97 Gst serious Engine Problem

[Trinity_Boucher]

Hey i have a 97 gst.i bought the car in november and drove it through till now with no problems till 3 weeks ago. its started to burn oil very slowly but with no noticable side effects what so ever. then about 5 days ago i started it up heard a loud ticking then it dissapered after 20 seconds or so. while it was ticking white/grey smoke pour out the exhaust. then when the ticking is gone no more smoke. i noticed today that the car has alot of lag but not from the turbo. the stock boost gauge (i know Inaccurate) is showing that the turbo is still spooling as normal but i have to give it more gas to go. there is no unusual engine noise it purs nicely. also its burning gas faster than normal too.

Any help would be appreciated and maybe a possible cost of fixing too.

 

[reno23]

Hey i have a 97 gst.i bought the car in november and drove it through till now with no problems till 3 weeks ago. its started to burn oil very slowly but with no noticable side effects what so ever. then about 5 days ago i started it up heard a loud ticking then it dissapered after 20 seconds or so. while it was ticking white/grey smoke pour out the exhaust. then when the ticking is gone no more smoke. i noticed today that the car has alot of lag but not from the turbo. the stock boost gauge (i know Inaccurate) is showing that the turbo is still spooling as normal but i have to give it more gas to go. there is no unusual engine noise it purs nicely. also its burning gas faster than normal too.

Any help would be appreciated and maybe a possible cost of fixing too.[/QUOTE

^^ I'm going through this very same problem right now, and i found the culprit. For me it was the turbo seals(worn out) were leaking oil and coolant (very little) into exhaust side causing the temporary white/blueish smoke under hard/medium acceleration from low to medium RPM's. I also found small cracks inside the turbine exhaust housing and wastegate cover(which i'm sure is normal). But I am just going to replace the turbo(found one rebuilt for cheap). I'm pretty confident it was the turbo, every other system checked out fine after monitoring for couple months, and the turbo was the last piece which showed signs of being the problem.

 

[juanpac0]

Also it would be wise to check your timing, I had no power/poor gas mileage and it was my cam angle sensor being set to full retard that did it - I had no smoke though.

 

[lacroixdp]

K so i did a compression test and i got the following numbers.

4 - 160, 3 - 159, 2 - 172, 1 - 175. im starting to think more and more its the head gasket. the anti freeze doesnt appear to be any lower or to be mixed with oil. also it seems to be burning alot of oil. still a little confused about it all though.

You're just barely out of spec. You're within your engine's tolerances overall (178PSI with a floor of 133PSI), but you shouldn't have variances of more than 15PSI - you're just 1PSI under on #3. Truth be told, that isn't bad. If you pour oil into the cylinders do the numbers go higher, or is this your wet test numbers? If the numbers go up, then it's your rings (doubtful). If they stay the same, then your valve seals are probably the culprit for you burning your oil, in which case you need to rebuild your head (likely). Did you check your turbo for shaft play?

 

[Trinity_Boucher]

You're just barely out of spec. You're within your engine's tolerances overall (178PSI with a floor of 133PSI), but you shouldn't have variances of more than 15PSI - you're just 1PSI under on #3. Truth be told, that isn't bad. If you pour oil into the cylinders do the numbers go higher, or is this your wet test numbers? If the numbers go up, then it's your rings. If they stay the same, then your valve seals are probably the culprit for you burning your oil, in which case you need to rebuild your head.

this was just a basic compression test. could this be a sign my head gasket is on its way down? ill try the wet test out and put my results. if its the rings, wouldnt it make a noticable noise or am i mistaken?

 

[lacroixdp]

this was just a basic compression test. could this be a sign my head gasket is on its way down? ill try the wet test out and put my results. if its the rings, wouldnt it make a noticable noise or am i mistaken?

Did you check your turbo?

 

[Trinity_Boucher]

You're just barely out of spec. You're within your engine's tolerances overall (178PSI with a floor of 133PSI), but you shouldn't have variances of more than 15PSI - you're just 1PSI under on #3. Truth be told, that isn't bad. If you pour oil into the cylinders do the numbers go higher, or is this your wet test numbers? If the numbers go up, then it's your rings. If they stay the same, then your valve seals are probably the culprit for you burning your oil, in which case you need to rebuild your head.

this was just a basic compression test. could this be a sign my head gasket is on its way down? ill try the wet test out and put my results. if its the rings, wouldnt it make a noticable noise or am i mistaken?

 

[Trinity_Boucher]

Did you check your turbo?

ok so i just checked the turbo. now should there be any play at all like literally 1/32" to 1/16". thats what i have.

 

[lacroixdp]

ok so i just checked the turbo. now should there be any play at all like literally 1/32" to 1/16". thats what i have.

Did you check in and out AND up and down? Did you take a flashlight and see if there were any bits missing on the fins?

 

[Trinity_Boucher]

Did you check in and out AND up and down? Did you take a flashlight and see if there were any bits missing on the fins?

pretty much in all directions it has that small movement. i looked and there werent any bits on the fins missing.

 

[Trinity_Boucher]

ok so strange stuff. i started up the car and it was blowing smoke for a few minutes. then i decided to put the proper 5w 30 oil instead of 10W 30 with lucas oil stablizer i had in. i started it up and had no smoke??? could that have been the problem?? im letting the car cool down now and im gunna start it up in a few hours and see if i have the same results.

 

[lacroixdp]

That's doubtful. If you let it sit overnight and started it up the next morning you'll probably get that puff of smoke again.