It is common to hear some air out the oil fill hole, air is passing thu the ring gaps.

From the Leak down and compression test it looks like #2 has the issue, lowest compression and highest leak down.

the oil on the pistons can com from to rough of a finish of the bore and/or improper cross hatch
bad valve stem seals in the head can let it leak by
bad seal in the turbo

Look thu the TB and see if the inside of the intake is coated in oil

Check the turbo for oil leaks.

If all that checks out ok, then you will be ripping into the short block.

Spark plugs #3 and #2 look lean

It also looks like a chunk of the ceramic is missing from around the electrode.

How is the tune? Fuel pressure and what is the injector size?

"From the Leak down and compression test it looks like #2 has the issue, lowest compression and highest leak down."

That's what I initially thought but then when I saw how wet the tops of pistons 1, 3, and 4 are I figured they're probably just as bad as 2, but with more oil leaking in thus giving results closer to a wet test.

Wouldn't I hear leaks from the intake or exhaust if the valve stem seals were leaking?
The turbo definitely has too much in/out shaft play, and the oil feed line leaks close to the oil housing...but I don't see any oil leaking from the turbo itself. No oil in the IC pipes or TB elbow.

Too rough of a bore or improper cross hatching......the problem is definitely getting progressively worse, and quick - though I've stopped driving it. Would that be characteristic of that issue?

No chunk missing from the spark plug - that's a dark spot of shiny buildup which I assume to be oil. That's what's making the other plugs dark too - it's a shiny dark buildup coating the plug. Number 1 plug is actually a bit wet. Plugs 2 and 3 just don't have as much of the buildup.

Had a decent tune while I was driving it. AFR of 14.4-15.1 at idle, and I can't remember exactly but somewhere around 11.5-12 at full throttle, give or take. I did a hard reset and started fresh and have only gotten the idle tuned so far and don't want to drive it any more until I get the issue figured out. Base fuel pressure is 37.5psi, injectors are 1100cc from FIC.

No you would not see or hear any kind of leakage past the valve guide seals

The valve seals the air in the combustion chamber, so befor you would hear it past the valve seal, you would hear it out of one of the manifolds due to the valve not sealing.

Since it is getting worse on the fast, if the crosshatch bore finish is incorrect, it would grind the ring down

So if I understand this correctly - the oil could be from leaking valve guide seals, but the high leakdown couldn't be caused by that. So if the oil were from the guide seals, I'd still have another issue causing the high leakdown - correct?

Correct, if the valve stem seals were horrid bad then the oil would come past the guide and cover the runners too.

Pull the manifolds and check for oil in the runners.

About the only way to check for excessive ring wear is to pull the pistons out and then remove a ring and put the ring back in the bore and check ring end gap.

It would be helpful to know what they ere set when the engine was originally built

You don't necessarily have to pull the intake manifold, but you do need to see if there's oil in it. If it's not there, that eliminates the turbo and the PCV as sources. I'm with Dale here. Eliminate all other possible sources of the oil before you tear the head off and pop the piston out.

Has the PCV valve been replaced recently? Do you have a catch can?
Has the crankcase ever been over filled with oil?
Ever have any misfire issues or injector issues on that cylinder? (Fuel wash out)

You can't really tell us too much here.

I'm all for eliminating all other possible sources. Really hoping it's not the piston rings...but with the low vacuum, hard cold starts, so much power loss, etc....gah.

PCV looks to be new with engine rebuild. No catch can, PCV is routed like factory, and the breather hose on the side of the VC just vents to the ground.

I just got the car recently so can't say if the crankcase has ever been over filled with oil - but definitely not by me.
As for misfires, not that I know of - no CEL or DTC codes of that nature.

There's no oil in the TB elbow or IC piping, so I'd say it's not the turbo. And if I close off the PCV hose the vacuum doesn't go up or anything - nothing changes so it doesn't seem to be causing these problems - and the buildup on the spark plugs has gotten noticeably worse just from idle time. (it's only idled since I parked it 2-3 weeks ago, and the plugs have gotten worse since then - it's idled quite a bit while I looked for vacuum leaks and investigated other things)

I'm not sure what else to say. I'm all for being long winded - that's a tendency of mine. But I don't know what to do or what else to investigate short of digging the pistons out. Before realizing how bad the leakdown was and how much stuff is now on the spark plugs, I was investigating all sorts of things - sensors, boost/vacuum leaks, timing, etc. But now that's all covered as far as I can tell and there's something going on internally causing such high leakdown....and wouldn't it make sense for it all to be connected? For whatever's causing the pressure loss and the oil in the cylinders to be the same thing? Likely the rings? I guess I've convinced myself that's what it is....I would hear pressure leaking from the intake or exhaust or see bubbles in the coolant if it was anything but the rings right??

There's obviously a pressure loss/leakdown issue - that's a sure thing. Wouldn't it be likely that what's causing the pressure loss is also causing the oil in the combustion chambers?

About the only other thing to do is drop in another new set of plugs, and give it a bit of a hard drive. Pull the plugs as soon as you shut it down and see if the oil is burnt off or if it is all still wet.

If the oil burnt off, then put the plugs back in fire it up and let it idle and see if the oil comes back.

Also hook that VC vent hose back up where it needs to go.

Check your exhaust tip, it should be black/sooty/dry

If it is wet/oily then you are pumping oil past the rings.

How is the oil? Color? level? and mileage on it?

Gremo87 said:

the buildup on the spark plugs has gotten noticeably worse just from idle time. (it's only idled since I parked it 2-3 weeks ago, and the plugs have gotten worse since then - it's idled quite a bit while I looked for vacuum leaks and investigated other things)

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Gremo87 said:

the problem is definitely getting progressively worse, and quick - though I've stopped driving it.

