question for you stroker guys and tuners

[jbouvier]

About how long did it take for your alls motor to fully break in as far as the rings and such? I have about 500 miles on my 2.3 right now and it still puffs smoke when I let of the gas sometimes and its oil not very much and not as bad as first start up but its still there. I thought maybe it was my turbo already going bad but I checked it, it's dry as bone little to no shaft play and spools like a champ to the set 20lbs. I checked the compression it was a solid either 165 or 170 all the way across, can't exactly remember. Also I put a new coil, transistor, plugs and wires, injectors and checked the fuel pump but for some reason the car will cutout ~5k in first ~4.5k in all other gears. The wideband stays steady around 11.2. I checked the ecu as well, caps are fine. Timing at 5* btdc, going to reverify this sometime this weekend. At idle the vacuum is between 18-20lbs 90% of the time the other 10% its between 12-15 I can't find any boost leaks either. The car is using NGK bpr8es gapped at .27, NGK plug wires, PT 780cc injectors, Supra fuel pump, afpr, and unfortunately I'm still tuning with the NEO. Turbo is the FP 20g6sl2. The motor is fully built ~6k invested in it, I have like every supporting mod, other than the proper tuning device, wideband reads fine it just stutters and breaks up once I get to the said rpms. Any ideas? Frustrating with track time running out with no times and car that still isn't running properly.

James

 

[jrohner]

Isn't the 1G timing curve way too aggressive for a stroker, especially with the higher compression?

You don't have the BOV vented to the atmosphere do you? Have you done a boost leak test?

 

[jbouvier]

No sir the BOV is recirculated. I'm unsure about the timing curve. When I bought the car it was already done. The car pulled hard all the way to 8k one day I changed the plugs and the porcelain and like tip of the spark plug was broke leading to the rebuild after it failed the compression test miserably and had really bad scarred cylinder walls. Purchased a new block its bored .20 over and has said mods and I tried getting on it for the first time last week and it cutout. I went to the colder plug and it still does it. I'm clueless. The boost leak test was stated in the op. I can't find any. Makes no noise and I doused the thing with the soap solution no bubbles.

 

[jbouvier]

Alrighty the tuning situation wasn't even a problem with tuning so to speak I guess. After a couple pulls down the road it was determined that the car pulled to hard for only 20lbs. So I swapped the boost gauge out with a spare. Viola thing read 27lbs. Then the wideband still said that it was fine so I replaced the sensor. 13.8-14.1 about the time it was cutting out. I tried to turn the boost down come to find out I had a faulty boost controller as well. Everything is fixed now and the car pulls like a champ. Still smokes every now and then though. Hopefully it'll work itself out. With ~700 miles on the engine I would have thought everything would be broken in...guess not.

 

[HIGHPSI4]

If you broke it in easy and happen to let the engine run rich you could have 'washed' down the cylinder walls which will prevent the rings from setting correctly. This can allow it to smoke.

 

[jbouvier]

yes I broke it in pretty easy. Nothing over 2400 rpms for atleast 400 miles. Is there any way to get them to seat correctly or is it just going to take time?

Thanks

James

 

[95 'clipse RS]

i believe in seating rings you are supposed to accelerate WOT from 35 to about 55mph in third gear, 6-10 times for the initial seating. then take it easy up to 500 miles, change oil, be a little more aggressive to 1500 miles, oil change, then a little more aggressive until 3000 miles, oil change and then you're good, or should be. Don't use synthetic oil for break in either as it wont allow enough friction that the engine needs for break in. What boost level were you set at for your break in?

 

[jbouvier]

I used normal 10w30 for break in miles. It's got quakerstate full synthetic in it now though. I am putting a new oil pan on it this weekend though so I guess I will just revert back to the conventional oil. For the first few hundred miles the car never saw boost. When it finally did though it saw 27lbs as I thought it was set at 20. After I fixed the problems stated above I decided to be a little more subtle atleast until the smoking stops and am running 17lbs on 93 octane. I just hope I didn't do any damage to it. Two and a half months and a lot of money...I don't want that to be going down the drain. Especially for thinking I was doing some good treating it like a baby for a while. Lesson learned I guess. I appreciate all the input as this thing seems to find a new way to frustrate me everyday .

James

 

[95 'clipse RS]

i just wouldn't think it would still be smoking oil. hopefully you will get lucky. you shouldn't put synthetic in until 3000miles when the break in is complete. point being is that your engine actually needs "some" friction to wear certain parts,(ex. rings, main and rod bearings), the oil changes are to get the metal particles that have been worn away out of the engine. you do it at 500mi, 1500mi, 3000mi, then you can put synthetic in.

after the seating of my rings, or even before it for that matter i dont recall any burning of oil except initial startup because i had poured some into the combustion chambers for lube. other than that it never smoked.

i have also heard that if you have the chance to boost it for break in you should run what boost you plan to run it on for break in as it helps seat the rings even better. the rings need pressure to seat correctly, that's why on the initial break in you need to run it WOT as i stated before. but with it being this late i dont know if you should try to do it now or not. but i will say if you aren't at 3000mi or over, then you need to get that synthetic out asap. but at worst you would just have to put a set of rings in it and redo the break phase. i wish ya luck, and i hope this helps you out.

 

[jbouvier]

Thanks man I appreciate all the help and advice. Hopefully I get lucky I don't feel like redoing the rings. Eh oh well still my baby.