how to tell if I am burning oil thru turbo, valve seals or rings?

[kr.k]

Car smokes for a second right when I start it and sometimes between shifts with a slight delay, like you shift, count to one and 1/2 and then there is a puff of blue smoke. Lower IC pipe is a little oily but upper pipe is absolutely clean. I wonder if anyone could guess if it is turbo, valve seals or rings?

 

[sechen77]

the oil from the IC pipes are from the valve cover blow by, that's why people put breather there to filter that oil, most likely it's burning in the motor, valve seals or piston rings not sure...need a leakdown test to determine that,

how many miles on your motor? how much oil do you burn off? my 90 GST got 210k miles on it, burns at least 2 quarts in between oil changes, think it could be the valve seals tho...but won't know until i take the head off to check...

 

[SpoolnTsi]

Id check the turbo first. Be the easiest place to start anyway. Just pull the intake off and check for shaft play. You wanna look for in and out play not up or down. In and out is a sign of bad seals hence the burning of oil your seeing if thats the case

 

[1fast97gsx]

my car is doing the same thing now ... no in and out shaft play though.

 

[sauromin]

I know exactly whats wrong.

some may try to scare you and tell you its the head gasket, but the real problem comes from your turbo. See, coming from your oil pan is an oil line going to your turbo. You either have a bad gasket for your turbo or the line is cracked. what happens is with it set up that way, oil seeps into your exhaust line and burns off, creating smoke. keeps a close watch at your oil level and i suggest you take some degreaser to your engine bay because i know you probably have oil all in there. then rip that oil line off and see if its cracked or if its just the gasket, hopefully its the gasket. then replace whatever needs to be replaced, slap that bad boy back on and do some all-wheel drive Burnouts!!!

Just for refrence, i suggest you dont do too much driving in it until you fix it.

 

[jeff01]

PCV valve.

 

[sechen77]

which turbo gasket were you referring to?

PCV is another possible place that cause oil in the IC pipes,

i always thought it may be the valve seat, valve seal that's leaking oil, that's why you burn more off at start up...otherwise at start up if oil drips onto exhaust, it's not that hot yet...

 

[2.4 turbo Hyped]

Does it smoke bad on a deceleration with no throttle?? Oil may be getting sucked into the combustion chambers through bad valve seals.

 

[big green]

My car is burning oil too. My turbo was dead so I replaced it with a big28. My car still burns oil (not nearly as bad as before) I took it in to my mechanic and they told me it was the valve seals and gave me a quote. It was really expesnsive so I left it alone.

 

[1fast97gsx]

I know exactly whats wrong.

some may try to scare you and tell you its the head gasket, but the real problem comes from your turbo. See, coming from your oil pan is an oil line going to your turbo. You either have a bad gasket for your turbo or the line is cracked. what happens is with it set up that way, oil seeps into your exhaust line and burns off, creating smoke. keeps a close watch at your oil level and i suggest you take some degreaser to your engine bay because i know you probably have oil all in there. then rip that oil line off and see if its cracked or if its just the gasket, hopefully its the gasket. then replace whatever needs to be replaced, slap that bad boy back on and do some all-wheel drive Burnouts!!!

Just for refrence, i suggest you dont do too much driving in it until you fix it.

I know my oil return line has a nasty leak ... but how does that explain oil getting into the exhaust??? I can see it dripping onto the exhaust maybe and smoking from the engine bay ... but not smoking out of the exhaust.

 

[custom man]

From my exp. Check the i/c pipes right before and after your fmic or smic for the intercooler seems to catch oil on the bottom allowing little oil to reach uic pipes.

 

[kr.k]

the oil from the IC pipes are from the valve cover blow by, that's why people put breather there to filter that oil, most likely it's burning in the motor, valve seals or piston rings not sure...need a leakdown test to determine that,

how many miles on your motor? how much oil do you burn off? my 90 GST got 210k miles on it, burns at least 2 quarts in between oil changes, think it could be the valve seals tho...but won't know until i take the head off to check...

I have the breather filter installed.
Engine has 10K miles after I put in Wisecos and Eagles Head has about the same but the work was done at the different shop. I burn about 1 litre for 500 miles

Id check the turbo first. Be the easiest place to start anyway. Just pull the intake off and check for shaft play. You wanna look for in and out play not up or down. In and out is a sign of bad seals hence the burning of oil your seeing if thats the case

I have checked for shaft paly and there is some but as I have heard we all do have some so where does the line go?

I know exactly whats wrong.

some may try to scare you and tell you its the head gasket, but the real problem comes from your turbo. See, coming from your oil pan is an oil line going to your turbo. You either have a bad gasket for your turbo or the line is cracked. what happens is with it set up that way, oil seeps into your exhaust line and burns off, creating smoke. keeps a close watch at your oil level and i suggest you take some degreaser to your engine bay because i know you probably have oil all in there. then rip that oil line off and see if its cracked or if its just the gasket, hopefully its the gasket. then replace whatever needs to be replaced, slap that bad boy back on and do some all-wheel drive Burnouts!!!

Just for refrence, i suggest you dont do too much driving in it until you fix it.

I am sorry but as I English is my second language I have hard time understanding what you are saying.. Do you mean I have a oil leak? I do not have a leak that I can see. My engine is superclean as it was rebuilt about a year ago...