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Gremo87 said:

No chunk missing from the spark plug - that's a dark spot of shiny buildup which I assume to be oil. That's what's making the other plugs dark too - it's a shiny dark buildup coating the plug. Number 1 plug is actually a bit wet. Plugs 2 and 3 just don't have as much of the buildup.

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The dark shiny buildup on the plug is probably not oil. Unless it's also misfiring, it's actually probably fouling out. That is much more likely to be from fuel than oil. If that were oil, and it's definitely not misfiring, you'd be seeing grayish dry ash deposits that look like a miniature coral reef coating them.

Assuming the plugs are gapped correctly, your 1-4 coil in the coil pack is suspect. Check the primary and secondary resistances with a DMM.

Gremo87 said:

Had a decent tune while I was driving it. AFR of 14.4-15.1 at idle, and I can't remember exactly but somewhere around 11.5-12 at full throttle, give or take. I did a hard reset and started fresh and have only gotten the idle tuned so far and don't want to drive it any more until I get the issue figured out. Base fuel pressure is 37.5psi, injectors are 1100cc from FIC.

Click to expand...

How long since you calibrated the WB?
What are AFRs at idle now that you reset?

Gremo87 said:

There's obviously a pressure loss/leakdown issue - that's a sure thing. Wouldn't it be likely that what's causing the pressure loss is also causing the oil in the combustion chambers?

Click to expand...

I'm not sure you have oil in there and not unburned fuel. But if the symptoms began together, they are very likely from the same illness.

BogusSVO said:

About the only other thing to do is drop in another new set of plugs, and give it a bit of a hard drive. Pull the plugs as soon as you shut it down and see if the oil is burnt off or if it is all still wet.

If the oil burnt off, then put the plugs back in fire it up and let it idle and see if the oil comes back.

Also hook that VC vent hose back up where it needs to go.

Check your exhaust tip, it should be black/sooty/dry

If it is wet/oily then you are pumping oil past the rings.

How is the oil? Color? level? and mileage on it?

Click to expand...

Sorry it's taken me so long to get to your reply! Other things in life happened and the car got put on the back burner.

I currently have the pulley side of the engine all dismantled from checking timing marks, and the previous owner stripped the bolts (and maybe the holes) where the engine mount bracket connects to the iron piece on the engine so I can't get that back on until I get at least new bolts, if not a new iron piece. Was a pain to get off...he must have forced them in there cause I couldn't have done that just removing them.



This is not my engine, but - I'm talking about the iron piece between the two pieces with the blue - it has two holes up there at the top of the piece where the mount bracket goes - not sure if those holes are stripped yet.

Anyways - long story short - can't drive the car right now so I can't try the spark plug thing out yet.

Vent hose was put like that by the PO, and there's no place on the intake pipe to hook it up to, so I need to get a catch can installed I guess.

Exhaust tip is black, dry and sooty....so no oil there.

Oil looks fairly fresh. It's a light amber color. Level is just below the full mark, way above the low mark. Not sure on the mileage on it cause I've only had the car long enough to drive it maybe 150 miles total before I parked it.

delta448 said:

The dark shiny buildup on the plug is probably not oil. Unless it's also misfiring, it's actually probably fouling out. That is much more likely to be from fuel than oil. If that were oil, and it's definitely not misfiring, you'd be seeing grayish dry ash deposits that look like a miniature coral reef coating them.

Assuming the plugs are gapped correctly, your 1-4 coil in the coil pack is suspect. Check the primary and secondary resistances with a DMM.


How long since you calibrated the WB?
What are AFRs at idle now that you reset?


I'm not sure you have oil in there and not unburned fuel. But if the symptoms began together, they are very likely from the same illness.

Click to expand...

Hmmm....well, there's definitely oil in the cylinders, and the cylinders with the darkest plugs have the most oil in them. I'd put an extension down into cylinder 1 when checking timing marks to check for TDC and when I pulled it out it had a bunch of oil on the bottom. That's what led me to shine a flashlight down into the cylinders and found that 1 had the most oil on top of the piston along with heavy buildup, then 4, then 3, and 2 was just barely wet with no real buildup, just a dark sooty appearance - most of it was dry. 1 3 and 4 all had enough buildup to cover up the part numbers on the pistons, whereas on 2 I could read the part number with ease.

Secondary coil resistances checked out great - rock solid at 12.74 and 12.75 K ohms.
Primary, however, jumped around randomly on both tests. I have an auto ranging meter and it was jumping from readings in the ohm range to M ohm and to K ohm, never sitting steady at any one reading. The battery is dead though (mysteriously, after just sitting in the driveway for weeks with no lights on or anything...weird) - but there doesn't have to be any power to check resistances right? (edit: Nevermind, just realized that even with a good battery the coil pack wouldn't have power when testing it anyways)

AFR's still range from 14.4-15.1 at idle.
I haven't calibrated the wideband at all. I just got the car recently and it was running beautifully aside from hard cold starts and unstable idle so I hadn't really messed with much before this all started happening.

Glad you guys haven't responded yet - scratch my primary resistance numbers. I must not have been making good enough contact or something.

Primary resistance for terminals 2-3 (cylinders 1 and 4) is 1.1-1.3
Primary resistance for terminals 1-3 (cylinders 2 and 3) is 1.6-1.8

Secondary resistance readings are valid.

So, primary resistances aren't within spec, but oddly enough, the cylinders with the least buildup are most out of spec....not what I'd have expected to see.

What do you guys think?