rice a roni

iTrader: (1)

Alright, recently boosted my b18c. Was running 10psi for a while but with he spike i turned it down and I'm only doing 8psi now.

Anyways, the yesterday I caught it smoking out of the exhaust. Once in the morning when i got to work...didn't think much of it and once in traffic on the way home at a stop light. Smoke just billowing out of thr exhaust.

When i got home I popped the hood, no smoke out of the exhaust but I did notice very little smoke coming out of the breather on the valve cover.

My setup consists of:
Typical turbo setup...not very important
Breather on valve cover
Pcv valve out of black box no lines running from
Stock head bolts


Engine runs fine. Spark plugs all look the same, white/light tan color, losing oil but im not sure if ts because of the shitty oil pan gasket or if I'm burning it. Not losing coolant. I hit boost every once in a while, I dont beat on my at much.

Fairly new to forced induction. Will do a compression test by the end of the week. Looking for opinions.

BigMike0147

You're on the right track. See how the compression test goes. Make sure and do both dry and wet tests. That should show you if you have a problem with the rings. Could also be the turbo seals/bearings, and you'd have to drop the intake/exhaust piping to see if any oil on the wheels for that. Let us know what you find out.

rice a roni

iTrader: (1)

Alright guys, quick update...

Did a compression test tonight...me not thinking did it without opening the throttle plate so I ended up doing it twice.

First time readings:
1-195
2-200
3-200
4-205

second time with throttle wide open
1-215
2-220
3-210
4-220

Then I decided to put some oil in cylinder 1 just for ***** and giggles and it shot up to 225psi so, I've come to the conclusion that my rings are ok. Stay tuned for a leak down test.

I disconnected the coupler to from the turbo to the intercooler and swiped the inside of the cold side turbo, nothing but a film of light oil, if anything. Didnt bother to check the downpipe because the turbo was rebuilt before I bought it. Spark plugs and pic of my finger wipe test of the turbo are shown below.

rice a roni

iTrader: (1)

Didnt have time to do a leak down test, maybe tomorrow, but I might do an oil pan gasket...these ******* keep leaking, not sure if its because of the crank case pressure causing my oil pan gasket to blow out or not.

Anyways, was reading some other threads here on ht and something clicked. I was thinking of doing the valve seals so I was researching that. I did notice the smoke only when I was stopped both times and that ment I was in vacuum and bad valve seals let oil into the cylinder under vacuum so thats a possible culprit.

Today I did notice that under 7-8psi I did smoke a little. Couldnt tell if it was black, blue or white because I have a tinted rear window. Possibly oil rings and valve seals? If anything I'm going to do the seals with the head in the vehicle.

Any opinions would be great, otherwise I'll just keep you guys posted as I go along.

turbohatch96y7

iTrader: (15)

Take the downpipe off and check for oil in there. Turbos can fail very fast if there's a spike of high oil pressure, etc. Won't hurt to check before dropping money.

You are on the right track for valve seals do a leak down test to be sure.

rice a roni

iTrader: (1)

In the process of dropping the oil pan I also dropped the downpipe and there was no oil inside the downpipe so that rules out the turbo.
I also disconnected my charge pipe from the throttle body to tap my crv iat into it and just for ***** and giggles I checked the inside of the intake manifold. Nothing exciting there...just a beautiful clean intake manifold

Opened my radiator cap for ***** and giggles also, found a greyish little swirl in the green coolant so I'm starting to get the stigma that the head is starting to lift. It hasnt shown symptoms of overheating and there is no coolant or condensation inside the engine.

I will definitely do a leak down test after I get my oil pan gasket on. Ran out of brake cleaner :/ so I have to do another run...ffffffffuuuuuuuu

turbohatch96y7

iTrader: (15)

Take off the exhaust manifold and check the valve stems.
If its not your daily take the intake manifold off too.

rice a roni

iTrader: (1)

Alright, so I finally got around to the leak down test after the oil pan install (cross fingers, please dont leak again...fucken honda oil pan gaskets).

Anyways...I know you're supposed to do the test with the engine warm, but I did it with the engine cold, if it was bad I'd warm the engine up. So, at 100 psi of air pressure I have a leak of 5-8% across the board with air coming through the valve cover. That leaves me with the conclusion that the valve stem seals are bad or the oil control rings are fucked up/sticking. Would soaking the pistons over night with seafoam improve anything with the rings?

Lol, I would remove the intake manifold and the exhaust manifold but with going through all that hassle, I'd rather just go ahead and replace the valve stem seals .
Plus its my daily driver at the moment. A little chilly at 0430 to be on the cbr.

*on another note, I'm going to setup a catch can dealio here in a few weeks and see if that helps. Removed the pcv valve on the black box for the moment and if I dont need the car, I'm going to be freezing my *** off on the bike.

4g hatch

i think crankcase pressure is your problem. the stock venting system isnt much good for na let alone forced induction....thats probably why you cant keep oil pan gaskets sealing also

Schister66

Very good point. I had the same problem with my ls/vtec a few years back...it would blow oil pan gaskets, valve cover gaskets, etc and started to smoke a little over time, then we put a proper catch can on it and it hasn't had an issue since.