t25 going bad?

[midnight_rex]

ive been having this problem with smoke coming out of the exhaust sometimes when im at idle. im boosting at 14psi on my redtop now and the smell of oil is becoming more common after a couple of weeks of the boost change.

when im driving normal sometimes a puff of blue smoke comes out but it never does it consistantly. when i rev the motor sometimes, it will smoke very little. again, this is not consistant. it does it once in a while. the car idles fine and i see no difference in oil level. power feels the same when at full throttle.

the only thing that ive noticed about the boost is it would spike to 14si in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd then drop down to 12psi and hold. 4th and 5th hold 14psi constantly.

could this be a turbo related issue?

[Om1kron]

blue smoke, isn't that signs of a blown headgasket, have you taken off your pipes and checked the shaft for play? drained your coolant and oil to make sure none of which are mixing with each other?

[Coupes_FTW]

blue smoke is oil. pretty sure its oil in the turbo

[godsmack]

could also be blow by. do you have a catch can?

[midnight_rex]

sorry guys i was at work when i created this and ive been busy ever since. now that i have a chance to get to this thread i can get down to my problem.

i dont think it can be the headgasket and no i do not have oil in my coolant. i checked for any oil substances in my cooling system and found nothing.

i purchased a HKS actuator and a new BOV 2 weeks ago and replaced them together. i did notice some black gunk in my hotpipe but didnt pay full attention to it. ive had this kind of problem before with blue smoke appearing at idle and it has mysteriously disappeared and now its back and its more common.

I was driving today while a freind was following me and he said he could smell oil burning while i was driving normally. he said it was a strong smell and there was no smoke coming out the tail pipe. also when i was at work i had a co-worker rev my engine while i watch the tail pipe. smoke blew out while he reved it up but didnt smoke at idle or doesnt smoke while driving. even when i punch it to hit full boost smoke doesnt come out (somtimes it does).

when i got home just earlier i noticed a slight humming noise coming from where the turbo is mounted. i got up close to listen and it deffinately sounds like its coming from the turbo. i noticed the noise before but it was never this loud to take caution.

if it were piston rings or valvetrain, wouldnt smoke be more intense while i drive? i havent taken off my pipes to see if there is oil residue or checked for shaft play. i will do that tomorrow. i hope its the turbo cause ive been waiting to upgrade to a gt28.

[kalypso123]

hope its the turbo cause ive been waiting to upgrade to a gt28.

its your lucky day.

take it off, it only takes about 20 minutes if you have the tools, and some wd-40 we can help giude you.

[midnight_rex]

its your lucky dat.

take it off, it only takes about 20 minutes if you have the tools, and some wd-40
i want to make sure its the turbo first. it sure as hell sounds like it but i would like to know if anyone else had this problem before?

i dont want to spend money on major power adders just yet. i want to get my motor maintained and prepared for the unexpected first :)

[kalypso123]

the only way your going to know, is if you take it off

[midnight_rex]

lol yea i know i can take it off in 20 mins and get a better observation. i just dont have the time to get down and dirty. work owns me right now. i might take it off tomorrow but ill just check the pipes and shaft play tomorrow. it takes away the chance of messing something up from disassembling :)

[midnight_rex]

did a compression test yesterday

results:
no.1 - 140psi
no.2 - 135psi
no.3 - 135psi
no.4 - 125psi

smoke is consistent now. when i rev the motor, smoke pours out the exhaust. when im driving there is no smoke. if im driving for a good amount of time and then come to a stop the motor seems like it wants to die for 3 seconds then goes back to idle. i can feel a slight hesitation when im shifting in each gear like there is a very small missfire. plugs checked out ok. im pointing more toward a mechanical problem in the engine. what do u guys think?

[SilviaSR20DET]

im having an issue with my turbo as well, smokes when revving but doesnt at idle and oil is leaking out the turbine housing. Blue/white smoke is usually oil.

[midnight_rex]

i still have to check the turbine. i havent got around to take the hotpipe off and inspect it. im going to do this tomorrow. those compression numbers got me thinking.

what would be more considerable, try and fix this problem with the oil burning or get another motor (RB or another SR)? i just cant put my finger on the problem. it could be piston rings, valve seals, turbo, or head gasket. i wish i had the time and money to replace all. im just scared to spend a unnecessary amount of money on rebuilding when i can just save that money to get another bigger & better motor. i love the SR20 but rebuilding could cost so much and take so much time.

i did blow 2 spark plugs last week from detination. i was using bkr5 ngk plugs when i first was boosting at 14psi. i replaced them with bkr7eix's and now the car feels less powerful than before. it hesitates at 5k rpm like there is a fuel cut when i take the car to its limits. it also feels there is a loss of power. could the MAFS be at its limit? or from the results of the compression test, could this be a more serious problem?

[SilviaSR20DET]

well if detonated that would of done something to your compression in your cylinders. What kind of tune do you have? seems like you might have ran too much timing.

[midnight_rex]

i dont have a tune, im on stock ECU. i just turned up the boost with my HKS actuator. i checked the timing and it was advanced all the way. my light showed it was way ahead the timing marks to the far right. i fixed it to be set to the 2nd timing mark and it runs weird.

[SilviaSR20DET]

yeah too much timing and higher boost= detonation. i suggest put it back to stock boost if your running a stock ecu.

[midnight_rex]

yea i put it back to stock ignition timing just now. i test drove it down the street and it hesitates so much. when i try and speed up it has no power what so ever and it pops from the exhaust. i put the timing back where it was before and it runs much better that way. im not gonna beat on this motor anymore. im just gonna get a RB swap later and use this as a daily. its still burns oil from the exhaust. i didnt know the timing was way out of stock setting until yesterday.

any chance that the rings could have failed?

[SilviaSR20DET]

maybe it hesitating cause your plugs aren't gapped correctly since your running less boost? From what i know, if it were rings it would smoke all the time and have lots oil deposits on your sprark plugs and oil out the valve cover.