Lots of problems I thought were fixed. Car smoking. Help.

[trogador2005]

Alright so here is my story. So my car was running just fine one day and then i decided to put a new valve cover on that a friend gave me which had the pcv valve on it. got new vc gaskets and installed it no problem. 2 days later I'm getting oil in the spark plug tray and the wells. double checked my gaskets and they were fine but I could't get the oil to stop, so I put the old vc back on.

Sometime in the next few days I decided to finally fix my ticking lifters with some 3g lifters and that install went just fine. (got rid of my phantom knock)

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then about a week later I started to get a bad misfire and a p0300 code (multiple misfire) and whenever i tried to accelerate it would bog and sputter and lose all power. (I was doing constant boost leak tests during all of this) So I replaced the plugs. still had it, then I replaced wires, then it changed to a p0301, (cylinder 1 misfire) so I replaced the coil pack and that got rid of the code but it would still sputter occasionally while cruising. while digging around I found that the wires were pretty shot on my 1g CAS


so I replaced it with a black top and got a good solid connection and that seemed to fix it for a day .

Then I stared to burn oil. not really at idle, more so with high RPMs. Did another BLT and the air went right into the crankcase through the turbo, checked for shaft play and the turbo was done. It was scraping the comp housing.

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Replaced the turbo and started her up and had a really lumpy idle and it was still smoking. slightly at idle but lots with high RPMs. so I checked the plugs again and they looked like this.

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So I replaced the plugs again and that helped the idle quite a bit but the smoke never ends. I thought it might be left over oil from the turbo blowing but I drove it for a couple hours and still smoking. There was never any oil in the IC pipes after the turbo blew which is weird.

I've checked the PCV valve on the new valve cover and it was bad. could it have done its damage the short time that it was on? I will admit that when I had the new VC with the bad PCV (didn't know at the time, should have checked) I did do ONE 2-step launch from 4000 RPMs.

Car is still smoking a lot and still feels off somehow. It has also gotten much louder as a whole.

Sorry for the novel here guys but I need some serious help. this car is my daily and it's killing me not to have it on the road.

 

[1G Eclipse94928]

Did you use the manual when installing everything? can you do a compression and boost leak test again.

 

[renovatdkitchen]

A bad PCV could cause the burning as oil is being sucked through the valve into the intake and into the combustion chamber.

I've never had anything bad happen from a faulty PCV myself.

Are you using OEM gaskets for the valve cover? I've had the non OEM one leak on me. Not very bad, but enough to get me to replace it.

 

[trogador2005]

Yes everything by the book. NGK wires, NGK BPR7ES gapped at .028. Did a BLT today and still none. will be doing a compression test tomorrow or saturday. My thought is valve stem seals?

I used the fel pro valve cover gasket. its not leaking at all now. my friends have had luck with the fel pro vc gasket.

 

[renovatdkitchen]

A leakdown test would help as you could see where the air is escaping from.

Also, if its a bad PCV, you wont see any oil in the charge piping as it goes directly to the intake manifold.

Do you know what your oil pressure is near redline where you start seeing oil burn?

 

[trogador2005]

i'll try to get ahold of a leakdown tester.

how could I check my current pcv system? try to blow into the valve right?

Unfortunately my stock and aftermarket oil pressure gauge don't work. but i get tons of smoke at 3K RPMs Im scared to take it to redline .

 

[renovatdkitchen]

You shouldn't be smoking at rpm's that low.

All I ever do to check my PCV's is to take it off and shake that valve near my ear. If you hear something moving around in there easily, then its fine. If it doesnt sound "crisp" or doesn't move around, then you know that theres sludge in there stopping the valve from working properly.

Is the valve cover damaged in anyway underneath where the baffles are?

Is your turbo fed oil from the head or the OFH?

 

[trogador2005]

That's why I'm thinking valve seals.

Valve cover looked fine to me.

Its fed from the head. when I replaced the turbo I put a new SS feed line on it. before it was also from the head but with the original hard lines with rubber tubing coupled in it.

 

[renovatdkitchen]

I'd personally be weary of this new valve cover.