PCV valve.

how to tell if it is bad? and how much could it possibly smoke if it is bad(open?)??

Does it smoke bad on a deceleration with no throttle?? Oil may be getting sucked into the combustion chambers through bad valve seals.

That is why I am concerned - It does NOT smoke on a deceleration with no throttle. Only after acceleration and with delay like I described in 1-st post. And I forgot to tell that it smokes when I start the car after it has been sitting for some time (like half an hour-hour or more) not after I shut it down and start right away, then no smoke. And it starts to smoke like hell if I keep the engine running at idle for like a half an hour and start to drive, then it smokes longer and heavyer but stops after a minute or so of driving. It seems just like it collects oil somewhere and then burns it when there is bore airflow. Can it be that the oil is collected in the cooler and then flyes into engine when there is more air flow? But why then is my upper ic pipe clean? Does the oil fly so fast that it does not contact pipes and leaves them clean??

Also my spark plugs look like there is oil burning inside the engine and they all look the same.

 

[iowaTSIfWd]

I have the same problem with my car smoking. Mine is a GST with only 31k miles!!! From all that i have heard and read it is the Valve stem seals. Now the only thing is that you usually see it on older talon/eclipses. Like say a pre-1992 with lots of miles. Has anyone out there actually fixed there smoking problem???? im just curious!!!

 

[2.4 turbo Hyped]

I have the same problem with my car smoking. Mine is a GST with only 31k miles!!! From all that i have heard and read it is the Valve stem seals. Now the only thing is that you usually see it on older talon/eclipses. Like say a pre-1992 with lots of miles. Has anyone out there actually fixed there smoking problem???? im just curious!!!

I fixed my oil burning woes with new valve stem seals.

 

[kr.k]

I fixed my oil burning woes with new valve stem seals.

how important is to use mitsu seals? I did use aftermarket ones (cheaper) just may be this is the problem?

 

[2.4 turbo Hyped]

how important is to use mitsu seals? I did use aftermarket ones (cheaper) just may be this is the problem?

I used ajusa aftermarket ones and they worked just fine.

 

[pinknuggit]

Yeah, your symptons sound very common to worn valve seals.

 

[Zenja]

I'm getting the same problems you are except I burn much more oil - it's embarrasing. I'm just hoping it's the stem seals, not the guides or such.

I plan on putting in new valve stem seals on wednesday (but I've been saying that for a very long while). I'll tell you what happens when they go in.

In addition to the problems common with valve stem seals, I'm also streaming oil out the exhaust on WOT when I stay on it. I'm hoping that the valve stem seals will fix that, but more likely it has to do with my turbo.

 

[DSMeclipse4G63]

come on people...do a compression test if it passes do a leak down test if you hear hissing in the crank case thats your problem(rings, valve seals, valves), if the engine passes both those tests then check the turbo...simple stuff here guys
Andrew

 

[asexton6969]

I have the close to the same problem. My dad and i just rebuilt my motor. My turbo was fine before, but idk that well because we bought it and rebuilt it. Well we have it together correctly and at idle it would smoke like no other. It runs perfect but its like some stuck a fog machine in my car. I cleaned ALOT of oil out of my intercooler. Im starting to think that my turbo MIGHT be fine. Ive been looking for a new one becuz there was oil in my turbo inlet. and in my LICP. Im getting oil and coolant or maybe its just oil in a few of my cylinders. What do u guys think it is? thnx alot sorry about taking ur thread. Its just it so familiar and its really been bothering me cuz i wanna drive my car really bad.

 

[pinknuggit]

come on people...do a compression test if it passes do a leak down test if you hear hissing in the crank case thats your problem(rings, valve seals, valves), if the engine passes both those tests then check the turbo...simple stuff here guys
Andrew

Rings will hiss out the crank case.
Valves will hiss either out of your intake/exhaust.
Valve seals have No affect on cylinder compression.

Simple stuff here guys. :laugh:

 

[2.4 turbo Hyped]

come on people...do a compression test if it passes do a leak down test if you hear hissing in the crank case thats your problem(rings, valve seals, valves), if the engine passes both those tests then check the turbo...simple stuff here guys
Andrew

try this.

 

[kr.k]

try this.

Believe me I would, but you are lucky that you are in the states and you have good mechanics etc. Here no one has EVER heard about LEAK DOWN test and if I have tried to explain it they dont get it. thats it no leakdown test for me. but my compression seems to be fine exept they say it takes a little longer (need to crank more) than usual for pressure to rise up to spec but eventually it does...

 

[imdrax]

i hate to bring this from the dead but i have a few questions. my car blows ALOT of white smoke at idle and when i give it any throttle and after i shift normally. cruising at a very light steady throttle it emits minute amounts of smoke. my compression is perfect for my current altitude. turbo has no shaft play and there was a little oil sitting in the compressor housing inlet. the licp has an oil "film" around the inside. the car is a 97 gst 74000 miles:
1). now if i have bad valve stem seals and i perform a leak down test (tonight) will i hear hissing through my oil filler opening?
2). if my seals were bad would my compression numbers be this good?
3). do bad seals cause lower compression readings?
4). from my symptoms described above does it sound more likely to have bad stem seals, turbo seals, or both??

please anyone that replies do so as a Q&A response. thank you in advance.

 

[kr.k]

white smoke usually means burning coolant. oil burns with blue smoke and if you are running rich you smoke black.