Oil sputtering/smoking on engine PIC!

[CaviSpeedRacer]

So today I was driving, and I hit fuel cut off or something around 4500 RPMS (the car isn't tuned). Anyway - I came to the next stoplight and noticed that it was smoking under the hood, so I pulled over and checked it out. Oil was sitting on my engine and even on my alternator as well. I circled the part of the engine where the oil was.

Anyone know what happened?

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also - does anyone know of any good DSM shops around the Milwaukee, WI area?

 

[marsh63]

sounds like a valve cover gasket. takes about a half hour to replace with a 10mm socket. um this was mostlikly cause by alot of pressure in the motor so maybe you should check your pcv valve.


you sure its motor oil and not power steering fluid?

 

[SOADweskey]

Was the oil dipstick securely in its tube when you popped the hood. Excessive crankcase pressure has been known to pop out the dipstick and send a bunch of oil with it.

 

[CaviSpeedRacer]

its of a brown color just like motor oil.... but im not sure..... why would fuel cut off spray power steering fluid on my engine?

also - should I be worried that its on my alternator? could it short out?

 

[snowborder714]

It doesn't look like you have anything hooked up to your valve cover breather. This could cause oil to be sprayed in your engine bay in the area of your uicp. There should be a hose running from there to your intake. And if you're smart, you'll put an inline catch can on that hose.

 

[CaviSpeedRacer]

It might be the dipstick because it was loose.... but not popped off. I'm positive it is motor oil now too because I put some on my finger and could smell it.

The main area where the oil was sitting is on my valve cover, my spark plugs, the belt cover, and my alternator. I'm going to go for another drive soon and take it real easy and see if it does it again.

I just hope I didn't blow a head gasket! yikes.

Thanks all for your quick responses. I seriously have no idea what I would do without this forum!

 

[GRAVEDIGGER]

If I was to take a guess I would say it was coming from the dipstick tube since you said it was on the exhaust manifold and the alternator. The tube is the only thing in the area. Try wrapping a small amount of electrical tape around the top of the dipstick to make it fit the tube better. I don't think you have a blown head gasket.

 

[marsh63]

putting tape on the dipstick is just a cover up if it is excessive crankcase pressure. since it looks like his breather isnt hooked up thats might be his problem with the oil going up the dip stick. if its coming from the dip stick then replace your pcv valve and get a line from the breather to your intake.

excessive pressure will hurt your motor over time.

also before taking it for a drive clean everything off to maybe check where its coming from for sure.

i would recommend getting the oil off the alternator asap or it will fry(mine did)

oh im not saying fuel cut will cause your power steering fluid to leak its just thats where the leak was so i though you might be leaking that.

 

[CaviSpeedRacer]

Thanks guys - I drove the car for about an hour trip after cleaning it off and securing the dipstick. I had no problems the entire way - so I'm pretty sure the excess pressure at the time just popped off the dipstick.

Also - you mentioned my valve cover breather not having a line. Does anyone have pics or anything of what it should look like? I bought the car just like this as is.... and also what is the pcv valve?

Also I noticed my idle drops when I slow the car down real fast, and I have fuel cut off at 4000 RPMS - would that be the reason at all for those problems?

I'm a Newb - keep that in mind, haha. Thanks guys, I really appreciate your quick responses.

 

[kenamond]

Grab a hot cup of cocoa, sit back, and read...

The VC breather should connect to your intake pipe (between your MAS and turbo compressor). It doesn't really matter where on your intake pipe, but it should connect there. Perhaps you have an aftermarket intake pipe (looks like it) that lacks a nipple (tee-hee) for the VC breather. If the intake pipe lacks a VC breather connection, you can search around (or use ingenuity) and add one. Why do you need it? I'll explain...

The PCV system is intended to 1) ventilate the crankcase and 2) relieve excessive crankcase pressure. This is all done via the PCV valve (back-left side of valve cover if looking into the engine bay from the front of the car) and the VC breather (left side of VC).

The PCV valve is a check valve. It screws into the VC and has a vaccuum line running to the IM. When the intake manifold (IM) is under vaccuum (idle, shifting, or otherwise not under load), it sucks air through the PCV valve, and that air usually comes from the VC breather. This ventilates the crankcase and removes nasty fumes that blow by the rings during the compression and power strokes; fresh air is circulated through the crankcase. So air is being pulled through the VC breather, into the crankcase, and then through the PCV valve into the IM.

When the IM is under boost, the PCV valve is supposed to close so that boost pressure in the IM doesn't get forced into the crankcase (you don't want to boost the crankcase). Crankcase pressure will build, normally, from blowby past the piston rings. There are other reasons the pressure can go up, but that's the "normal" mechanism. When crankcase pressure builds, there needs to be a "way out", and the VC breather is there to do this. So when boosting, the PCV valve closes, and the VC breather lets any ring blowby get out of the crankcase so that it doesn't pressurize itself and blow oil past the oil cap gasket, VC gasket, or dipstick tube o-ring.

Also, when the IM is under vaccuum and the VC breather is sucking in air, that air ends up in the motor (VC breather into crankcase, through PCV valve, into IM, into cylinders). The ECU is expecting all of the air entering the motor to have first passed through the mass-air sensor (MAS) which is between the air filter and your intake pipe. Your VC breather, however, is not connected to your intake pipe. So the air that is entering the cylinders via the VC breather is unknown to the ECU. That's why you need to connect that VC breather to the intake pipe. The way it is now, the ECU is getting more air than it knows about, so it will run lean when the IM is under vaccuum.

