ae13291

iTrader: (8)

i changed cam, springs, valve stem seals on my car at 92k i have been driving for some time with no problem, at around 98k miles i would notice a little bit of smoke on start up which lasted 3 to 4 mins, but the smoke was minimal. i recently did a 1,400 mile road trip (car hit 100,000 miles on the way) after about 700 miles, i noticed the car was making continuous smoke at idle, the smoke would remain the same whether you are revving it or idle. i have not pulled the plugs yet, but was worried if its a valve stem seal issue or something more serious. car was loosing some oil but that's because i have a leak at the front cover to oil pan. your thoughts would be much appreciated.

farmington

iTrader: (14)

blue smoke-oil white smoke -water

Bluestreak

With your mileage? If it's white smoke and has a sweet smell, it's coolant burning off. The head gasket probably went bye-bye between a cylinder and a coolant passage. Simple stuff first. Check coolant level. If you have a coolant system pressure tester, use it. If the system doesn't hold pressure, look for leaks. If coolant is lower than normal, pull the plugs and read 'em. If it's coolant burning off, the affected plugs will be cleaner than the rest... they're getting steam-cleaned when the engine is running. Do a compression and a leak down test on the engine... watch for bubbles in the coolant system when air is in the cylinders during leak down testing. I'd be willing to bet the cylinder(s) with the cleaner looking plugs are the ones that'll have low compression.

Good luck.

ae13291

iTrader: (8)

omg it never crossed my mind that i would have a blown head gasket. now that you mention it, the coolant is a little lower then normal. i am going to pull the plugs and check this out. thanks alot for the input.

bwarren337

iTrader: (1)

your most likely looking at your valve stem sleeves leaking....when you did the swap hope you made sure that you put the right valve sleeves on the intake and exhaust side of valves..Black goes on intake..brown goes on exhaust..

chuckd71

iTrader: (23)

Have you pulled your plugs? Any oil on the threads? I get white smoke onstart up aswell now, it only recently started but I nevee changed seats or seals when I changed springs. Hoping to get it done before lsfest. In another thread someone suggested valve guides as a source of a leak, how does one determine guides vs seals (other than replacing one or the other)?

ae13291

iTrader: (8)

the new stem seals used were all black, they were made stronger i guess for both sides.

ae13291

iTrader: (8)

I have not pulled my spark plugs yet, maybe i will today, if the guides are worn excessively the valve stem would have a lot of back and fourth play in the guide. im going to pull the plugs today, and lets see what i will find.

Bluestreak

This gets back to what I said before. Pull the plugs and read them. Clean plugs? Could be coolant getting into the cylinders. Oily plugs? Oil control problems... valve seals or guides leaking, or oil control ring(s) going away. If it's puffing smoke on start up only, and it's consuming oil, it could be valve stem problems. Best way to narrow this down is to do a dry/wet compression test to verify the rings. If the dry test numbers are 5-15 psi lower than the wet test, it's the rings going out. A leak down test will tell you how badly, and give some indication of where it's leaking from. When doing the leak down, listen at the intake, exhaust, and oil fill for air escaping/pressurizing the different areas... check the radiator to see if bubbles are forming, indicating a head gasket problem... this test will give you a good indication of the point of failure.

And if you're not familiar with these techniques... take it in and pay a few bucks to have a pro diagnose it. Better to know for sure than play Saturday mechanic and guess, or worse... guess wrong.

ae13291

iTrader: (8)

^^ i will take care of the problem, i will check the plugs out now. i will come back and let you guys know what i find.

ae13291

iTrader: (8)

ok, i think i have already seen enough from Bank 1 of cylinders, these are the plugs, from left to right 1,3,5,7





these plugs looked like brand new at 92k miles when i did the cam, there was not even a drop of oil on the threads. now they look like crap

LilJayV10

iTrader: (39)

Doh looks like #1 is blown and might be leaking over into #3. Have u done a compression test?

Bluestreak

Time for a comp test. And I think you would be wise to check the plugs in Bank 2, just to be thorough.

ae13291

iTrader: (8)

yea im still going to check bank 2, and yes time for a compression test. anybody know what psi would be in the normal range for this motor? a compression test will determine weather i have a ring problem right? if a wet test raises the compression then it will be ring related?

Bluestreak

On a motor w/roughly 100k? 180 would be nice/ideal. 170-180... maybe as low as 160 would be acceptable if all cyl's are within 10%.

Yes. Run it dry first, record the numbers, then squirt a little oil in each cylinder and re-check. If the #'s go up significantly during wet testing (5-10+ psi) you're looking at a ring problem.

ae13291

iTrader: (8)

^^^ thanks man, will be doing that tomorrow

chuckd71

iTrader: (23)

Your number one plug looks like one of mine. Is there a guide somewhere that shows how to do these tests? Paying someone is fine but it would be nice to at least know what is going on.

ae13291

iTrader: (8)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_tbk...eature=related

chuckd71

iTrader: (23)

Great, thanks. Wasn't meaning to hijack your thread but we seem to have a similar problem.

ae13291

iTrader: (8)

ok just got though bank 1 today of the compression test. i removed bank 2 spark plugs, and all of them looked great, no signs of burning oil and no oil on the threads.
the compression test was performed with the engine cold and throttle wide open.

cylinder 1 cyl 3 Cyl 5 Cyl 7
dry: 155 D: 165 D: 162 D: 161
wet: 180 W: 179 W: 180 W: 180

do i need to start looking at removing the motor?