Smoking on decel, whenever I rev it and sometimes at idle.

[Rengar18]

Have 550 miles on my short block rebuild so far and in the last 300 miles the car has started smoking on decel, sometimes at idle and whenever I free rev it. The smoke is definitely oil (lose about a quart every 75ish miles) never had a smoking issue before I rebuilt it.

Since this appeared i've rebuilt my 14b and replaced my pcv valve with a OEM one (Both were bad, turbo had a fair amount in and out) now I just have a little side to side.

Only things done to the head during the rebuild was it was resurfaced/cleaned. I only removed the rockers/cams/lifters. Also have receipts from prev owner that the head was rebuilt in 07 so it has about 20k miles since it was rebuilt.

Also did a compression test on it and it came out to 150 150 150 160

Just did a leakdown with the HF leakdown tester following the tech article. Couldn't get a % loss as when I zeroed out the tester and attached it to a cylinder, each one would show over 60% loss while the left gauge only showed 5~ psi despite having the air compressor @ 85 psi.

During the test though on each cylinder I could hear air coming out the oil fill cap/dipstick at tdc. I was testing it at about 60 psi and briefly went up to 100 psi to confirm that was the only place i'd hear leaking.

So what exactly does this mean? Did I install the rings improperly or could it be something else causing the smoke?

 

[TrevorS]

I tried the HF leak down tester on my '90 GSX and found it to be next to worthless, test pressure wasn't adjustable and primary leak showed through the dip stick -- thanks for naught ! If it's smoking (as in blue tinted) then you're probably burning oil which suggests rings or valve guides. Your compression numbers suggest the rings are OK.

 

[Colt4G63 also]

Sounds like you need a set of valve stem seals.

 

[BoostFrenzy]

Sounds like you need a set of valve stem seals.

This is correct. And if you don't get them fixed soon, it'll start smoking all the time.

 

[Rengar18]

Hm. What could have caused them to go bad? Only thing I can think of was the head/block sat outside for about 5 months (in about 30-90f weather) while I was gathering the parts for the rebuild. Would it sitting and not being turn on at all cause them to harden up or something?

And is there some other test I can do to confirm it is indeed the stem seals?

 

[BoostFrenzy]

Would it sitting and not being turn on at all cause them to harden up or something?

Yup. More so dry out then harden up though. Mine did that to me over a season with the car sitting. Swapped out to viton seals and it is still running smoke free with the new owner.

 

[BogusSVO]

The chemicals the shop to clean the head can kill the valve stem seals

 

[mchustle]

Sounds like valve stem seal, I'm almost 100% sure that's it. A quick, cheap, easy thing that might help for the time being, I'm sure some will flame this, a bottle of Lucas oil treatment. I would recommend changing them but if you can't pull the head right now and fix it that should help for awhile. All you do is start it up and pour it in like you are adding oil go for a 10 mile or so drive and it should be fixed. Make sure you are a quart low on oil or so a oil change and replace 1 quart of oil with a bottle of Lucas. Just IMO but I have done this for valve stem seals without problems thus far.

 

[icancruz]

^true story, the Lucas might help for a little while, but bad seals are bad seals. And sitting outside doesn't help.

 

[Rengar18]

Yea i've heard of the oil treatment. Heard good and bad . I'll do a bit of research on it and see. Man I should have changed those seals when the head was off assumed they were fine. Anyone have some suggestions for a decently cheap valve spring compressor? Would rather not spend $80 on a tool i'm probably only going to use once.

Thanks for the help guys.