Random burning oil, leaning towards turbo?

[Zephyros91talon]

Hey guys,

So yesterday during my break at work I went to go get some fast food and noticed my car was smoking greyish/blue smoke from the exhaust. At idle there were small puffs being released and when I gave it gas more would come out, but even more would come out after releasing the throttle as it went back down to idle. I drove it straight home from work after and when I got home there was no smoke at all. This happens maybe once or twice a week, and like a month ago it was smoking very badly for a brief moment and hasn't smoked that bad since. Also, there hasn't been enough oil being burnt to have to add any oil between changes but when it smokes, it smokes quite a bit.

The engine has less than 15k miles, but the mileage on my small 16g is unknown so I think it might be that. There is very little side to side play and none whatsoever in and out play. Also no oil from the compressor side (but it could still leak on the exhaust side, right? If it's going bad).

My other thought was it could be crankcase pressure being built up, because I just have a drain hose off of the valve cover without a catch can, but the hose opening is big enough to not have oil block the air passage.

I'm just not sure what else it could be, or other ways to check if the turbo is going bad. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for your time

 

[talonguy85]

have you pulled your plugs and checked for oil yet?

 

[Zephyros91talon]

Yes sir just checked them out and the plugs were dry. It seems to be as if something is building up and then burning away. I mean, there is smoke on fireup, then smoke when I rev, but then I'll rev it again and no smoke. Then if I wait a little and rev, there will be some smoke.

My idle AFR was super lean (17 to --- on my AEM wideband) and I adjusted that to 15.0ish thinking the smoke may be from bad AFR but it didn't effect much.

 

[talonguy85]

Kinda sounds like the rings weren't properly set. But you would think you would see a tad of oil on the plugs? Also what mods do you have? What kinda boost are you running?

 

[ctsellersjr]

either bad turbo or rings maybe. I'm having this similar problem but i have oil in my spark plugs which makes me believe its rings

 

[talonguy85]

either bad turbo or rings maybe. I'm having this similar problem but i have oil in my spark plugs which makes me believe its rings

How many miles on your engine? Is it the oem engine?

 

[007jimmy]

Possibly valve stem seals.

 

[Zephyros91talon]

Hey sorry for late update, and thanks for the input. The motor only has 16k on it. My dad and I rebuilt it with mahle pistons, stock rods/crank, no balance shafts, and all emissions removed.

Anyway, call me a bad car owner but I noticed my car starting to misfire at idle! It used to very rarely do it so didn't think much of it, but now then it started to sound like popcorn was being made in my exhaust. So, I adjusted the timing just a hair (turned the top ever so slightly towards firewall, not sure if thats adv/ret) and that got rid of the misfire at idle, but now it's doing it at WOT! Haven't driven it since then.

I checked to see if the plug wires were arcing (letting it idle in the dark to see if there was arcing) and I checked the plugs again for arcing but found nothing .

Would that suggest valve stem seals? That was, to my belief, the only thing we did not replace on the rebuild and I'm not sure how well the machinist did on the head job.

EDIT: Sorry, about the mods/boost. I'm have GM 3'' maf, translator, UICP, tial bov (spring a tad bit too strong), small 16g from a galant vr4, and a full 3'' catless, muffless exhaust. I'm also running what my boost guage says is 18 lbs but it lies because of the altitude I'm at (where atmospheric pressure is close to 12.0)

 

[007jimmy]

I said valve seals because of the symptoms you stated. Smoke at idle, when you press the gas and alot of smoke when you let off the gas. You can check by pulling the exhaust manifold and looking into the exhaust ports for oil on the valves.

 

[PrimerPLus]

Sounds like turbo seals going out. My t25 did the same thing. Replaced it aih a new Evo 3 16g, no more smoke

 

[PrimerPLus]

What injectors you got? How are you tuning?

 

[AshyBone]

Honestly I think it's the turbo too. My VR4 does this to me. It will have smoke at start up but none while driving in gear. If I idling or just rolling down the street in neutral it looks like I hit the smoke screen button in a spy car, ok maybe not that bad but still if your only getting puffs while driving between gears it might be your turbo. Do you know how old it is?

 

[danieltovar]

For me it sounds like turbo problem, but you said there is not much shaft play then it could be your oil pressure to hight feeding the turbo To much oil do to your shaft elimination. Also what is your set up for your turbo oil fed and drain.

 

[Zephyros91talon]

I have the stock injectors, and am running a rough tune with the GM Maf (I know I'm a terrible car owner). My next plans was dsm link and a proper tune but it's going to have to wait till I ship out for boot camp in a month. Not sure how old the turbo but it was from a JDM car and ran on a honda for a little so I assumed it was still kinda low. Using the stock oil feed and drain.

Upon further inspection cylinder 4 is wet . So either rings or valve seal. Is it possible to fix the valve stem seal, if that ends up being the case, without taking off the head?

 

[boost97gst]

Yes, its possible. I dont believe youll be changing the guides with the head on though. As long as its the seals im sure you can just get a spring compressor tool and get to those relatively easily.