Hello,
I was just wondering if anyone could provide some guidance to help me resolve an issue I'm having with my 97 GST. I recently did the 6 bolt swap on my engine, with a few upgrades along the way. I've rebuilt the engine before but this was my first time using parts that were not stock, so I was fairly sure I knew what I was doing, generally speaking, and I was able to find the information I needed on the things I wasn't sure about. When I finished, I felt everything went well and the engine started right up on the first try. It ran rough at first because of the spark plug cables and ECU configuration had to match the new components and after a bit of tinkering the engine sounded closer to what it should. However, it was immediately obvious that the car was smoking excessively (white smoke, indicating coolant in the oil) and something was wrong. To get to the point, the cause was not equipment malfunction, it was user error. I had connected one of the oil lines (oil filter housing) to a coolant line, because I had mistakenly believed that it was an oil feed line. Rookie mistake, and now I had to fix it. I ended up doing around 3-4 oil flushes, and even added a couple of those oil flush treatment bottles, and also removed the everything downstream from the turbo so I could clean out all the residue that was left on the exhaust system, and cleaned out the oil catch can. Once everything was clean, I added some fresh oil but the problem is that the car still starts smoking up as the engine warms up. I figured there would be a bit of smoke at the beginning but had expected that eventually all the residue would burn up and the smoke would stop, but the car keeps smoking. My question is what else could be causing the car to keep smoking and how do I stop it?
(Just a few more notes, in case they matter:
The smoke comes out of the muffler, not anywhere else. It is also not very thick, but it is noticeable, and it starts to smoke up as the engine warms up, not right when the engine starts. It has a brand new MLS head gasket, ARP head studs, head and block were resurfaced, and when I check the dipstick the oil is clear and honey- colored so I don't think there is any more coolant getting mixed with the oil. When doing the flushes, I used some cheaper oil that was thinner than normal (0w-20) because it was on sale and it was just going to go to waste anyway, so I didn't think it would be a big deal, at first. I have now put in the oil I would normally use (Castrol full synthetic 10w-30))
My brother also has a modified dsm, but his works fine and he mentioned that he uses rotella oil for diesel engines, and also read that that oil is generally favored by the dsm community, so I'm wondering if perhaps using a thicker oil could help solve the issue (in the even that the oil is still too thin and some of it is getting past the piston rings. The spark plugs look dry but the pistons look a bit moist)
I am not an expert, nor do I pretend to be. I just like working on cars, so any help/guidance is appreciated. Hope I included enough info, but sorry for long post.