KhRoNiX

I was Driving my car pretty hard last night with no problems. When I got out of the car I saw white smoke by my right headlight. I popped the hood to see smoke coming from my valve cover where the breather filter should be. I turned the car off and it kept fuming for like 15 more minutes. What could my problem be?

DragII

white smoke is usually coolant...check all your hose connections, and radiator itself...you might want to do a compression/leakdown to make sure your headgasket is still cool.

falcongsr

that sounds expensive. life at 12psi was fun while it lasted though right?

another one bites the dust...

boost killz

I hope it's not expensive since the man just rebuilt with forged pistons and rods!!


Nick

Ri5e

PUll out the oil dip stick with the car running. If smoke comes out from theree then...you got a lot of blow by. Piston rings or piston ring landings.

I had the same problem. But i'm building a new motor now.

immortal

X2BOARD

The crankcase does build up some gases which will vent thru
the breather, you may want to consider an oil catch can, bcuz
in boosted motors crankcase pressure will rise, but....

I had the same problem b4 and it turned out to be ...(dum dum dum...)
The piston rings !
No smoke out the tail pipe right ? just under
the hood? You might be getting some boost pressure past the rings
under boost, thereby getting smoke in the crankcase on the combustion stroke
Worn rings will do that.
How many miles on the motor ? Have you lost any low end
as compared to when you first put on the turbo ? These can be signs of fading
rings. Get a compression test done and post the results....

X2's observation of the day: Blown motors suck.

KhRoNiX

Here is the compression test....
#1 - 200
#2 - 195
#3 - 205
#4 - 205

About a week ago cylinder 3 & 4 had a miniscual amount of oil on top of the piston, but I checked again and again and haven't seen it since.

b18bturbo

your compression looks good. If you have acess to a leak down tester do leak down test and see if you getting excessive blow by.

DLB1994

how do the car run

KhRoNiX

It runs really strong but it kind of bogs every once in awhile. Also the idle goes up and down about 500 rpm. A couple of days ago, the car would bog so bad at 3000 that it wouldnt accelerate. The car would shake like crazy and it sounded like it wasdrowning. Any help on what I should do would be appreciated.

KhRoNiX

Also, the motor is about 2 months old since the rebuild. It has about 25000 miles on it in total.


[Modified by KhRoNiX, 11:09 PM 2/18/2002]

X2BOARD

Hmmm... doesn't sound like the rings are gone... unless they are beginning to show wear.
If they are, you will notice only a slight drop in low end (for now)
That is common on cars with stock bottom ends under moderate boost, but built ? Brand new ?

The compression test looks pretty even..

A few questions:
1) Who built this engine ?
2) How many minutes did it take them ? HAHAHAHA (j/k)
3) Did they perform an alignment hone on the cyl. walls ?
4) Did they install rings ? HAHAHAHAHA (j/k) <---at work, gimme a break...
5) What brand rings were used ?
6) Did you break in the motor with the turbo pipe disconnected (no boost press.)?
7) What kinda oil you using ?
8) Does the smoke only occur after boost ?
9) Any smoke from the dipstick area ?

tag, yer it...

X2's quote of the day: It's better to have boosted and lost, than to never have boosted at all.

KhRoNiX

A few questions:
1) Who built this engine ?
a guy named Forrest from a local shop called CFM

2) How many minutes did it take them ? HAHAHAHA (j/k)
It took about 2 months for everything

3) Did they perform an alignment hone on the cyl. walls ?
No, he said that it didnt need to be done because the engine was so new

4) Did they install rings ? HAHAHAHAHA (j/k) <---at work, gimme a break...
Yeah

5) What brand rings were used ?
JE Rings

6) Did you break in the motor with the turbo pipe disconnected (no boost press.)?
No I dont think that the motor was broken in because the day I went to go see my car, my mechanic was driving it really hard

7) What kinda oil you using ?
Currently Mobil 1 Tri-Synthetic 10W-30

8) Does the smoke only occur after boost ?
Yes

9) Any smoke from the dipstick area ?
No

Also, the car was tuned at South Florida Performance


[Modified by KhRoNiX, 11:50 AM 2/19/2002]

X2BOARD

Hmm...

I know who Forrest is.

I don't really like SFP for dyno tuning....at all....

Given the little info I have, you might need new rings and an alignment hone... but that can't really be established for sure unless you get it in a shop... I've got a friend at one that you can go to down south, Scitech...

U've got mail...

RH+G

It never sounds good when they don't give you an aligment hone. And you go to pick up your car and the mechanic is driving your car hard before tuning.

Type-ARR

What is the break in period on those rings??? Is it good he was driving you car so hard with brand new rings???

KhRoNiX

I asked him about it and he saud that he let the car idle for a couple of hours and that that was enough.

ssblue

wow, the exact same thing happened to my car last night...it was dark out but i heard a sound like air leaving a tire coming from my engine and white smoke coming from the passenger side headlight area. popped the hood and for atleast 15 minutes i could hear the noise while looking for the source, but being so dark i could only see that it was coming from somewhere around the head. if the problem is the piston rings showing wear then how long is it safe to let this go on (in other words, should i keeping buying stuff for the hondata i'm getting or spend my money on this problem now)...i don't drive my car hard at all, only boost when neccesary, but the car has almost 80k on it. i'm going to check right now to see if it only happens if i boost.

X2BOARD

When a motor is rebuilt, you would run a typical break in time of 250-500 miles, if the car is boosted... it would be preferable to break it in without the turbo connected to the T/B for at least the first 250, so the rings and pistons, etc are not broken in with a sledgehammer like action....

As far as an engine settling, rings will cut their grooves within the first few minutes of running, but that would not be what I call breaking it in !

When rings start to wear and you see smoke from the Valve cover, in a boosted car, you will see negative results within 1-2 months of driving... but I would not drive on it too hard until the rings are replaced and the ring lands are inspected.

As far as buying more stuff, if your lands are ok, you'll need to get an align hone, replace your rings and head gasket, (which basically means disassembling part of the short block.

RH+G

I would take the car back to him and tell him that him that your car is smoking like the crack coming out of his pipe. "idle a couple hours and that was enough" At least vent on his crackheaded ***