smoking issue from exhaust and engine

[spyderdrifter]

So I now have 1,049.5 miles on my rebuilt engine, and except for 3 main issues I've been dealing with, she's been driving fairly good, and pulling harder than I imagined. However, after extended driving, such as around town and back to work, I'll be sitting at idle and notice smoke coming from my exhaust (light grayish in color). The smoke varies though. Sometimes it's just out the back, other times it's that and from below my intake manifold (although I can't pinpoint exactly where below it). Sometimes it's enough from the I'M area that it starts rising out from the back of the hood. I haven't noticed any drop in performance from this though,... yet. It mostly does it under higher boost loads while letting my car "stretch her legs". Been doing higher loads since about 600 miles, but not all the time or for extended driving, enough to vary the rpms and such. Anyone got suggestions?

 

[JakesSweetTalon]

hey mine too and i've got about 500 miles on my rebuild but i think mines got something to do with my oil pressure problem

 

[eclipse gsx]

check the gaskets

 

[spyderdrifter]

All gaskets are completely new and none are leaking.

 

[jongraack]

A buddy of mine just had the same problem with his rebuild. Come to find out, it was the intake manifold gasket. I know you said they are new gaskets but so were his. Just a thought.

 

[spyderdrifter]

A buddy of mine just had the same problem with his rebuild. Come to find out, it was the intake manifold gasket. I know you said they are new gaskets but so were his. Just a thought.

I'm gonna have to check that out now. What was wrong with your friend's IM gasket?

 

[iknowless]

Does it smell like burning oil? If you have an oil leak into the combustion chamber, you will notice that the oil level on the dipstick will drop slowly over time. If this is the case, then you must have oil leaking past a gasket somewhere.

It could be leaking past the valves too, if they are not seated correctly.

 

[Curtisd03]

What are your other 2 "main issues"? maybe we can link something together..

White/gray smoke leads me to believe its burning coolent somewhere.

 

[spyderdrifter]

What are your other 2 "main issues"? maybe we can link something together..

White/gray smoke leads me to believe its burning coolent somewhere.

My 3 main problems are high idle/ idles surge, bogging/misfiring under 1/4 throttle, and I need a new transmission. I'm sure the idle and misfiring can be squared away with dsmlink, but that doesn't take away the smoke. I just ordered a new ignition power transistor yesterday because my current one is going out and giving me erratic rpm readings.

 

[keith2g]

As stated, I would start with the intake manifold gasket. You could possibly be losing fluids from it, which could end up on the down pipe. This might explain your smoke from under the hood. Im not in any way questioning your mechanical ability, but a new gasket means nothin if the IM bolt aren't sequenced and torqued.
On another note, if the gasket is leaking, it could cause irratic or high idle when under vacuum. A boost leak test could possibly point you in the right direction. Who knows, maybe it could also help you pick up a couple ponies.

 

[spyderdrifter]

I'm in the process of trying to get a boost leck tester, found a good link on the forum for a good one, and I've never found a diagram for torque sequences on the IM, just the torque numbers. Any links to such would be great.

 

[SeaveeDSM]

This may not be what ails you since the smoke from around the intake manifold symptom is different then what I had but the following might be part of what you have going on...

The lower middle stud for the exhaust manifold penetrates into an oil passage and oil can leak into and/or behind the gasket and/or the manifold itself via the stud's threads. Also due to same oil can visibly accumulate and build up on the edges of the manifold where it mates to the head and also intermittent smoke coming from the exhaust. Other things can cause this too such as bad valce stem seals and oil can drip down from a leaky VC gasket too.

I literally just had a similar issue (minus the smoke around the intake) and resolved it last night. I could see my VC gasket was totally clean so that was NOT the source of the oil leak. Fortunately for me it was a simple fix as I only had about 2.5K on the full rebuild so everything came off easy. I unbolted the manifold from the head and the manifold to turbo bolts (first supporting the down-pipe underneath with a block of wood so it would not fall/sag).

Then I pulled off the studs and sure enough the thread on that lower middle stud had oil on it and there was oil in between the two layers of the EM gasket itself right by that stud.

While I had it all off I went ahead and replaced the stock EM studs (the 8MM ones, they are not available for the 2 10mm studs) with an ARP SST stud kit (very nice kit btw but pricey) but FIRST coated the threads going into the head with PERMATEX Ultra Copper Max Temp RTV silicone/B]. Also I replaced the stock 2G EM gasket - which is a 2-layer type with a later EVO 4-layer gasket.

I've driven now about 80 miles since putting it all back and the oil leak is gone and all smoke is gone. I have back my "french fry" smell from the exhaust since I run E-85

Wish I could take credit for figuring my issue out and the simple fix but I need to credit this forum for that especially Defiant's last post here:

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/new...between-exhaust-manifold-gasket-head-why.html

 

[jongraack]

I'm gonna have to check that out now. What was wrong with your friend's IM gasket?

The gasket was leaking on the under-side damn near in the middle of the gasket. Everything was torqued to spec but sometimes shit happens ya know.

 

[2ga4gb]

Honestly sounds pretty much sounds like a head gasket problem to me, or possibly something not torqued down all the way so theres a small leak somewhere.