wierd oil smoke

[KillrV6]

took my cat off the other day and noticed some oil smoke out of the tailpipes when im sitting at a light.

usually happens when im just driving around town, get to a stoplight, sitting for 20 secconds, than a cloud of oilsmoke comes out of the tailpipe.

it used to be worse, but lately it has gotten more rare.
when i first noticed this problem, it would come out when i romp on it too. now it only comes out when im sitting at a light or somthing. the turbo is a rebuilt TE44, no shaft play. i checked the exhaust wheel for oily grime, its clean as a whistle. the plugs check out ok too.

what the hell ?????
by the way, the vaccume is fine , preformance is good as usual.
oil consumption seems normal ammount. what gives?


-Evan

 

[st1nger]

white smoke

it's only when your sitting at light or first get on it then it stops?

if so valve seats and guides are worn on one or both heads

 

[KillrV6]

now it only smokes when im sitting at a light for like 20 sec.

and it only does it some times.

it usedto do it when i would get into the boost. not any more.

i had my valve guide seals redone w/ my valve springs not long ago, maby 1.5 years ago?

 

[VinsGN]

I had the same problem. If you have not already removed the passenger side breather and recirculation tube (I guess that’s what you call it) to the turbo inlet bell, remove it. Replace it with a K&N breather. Once that gauze stuff starts to break down in the breather the oil passes right through to the turbo, intercooler and ultimately sucked in when intake air is increase on take off. As soon as I did that the oil smoke went away.

 

[NC87GN]

I had this situation on my first rebuild. Smoke at idle and when I initally kicked the car, but it would then go away. It ended up being a partially blown headgasket toward the intake side. Sometimes it would smoke bad at a atop light and other nights it would barely do it. Only way I was able to detect it was to remove the pan and BINGO composite was evident in the pick-up. Keep an eye on it as the blown headgasket track was close to a water jacket.

Mike Banas
87GN

 

[KillrV6]

hmm yeah i did replace the breather on the pass. side valve cover, a long time ago (ive had 3 of these cars, this is allways the first thing i do.)

the headgasket guess sounds like it may be the one.
this car has 171k miles and is runing low 12s
when tuning you ocaisionaly run in to knock , some times at high cylinder pressures, and after 171k im sure the headgaskets have taken some **** lol

how can i know for sure? will a compression test tell or is it much to slight of a crack?

like i said vac. is perfect (16 HG at idle in drive?) so i would wonder if its going to be noticeable from a compression test.

pulling the pan seems like a pain in the ass, is it that hard?

thanks!
-Evan

 

[KillrV6]

oh ps. i have direct scan, is there any value in the program that will maby give me a better idea that this is or is not the problem here?

 

[sdteb]

read mine also

http://turbobuick.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=142503

 

[ThikStik]

Originally posted by NC87GN
I had this situation on my first rebuild. Smoke at idle and when I initally kicked the car, but it would then go away. It ended up being a partially blown headgasket toward the intake side. Sometimes it would smoke bad at a atop light and other nights it would barely do it. Only way I was able to detect it was to remove the pan and BINGO composite was evident in the pick-up. Keep an eye on it as the blown headgasket track was close to a water jacket.

Mike Banas
87GN

Mike, in your case, Do you think oil was getting sucked in from the valley area during an intake stroke? Seems like there also would have been alot of pcv blowby on the comp stroke as well...do you know?
Thanks

 

[83ttypecooled]

Hi,
How about a compresion test? My car had both gaskets popped, nos. 3 and 6 had 110 psi.Very obvious there was a problem. Also, you could hear it in the cranking cycle. Hope this helps.

 

[NC87GN]

I did a compression test with a partially blown headgasket and everything was 150-160 psi. Even did a leakdown and it showed fine. I was running an ATR valve in place of the GM PVC so I seen nothing. Plugs looked great and everything appeared normal. If you have any any doubts drop the pan, if the motor isn't girdled, and check your pick-up if your using stock gaskets. HTH

Mike Banas

 

[ThikStik]

Thanks Mike....that was the scary scenario I was afraid of. Its amazing how oil got in , but nothing , including combustion pressure got out. It may be what my motor has been doing-altho I found an oil ring issue. The rail rings were almost aligned with the spacing ring. But knowing my luck, it wont help to fix.

 

[ThikStik]

Originally posted by ThikStik
Thanks Mike....that was the scary scenario I was afraid of. Its amazing how oil got in , but nothing , including combustion pressure got out. It may be what my motor has been doing-altho I found an oil ring issue. The rail rings were almost aligned with the spacing ring. But knowing my luck, it wont help to fix.

Just one of my cylinders had this wrong ring alignment I must add.