Well my car was recently tuned and on the dyno we battled random smoke issues and misfires. When the car was first started it had no smoke at all, it kind of overheated due to an air pocket and custom radiator but coolant temps were never over 216...

Immediately I thought headgasket but my tuner thought otherwise. He believed that one of the ring lands was folded over upon installation due to the smoke not being constant. Also the car was making over 700HP w/ ease. It does not smoke AT ALL with load on the car. But let the car idle for two minutes and it pours white smoke. Put some load on the car and it will stop.

Did a leakdown and it was 1%, 14%, 25%, 1%. Pulled the head and the headgasket was blown. Changed the headgasket, threw in some fresh studs, and put it all back together. Due to time constraints I couldn't obtain a straight edge to check the block and head...

Car ran fine for a couple hours and then the smoke returned upon idle. Did a leakdown again and it was 1%, 1%, 4%, 1%.

At this point I'm thinking that I have dropped a sleeve. The gasket lasted a little while then eventually blew out once again.

What are your opinions... motor is going to be pulled this week

Setup:

K20A2
Golden Eagle Sleeves
87MM
Wiseco Pistons 9:1
Pauter Rods
ARP Headstuds

Thanks

 

Some pics the first time the head was pulled:

 

Im having the same issue but with a Ls swap. Im racking my brain tring to fix this.

Someone out there has had this problem so Please give up a little info so we can get on the road again.

 

stock head? How are you putting these studs in? What head gasket you running?

 

what color is the smoke and when does it happen.... like what kinda engine loads...

 

studs are hand tight in the block, oem tsx headgasket since the block is 87mm, torqued to 65 ft lbs in 4 steps. used a snapon techangle, so i don't think that is the prob...lol

smoke starts mostly at idle after sitting for two minutes or so. no load whatsover. on the dyno it would smoke at 3-4K when there was serious load from the dyno. once the load was decreased ie the motor was not bogged down from the dynopack, the smoke cleared...

the smoke is bright white, when the leakdown was performed hot, i pulled the spark plugs and the 4% cylinder would pour what looks like steam.

opinions?

 

Free bump since I'm having the same issue too. I am clueless myself.

 

looks like the 2nd cylinder shows like a blown headgasket. Dark soot where the exhaust valves are next to the coolant passage.

 

yeah the first time def was a blown headgasket... but I replaced it w/ new oem gasket and arps. less than two hours later and the smoke has returned w/ the same symptoms.

pulling the motor as we speak but I just want some opinions on what else to check besides the obvious. don't want to get it all back together and have the same prob.

 

whats you got going on crank case vapors? pcv system

 

what type of turbo manifold are you using

 

turbo manifold is a divided housing T4 Full Race mani...

as far as pcv system i have a vented catch can running off the pcv hoses on the side of the motor. same as where i ran a few 35r setups that i have done and there are no smoke issues...

 

Hand tightening the ARP??? don't they have like an allen head like at the top so they can atleast be snugged...not hand tight???

White smoke is deffinately a sealing issue possibly between the head n block. Surprise the CLD didn't find it the second time...

During the engine load it should smoke like crazy! But only at idle....strange

How does ur oil look?? Could there be a crack underneath the piston causing the CLD to not detect?? 4094r coolant lines at CHRA??

Just some thoughts.....hope u get it resolved soon!! Sounds like a monster build!!

 

Another idea...try pressurizing ur cooling system to see if there's any leaks!!! G/L

 

Are you sure its not burning oil? What size restrictor are you running on the turbo oil feed? Are you running water through the center section? If the design of the mani does not position the oil feed/drain perfectly vertical, it could contribute to blowing some oil past the turbo seals and burning it in the turbine housing.

 

take off the radiator cap with the car running and see if you have a volcano...if you do, you have cylinder pressure in the cooling system. if you didnt surface the ehad or check it thats the first thing to do next.

if your not running an oil restrictor check the charge pipes and downpipe for oil

 

thanks for the suggestions guys here is some more info... cause its still pretty confusing.

- coolant lines to the center section (-6AN)/4094R is also brand new from Evans Tuning
- feed is -3AN w ATP Oil Restrictor/center section is clocked perfectly vertical
- no oil in charge pipes/compressor/exhaust housing/downpipe
- oil/coolant surprisingly clean
- sleeves are golden eagle hd's

??

 

did you check for pressure in the cooling system yet?

 

Any updates with the problem?

 

bump for updates. let us know if you found anything.

 

if u have ever smelt burning coolant before, you should be able to tell if your white smoke has the same scent... gl

 

checked the return line for kinks, pulled it off and its fine. 10AN straight shot down to the bung on the pan..

trying to find a vid now of the dyno so you can see that the smoke is clearly coolant. i've had and seen fuel issues causing smoke, oil smoke etc. this smoke is bright white and very thick...

try to get the vid up tomorrow

i don't have a coolant pressure tester but may try and located one before taking the motor out of the bay.

 

oh yeah to make matters worse while trying to figure out this problem my timing chain tensioner broke due to my aftermarket camshafts.... timing jumped 9 links and now i have 85-90% leakdown in cylinder one. so can't start the car for any new vids or testing of this prob.

 

sounds like a nasty build...hopefully you get it resolved...

 

Have you tried getting the head resurfaced?