Just bought a 92 S13 with redtop sr20det, and it smokes

[grandsportlover2013]

So the car burns a lot of oil when cruising, and when in boost. Car has a new gt28 on it from garret, and there is no oil in the outlet coming from the turbo to the intercooler, or in the inlet of the turbo... however, on the charge side right before the intake manifold there is a puddle of oil standing when the throttle is closed, and plenty oil in the blow off valve, and every time it blows off, oil spews all over the inside of my hood.

The car runs fine, and idles fine, but just smokes. And it doesnt always smoke either. I ran a compression test tonight and got 135 psi across the board. Does this sound like a crankcase ventilation problem? Something does seem weird with the ventilation lines on the drivers side of the vehicle... The one thats on the drivers side which is supposed to run into the turbo inlet, is just open with a small filer on the end of it, and then goes back to the T on the valve cover, and then on to somewhere behind the head.

I paid 2k for the car, new paint, new wheels and tires, and a new gt28r from garrett... so I am hoping I can make it work.

[ivankol]

probably the turbo if is there any oil in the charge piping.

[grandsportlover2013]

its a brand new garrett turbo. theres no oil in the compressor side of the turbo at all.

[ivankol]

what color is your oil does the motor leak anywhere?
also what kind of fuel injectors?

[grandsportlover2013]

its like a blueish white. its night, and I just got the car to my shop. so it was hard to tell.. engine looks like it may be leaking from valve cover a little but that was it. I havent checked the exhaust side of the turbo yet for oil, but its literally brand new with supporting documentation

[ivankol]

it could be brand new but you can grenade a gt28r turbo by running lean on stock fuel petty fast.

[steve shadows]

I recommend doing an intervention then probably seeing if you get it on the patch or maybe an e-cig to ween it off. Should be healthy then:p




Yeah it's most likely oil seals...do you have the crank vent tube hooked up before the turbo? try removing it an putting a breather on it. If the oil smoke comes out of the breather when you rev it up and it's not connected to the inlet pipe before the turbo then you know it's the blow by and the pistons that are going. So it's actually in a way better if it's the turbo oil seals and not the crank case vent blowing a ton of oil into the intake...

[Kingtal0n]

I recommend doing an intervention then probably seeing if you get it on the patch or maybe an e-cig to ween it off. Should be healthy then:p




Yeah it's most likely oil seals...do you have the crank vent tube hooked up before the turbo? try removing it an putting a breather on it. If the oil smoke comes out of the breather when you rev it up and it's not connected to the inlet pipe before the turbo then you know it's the blow by and the pistons that are going. So it's actually in a way better if it's the turbo oil seals and not the crank case vent blowing a ton of oil into the intake...

Yep same here, E-cig should do the trick. Dont try patches though steve must have forgot... sr20's come from a long line of nicotine patch resistant mutations... patch only works on ls and ca

If there is oil in front of the intake (in the cold pipe) it probably came from the turbocharger. What are the odds that it is from the OLD turbocharger and the previous owner never changed/checked the charge pipe?

[grandsportlover2013]

this actually makes the most sense... the old turbo is left in the vehicle and has oil all over the exhaust housing and the wheel is frozen, and doesnt spin at all. hence the new turbo... Tonight I replaced valve cover gasket, pcv valve, and made a nipple for the pcv on drivers side to plumb into the turbo inlet (after maf), and the car no longer seems to smoke at idle, or anything. I did a leakdown test today as well and all cylinders had less than 20 percent leakdown.

[grandsportlover2013]

So I've put the factory catch can on and an aftermarlet one in between the ocv and the intake. I cleaned a lot of oil out of the intercooler and piping. Put everything back together and now the car doesn't spit oil out of the bov....
However while under boost it still burns oil!!!!!! So aggravating. 135 psi on all cylinders and leak down text passed... The oil return off the new turbo is weird though... It's just a hose that loops around the steering linkage and goes into the drain. It was kinked and I fixed that but the hose still doesn't go straight down. I thought this may be inan issue but even so I don't find any oil in the turbo inlet or turbo outlet... :(

[bataangpinoy]

could just be leaking valve stem seals.

i am curious though, are you running an oil restrictor?

[grandsportlover2013]

Valve stem seals? But if I just start the car and let it idle it never smokes. Nor will it when I drive away. Not even if I hit only 10 psi. But when I hit high boost say 15 psi or so, then it burns oil. Just a cloud of smoke behind me. Then after a hard pull it burns a little bit at idle for a moment. The turbo is a t28 Garrett. Does it need a restricted? I have a line going to it that is -3 or at least it looks like -3

[ivankol]

i am curious though, are you running an oil restrictor?

this happened to me!

[grandsportlover2013]

What happened?

[ivankol]

wrong size oil restrict-or used blew out oil seal in turbo..

[grandsportlover2013]

Strange. Still I see no oil in inlet and outlet on the compressor Side. I guess I should pull the down pipe off and check the exhaust side for signs of oil... Even so. Why would a factory t28 need a restrictor. Thought they had them built in?

[grandsportlover2013]

Strangely my coolant overflow tank likes to spit up coolant as well.... But there's no coolant mixed with my oil at all and again leak down and compression tests passed. Something is super weird with this car.

[grandsportlover2013]

What I don't fully understand is why it doesn't smoke at 7-10psi runs.

[ivankol]

you may have a broken/cracked oil ring...

[Croustibat]

Or a warped head... 135psi is not what i would call a successful compression test. But then, 2k for that kind of car screams "i need an engine rebuild" pretty loudly.

[Kingtal0n]

When turning up the boost causes the engine to burn oil, that is one thing.
When turning up the boost causes the center section of the turbo to leak oil into the turbine, which then burns in the exhaust system, that is a completely different thing.

In the first case, I would think something is up with my PCV system, check the catch can, verify the leakdown etc... basically engine oil seal health, including piston rings.

In the second case, either the turbo seal is going bad, or the oil drain is clogging up, or the improper oil feed restrictor is being used. Verify the oil is entering the exhaust system via the turbine route by pulling the downpipe and looking for burnt oil coating the downpipe and outlet. If oil is burning in the combustion chamber prior to entering the turbine it will be much cleaner, i.e. you wont have liquid oil stains burnt into crispy black lines that all run down in a spiral pattern through the downpipe.