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

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trogador2005

Proven Member
97
25
Mar 18, 2013
Fort Wayne, Indiana
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 LOL.

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. :barf:
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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. :ohdamn:

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.
 
I think id have to agree with Justin and say the turbo is the culprit! If it was groved that bad than it most likely had thrust damage and that could put unwanted pressure on the tubrine side oil seal and cause problems for sure, or just from the play it could have damaged the sealing area. If you can pull just the Chra out and inspect if that would be best. Check for shaft play again and look at the tubrine wheel and heat shield if these are both soaked with oil than the tubrine oil seal is not sealing and most likely your problem. It could also be the valve stem seals but it sounds more like the turbo to me with all the smoke you discribed. When the valve stems seals have been leaking awhile most of the time you can see oil coming out of the exh manifold where it attaches to the head, not all the time but most of the time. How many miles on the car/motor?
 
Alright cool. I'll take the turbo out again and check it out and post some pics. if that's what it is, is there any way to have that fixed or does that mean the center housing is toast forever?

Car has 160k when the PO did the 6-bolt bottom and 7-bolt head he had them rebuilt and had 20k on them when I got it.
 
Before you pull it check for shaft play. If there a lot than its obvious if its minimal well still doesn't mean the seal isn't bad or not sealing. If the Chra bearing surfaces are groved or damaged than yes its toast and a nice oily paper weight. The only real way to fix would be to machine over sized bearings for it. But I don't know anyone doing that or if you could even get the proper parts. Plus the cost probably would be way more than a new Chra.
 
Alright thanks! I'll check for shaft play and if there is any I'll pull it and check it out. yeah it would be way easier to just get a new chra haha.
 
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.

Id have to 100% agree with Justin here! And by the looks of the old shaft you had and the wheel damage I also don't see how the Chra wasn't damaged either!! Ya with 20k on a fresh rebuild I doubt the valve stem seals are bad already, but you never know. My car ran 12's with a 240k motor and original stem seals LOL even still had the stock headgasket when it finally let go 2 years ago LOL! Hope you figure this out bro! Keep us posted we are all here to help!
 
Yeah that's what it's looking like. although the wheels looked like that when I got it. But I would much rather it be the turbo than the valve seals or piston rings haha.

I hope its the turbo haha. 240k?! that's pretty impressive haha. Thank you for you help. I'll report back tomorrow!
 
Really ouch that turbo was used and abused LOL! And ya I hear ya especially on a low mileage motor. I would do a compresion test then before you tear into it. Its easy and doesn't take much time and can tell you a lot and possibly what to do next. If your numbers all look good and even then inspect the turbo closer.
 
I'll do just that! Got another dsm friend coming over to help me compression test tomorrow. hoping for good results!
 
The only thing making me skeptical of it not being the turbo is the presence of oil on the plugs.

However, a turbo with that much play HAD to sustain some damage to the sealing ring lip in the center housing. You really should've just bought a different turbo, or whole new assembled and balanced CHRA when you saw a shaft damaged that badly.

Look for a wet turbine wheel, or oil coming from behind the heat shield on the turbo. A turbo rarely, if ever, puts oil into the intercooler piping during operation by the design of the compressor sealing ring. Turbine side is a different story.
 
Thanks Justin, I'll check the turbine side for oil this afternoon and report back.

@Supra Mario
Do you know of any other way to check a pcv valve? I have 3 OEM ones and the one that rattles the best is the one that's on it.
 
I mean there was a little oil but nothing crazy. mostly on the part that goes in the valve cover.
 
Do you know of any other way to check a pcv valve? I have 3 OEM ones and the one that rattles the best is the one that's on it.
Rattling just means it moves freely- doesn't tell you a thing about how it seals under boost.

I normally hook a 5/16" hose to the end of a blowgun then the other end to the PCV valve and give it about 20-30psi, then see if anything is leaking into the valve cover.
 
The hose going to intake mani was dry. So I'm thinking it's not the PCv.

I'll try shooting some air into it!
 
The PCV valve took pressure and didn't let any air through.

No out of the ordinary shaft play on the turbo. didn't get a chance to take it out and check it.

Compression test results were 110 cold, 120 warm, and 124ish wet.

It's a 6-bolt block.
 
Ouch low numbers bro :( right at the service limit of 121 unfortunately! I think whoever built that block didn't do such a good job man, or it was beat on and abused hard! It's probably safe to say the rings arnt doing there job and why your smoking so bad.
 
Yeah pretty low. Would being right at the service limit cause it to smoke though? I'm checking the turbo tomorrow to see if it's wet.
 
Alright leakdown results!

Cyl1 - 15%
Cyl2 - 20%
Cyl3 - 20%
Cyl4 - 20%

The air is coming out of these places. percentage based on sound and feel.
All cylinders were the same. also for the test I didn't have the turbo or intake in.

80% Oil cap. I can feel it there.
10% Dip stick tube. can't really feel it but can hear it.
5% Valve cover breather. only hear
5% Exhaust mani. only hear
 
Update! So I took the head off and here is what I found. Everything is juts covered in oil and carbon, there's oil in my exhaust port, there's coolant in my oil (chocolate pudding), there's coolant on the HG. good lord LOL.

So what do you guys think, HG, valve stem seals, or piston rings?

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