Altered Mental Status (1G AWD 5spd)

[enriquez2000]

Well. F**k. Disconnected the pcv hose on the way home and it still smokes. Blows the dipstick out of the tube and sprays oil.


Checked the turbo for shaft play and it’s got significant up and down play. I guess FP Turbos just aren’t what they were because I did everything right with this thing. Guess I’ll have Justin build me an fp green knockoff that’ll actually last.

Gonna keep running this one til it blows I guess.

My opinion for what its worth is to stop running it immediately with shaft play. You dont need metal going through your motor.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

It's crankcase pressure that is blowing your dipstick out. Somehow, pressure is making it past your rings/valve seals and into the crankcase excessively. It can cause a fire so carry a fire extinguisher . I blew my dipstick out when I was very new to these cars and thought I was gonna have to pee on the dam exhaust manifold for fear of fire!

 

[CrackedDSM]

I just can’t catch a break man. I don’t know what I’ve done wrong to have everything like this thrown at me. I can’t even get this car to the point where it’ll drive at all. It constantly fights me.


Idk. I may have to make a hard decision here soon with this car. What’s the point of having something that you can never reliably drive and only ever takes your money and causes heartache? It’s one thing after another. This turbo is f-ucking NEW and unabused. I’m so done at this point but I’m gonna sleep on it.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Put a small spring on your dipstick with one end held onto the tube with a hose clamp and the other end slipped onto the dipstick handle.
Dump the PCV system and run draft tube's (snot tubes) off of the pcv valve and the crankcase vent with 3/8" hose to some out of the way area OR run both to a vented catch can. It will relieve some of your crankcase pressure.
The dipstick will use a spring like this that STM sells but any hardware stores will have them also.

 

[enriquez2000]

I just can’t catch a break man. I don’t know what I’ve done wrong to have everything like this thrown at me. I can’t even get this car to the point where it’ll drive at all. It constantly fights me.


Idk. I may have to make a hard decision here soon with this car. What’s the point of having something that you can never reliably drive and only ever takes your money and causes heartache? It’s one thing after another. This turbo is f-ucking NEW and unabused. I’m so done at this point but I’m gonna sleep on it.

Is the turbo under warranty? I think every one of us has felt like this about our dsm cars.. i have personally replaced everything on this car by my own hands now... motor im on a 3rd due to others screwing me over.

Theu are worth it as a fun car but takes a person who loves them and has time/money and desire to fix issues. Cars are 30 plus years old now

I guess what im saying is do whats best for you and this community is here for support

 

[Anfurnyy]

Well. F**k. Disconnected the pcv hose on the way home and it still smokes. Blows the dipstick out of the tube and sprays oil.


Checked the turbo for shaft play and it’s got significant up and down play. I guess FP Turbos just aren’t what they were because I did everything right with this thing. Guess I’ll have Justin build me an fp green knockoff that’ll actually last.

Gonna keep running this one til it blows I guess.

Do the blades touch the housings? Not saying that's the only way it can go bad but journal bearing turbos do have a slight amount of play. Sometimes enough to seemingly almost touch the housings.

 

[enriquez2000]

Just a thought.. post a vid of shaft play.. journal bearings do have some play normally

And try Martys snot tubes a ls a test for smoking... if it alleviates it you have a pcv restriction. I use a vented catch can on mine

 

[Anfurnyy]

Put a small spring on your dipstick with one end held onto the tube with a hose clamp and the other end slipped onto the dipstick handle.
Dump the PCV system and run draft tube's (snot tubes) off of the pcv valve and the crankcase vent with 3/8" hose to some out of the way area OR run both to a vented catch can. It will relieve some of your crankcase pressure.
The dipstick will use a spring like this that STM sells but any hardware stores will have them also.

