It was fun while it lasted....

[jspaeth]

Well, after 2 years of having my SR swap and having had NO major issues, I think I've got my first real problem.

Was going to put on a stainless steel turbo oil line today, and started taking shit apart....I then notice my catchcan (from intake to valve cover) has like 3-4 oz of oil in it, and that's only from the past 2 weeks or so.

I am taking off my intercooler and all piping right now....there is a good amount of oil everywhere....fuck!!!!!!!!

I am pretty sure my turbo is okay...i.e. I don't think it's the compressor side seals.....because, since there is always vacuum there, it's not going to push oil backward into my catchcan, so all of that oil must be coming from the valve cover.

Going to check compression after I get everything cleaned and put back on.

This sucks....I am so used to having a problem-free setup, but it looks like those days are gone, at least for now.

Balls.

[SnakeKack]

Yikes. I hope it turns out to be something not so bad. GL

[jspaeth]

So I talked to my dad....and he was saying that if the rings or some other seal in the motor was really that bad, wouldn't I see smoke coming out of the tail due to burning oil?

My hunch tells me that all of the oil in the intercooler piping and IC is there from before I put the catchcan back on....there was a period of maybe a month where I didn't have the catchcan between the intake and the valve cover.

I'm gonna clean everything, put back together, do a compression test, and keep an eye on it.

Is it possible that it is just extra blow-by caused from racing the car at the track?

[S14DriftstaiN]

Did you check your pcv?

[jspaeth]

Literally just replaced it yesterday, and it was not gunked up at all, perfectly fine looking

[Onitsukagirl]

Yeah, I have oil all in my piping from not having a catch can, I checked and it was not coming from the compressor... it was all pooled right where the stock tube goes to the intake.. I have residue all in the pipes from way back..no smoke from exhaust.

[SinisterSntra91]

Its probably just blow by dont panic its common on SRs, FWD SRs have the same problem here is a way to fix it....

JGY explains why it happens(scroll down a bit):
http://www.jgycustoms.com/infolinks.htm

And here is the fix on the FWD SRs, can be applied to RWD since they are basically the same motor:
http://www.sr20forum.com/technical-information-library/80048-how-reroute-stock-oil-seperator.html

[jspaeth]

^
Thanks for the help, but I already realized this. I have a catchcan between the valve cover and intake, and there was like 20 oz of oil in there. Insane amount.

[opponheimer]

then you have some mega blow by (maybe). you should do a leakdown test.

[jspaeth]

The thing is, I can't figure out why this happened.

I WAS at the drag strip yesterday running the car damn hard.

Gonna do a compression test tomorrow morning.

Never once had this problem with the T25 and just put the GT2871r on like a month and a half agol. Will monitor to see how much oil my catchcan is getting.

Is it possible that I am only getting this amazing amount of blowby when I run the car really hard? And if so, is that bad?

I mean, I would think that if the rings were going or I had a bent valve or bad seals or something, that I would be burning oil out of the tail pipe.

I am guessing that maybe I am just getting a lot of pressure in the valve cover or whatever.

(Praying that nothing is wrong with the bottom end)


EDIT:: There was actually about ~20 oz of oil in the catchcan. God I am worried.

[slider2828]

Yes it is possible. I get some oil through my oil catch. 3-4 is pretty normal depending on how much boost and how many runs. I run about 18 psi on my engine and just put in the restrictor hahaha. Even without a restrictor on the oil side, I didn't get too much oil.... But to me its normal. 3-4 oz is what like a couple of teaspoons? Pretty normal

20 Oz? How much is that? Do you have a restrictor on your turbo line? What boost are you running... Did you change your PCV to a new one? My old PCV rattled still but I was still getting a lot of crankcase pressure, so I changed it and it was fine.

Check your oil level after warm up.... This is super important, as I got a lot of blowby because I overfilled just like a little bit....

[jspaeth]

Yes I have an oil restrictor....I'm almost 99% sure it isn't coming FROM the turbo.

99% sure it IS coming out of the valve cover. Bout to check compression today.

[jspaeth]

Ok, so I just pulled all the spark plugs and checked compression.

Spark plugs ALL looked great, compression was 148-143-145-147.....consistent across all 4, but maybe a hair low....may be because of the weather or who knows what else.

EDIT:: Just remembered I forgot to crank it with the throttle open, like a dumbass, so that may lead to them being a few psi low.


All in all, I don't think that my rings are completely shot....I beat on it a few times last night, after installing new hoses to my catch can, and not a SINLGE drop of oil in those hoses.

Perhaps at the track, from beating on it 6 or 7 runs in a row, it just got insane crank case pressure and pushed a ton of oil out of the valve cover.

