Engine smoking, rings wearing, can I run heavier oil?
04-22-2008, 01:27 PM
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Engine smoking, rings wearing, can I run heavier oil? Guys,
The engine is a stock LS6 with 35K miles of which 5k were under boost, 8 psi. I am getting a lot of smoke out of my breather and believe the rings are wearing out. The car still makes good power, I trapped 134 at the track last time. I am currently running a Mobil 1 synthetic 5W-30. Will it help to switch to a regular 15W-50 or 20W-50? BTW the supercharger(Novi 2000) is oiled from the engine, not a self contained supercharger. I am hoping the motor will stay together until winter and buy me some time to save up some money. What do you guys think, will the oil help or hurt.
Thanks
Chris
The engine is a stock LS6 with 35K miles of which 5k were under boost, 8 psi. I am getting a lot of smoke out of my breather and believe the rings are wearing out. The car still makes good power, I trapped 134 at the track last time. I am currently running a Mobil 1 synthetic 5W-30. Will it help to switch to a regular 15W-50 or 20W-50? BTW the supercharger(Novi 2000) is oiled from the engine, not a self contained supercharger. I am hoping the motor will stay together until winter and buy me some time to save up some money. What do you guys think, will the oil help or hurt.
Thanks
Chris
04-22-2008, 02:55 PM
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i would not run a thicker weight, just make sure you keep it full. Your engine oil passages are designed for 30 weight, if you ran a thicker weight, you might not get good oil distrabution, causing more problems than just worn rings...
04-22-2008, 03:20 PM
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I was going to do a leak down test, but all that is going to tell me is that something is leaking. Too much trouble knowing the engine is going to have to be rebuild soon anyway.
If thicker oil will no thurt the heads, then I am going to try it. At least then maybe I can drive the car and no look like a freight train.
If thicker oil will no thurt the heads, then I am going to try it. At least then maybe I can drive the car and no look like a freight train.
04-23-2008, 07:29 PM
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If I had to make a guess, I'd say your valve stem seals are beginning to leak. Since you've substantially raised the cylinder pressure via the supercharger and it's leaking out your valve cover...
And I wouldn't take any schmo's opinion on here as far as oil goes.. The only thing I'd be worried about is like someone else said : Proper oil distribution. could spin a crank or rod bearing. Consult one of the vendor's / sponsors of LS1 tech who are familliar with forced induction.
And I wouldn't take any schmo's opinion on here as far as oil goes.. The only thing I'd be worried about is like someone else said : Proper oil distribution. could spin a crank or rod bearing. Consult one of the vendor's / sponsors of LS1 tech who are familliar with forced induction.
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04-27-2008, 10:01 AM
#8
Have you tried Using an oil with an additive? I started using valvoline 10-30 High milage in my DD because it was burning at least a quart of oil withen 2000 miles, smoking, and besides the piston slap it also sound like a couple of the lifters were noisey. After 2-3 oil changes the smoking and burning oil stoped. The lifter issue also went away. I figured that was way easier then tearing it down and rebuilding a few years back and if it blows up that would be a better excuse to make more power. It has been at least 3 years and I just now found a nice low milage block and crank for cheap to start my new build up. Its at the machine shop now and I am waiting on the machinest to get my new pistons.
04-27-2008, 11:13 AM
#9
Mobil 1 5-30 is a relatively thin base oil. If you want to stay with M1 or synthetic, I'd try their 5-40 turbodiesel or their 15-50. If you go dino, you might try a 15-40.
Going back to the old school days when the answer was to throw in a can of STP, thicker oil can definitely mitigate the symptoms.
Going back to the old school days when the answer was to throw in a can of STP, thicker oil can definitely mitigate the symptoms.
04-27-2008, 11:22 AM
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Any fuel in your oil? When my car was smoking bad we thought it was the rings because we were getting quite a bit of blow-by and fuel in the oil. Car drove fine with an occasional miss but no noise at all and didn't seem low on power. We started tearing it down to re-ring the pistons and hone the cylinders.
Ended up being this:
Now believe me I'm not saying this is your problem but just goes to show it's not always what you expect it to be. This ended up causing even more headache as we were under the impression that all LS1 pistons from 98-01 were the same, come to find out the piston out of my 01 WS6 is completely different than one we got out of a 00 SS (looks more like an 01 LS6 piston than a 00 LS1). Amazingly enough the cylinder just needed a quick hone. Still looking for a piston though lol.
But now I'm ranting. Anyways I tried various things before hand to try and stop the smoking but they never worked. (hmm wonder why) But I say better to be safe than sorry.
Ended up being this:
Now believe me I'm not saying this is your problem but just goes to show it's not always what you expect it to be. This ended up causing even more headache as we were under the impression that all LS1 pistons from 98-01 were the same, come to find out the piston out of my 01 WS6 is completely different than one we got out of a 00 SS (looks more like an 01 LS6 piston than a 00 LS1). Amazingly enough the cylinder just needed a quick hone. Still looking for a piston though lol.
But now I'm ranting. Anyways I tried various things before hand to try and stop the smoking but they never worked. (hmm wonder why) But I say better to be safe than sorry.
Last edited by HitmanLSX; 04-27-2008 at 11:44 AM.
05-27-2008, 03:11 PM
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If I had to make a guess, I'd say your valve stem seals are beginning to leak. Since you've substantially raised the cylinder pressure via the supercharger and it's leaking out your valve cover...
And I wouldn't take any schmo's opinion on here as far as oil goes.. The only thing I'd be worried about is like someone else said : Proper oil distribution. could spin a crank or rod bearing. Consult one of the vendor's / sponsors of LS1 tech who are familliar with forced induction.
And I wouldn't take any schmo's opinion on here as far as oil goes.. The only thing I'd be worried about is like someone else said : Proper oil distribution. could spin a crank or rod bearing. Consult one of the vendor's / sponsors of LS1 tech who are familliar with forced induction.
05-27-2008, 03:13 PM
#13
Mobil 1 5-30 is a relatively thin base oil. If you want to stay with M1 or synthetic, I'd try their 5-40 turbodiesel or their 15-50. If you go dino, you might try a 15-40.
Going back to the old school days when the answer was to throw in a can of STP, thicker oil can definitely mitigate the symptoms.
Going back to the old school days when the answer was to throw in a can of STP, thicker oil can definitely mitigate the symptoms.
05-27-2008, 10:20 PM
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A 20w-50 will only band-aid the situation and is much to heavy for our LSX family motors. I suggest running a 10w-40 weight at MOST. If your valve cover breathers are smoking, it means they are working very well since you are boosted.