Now, the fact that you have oil all over the place indicates that you probably have excessive crankcase pressure. This is probably only happening under load (boosting). When boosting, the VC breather is blowing out. In that case, you don't care so much if the VC breather is connected to the intake pipe. If the VC nipple isn't clogged, it's letting as much out as it can even if it were connected to the intake pipe.

So this tells me that you either have a bad PCV valve or bad compression. If you have a bad PCV valve, it won't seal when the IM is under boost, and that boost goes into the VC (crankcase is connected directly to VC via 3 oil passages) and boosts/pressurizes your crankcase so badly that the VC breather can't let enough out. So you pop an oil cap gasket, VC gasket, or dip stick tube. If you have bad compression (worn rings/cylinders, broken ring land, burned a hole in a piston), then that is letting enough pressure from the compression/power strokes to get into the crankcase and overwhelm the VC breather - leading to oil getting sprayed out a seal somewhere.

You can find out about the PCV valve condition via a boost leak test. Unscrew the PCV valve from the VC but leave it connected to the vaccuum line connecting to the IM. Then do the boost leak test and check if air is leaking out the bronze/brass "snorkel" sticking out of the tip of the PCV valve. If it's leaking, get a new PCV valve from a Mitsu dealer (not from Autozone/Carquest/etc - they don't work), or consult the thread on this forum posted by FORMONTOYA called "Stupid PCV question" and set up a check valve and PCV valve system. If that's not it, do a compression test. If your compression is bad for any cylinder, that could lead to enough blowby to overwhelm the VC breather and pop something somewhere and spray oil everywhere.

 

[CaviSpeedRacer]

Wow - thanks for the great explanation kenamond. I had to read it a few times, but I finally understand it.

So, I need to get a line from the intake pipe to the VC breather in order for the MAS to tell the ECU how much air is going in.

Because I currently don't have one, the car is running lean and that probably explains my fuel cut off and bad idling?

I looked at my intake pipe and can't find any 'nipple' anywhere, so what should I do? Drill a hole and create one, and then run a hose from that nipple to the VC breather? Any recommendations would greatly help.

Tomorrow I will do a boost leak test. So I just unscrew the PCV valve, start the car, and feel if any air is coming out of the valve? Does the car need to be boosting or something? I've never conducted one before.

I'm almost positive the oil is spraying from the dipstick. I noticed that there was oil on my hood cover in the area of the dipstick, so I'm pretty sure that's where it's coming from. Also, in the past, I have noticed oil on my upper intercooler piping - where would that be spraying from?

So long story short... I need to:
-hook up a hose between intake/VC breather
-do a boost leak test

And that should relieve the pressure in the crankcase to prevent oil spraying, and also solve the bad idling/fuel cut off problem?

Sorry this is kind of a long post too, but I'm just trying to learn and get things right. I'm a newb, but I definitley want to learn! Thanks again!

 

[1G90AWDTsi]

its of a brown color just like motor oil.... but im not sure..... why would fuel cut off spray power steering fluid on my engine?

also - should I be worried that its on my alternator? could it short out?

"Get it the hell outa that shop & go buy some assorted size Viton O Ring Kits at any REAL Auto Parts Store - BTW your Alt is already probably severely wounded from the PS Fluid - The PS Fluid kills the Voltage Regulator, which fails to HIGH Voltage & then cooks your ECU - VERY common - MANY threads on this Searching "Steering Pump"..."

That POST came from "BUCK" when another kid asked about PS fluid spilling onto his altenator in another thread. I can't see why oil on the altenator would differ from PS fluid....

 

[kenamond]

Wow - thanks for the great explanation kenamond. I had to read it a few times, but I finally understand it.

So, I need to get a line from the intake pipe to the VC breather in order for the MAS to tell the ECU how much air is going in.

Because I currently don't have one, the car is running lean and that probably explains my fuel cut off and bad idling?

I looked at my intake pipe and can't find any 'nipple' anywhere, so what should I do? Drill a hole and create one, and then run a hose from that nipple to the VC breather? Any recommendations would greatly help.

Tomorrow I will do a boost leak test. So I just unscrew the PCV valve, start the car, and feel if any air is coming out of the valve? Does the car need to be boosting or something? I've never conducted one before.

I'm almost positive the oil is spraying from the dipstick. I noticed that there was oil on my hood cover in the area of the dipstick, so I'm pretty sure that's where it's coming from. Also, in the past, I have noticed oil on my upper intercooler piping - where would that be spraying from?

So long story short... I need to:
-hook up a hose between intake/VC breather
-do a boost leak test

And that should relieve the pressure in the crankcase to prevent oil spraying, and also solve the bad idling/fuel cut off problem?

Sorry this is kind of a long post too, but I'm just trying to learn and get things right. I'm a newb, but I definitley want to learn! Thanks again!

Boost leak testing is when you apply pressure to the turbo compressor inlet using a special boost leak tester and compressed air. No, you don't start the car. I'd describe it, but it's late and it's been described 1235872496 times on the forum (do a search).

As for the nipple on the intake pipe, yes, make one. Again, this has been covered on the forum; all you have to do is search.

Usually, boost leaks result in a lean condition under vaccuum and rich condition under boost. It's the same thing as the VC breather sucking in air that the ECU doesn't know about. Under vaccuum, you suck in unmetered air somewhere along the intake (through the leak), and that's extra air, so the car runs lean. Under boost, some of the metered air leaks out of the system, but the ECU doesn't know that it leaked and adds fuel assuming that all that air got into the cylinders, so the car runs rich.

Just remember that pretty much everything has been covered on the forums, and you just have to track it down by searching. The better you get at searching, the faster you'll find the answers to your questions.

Good luck!