Turned On Car & It's Smoking?!

[Mist3r Spool]

Ok I just went to the store earlier and got in my car and turned it on. It sounded like crap, like it was going to die. I figured it was just because I recently hacked my MAF (dumb idea, but was recommended by some guys nearby that tune these cars to do so ) anyway, I went to back out of my parking space and saw a very noticeable cloud of smoke. The sunlight was hammering really hard down and it seemed to be grayish/blackish/blueish (hard to tell) but it didn't smell like oil or coolant. ANYWAY, so I got out of the car and checked the exhaust to see the color of the fumes and it was clear until I hit the gas while in gear. So I turned off the car and turned it back on and, oddly enough, the idle went back to normal and NO SMOKE. WTF is going on?

I noticed there is a fresh oil buildup near the 4th exhaust port, but it seems like it's coming from the valve cover gasket and the "moon-shaped" plug, but I could be wrong. I also checked the spark plug in cylinder #4 and there's no oil on it, nor the other plugs for that matter. Could it be my turbo? I'm not losing any oil.

NOTE: It didn't happen until I removed the re-circulation tube from my BOV -> intake (since the tube had a rip, replacing today).

Any ideas?

 

[Aree]

excuse me if I didn't get you right, but was it a one time thing only or happens all the time?

this sounds very much like a bad turbo as I was in your situation too sometime ago... but i have my doubts about the turbo being bad in your case.

if its mostly black (or even grayish) smoke then it is most probably just fuel combustion problems. bad coils or clogged air filters are major culprits. more serious culprits are bad timing and plugs. i sincerely hope in your case its just a bad air filter or at the most coil gone bad.

blue smoke is what i had and it was mainly the turbo seal going bad. i experienced smoke problems just like you when i stepped on the accelerator. i just preffered to invest in a brand new turbo.

anyways... i would suggest checking your air filters first and your oil fiters.

cheers.

 

[Mist3r Spool]

Air filter and oil filters are new and in good shape. I recently swapped out plugs with some NGKs (BPR7ES, gapped @ .028). This was just a one time thing.

 

[Aree]

the turbo seal... that is where i would place my bet.

have you checked that yet?

actually now that you mention it, I had an Audi A4 1.8T earlier this year. i remember one cold January morning my car did the very same thing. i got out... smelt around... didn't smell like anything but just exhaust fumes. But the cloud of smoke was crazy (grayish-blueish in color). That never happened again but the performance of my turbo was significantly reduced during that time frame.
Unfortunatly I never had the chance to get to the bottom of it as my car was totalled within a week of that smoke incident.

Anyway getting back to the DSMs, my eclipse used to belch out blue smoke and it was the turbo.

I would suggest looking into the turbo.

 

[92awddsm]

Put the reciculation hose back on and it wont do it again. That is one of the side affects of running a bov vented using the stock mas.

 

[Mist3r Spool]

Put the reciculation hose back on and it wont do it again. That is one of the side affects of running a bov vented using the stock mas.

That's what I'm thinking as well, I wish it didn't get ripped up when I was doing a boost leak test. I gotta go and fabricate another. So you think it's that huh?

 

[RoasT BeeF]

Put the reciculation hose back on and it wont do it again. That is one of the side affects of running a bov vented using the stock mas.

I dont see how this would cause the car to smoke.

Perhaps it has something to do with the crack(s) in his IC core...

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=207505

 

[92awddsm]

I dont see how this would cause the car to smoke.

Perhaps it has something to do with the crack(s) in his IC core...

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=207505

With the car idleing, the bov is usually open. At idle, the turbo is actually pumping air and this air is pushed out of the bov. This effective make the car run rich which causes the poor idle and smoke. And cracks in the ic will also cause the same condition but unlikely considering that he clearly stated that the bov recirc hose was removed.

 

[RoasT BeeF]

This effective make the car run rich which causes the poor idle and smoke.

Not here to argue at all, but I have never heard of this. Poor idle, yes. Smoke? How? The tiny bit of excess fuel that is being injected to compensate for the added air (if bov is recirculated) is not even near enough to cause smoke if it were unburned. It is more likely to happen while under boost when there is a ton more air entering the engine and a lot more fuel is being injected. Which makes me retract my previous statement that it could have been caused by the cracks in the IC. At idle, i just dont see it happening.

Perhaps your valve seals are getting worn and a tad bit of oil went into the combustion chamber. Has it ever done this before?

 

[Mist3r Spool]

Not here to argue at all, but I have never heard of this. Poor idle, yes. Smoke? How? The tiny bit of excess fuel that is being injected to compensate for the added air (if bov is recirculated) is not even near enough to cause smoke if it were unburned. It is more likely to happen while under boost when there is a ton more air entering the engine and a lot more fuel is being injected. Which makes me retract my previous statement that it could have been caused by the cracks in the IC. At idle, i just dont see it happening.

Perhaps your valve seals are getting worn and a tad bit of oil went into the combustion chamber. Has it ever done this before?

This has been a one time thing, hasn't done the same thing since. I was thinking it could be valve seals as well but when I downshift into a high rpm or when the engine is braking, I don't get any smoke at all.

 

[RoasT BeeF]

Oh well. If it hasnt done it again I wouldnt worry about it. Just keep an eye on her.

 

[majik2k5]

Bad valve seals are big causes of this. If you don't notice any smoke when you're driving, that doesn't mean it's not there. Has anyone ever watched it from the outside to see if it's still smoking? When my seals went bad, I didn't notice that I was smoking, but everyone that was behind me could tell. The wind from underneath the car just catches the smoke and it dissipates, making it hard to see from the driver's position.

 

[Mist3r Spool]

OK it does it almost every time I start my car now, I'm going to fab. a new recirculation tube tomorrow to see if it fixes the issue. When driving, there isn't any smoke, I had my buddy follow me when I was driving and he said that there wasn't anything coming out.

 

[RoasT BeeF]

So try the recirc tube I guess and see if that does it. If not try letting the car sit for a couple days (if possible) and then go out and start it and see if it smokes. If it does there is a strong chance it is the valve seals. How many miles are on the head?

 

[Mist3r Spool]

So try the recirc tube I guess and see if that does it. If not try letting the car sit for a couple days (if possible) and then go out and start it and see if it smokes. If it does there is a strong chance it is the valve seals. How many miles are on the head?

I have to drive daily with this car, the longest I can let it sit is overnight, really. I have ~130K on the head.

 

[Mist3r Spool]

OK I think I've solved the problem. I recently re-routed my PCV with the valve cover vent to the intake pipe (with a catch tank in between, of course) since there was a lot of smoke coming out of my PCV (when open). I figured that all the smoke (at idle only) was harming performance. ANYWAY, when pulling off the vacuum lines, there was a crapload of oil in the lines and even made it's way past my $5 oil catch mod (since it's a fuel filter, and fuel filters are supposed to flow liquids). So, I went and replaced the PCV, re-routed it back to the intake manifold and everything is good. I took the suggestion of having the PCV T'd with the valve cover vent by some mechanic at a tuner shop, which was obviously bad advice. I always figured the PCV was a pretty bulletproof vacuum, given the PCV is functioning properly. Thanks again guys for the input.