Troubleshooting "Oil Smoke": Is it excessive oil consumption from turbo, or....?

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Old Apr 23, 2018 | 09:37 PM
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Default Troubleshooting "Oil Smoke": Is it excessive oil consumption from turbo, or....?

I have recently got my b18 bottom end rebuilt due to cracked pistons. Went with wesico pistons and eagle rods. Since the rebuild I began to have oil consumption and smoke out of the exhaust. So I brought the car back to shop that I had paid to rebuild it. They did a compression test and leak down test. The results are #1-230 #2-215 #3-220 #4-200. The stated the leak down test showed ok and meant the car is smoking burning oil not because of their work. Other information is the intercooler does have excessive oil in it and plugs #1 And #3 are oil fouled.

Now as for smoke color and when it smokes. The smoke is normally a white bluish color except when heavily accelerating will become a darker black color. I know first thing that comes to my mind is turbo seals. Since I do not know how long the turbo has been on the car. I bought the car with it already turboed. But before the pistons cracked it never smoked with that turbo. Also from some research when the turbo does go it will smoke constantly and thick smoke. Mine smokes mostly at acceleration from a complete stop up until I am at a constant speed. Once at a constant speed it will not be visible smoke until I accelerate more in which the smoke gets denser. The motor consumes a quart every 200 miles and seems to be getting worse as time goes on.

I have removed the filter from the turbo on the outlet side. There is not any excessive oil. Small traces but not terrible. I was told maybe the oil catch can I have only had 1 breather and may need one with 2 breathers for the crankshaft pressure. Or valve seals and guides. Or a new turbo. I'm not sure but the shop won't help me any further without a big bill and another few months in the shop. TIA.
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Old Apr 24, 2018 | 02:35 AM
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Default re: Troubleshooting "Oil Smoke: Is it excessive oil consumption from turbo, or....?

Sounds like either piston rings or turbo seals to me. If it was the turbo you would likely find oil somewhere on/in the exhaust housing side.

Edit: Also I'm not sure where you are in the break-in process on this engine, but I wouldn't be particularly satisfied with a new engine having a 30psi difference between two cylinders.
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Old Apr 24, 2018 | 03:28 AM
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Default re: Troubleshooting "Oil Smoke: Is it excessive oil consumption from turbo, or....?

I am 2 Oil changes in and still on the base tune with only 5 psi boost. If it was turbo seals or rings, why are only the 2 cylinders plugs be fouled but not the other 2. The shop refuses to believe it' rings and won't help me out.
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Old Apr 24, 2018 | 03:59 AM
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Default re: Troubleshooting "Oil Smoke: Is it excessive oil consumption from turbo, or....?

Turbo seal oil smoke is usually related to oil pressure. It will be worst on cold starts, or high rpm and load when oil pressure is high. I've dealt with this for a number of years on a worn turbo, but never with the amount of consumption that you describe. The turbo would have some significant damage to burn that amount I would imagine. And you mention having an inline oil filter so it's unlikely that metal fragments made it into the turbo when you blew up your pistons.
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Old Apr 24, 2018 | 06:25 AM
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Default re: Troubleshooting "Oil Smoke: Is it excessive oil consumption from turbo, or....?

If it is rings. I guess I would have to pay to have it basicly rebuilt all over again. How could they have messed up that bad. The shop swears up and down that they set the rings on the dyno and did everything correctly. I'm still confused on how I am only fouling 2 plugs.
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Old Apr 24, 2018 | 09:11 AM
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Default re: Troubleshooting "Oil Smoke: Is it excessive oil consumption from turbo, or....?

What cams are you using
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Old Apr 24, 2018 | 09:39 AM
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Default re: Troubleshooting "Oil Smoke: Is it excessive oil consumption from turbo, or....?

Originally Posted by Hatchlifegsr
If it is rings. I guess I would have to pay to have it basicly rebuilt all over again. How could they have messed up that bad. The shop swears up and down that they set the rings on the dyno and did everything correctly. I'm still confused on how I am only fouling 2 plugs.
"Set the rings on the dyno" - what? Ask them what P2W clearances they used for the top and bottom rings, and if they did anything for the oil ring.

And yes I agree the rings are definitely the most likely suspect here. Again, I find it suspect that there is a 30 psi difference between cylinder 4 and cylinder 1. That is not the mark of a meticulously assembled engine.
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Old Apr 25, 2018 | 03:39 PM
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Default Re: Troubleshooting "Oil Smoke: Is it excessive oil consumption from turbo, or....?

Originally Posted by Hatchlifegsr
I am 2 Oil changes in and still on the base tune with only 5 psi boost. If it was turbo seals or rings, why are only the 2 cylinders plugs be fouled but not the other 2. The shop refuses to believe it' rings and won't help me out.
2 plugs fouled can be caused by oil leaking past valve cover spark plug grommets, settling in the hole and seeping down. It's a stretch, but totally possible. Honestly, I would suggest new plugs and give them some time to see what happens. Over alI, I don't recall if you typed out that you pulled your cold pipes and looked for oil. An obvious sign of bad turbo seals if your cold pipes are coated with oil. If they are, clean them out really good and run it for a while and recheck. However, the symptoms you are describing, it sounds as if they fucked up your piston rings. If they somehow managed to put the oil control ring upside down, it's going to keep oil in the combustion chamber rather than scrape it away. If it is excessively smoking until it warms up considerably, the ring gaps are tooooooo big, and I don't buy into a bad PCV smoking this bad under just 5 psi. To verify bad valve seals, drive in vacuum. Boost a bit. then let off the gas and coast a couple seconds, then hit the gas. You'll see smoke BUT, it will go away after a brief moment and will not return under regular driving conditions OR as long as you don't drive in vac. I have bad valve seals and I have to go to neutral almost immediately after boosting for a moment, then go to the next gear and get on the gas to avoid crop dusting the car behind me. And I can NOT downshift to help me stop as this keeps the engine in vac lol. If it smokes under ANY driving condition (and the turbo seals are ruled out) it's bad rings..
Anywho.. I'd be all over the shop like white on rice to figure out wtf is going on. If they are doing nothing but brushing you off, that's a HUGE red flag that they fucked something up... If they did not, they'd be all over it..
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