Houston we got white smoke!

[selmerguy]

I got my car togeather after putting in a new tranny, rebuilt head with stock internals and new valve seals. Also put in some web 546/547 cams. I just cleaned up the block as the walls looked great, removed the balance shafts and thats about it. New timing stuff aswell. The car dosent idle very well and I think that is a bad ISC motor. I know my afr is right around 14.7 at idle. I still get bad white smoke but not all the time. It is kinda funny. If I let the car idle it will blow some white smoke (enough to hide in if I was in IRAQ) then it will stop. I did notice when I ground out that plug to set the BISS screw no white smoke comes out. Any Ideas? My turbo is oil cooled only so it in not that. The head gasket is a comtec and I have ARP headstuds.

 

[diablos991]

I would check the seals around your throttle body, specifically the o-ring for your FIAV. Coolant can leak into your throttle body that way.

Is the smoke sweet smelling like antifreeze?
Oil can burn as a whitish gray, so the best complementary way to judge is by the smell.

Also, are you losing a noticeable amount of coolant?

Sounds like a compression test may be a good idea as well.

 

[selmerguy]

I would check the seals around your throttle body, specifically the o-ring for your FIAV. Coolant can leak into your throttle body that way.

Is the smoke sweet smelling like antifreeze?
Oil can burn as a whitish gray, so the best way to judge is by the smell.

Also, are you losing a noticeable amount of coolant?

Sounds like a compression test may be a good idea as well.

Compression was pretty good. When I pulled the motor it was 150 acrossed the board. Now with new valves and everything it was like 140 acrossed but that was with 0 miles on the rebuild. I bet after running it it is better now. I have heard about hooking up the water lines for the TB togeather to see if the seals are good. I will try that soon. The weather here sucks.

 

[laserspeeddemon]

Go back and check the torque settings on the Head studs. Let me know what you find.

 

[selmerguy]

Go back and check the torque settings on the Head studs. Let me know what you find.

Ok. I have to wait for some good weather so it will be this weekend. I also found I have some oil on my timing belt. Stupid car.

 

[laserspeeddemon]

Hey I just realized you are the ebay challenge guy. Hows that coming?

Check the VC gasket, it's the most likely point of failure for oil on the belt. After that you'll have to pull the timing cover (as I'm sure you know) to inspect the rest of the timing components, it could be anything from a cracked front case to leaking gasket, or, hell, even a cracked block.

 

[selmerguy]

Hey I just realized you are the ebay challenge guy. Hows that coming?

Check the VC gasket, it's the most likely point of failure for oil on the belt. After that you'll have to pull the timing cover (as I'm sure you know) to inspect the rest of the timing components, it could be anything from a cracked front case to leaking gasket, or, hell, even a cracked block.

The ebay thing is going ok. None of those parts have broke yet.... It is a PITA getting this all togeather before I go to IRAQ though. I really want to get a good tune and go to the track before I have to take off for year.

 

[selmerguy]

Back on topic. Could a bad throttle body gasket cause the smoke? I took off my TB and the gasket that mates it to the intake was wet. I dont think that should be that way. I put some copper RTV on it instead of the paper gaskets and I will see how that turns out.

 

[selmerguy]

Update:
I checked the head studs and they were all very close to 90 lbs. I even borrowed a nice torque wrench from napa so I know they are right. The car still smokes but only when it wants to. Stupid thing. The RTV for the throttle body didnt help either. I also did quite alot of playing with the BISS screw and no luck either. I am lost. The valve cover was on loose so when I put it back togeather I tightend it up alittle.

 

[laserspeeddemon]

Well a leak after the MAF (Assuming you still have it) will cause the car to run lean at vacuum and rich at boost. This doesn't explain the white smoke. Could it be blue smoke? Blue smoke is actually white with a light blue tint. Sometimes people confuse this with white smoke. The first time I saw blue smoke I thought I ate a head gasket, but the turbo seals went out on me causing oil to get in (and on) the exhaust.

If you have an ebay turbo, this could be a possiblity, but I have no experience with ebay turbos so I can't comment on that.

 

[selmerguy]

Well a leak after the MAF (Assuming you still have it) will cause the car to run lean at vacuum and rich at boost. This doesn't explain the white smoke. Could it be blue smoke? Blue smoke is actually white with a light blue tint. Sometimes people confuse this with white smoke. The first time I saw blue smoke I thought I ate a head gasket, but the turbo seals went out on me causing oil to get in (and on) the exhaust.

If you have an ebay turbo, this could be a possiblity, but I have no experience with ebay turbos so I can't comment on that.

I hope it is the case. It seemed to be alittle better today. I will keep monitoring my fluids and try to figure it out. Man this cold weather sucks for working on a car.

 

[selmerguy]

+ 1 for oil seals on turbo. I took off the intake and it had some oil around thr lip for the turbo. I am running a 4an line with no restrictor and I think there is too much oil in the turbo. The smoke goes away when oil pressure gets low like when the oil gets to operating temp.

 

[laserspeeddemon]

Once the seals are shot, they are done. You will get lower oil intrusion at lower RPMS, maybe low enough to produce a visible amount of smoke, but its there. I don't think you need a restrictor, but I'm not the expert when it comes to oil feeds to turbo. You might want to PM oldman, he has given some tips today related oil feed issues.

Where is your oil feed coming and do you still have BS?

 

[3dimentia]

Id love to see the result of this as my car also does this. I had some oil on the intake pipe right near where it hooks to the turbo, but cleaned it all out. The car will only puff the white stuff if I've let the car idle for a bit. Between shifts its fine, only when I take off after idling.

Man this stuff can be hard to diagnose with a turbo!