2G Smoking Issue (desperate)

[Tkzdsm]

I am back once again, this unresolved issue of my exhaust smoke.

If you’ve seen my other thread a while back, of my smoking issue, you would know that I pretty much have checked most of the other culprits of what my smoke could be caused by. At first I thought it was my turbo, then my cc pressure, then finally and logically settled on my valve stem seals. In which I was advised to do a compression check first but I jumped the gun and did the seals before that. I finished doing the seals and took my time and I started the car up and at first it was fine, no smoke up until like a minute of the car idling, and then smoke just starts to consistently puff out and when I give it throttle more smoke persists out of the exhaust and it covers everything.

Now I checked and even though my PCV valve was fine I still replaced it with a brand new one, same issue though. Now pretty much all the fingers point to piston rings and which we will find out tomorrow with a compression test, or maybe I messed up the valve stem seals so badly that they slid up the stem :/.

What confuses me is that BEFORE the valve stem seal job it pretty much only had off throttle smoke and now it has smoke all the time. The more that I think about it, it probably is because the valve stem seals slid up… I hope I don't have to do the piston rings. I was happy that I was able to do the stem seals and timing correctly. just wanted to post this as a spiel and to see other people’s thoughts, thank you for reading.

edit: for people wondering, it takes a bit for the smoke to start and when it does start it just progressively get worse and more smoke comes out

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[Justin DuBois]

Yes - compression test.

At some point you may want to remove your exhaust manifold and look at your ports. A valve seal (or cracked valve guide) will blacken one of the exhaust ports - an easy tell.

 

[Tkzdsm]

Yes - compression test.

At some point you may want to remove your exhaust manifold and look at your ports. A valve seal (or cracked valve guide) will blacken one of the exhaust ports - an easy tell.

Okay thank you I will check for that as well!

 

[DSMPT]

Now pretty much all the fingers point to piston rings and which we will find out tomorrow with a compression test

If the issue is only oil controlling in cylinders, it may not appear in the compression test or leakdown test result. And if that's the case, you may be able to see some sign if you remove the spark plugs. Have you checked the spark plugs and condition of piston top and cylinder wall through spark plug holes?

I don't know what history the car has. How and when did the smoking issue start? Isn't there a chance that you are still having oil in intake pipes/intercooler or exhaust pipe from a blown turbo or blown engine previously?

 

[Tkzdsm]

If the issue is only oil controlling in cylinders, it may not appear in the compression test or leakdown test result. And if that's the case, you may be able to see some sign if you remove the spark plugs. Have you checked the spark plugs and condition of piston top and cylinder wall through spark plug holes?

I don't know what history the car has. How and when did the smoking issue start? Isn't there a chance that you are still having oil in intake pipes/intercooler or exhaust pipe from a blown turbo or blown

A valve seal (or cracked valve guide) will blacken one of the exhaust ports - an easy tell.

oh…

this is what you mean i presume

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[Justin DuBois]

Your ports look similar in soot coverage to me from the picture. Is any one port more shiny and black? If you take a finger covered in oil and smear it on some soot in a port - you will see the color I mean. I tend to think you don't have valve seal or valve guide issue. Looks more like even coverage.

There are good pics of what a loose valve guide will do to your ports:

Street Build - ITFLYS - 1Gina2G

Is there anything that stops someone from adjusting the regulator at will?Nope. I can say tho- I moved the regulator from one rail to the next, and it didn’t need to be adjusted. Base fuel pressure was right where I left it.I created a cap for it to keep the dial covered from a plastic...

www.dsmtuners.com

Even coverage seems more like oil in the intake - or from the turbo.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Those all look "normal", no wet ports, or that is what I see in that picture. I see no clue of oiling from the cylinders, it may be rich tho.
Your well seals may be leaking onto the plug threads it appears.

 

[Tkzdsm]

Your ports look similar in soot coverage to me from the picture. Is any one port more shiny and black? If you take a finger covered in oil and smear it on some soot in a port - you will see the color I mean. I tend to think you don't have valve seal or valve guide issue. Looks more like even coverage.

There are good pics of what a loose valve guide will do to your ports:

Street Build - ITFLYS - 1Gina2G

Is there anything that stops someone from adjusting the regulator at will?Nope. I can say tho- I moved the regulator from one rail to the next, and it didn’t need to be adjusted. Base fuel pressure was right where I left it.I created a cap for it to keep the dial covered from a plastic...

www.dsmtuners.com

Even coverage seems more like oil in the intake - or from the turbo.

okay thank you very much thats a big relief, to check if my intake is the culprit should I remove that and check for oil in there?

 

[pauleyman]

What is that dipstick out of as it isn't from a dsm. You sure you dont have like 8 or 10 quarts in it?

 

[Tkzdsm]

Those all look "normal", no wet ports, or that is what I see in that picture. I see no clue of oiling from the cylinders, it may be rich tho.
Your well seals may be leaking onto the plug threads it appears

any idea of why it would run rich? and would the car running rich have any effect on the car being hard to start? because another issue is that it's pretty hard to start the car it takes about half a dozen or so tries but when it does it idles very slow and then jumps up higher to a normal 2k for a cold start and then fine and whatnot after

What is that dipstick out of as it isn't from a dsm. You sure you dont have like 8 or 10 quarts in it?

yeah i'm sure, i replaced that dipstick because it broke and I didn't think of ordering an oem one for some reason, but I cut it to length and everything. if anything im more like 3/4 way full on oil maybe less

If the issue is only oil controlling in cylinders, it may not appear in the compression test or leakdown test result. And if that's the case, you may be able to see some sign if you remove the spark plugs. Have you checked the spark plugs and condition of piston top and cylinder wall through spark plug holes?

