cds00bsmg

iTrader: (1)

Some of you have seen and read about the problems that I was having with my car. If not, you can read my other thread here:

https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generation-specific-1986-1992-17/help-blown-motor-wtf-368420/

Anywho, I've checked the timing, the injectors, and everything else advised to me. However, I forgot to list that the car smokes. Now, this is a Atkins rebuild, it has about 14k on it, if even that right now. It smoked before, white plumey smoke, but it did not accumulate. It was never sweet smelling either.

The turbo on the car is a s4 unit, with high mileage, it has little to no shaft play, but i believe either the coolant, or oil seals are shot on it. it had problems boosting before i purchased the car, and would boost to 10psi, then bleed off in higher rpm ranges, from 5500-redline area.

The car runs, but runs like it has a mis fire. all the plugs are getting spark, and ive replaced the leading and trailing coil w/igniters. the car does not appear to use coolant. no water leaks out of the leading plug holes when the car is cranked with the egi fuse pulled, it does not leak water if the motor is cold, or if it is hot.

The car now smokes white plumey smoke that can fill my garage over a period of 5 minutes or more at idle. it smokes under throttle, but less. It does not smell sweet though. Or at least not in my or my father's opinion, or anyone's actually. However, it is white smoke.

Is the turbo the root of my problems? I doubt that the motor has internal coolant seal damage with 14k on it. I always checked the coolant level, and the coolant did not bubble withing the rad. when the car was running, either when it was cold, or warm.

SureShot

Here is a way long shot - Is you cold start assist tank still connected?

cds00bsmg

iTrader: (1)

Cold start assist is dis-connected, all emissions are removed and blocked off. The rat's nest is gone, and the TB mod has been done as well.

AusTexRex

Sounds like the coolant seal in the turbo.

cds00bsmg

iTrader: (1)

Thats my guess right now as well...everything else on the car has checked out A-OK. Good compression, spark, fuel, everything else is fine. I've went through the FSM and done everything everyone has suggested. I knew the turbo was on its last legs when I got the car, so, I guess its time for that BNR upgrade....heh.

SureShot

I assumed the turbo water jacket had a straight path throught the center section with no seals??
A turbo oil seal, maybe?
When you burn oil hot enough, the smoke is kind of white..

AusTexRex

Oil smoke is considered to be blue, though some people will call it white or gray.
Coolant smoke is a really think milky white, when you've seen the two compared, it's a lot easier see.

Besides, he said at idle the smoke fills his garage, theres no way his turbo is burning any oil at idle. Come to think of it...

Is it smoking as soon as you start the car, or do you have to run it and drive for a while before it starts?

The smoke is coming out of the exhaust right? Not from the engine bay or anything?

cds00bsmg

iTrader: (1)

the car always smoked a little at idle, the previous owner informed me that the turbo was on its way out when i purchased it. the smoke is whitish gray. its fairly thick, and smells more like oil than sweet. it will fill the garage at idle, if the car is ran for five or more minutes. if you give it gas, it smokes less, but still smokes. i usually warm the car up by holding it at 3k for about 4 minutes or more, and then it really smokes like hell at idle. when it is first started, it smokes at idle, but not anything super bad.

smoke comes mainly from the exhaust, but also comes from the turbo within the engine bay. the smoke from the turbo is minimal. either way, it is my assumption that the turbo is in pretty bad shape. it could be possible that the oil seals, and coolant seals are shot on it both.

im going to swap my buddies stock s4 tubo onto her when we put his car into storage and see if this is where some, if not all of my problem lies. this probably wont be for a few weeks, or a week at least. i will post my results when i perform this test

thanks,
chris

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

if you are sure the internal oil seals are ok then i would assume it has to be the turbo, not many other places that oil could enter the engine. if you pick a piece of smoke and watch that mass of smoke, if it doesn't dissipate withing about 15 seconds but just thins out and hangs there then it likely is oil burning, coolant has a distinct smell and is fairly easily noticeable and condensation which is normal just smells like normal exhaust and dissipates the quickest but can be very dense on cold days(below 50 degrees F).

uRizen

iTrader: (2)

You can hold your hand in fron tof the exhaust far enough off not to be burned for a little bit and see fi your hand gets kinda oily too, can't you? How many miles on the turbo? If it's old enough I'd probably just rebuild it, or get a new unit. You could also pull the exhaust off the back of the turbo after you get all that smoke (after it's cooled down of course), and see if there's any residue on the flanges or the exhaust at that point.

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

that's not really accurate, water mixed with carbon can sometimes seem like oily residue, i tend to trust my nose and ears more than my eyes while working on cars but i cannot be that helpful in this case because i am not there in person.

BlaCkPlaGUE

Just cause the turbo isn't spooling at idle doesn't mean that the oil from its shitty bearing isn't gonna burn. Its still really hot in the manifold and turbine. Besides I doubt its a coolant seal since atkins did the rebuild, heard only good things from those guys.

cds00bsmg

iTrader: (1)

Ditto on atkins. I will pull the turbo tomorrow, mileage is probably 130k+ on the unit itself. Worst comes to worst, I get a new or rebuit turbo, something that needed to be taken care of at some point anyway. There is a local place that can rebuild the turbo, and maybe even upgrade it. I will price it out, and see if I should go BNR stage I, or just get rebuild and modded.

Thanks to all,
Chris

amishboy

Do you have to add coolant if not your not loosing any ?

cds00bsmg

iTrader: (1)

The car uses a slight amount of coolant, or did in the summer at least...but doesn't seem to have lately. Its been sitting for about a month now, if not longer....

cds00bsmg

iTrader: (1)

Bad turbo, your not supposed to compress coolant, only exhaust!! I pulled it today, the coolant seals were definately shot. Looks like its time for BNR to fix her up. I appreciate all the time everyone devoted to helping me out. Thanks again to everyone. I will update my progress in the spring when everything is installed and done.

Thanks,
Chris