I also agree with running a vent to atmosphere setup. I don't like the idea of reintroducing shitty oil vapor back into the intake system on any car let alone a sports car

 

[CrackedDSM]

I guess it’s an easy thing to try, would take like 20 seconds to just run the line from pcv to can and put the filter on the top of the can to make it “vented”. I have it plumbed going IM to PCV, from VC to can to intake. I’ll switch it up to both lines to can and vented and see what happens. If it works I’ll be downright gobsmacked.



Should it be apparent like right away if the issue is fixed? I assume some level of oil will be left in the intercooler tract if it’s the pcv blowing oil back into the system.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

It will be apparent during high boost.

 

[Anfurnyy]

I guess it’s an easy thing to try, would take like 20 seconds to just run the line from pcv to can and put the filter on the top of the can to make it “vented”. I have it plumbed going IM to PCV, from VC to can to intake. I’ll switch it up to both lines to can and vented and see what happens. If it works I’ll be downright gobsmacked.



Should it be apparent like right away if the issue is fixed? I assume some level of oil will be left in the intercooler tract if it’s the pcv blowing oil back into the system.

Your check valve could be bad. If it's not blocking boost in then it would create quite a bit of crank case pressure. I don't know if you've replaced yours or not

 

[CrackedDSM]

Your check valve could be bad. If it's not blocking boost in then it would create quite a bit of crank case pressure. I don't know if you've replaced yours or not

For the drive home I completely disconnected it. The line from pcv just hangs open to atmosphere. The line from
VC to can to intake pipe is still connected though.

 

[Anfurnyy]

For the drive home I completely disconnected it. The line from pcv just hangs open to atmosphere. The line from
VC to can to intake pipe is still connected though.

Oh right I remember reading that now.

 

[enriquez2000]

For the drive home I completely disconnected it. The line from pcv just hangs open to atmosphere. The line from
VC to can to intake pipe is still connected though.

I would fully remove pcv if you can(even if just for a quick run) and open that other line up and see if you still get smoke. PCV may be clogged.. Just trying to rule out the simple stuff. Does your current catch can hanve oil in it?

I eliminated all pcv and lines to intake in lieu of both to my vented can. If you are on SD it wont hurt anything.

 

[enriquez2000]

I would fully remove pcv if you can(even if just for a quick run) and open that other line up and see if you still get smoke. PCV may be clogged.. Just trying to rule out the simple stuff

I felt this warranted its own post, but I took a 3rd gear pull from yesterday when the PCV or Rings noped out of the chat...and discovered something....log below but jesus CHRIST guys I hit 22lbs. Something with the boost controller must've gotten thrown out of wack because it's supposed to be on wastegate pressure. No freakin' wonder. It also went fairly lean and I had no idea why...well now I do.


Anyway.... Good god. Pick it apart fellas and roast me, but enjoy as well. How ridiculous. Just gonna remove the boost controller until I hit the 500 mile mark.


I wonder how much effect cold air has on boost production too though. IAT temps were 43* at the most during the 3rd gear rip, and this was after like 20-25 minutes of driving. freakin' hilarious. Can cold weather increase boost production or what?

Finally looked at your tune....

Little lean on the tip in from full throttle to until about 10psi and then it looks good until you hit 17psi then it goes a nats ass rich... at 20psi and up you are getting pretty lean(obviously tuner didnt plan on that boost) Even at 6k rpm it looked like it wanted to keep going almost like waste gate was stuck.

Since you posted I figured Id get you a critique

 

[CrackedDSM]

This is with the turbo completely drained/engine off for 8+ hours. The wheel doesn't make contact with the housing, but man it seems like a lot.




Also: does this seem like normal smoke/blow-by for a cold start? I had loose tools in the engine bay that were clattering so ignore the terrible sounding noise. It doesn't sound that bad in person.




WITH THOSE THINGS SAID! GOOD NEWS BELOW!


I took it for a drive with the catch-can switched to vented mode...and the smoke is honestly all gone. The very first hit I made it puffed a tiny, tiny amount but every rip after that was absolutely nothing. Nothing on accel or decel. And I engine braked it hard after a hard boost pull. You guys are amazing, man, I never would've thought to switch the can to vented. Why did that make such a difference?

