blowing smoke

[matress]

hey guys,

I'm trying to work out why my car is blowing smoke. It has been doing it for a while, it's not as if it has just started happening, ie. it was doing it prior to the 230kw dyno run.

It does it first thing in the morning when the car is cold, bit of blue/grey smoke... the harder I push the throttle the more it blows.

The same thing happens when its warm, just not as much. When I come on boost is when it does it the worst though.

I'm trying to work out whether it's a blow-by problem, or a turbo seal problem (maybe too much oil pressure)

Mat

 

[bazeng]

probably just tired matt. Leak down test the sucker. I pulled my vr4 off the road 5 years ago because of the same reason.

 

[DOUGMO]

probably just tired matt. Leak down test the sucker. I pulled my vr4 off the road 5 years ago because of the same reason.

and now look whats happened!

 

[Sloth]

General rule (not completely accurate, but a starting point:


If it blows smoke when it starts, but then clears up, it is usually valve stem seals.

Blowing smoke all the time is usually rings, or in turbo cars can be turbo seals.

 

[matress]

Yeah baz, I wanna drive my car! Not have it off the road for the rest of time

I changed the oil today and put in some valvoline 15w-40 which hopefully will help it when it's cold.

Last time the car was at Springy Motors I got all of the oil leaks fixed up, so the underside of the car was pretty clean, except for the oil return from the turbo which was pretty well covered in oil, and showed signs of leakage.

If there was too much oil trying to flow out of the return, I'm guessing it would gain pressure and force itself to leak, and also build up pressure in the bearing housing of the turbo, and maybe force the oil past the turbo seals? Does that make sense, or have I missed the boat completely?

 

[bazeng]

for the turbo drain, there is actually a specific washes you use to seal the drain. Also, a restrictive drain will cause a turbo to blow smoke. I would say its blow by because you catch can has evidence of oil also.

5 years in the garage is not that long matt!

 

[matress]

I don't have a photo of the oil drain, but it's two metal pieces joined with a piece of silicon hose with hose clamps on it.

How would I know if the turbo is causing the smoke? Would it be smoking all the time, or just as the revs/boost increases?

 

[JSTYLE]

tingy blue smoke is normally turbo

Jon

 

[VR-4Squid]

When I had a turbo oil seal fail it didn't smoke at all on startup, idle or cruise, nor whilst boosting, about 5 seconds after hitting boost it'd blow out a huge cloud of smoke though.

If it still goes hard, just keep the oil topped up :wink:

 

[bazeng]

tingy blue is oil in general. You'd know it was the turbo if you pulled the dump off and found oil in the dump (black wet sludge). Then pull the manifold off and inspect the runners and ports's if they are dry then you know its the turbo. If not, the rings. .

 

[matress]

The DSMtalk guys seem to think my oil feed line (-4an) is too large and my return line (stock) is too small.

Seems like I may have to start a process of elimination!

 

[brisvr4]

If it helps Matt I'm using -10 hose on mine for a return line.
It has a 45 degree -10 elbow out of the turbo and I cut the stock return pipe down near the sump and that seems to work nicely.
I am also considering porting my oil filter housing to try and drop the oil pressure a bit.

 

[matress]

If it helps Matt I'm using -10 hose on mine for a return line.
It has a 45 degree -10 elbow out of the turbo and I cut the stock return pipe down near the sump and that seems to work nicely.
I am also considering porting my oil filter housing to try and drop the oil pressure a bit.

tim, sorry mate... didn't see your post!

that sounds similar to my setup. what's your turbo again?

I know that the port on my oil drain pipe is significantly smaller than the outlet on the turbo, so I'm just assuming that it's causing some back pressure. I really shouldn't have put it on I don't think, but oh well, it's on now!

I'm going to order a proper return line and see how that goes.

Are you running balance shafts? No balance shafts increases oil pressure doesn't it? Mine are still intact, but there's no belt on them.

 

[brisvr4]

Thats cool Matt.
I've got the same turbo as you mate, SCM5031E
Luckily mine had a decent sized outlet on the turbo already and I just had to add the -10 hose between it and where I cut the stock drain on the sump.
I have considered getting the push-lock drain kit from Extremepsi and making it work around the bloody engine mount!

 

[matress]

I'm going to get the kit from Import Evolution I think. It comes with a 60 degree bend and a straight fitting and braided line. The stupid engine mount will get hit with the grinder.

Originally I didn't like the idea of grinding the mount, but apparently its not a big deal.

 

[brisvr4]

I'm going to grind mine this weekend.
Not a big drama to do either

 

[matress]

Howcome you're changing your drain?
Is yours leaking or blowing smoke or something?

 

[brisvr4]

Mine has only run for about 10 kms since I fitted it
I just went out and measured a section of stock drain where I cut it about 40mm from the end and it is actually very very close to 5/8 internal diameter!
My -10 hose is quite hard to push over it so I might just run with it and see what happens.
I am also going to pull the oil filter housing off and post the relief valve section, I am running balance shafts but I still seem to have pretty high oil pressure.
It goes off the scale when I start it ( 105psi gauge ) and is quite high even once warmed up.
Dropping your oil pressure may help?

 

[EVO-00X]

FYI, the SCM Precision Turbos need to get their oil feed from the oil filter housing, not the head. I remember years ago it came to light that when they were boosted up around 25psi or so turbos would toast themselves due to lack of oil so people immediately switched to get their feed from the filter housing. However, I'm not too sure whether a direct feed was giving too much oil pressure and whether a restrictor was required. Digging into the mind vault now but I seem to remember someone who had been in discussions with Precision Turbo in the US said that they recommended a certain oil pressure for their turbos otherwise you can kiss your turbo seals goodbye. You may want to check with them or their website ASAP.

 

[matress]

I wish I spent the extra money initially and bought the dual ball bearing turbo now, wouldn't have had all these oil pressure/feed problems! :lol:

I can't seem to find anything on the PTE website regarding oil pressure. I don't have an oil pressure gauge either which makes things a bit harder.

I'm still convinced the turbo is what's causing the smoke though. I pretty much went from no smoke to smoke when I went from the 16G to the PTE.