Car smokes gray at idle cold, under boost too

[DarkStarMenace]

I recently pulled the head off my 98 Spyder GST. Had a valve job, porting and SS valves installed. Rehoned the block and installed a set of Wiseco 8.3:1 pistons, and checked for ring gap and made adjustments as needed. Replaced rod bearings while I was underneath, they measured, if I remember correctly, within 0.01 of an inch between rod journal on crank and the rod itself. Buttoned everything up, torqued everything in the bottom end and the top end. Installed timing belt perfectly. Bolted up my new big 16G with Extreme PSI's J-pipe mod all the custom IC piping with a Precision Turbo FMIC. Also, has a 1g BOV crushed. Then I upgraded the fuel system: Walbro 190 LPH fuel pump and 680 cc injectors. Wired up the SAFC2 and set my values at -36 low and -36 high. Took the car for a drive but I disconnected the wastegate to break in motor for 100 miles. Everything was fine. Did an oil change, and reconnected the wastegate. Took a spin, no boost. Performed a vacuum test to find 3 leaks. First was in the J-pipe, the gasket is offset, so watch for that. The second was at a coupler after the fmic, retightened all couplers. Third was at the BOV, replaced gasket. No leaks. Took it for a spin, OMFG. No boost controller, this thing hits 18 psi and spikes at 20. And that was only up to 5k rpms. Checked the log and readjusted. This time I took off hard from first, shouldn't have. Past 5k rpms, the motor felt like it was spinning way too fast. Parked and it died, as soon as pushed the clutch in. Checked for spark and it was fine. I replaced the alternator because my sound system killed this alternator, it took two years but it did it. Just to be sure I pulled all the plugs, to find all were black and the pistons were too. So I got a little scared. Cleaned plugs, disconnected SAFC and reinstalled stock injectors. Let it idle for 15 minutes, and rechecked plugs and pistons. All were good again. Took it for a spin drove fine, a huge difference between injectors though as far as power. Drove for a couple of days, then the car died. Found no spark, tested CAS: no signal. It was getting power and ground but not providing a pulse for the ecu. Replaced but I did find the wheel the CAS reads to be loose between the block and crank gear. So thoughts of crankwalk got me depressed. Buttoned up the timing cover and called it a night. Came back the next day to finish all the serpentine belts. Read also in the forums how important an upgraded FPR is. Ordered one from Import Evolution in a kit, a very nice kit, installation and price were good. I read how a lack of a FPR would wash the rings and cylinders. So I installed the FPR and did another oil change. Looked at the old oil and found a lot of metal not chunks just small specks. Started car up and set FPR without the vac line to 43 psi, reconnected line. This is where I am at now. The car has gray smoke when cold out of the exhaust and when it warms up it goes away. Now when accelerating it makes a wierd noise and under boost it smokes the same color when cold. And off idle, I can hear a rattle (like metal to metal) somewhere under the manifold or around the serpentine belt area. So I am at a loss. I am actually on the verge of ripping the complete bottom end out and doing it the right way, just for my peace of mind. But tomorrow I will do a cold and warmed-up compression check. Give you guys the results at the end of the day.

Thanks,
Adam

 

[DarkStarMenace]

Well, the compression test went as follows:
Cold: Cyl 1- 145psi, 2- 145 psi, 3- 135 psi, and 4- 140 psi; after letting it warm up, I retested with the same results.
Pulled off all the IC piping to find any traces of oil, none were found. Buttoned everything up. Still smokes at a cold start which goes away after warming up. I did find that revving it to boost in neutral would result in some smoke from under the manifold, inspected to find traces of water (black) from between the o2 housing and exhaust side of turbo. That is all that I have found. Any help maybe something I am overlooking would be appreciated.

Adam

 

[Fos]

Well, the compression test went as follows:
Cold: Cyl 1- 145psi, 2- 145 psi, 3- 135 psi, and 4- 140 psi; after letting it warm up, I retested with the same results.
Pulled off all the IC piping to find any traces of oil, none were found. Buttoned everything up. Still smokes at a cold start which goes away after warming up. I did find that revving it to boost in neutral would result in some smoke from under the manifold, inspected to find traces of water (black) from between the o2 housing and exhaust side of turbo. That is all that I have found. Any help maybe something I am overlooking would be appreciated.

Adam

I guess though to leaking exhaust manifold, your o2 is measuring more air in the mixture, that there really is and increases the fuel trims. Check your plugs for being black. Running rich causes gray smoke.

Allso I have noticed that leaking intake piping causes gray smoke and bad o2 causes gray smoke as well as bad MAF But lets hope that your problem will be solved wiht a simple replacement of the exhaust manifold gasket.

 

[DarkStarMenace]

I guess though to leaking exhaust manifold, your o2 is measuring more air in the mixture, that there really is and increases the fuel trims. Check your plugs for being black. Running rich causes gray smoke.

Allso I have noticed that leaking intake piping causes gray smoke and bad o2 causes gray smoke as well as bad MAF But lets hope that your problem will be solved wiht a simple replacement of the exhaust manifold gasket.

Well, all the gaskets are brand new and installed a couple of months ago when I serviced the head. I also put the intake system through a smoke machine for leaks, none were found. But the o2 reading extra oxygen makes sense if there were an exhaust leak. I will hook up a scan tool and get what the ecu is doing. Thanks again for your input.

Adam