If you only started having oiling problems in the head (includes turbo as it is fed from there) when you replaced it, its got to have something to do with that. See about taking a very close look comparing the two valve covers side by side.

I personally wouldn't point my finger at the valve seals if it just started smoking that quickly.

Does it still burn oil with the old valve cover on?
Can you wiggle the rockers with your fingers?

 

[trogador2005]

I put the old valve cover back on as soon as I saw oil in the spark plug well. only had the new one on for a couple days. Forgot to mention the new valve cover was a hyundai cover.

Yes it still burns with the old valve cover.

I haven't touched the rockers since I put the old cover on. think I should take it off and have a look?

 

[renovatdkitchen]

Check the PCV and I'd also check the rockers to make sure the lifters are keeping them tight.

 

[trogador2005]

Alright so I checked the pcv valve and it rattles around very easily and crisp.

So then I took the valve cover off and check all the rockers and they are nice and tight however, I did notice some weird gray sludge in random places in the head. it felt kinda like anti-seize.

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Also took a pic of the old valve cover (the one that's currently on it)

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[renovatdkitchen]

Huh.

Have you tried doing a leak down test yet?

Clean up the sludge. Not sure what it is to be honest.

 

[1G Eclipse94928]

get new gaskets.

 

[trogador2005]

Doing a compression test tomorrow! I'll do a leakdown when I can get ahold of a tester.

Get new what gaskets? The valve cover and spark plug gaskets are new. less than 150 miles on them and there's no oil coming out of the valve cover or in the spark plug wells.

 

[JusMX141]

Your Small 16G was DONE as evident by the grooving on the turbine shaft where the journal bearings ride.

Was the center housing wiped out, too? If you re-used the center housing and had it machined for the 20G wheel, that could be part of the problem.

 

[trogador2005]

I did reuse it and I took the center housing to a local turbo shop and he put it in a tank and cleaned it out really good and said it shouldn't have any trouble sealing.

Is there any way I could check to see if it's still the turbo? It does smoke at idle a bit. Even less when its warm.

 

[JusMX141]

With the shaft being grooved that badly, I don't see how the center housing didn't sustain damage...whether it be to the journals or the turbine sealing ring surface as a result of the excessive shaft play.

 

[trogador2005]

I totally agree with you. That's why I took it to the shop and asked him to check it out.

Should I try and rule out other engine issues first, or do you think that's definitely it?

On a sidenote, you wouldn't happen to have any center housings you could sell me would you?

 

[DSM1G90]

Agree with Justin.

I deal with another form of machinery outside of the DSM world, where we have a precision built device that contains a rotating shaft - being the most important operating part of this one device (which this device is like a precision built watch-everything has to be aligned perfectly), and this shaft has to be mirror smooth along with the brass sleeve that the shaft goes in to allow the shaft to rotate extremely smooth. This assembly is immersed in oil for continual lubrication.

When the shaft starts to wear like the turbine shaft shown to us, we know that the brass sleeve also is damaged and both had to be replaced as one unit - we can't have any form of shaft play.

 

[trogador2005]

So you're saying the shaft and the bearing need to be replaced, or that because the shaft and bearings were damaged that they damaged the center housing as well?

I did replace the bearings and shaft. I ordered everything from tradergreg.

 

[Dsmkauai]

He's saying the Chra needs to or should have been replaced because of the amount of damage along with a new shaft and bearings. Basically you would need a new rotating assembly and Chra. The only good parts would be the compressor cover and turbine housing unless of course they sustained to much damage from possibly wheel contact.

 

[trogador2005]

Gotcha. Is there any way to see if it is still the turbo burning oil without taking it off? I just got her all bolted back up...

 

[Dsmkauai]

You could take the downpipe off and see if oil is present. If there is its either the turbo, bad valve stem seals, or really bad blow by. If it's really bad blow by you would also see oil in the ic pipes. When do you notice oil burning? While driving, on start up only, in boost only?

 

[trogador2005]

There's no oil in the intake or ic pipes. not a drop. haven't taken off the downpipe yet.

Here are the exact smoking situations....

cold start idle medium/light smoke,
fully warm idle very light smoke,
driving lots of smoke under accel and not so much under decel.
Haven't boosted yet cause it smoked enough