leak done. Being as cold as it has been (at least in MI), boost leaks will be hard to completely seal.
 
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Ok, so as far as I can tell, the smoking is gone or very minimal. My mechanic and I removed the throttle body and cleaned it, it was very dirty. Cleaned the IAC sensor and tested with a multimeter. Im pretty sure my MAF is messed up as I used the wrong cleaner, I did this before I saw the warning you guys posted. It idles rough now but still drives pretty good. My mechanic thinks that the fuel pump could be to weak to achieve boost at WOT and or there is a problem with the charging system as we found several grounds disconnected by the alternator. We are still in progress of building a boost leak tester. The only problem the car is manifesting is it bogs intermediately at WOT. I want to just replace the intercooler and all charge piping to a FMIC, however I heard that this is not a good idea without supporting mods. Going back to the MAF, what are my options for a replacement? I have heard about a GM sensor but again I am not sure if this requires supporting mods such as DSM link? I imagine that the factory MAF is ridiculous expensive. Could this be some sort of electrical issue? The previous owner obviously has messed with the wiring as there are spliced wires throughout the motor as well as manuals for a turbo timer and mounting holes cut into the dash in a few places. I wonder this because if I disconnect the battery for a while and reconnect, it will not bog at all then once the ECU relearns, the bogging returns.

Thanks everyone for your input so far, I greatly appreciate your help.
 
Ya ill keep an eye on the smoking for sure, I would be stupid to assume the problem as disappeared and pay no attention. Boost leak test tomorrow how do I perform a wet compression test? The more I dig into the car, the more I see that this was a hack job by the previous owner, he must have ripped everything out when he realized he couldn't keep the car. Very discouraging.
 
No worries iceguru1114! So I performed the wet compression and leak down test. Both of which yielded good results. However when I pulled the plugs out on cylinders 3 and 4, the plugs were soaked in fuel. Checked the codes with a code reader and its throwing P0446 and P0300. My mechanic suggests I fix all the grounds that are not connected before I purchase new coil packs. I found a 98 GS-T at the pick n pull so I am going to start pulling parts from that. Going back to the compression, what is the lowest acceptable number? Should the motor be warm or cold? I kinda have a feeling I missed something in the process. The wet compression all cylinders were above 180. For the leak down test, I let the air compressor sit on each cylinder for 10 mins with no loss in pressure.
 
Boost problem fixed, new problems :mad:. Smoking is back looking under the car and there is oil on the center piece of the turbo, where all the lines hook up. I am sure the seals are bad, but to be on the safe side, I am replacing valve seals as well as changing the turbo. I have a pinging noise between 2-3k RPM, bad idle "first startup I have to hold the gas for it to stay running", and the boost varies , sometimes very low boost while others it breaks the tires loose. For the pinging noise, my thoughts are a bad o2 sensor, it misses, pings, and performance varies. The previous owner spliced into the wires of the o2 and cut the harness's then used butt connectors to repair. I did take the side two honeycombs from the MAF sensor because they were in very bad shape. Anyone else every had similar symptoms?
 
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