I don't know what history the car has. How and when did the smoking issue start? Isn't there a chance that you are still having oil in intake pipes/intercooler or exhaust pipe from a blown turbo or blown engine previously?

The condition of the top of the pistons from what I can see look pretty normal, some buildup of some sort. I'll take a picture later if i can. the spark plug lips look blackened, but normal, and the threads have oil on them but they are just from the gasket. the smoking issue that I have now started yesterday after I finished the valve stem seals, as i said it starts and then it takes about a minute for the exhaust to start smoking. where as before the stem seal job it would only smoke after throttle. and that smoking issue was always an issue since I got it (3 months ago). I checked the turbo for shaft play and there wasnt any and it was solid. im starting to believe the intake side of things is the reason.

 

[curt-s]

Measure the length of that dip stick tip to base of the handle. We can tell you whether that one is the correct length

 

[DSMPT]

the smoking issue that I have now started yesterday after I finished the valve stem seals, as i said it starts and then it takes about a minute for the exhaust to start smoking. where as before the stem seal job it would only smoke after throttle. and that smoking issue was always an issue since I got it (3 months ago)

That means it has been always smoking since you bought it.

Have you ever checked or cleaned inside of intake pipes/intercooler/intake manifold and exhaust pipe? And why does the head gasket have blue RTV? Did you do that or by the previous owner?
Perhaps you should ask the previous owner for the history of the car. Maybe the previous owner would tell you something you don't know that is related to the issue.

 

[Tkzdsm]

That means it has been always smoking since you bought it.

Have you ever checked or cleaned inside of intake pipes/intercooler/intake manifold and exhaust pipe? And why does the head gasket have blue RTV? Did you do that or by the previous owner?
Perhaps you should ask the previous owner for the history of the car. Maybe the previous owner would tell you something you don't know that is related to the issue.

sorry, I have not checked or cleaned inside of the intakes or anything, I didn't do that to the head gasket and I didn't notice that was what it was until now, I just now asked him about the history of the car. Could the smoking issue be because of my air to fuel mixture being off?

 

[Justin DuBois]

okay thank you very much thats a big relief, to check if my intake is the culprit should I remove that and check for oil in there?

I’d go look in the turbo inlet, and then the inlet to the intercooler, and then look behind the throttle body into the intake

 

[steve]

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Holy Fud! What's the gap on those iridium plugs?

 

[CKOPOCT]

Holy Fud! What's the gap on those iridium plugs?

Looks like .049...feet.

 

[miliman13]

Holy Fud! What's the gap on those iridium plugs?

yeah, I noticed the same...... I was like ok!

it only smokes after some initial time, I'm wondering if there's anything you can log for that period, pardon my ignorance but if it's something mechanical would it smoke all the time?

does it not smoke it you turn it off and then on again a min or 2 later? incase theres some thermal expantion at play.

 

[chrysler kid]

plugs looked fine, there is no oil in the head ports.

you should check for oil in the exhaust coming out of the back of the turbo, or take off the intercooler piping to see if the turbo is pushing oil into the intake

I would start with removing the down pipe to see if the exhaust is coated in oil. im betting your turbo is blowing the oil into the exhaust

 

[jed344]

Generally when its valve seals you will see a wet exhaust runner. Yours look dry and the same. I also would say check for oil in intercooler pipes or down pipe. I would bet the turbo is the issue, or oil drain from the turbo causing oil to back up in CHRA.

 

[Tkzdsm]

Generally when its valve seals you will see a wet exhaust runner. Yours look dry and the same. I also would say check for oil in intercooler pipes or down pipe. I would bet the turbo is the issue, or oil drain from the turbo causing oil to back up in CHRA.

Okay so, I had two O2 sensor codes for both sensors and I fixed them which I thought it might help with the smoke or at least the car running rich. The smoke not at all, the running rich, hopefully. (I don’t remember if I mentioned anything about it running rich, two of my spark plugs were black to the tip).

So I decided to just take out the turbo and low and behold it actually does have shaft play, (when I first checked it I guess I did a bad job at it because I thought there wasn’t any, oops). I should’ve checked the downpipe but I didn’t for some reason. The oil lines leaked kind of badly, and one of the coolant lines had a small leak as well. I was planning to rebuild it but I think I will just resort to a 16g. The turbo that came with my car has the part number of a 13g.

Anyways should there be anything else I should check to be sure?

 

[Justin DuBois]

Okay so, I had two O2 sensor codes for both sensors and I fixed them which I thought it might help with the smoke or at least the car running rich. The smoke not at all, the running rich, hopefully. (I don’t remember if I mentioned anything about it running rich, two of my spark plugs were black to the tip).

So I decided to just take out the turbo and low and behold it actually does have shaft play, (when I first checked it I guess I did a bad job at it because I thought there wasn’t any, oops). I should’ve checked the downpipe but I didn’t for some reason. The oil lines leaked kind of badly, and one of the coolant lines had a small leak as well. I was planning to rebuild it but I think I will just resort to a 16g. The turbo that came with my car has the part number of a 13g.

Anyways should there be anything else I should check to be sure?

Sweet! - Good you found it. That is a common thing to happen, and yes - you can rebuild them (I've done a couple) but If you don't have balancing tools for the spinning assembly, you should send it out.