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

You aren't burning your blowby oil fumes anymore and the excess pressure is going to the catch can, then vented! Don't forget to drain it often.
Before 1968 or 69, Domestic cars had "draft tubes" and just let those fumes release to the atmosphere. After then, they went to recirculating it via a PCV valve back to the intake tract and burn it, to meet environmental requirements that were coming in.
On the Turbo issue, that is excessive play, especially for a new turbo. A used one will wiggle a little side to side, but not that much. Does it have in/out play also?

 

[CrackedDSM]

You aren't burning your blowby oil fumes anymore and the excess pressure is going to the catch can, then vented! Don't forget to drain it often.
Before 1968 or 69, Domestic cars had "draft tubes" and just let those fumes release to the atmosphere. After then, they went to recirculating it via a PCV valve back to the intake tract and burn it, to meet environmental requirements that were coming in.

Seriously, you guys are awesome. I never would've thought of this. I had no idea the oil fumes would make that much of a difference.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

#1) We are always here to help
#2) You're never to old to learn something new.
Super glad to put a smile back on your face Cory.

 

[enriquez2000]

Are you on e85?

Cold starts will "smoke" especially if cold. On E85 it will smoke alot when cold.

That play looks normal. forward and back is bad. If its not touching it should be fine. Here is a good video for your reference

 

[CrackedDSM]

Are you on e85?

Cold starts will "smoke" especially if cold. On E85 it will smoke alot when cold.

That play looks normal. forward and back is bad. If its not touching it should be fine. Here is a good video for your reference

Not on E85 unfortunately.


This is great news, man. You guys have no idea the relief I am feeling. It was also super embarrassing leaving a huge smoke screen on a WOT pull. It might be old and not the cleanest/newest looking, but it's not gonna be smoking like a campfire full of wet leaves.


Legitimately, yall have made my week/weekend.


Also: is it ricer that I kinda like how it feels like a racecar with the vented catch can now? Yall got me wanting to invest in a VC that has AN fittings and an actual quality catch-can setup. Wish Calan was still around and doing his thing.

 

[enriquez2000]

Not on E85 unfortunately.


This is great news, man. You guys have no idea the relief I am feeling. It was also super embarrassing leaving a huge smoke screen on a WOT pull. It might be old and not the cleanest/newest looking, but it's not gonna be smoking like a campfire full of wet leaves.


Legitimately, yall have made my week/weekend.


Also: is it ricer that I kinda like how it feels like a racecar with the vented catch can now? Yall got me wanting to invest in a VC that has AN fittings and an actual quality catch-can setup. Wish Calan was still around and doing his thing.

My catch can is like that just longer with an fittings

 

[jesse12345]

So did you ditch the pcv all together and just run one line to the can from the valve cover, and one line from the manifold? Or am I missing something, because I may end up doing this.

 

[DreamChaser7]

Just as an FYI, hoosierdecal.com is a ripoff. Either it's out of business now, or an outright scam. I've seen someone here recommend them before so I pulled the trigger. Well, it's been two weeks and they refuse to answer any emails, or give any update on tracking or ETA. Just pure ghost town. So I've escalated my paypal claim to get a refund back. Ridiculous.

I ordered a bunch of decals from them last year and got them relatively fast…quality stuff too…weird.

 

[CrackedDSM]

I ordered a bunch of decals from them last year and got them relatively fast…quality stuff too…weird.

After I filed a PayPal claim they processed the order and shipped it out same day. It looks like they took the entire week of thanksgiving off but just didn’t tell anyone and didn’t list it on the website, or for some reason it just took that long to respond.

Either way, it left a bad taste in my mouth that I had to wait almost two weeks, file a PayPal claim then escalate it before they send my stuff out. Kinda gonna put them in the same folder as dudes custom parts.