Smoking Headers...

[Kyogie12]

So I just swapped out a new 14b turbo, put in some new oil. I thought i primed it well by pulling the Engine Fuse in the engine bay and cranking it for about 30 seconds to a minute. The headers start smoking when i try to start the car (fuse is back in obviously) so i kill it.

Any thoughts? Help please!

 

[VETTE_50_TH]

Any residual oil or RTV or something similar would be burning off.

 

[Kyogie12]

That's what i thought but I thought it would have gone away real quick. Also it's hunting for idle...

 

[VETTE_50_TH]

Sometimes it takes a few minutes. If its idle surging, thats pretty common. Do a search for that.

 

[Kyogie12]

The idle was the MAF not being plugged in....Stupid mistake on my part.

As for the smoke i think it has to do with a missing bolt on the exhaust headers.

 

[1g_brandon]

You will want to make sure and replace that missing bolt. You will end up burning up the gasket, not to mention loss of power.

 

[hawaiifiveoh]

Definitely get preturbo exhaust leaks fixed, will burn up gaskets and negatively affect performance. Let it burn off whatever is on there for a while, at least a good 15 minutes, if there are "wet" spots after that then you have a leak somewhere.

 

[BLINKY619]

sometimes it takes a few minutes. If its idle surging, thats pretty common. Do a search for that.

my first motor removal and installation was so oily that it smoked pretty bad for a couple of days.... Lol

 

[agedog2gT]

Definitly look for oil or maybe even antifreeze leaks. Antifreeze will make it smoke if its dripping or spraying on it. Good luck man.

 

[Kyogie12]

It burned off all the anti-freeze i spilled. Tightened up the bolts and what not but it still leaks some smoke from what looks like below the turbo? It's hard to see around my headers, the turbo isn't leaking oil or anything like that. Also i found a HUGE oil leak where the oil line goes back to the oil pan. Does there need to be a gasket there? When i pulled it off from the old turbo the guy put on some sort of spray on gasket just to keep it contained.

 

[hawaiifiveoh]

Yea that needs a gasket, just get a bit of gasket material from autozone and cut it out to shape. Just because it doesn't look like it's wet doesn't mean it doesn't have anything on it, and your downpipe will most likely smoke for a while longer than your manifold since it doesn't get the heat directly to it, it takes a bit longer.

 

[WickedQuikAWD]

The best thing to do at this point is to eliminate all sources of contamination on the engine so you can clearly diagnose the problem. the best solution is to steam clean the engine thoroughly so you have a clean engine to start with and leaks will be all the more visible. Engine degreaser is an alternative, but you must be careful with plastic and electronic parts when using the degreaser. You must also thoroughly wash off all of the degreaser before starting the engine as it can be flammable and will smoke to some degree on its own if it is not removed entirely after use. The last option which i do not recommend unless you have the time to let it evaporate completely is the use of brake clean. It removes grease, oil and other contaminants and evaporates leaving a clean metal surface but it is hard on paint and plastic/electronic components and must be used carefully. it is also flammable and must be allowed to dry/evaporate before the engine is started.

After the engine is clean, if you still cannot identify the problem, there are a range of black light dyes on the market for oil, coolant, and AC system that glow when exposed to black light. The dyes are added to the oil or coolant and the engine is run long enough to cause a leak, which becomes readily apparent when it glows like the ooze from a TMNT movie. These neon dyes are a great diagnostic tool when searching for elusive leaks and have come in handy many times when i have been building or working on all types of engines. Hopefully this will help solve your problem. Maintaining a clean engine bay works wonders toward identifying problems before they get out of hand.

 

[Kyogie12]

Awesome, i'll give those a try. Thanks. I'll keep you all updated.