I am gonna keep an eye on the catch can and see if I get any more blow by.

[S14DB]

After the run do you put it in Neutral and brake or do you leave it in gear and coast down?

[nismo tuned s14]

this happened to me with my ka-t. i had no problems for about two or three years. then i started to notice it sputter at high rpms. it was oil hitting my maf that caused it. it only happened when i boosted really hard. i replaced the pcv valve but it didnt help. i put a catch can on there and went out to test it one night. within about two minutes of running it very hard, the can filled up and sprayed all over my engine bay. next thing i knew i blew a ring. i have the exact same setup on my new engine. i think there is some sort of valve under the valve cover (on ka's at least) that regulates the blow back (dont quote me on that). i havent had any oil go to my can and its been over a year now.

so i hope you get this fixed soon!
and dont boost hard until you do.

[jspaeth]

S14DB, I leave the car in gear after I am done and just slowly break and downshift as necessary.

Also, after that thread about catch can setups, I bought a new PCV valve just for the hell of it, but the original one looked good as new, no gunk, nothing wrong at all.


I would think if the rings were BAD, the compression would at least be off, and/or I will see my catchcan filling up as I daily drive it over the next few days/weeks....I don't beat on per se, but I get into boost here and there, so we will see what happens.

The motor was in tip/top shape and always has been, and was just tuned perfectly by an expert, so it's hard to think that the rings would just go out all of a sudden.

[slider2828]

Where there are like 2 or 3 wrings on the piston. Oil, Compression and maybe one more.... might be two.... The compression ring can still be good but the oil ring my go causing oil blowing into the valve cover. Did you check your oil level? Also did you check plugs for oil or anything?

[jspaeth]

Ok plugs looked really good, no oil, fouling, or anything, and compression was really good.

I think it's only getting a lot of oil blown out of the valve cover when it is at heavy boost and high RPM.

[Kouki]

That's possible, you know at high rpm, with the cams moving that fast they're throwing alot of oil around inside the valve cover. Compression seems fine, plugs aren't oily, I'd say you're fine, just keep an eye on it for a while of daily driving.

[jspaeth]

Yah thanks for all of the input everyone....gonna keep an eye on it.

[ROIDMONKEY]

Same thing happened today to my car. weird shit is that i didnt have the catch tank before and never had that much oil at high RPM like im having now. we were tuning car at dyno and some oil started going out of the T , we finished the tuning and i left the shop and ofcourse i step on gas and again oil came out of T. so i had to drive the car at low RPM and no boosting to much, i just installed the oil catch tank , i have to do a compression test friday, im worry now .

[mifesto]

check shaftplay on turbo... sounds exactly like my supra when it blew the turbo heehee

[burnsauto]

how many quarts of oil are you running normally?

[Sileighty_85]

im thinking your Turbos bad. Your compression numbers are good, and you said the plugs look fine so your not burning oil. when I built mine i had 150+ on mine.

try this connect your MAF your IC pipe (Like an N/A)
fire it up and rev the engine a little bit (4K) and see if oil sprays out the turbo's outlet.

This is how we found out my buddies turbo was blown

make sure you got a towel handy lol.

[jspaeth]

I run roughly 3.25 quarts after every oil change. This usually gets it to the ideal spot on the dipstick.

Also, haven't had this problem lately (b/c I haven't been getting on it hard really).

Also, i rerouted my catchcan hose so that it goes up coming off of the valve cover and then back down to the catch can. This way, gravity will drain the oil droplets back down into the valve cover.

Before, it was all downhill, so any little droplets would always gravity drain into the catchcan.

[Ninjabread]

Any updates? I've got a mega shit ton of oil in my catch can after 2-3 months of daily driving and one track day.

Brand new rebuild too :(

[aNskY]

Any updates? I've got a mega shit ton of oil in my catch can after 2-3 months of daily driving and one track day.

Brand new rebuild too :(


too much oil will do that as slider2828 already mentioned

[Ninjabread]

ya .. i did have just a tad too much in there.

dumb question: when you take the oil cap off while the motor's running (had it off by accident), should there be a shitload of air comming out? i can understand the cams are moving and stuff, but i dont know, seems like there is way too much pressure in there.

[pr0ject TRUENO]

ya .. i did have just a tad too much in there.

dumb question: when you take the oil cap off while the motor's running (had it off by accident), should there be a shitload of air comming out? i can understand the cams are moving and stuff, but i dont know, seems like there is way too much pressure in there.

air or smoke

im pretty sure its not normal for a lot of smoke to be coming out...it would be your rings

[Ninjabread]

Just air, no smoke.

[ryangreg]

After the run do you put it in Neutral and brake or do you leave it in gear and coast down?




how come you ask?