mlwagar

I just finished replacing my headgasket after months of not having time to work on the car. Unfortunately the car is still smoking (looks like a James Bond smoke screen). There is no oil in the IC pipes, the spark plugs don't show oil residue or excessive carbon, the motor is a remanufactured motor with about 9500 miles on the clock, the turbo is a TEC (Garret) T04E 46 trim with about 500 miles on it. I replaced the valve seals as suggested, even though the existing ones were still pretty new, and that didn't make a difference. Is it possible that the seals on the hot side of the turbo could be bad, and the oil is dumping into the down tube? I'm starting to run out of ideas. If anyone has any new ideas,please help.
Thanks,
Mark...

IanM

Have you determined that the cause of your smoke screen is oil and not water? If you replaced your headgasket, then I'm assuming you thought you were losing water?

mlwagar

The cause of the smoke is definately oil not water. I changed the headgasket in part to attempt to fix the smoke problem,and in part to install Some Raceware Head Studs. There was never any sign of oil and water mixing, and my collant level remained constant. I had also done a collant system pressure test twice, and both times the system held 16 psi for over ten minutes.

mlwagar

The cause of the smoke is definately oil not water. I changed the headgasket in part to attempt to fix the smoke problem,and in part to install Some Raceware Head Studs. There was never any sign of oil and water mixing, and my coolant level remained constant. I had also done a coolant system pressure test twice, and both times the system held 16 psi for over ten minutes.

NerfRacing

umm...then it wouldnt be the head gasket would it? i thought after a blown head gasket the white smoke from the exhaust is coolant being burned in the combustion chamber...but ive been known to be wrong.

David Floyd

You might do a leakdown test to check the condition of the rings, they should be good but you never know till you check.

NerfRacing

is there anyway to differentiate between a seared ring and a blown head gasket without taking apart the head etc...?

Alan C.

If the rings are bad you can take the oil fill cap off and listen for air getting past the rings while doing a leak down. If your hearing is as bad as mine you can also use a smoke source over the oil filler tube to see if there is air exiting.

I had a really strange thing happen once. Same issue looked like smoke layer in a WWII naval operation. Spent a whole day trying to figure out the problem at the track and didn't. Once home I put the car up on a rack and started taking things off to drop the engine. When I dropped the turbo down pipe I found the problem. The turbo had separated and spit one half the shaft down the tube. This was on a 2nd gen RX7.
Alan

cas951

This happened to me back in Sept. While my car was on the dyno, the Engine sounded like it blew a head gasket. Everyone that was there that day thought it was the head gasket. The engine smoked at idle. I had the car towed home. Without verifying the damage I proceeded to replace the head gasket. After removing the head and I inspected the gasket, there was no damage and the gasket was in good shape. I left it alone for a few days while I was thinking about the problem. I replaced the gasket and did a leakdown test. Leakdown showed no sign of abnormal leakage. I went ahead and assembled evrything together. Once the assembly was completed, I started the engine and let it idle for a few minutes. Everything was running fine. After about 6-10 minutes of idling, it started to smoke. There was no smoke for the first 5 minutes. At first I thought it was oil that might have spilled in the exhaust pipe and it would burn out eventually. Well it never did. I let the eng cool and started it up again. The first 5 minutes no smoke. Once the engine was warm it started to smoke a lot. I drove it around the block and it smoked heavily. I did notice during the drive that when I gave a little boost I heard the turbo clangking. Sure enough I removed the turbo and I had a end play of 1/2 inch. The seals were bad. As soon as I pulled the turbo off there was so much oil in the housing.

I don't know if you have the same symptoms but it won't hurt to check.

mlwagar

cas951
Thanks for the input. I am in the process of pulling the turbo to see if it is the source of the problem. If it is,I'll have to talk to TEC about fixing it. I bought the turbo about 8-10 months ago but only put 500 miles on it before the smoke problem started up. The car has been sitting for the last few months because I haven't had the time to work on it. I'll let you know what I find.

jimbo1111

I think i have a similar problem with my turbo. When i first start the car it doesn't smoke. When on boost it smokes a little sometimes. after coming off of a spirited run at idle it starts to billow smoke for about 30 sec. then goes away. It's definitely oil because i smell it. Any clues as to what this could mean?

mlwagar

I pulled the turbo out today and sure enough, the inside of the turbine flange where it bolts up to the down tube,and the down tube it self have a healthy amount of oil in them. You can see a spiral pattern of oil working its way around the bend in the down tube, and some oil residue on the flange where the down tube bolts to the cat. I am taking it back to TEC tomorrow and have them replace the seals. I hope to have everything back togther by early next week. Thanks for the input from everyone.

Danno

Don't know if you have this option with the TEC turbos, and I don't know if it's available with the particular turbo you have, but go for the dynamic seals. These are better than simple contact seals. They actually use boost-pressure to press against their sealing surfaces. Thus, as they wear, the same contact is maintained.

mlwagar

Danno
Thanks for the info on the seals. I'll check with TEC to see what type of seal they used, and if the dynamic seal is something I can get. I hope they don't give me a hard time about replacing the seals as a waranty, seeing as I have less than 500 miles on the turbo.

mlwagar

TEC disassembled my turbo and diagnosed the problem as being a momentary loss of oil being fed to the turbo. They said the loss of oil caused the bearings to wear down and gaul the shaft. (Evident by a bronze coloration at two points on the shaft) Due to the fact that the failure was caused by this momentary loss of oil (even though the parts were saturated with oil) the repairs will not be covered under waranty. Does anyone know of a cause for the oil feed to the turbo to intermitantly cut out? The feed tube is not kinked, and as I mentioned, the inner workings of the turbo were saturaed with oil. Any input on this matter would be greatly appreciated.