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Engine Braking = Blue Smoke

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Old 04-09-2012, 08:52 AM
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Whatever I did made it worse... I was blowing smoke almost all the way to work today... full throttle nothing but under light load low rpm (under 2K) there was a cloud coming out behind me. Guess I better start planning a rebuild.
Old 04-09-2012, 10:38 AM
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i dont believe its your block, i wanna say its probably teh valve seals or something
Old 04-09-2012, 11:59 AM
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first dont engine brake.

Its likely sucking in oil from the pcv. When I changed the intake on my old camaro, it was drenched in oil. It is a common issue for these engines. Removing the pcv and replacing with a breather is the best way to do. People have used catch cans but they dont seem to catch oll the oil.

I would check this before checking the valves, rings, etc
Old 04-09-2012, 12:38 PM
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perform a test with the PCV disconnected, it sounds like you're pulling oil through there due to the high vacuum. If it still does it then its the valve seals, due to the high vacuum pulling oil through the seals
Old 04-09-2012, 01:40 PM
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Update: replaced plug wires and smoke issue seems to be gone. One wire was completely fubar and no longer clicking onto the plug. Might be a combination here, I'm going to back off the decel and replace the valve seals. As of right now the issue seems to be gone, not sure a dead cylinder would have done this.
Old 04-09-2012, 05:14 PM
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What your experiencing is typical with worn guides and/or bad seals and likely both.

Engine braking creates the highest manifold vacuum and will pull oil down the worn guide (that has excessive clearance now) and ultimately into the combustion process.

A dead cylinder might smoke a little as well....hopefully that's your issue, but in the event its not I would consider a cylinder head rebuild if your trying to eliminate the smoking issue your experiencing (frankly I would freshen the whole engine at that point).

A smoking engine due to ring seal issues would be more prevalent at WOT because the higher cylinder and crankcase pressures tend to force oil past the rings (and once again into the combustion process).

Good luck.....hopefully its your (potential) dead cylinder causing the problem.

-Tony
Old 04-09-2012, 06:59 PM
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Burnt valve probably, I've seen it before
Old 04-09-2012, 10:11 PM
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Is the oil pooled in the head normal? Seems to be a lot of it pooled around the #7 springs.
Old 04-11-2012, 07:17 PM
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHBv7PMVLiw

Going to do the valve seals this weekend... Praying..
Old 04-11-2012, 09:52 PM
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did you at least try a breather?

also, check the intake behind the tb. Mine had pools of oil in it. It would probably smoke with a breather until all the oil is sucked out of the intake.

Check out the profile pic of TonyM, it has a breather
Old 04-11-2012, 10:07 PM
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Just for comparison, my 99T/A with 45,000 miles has around 210-220psi when I do dry compression tests. When I changed my rockers, pushrods and springs, the compression was down a little, and re-adjusting the rockers ensured the valves were closing properly and helped with the compression readings.
Old 04-11-2012, 10:15 PM
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I didn't try a breather, I did replace the Pcv valve and have a catch can, wouldn't think this would suddenly be an issue unless something changed?
Old 04-22-2012, 09:10 PM
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Originally Posted by S8ER95Z
After catch can so far so good, no smoke incidents but catch can has been filling faster than expected.

Pulled plugs... All of them look almost brand new except #7

Tested the wire and replaced the plug... Will see what happens now.
Borescope that cylinder. You might find this.

Old 04-23-2012, 11:35 AM
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ouch, number 7 is always the first to go
Old 04-23-2012, 01:08 PM
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Originally Posted by CLRD4TO
Borescope that cylinder. You might find this.

Ouch... background on that? is there a thread?
Old 04-23-2012, 03:06 PM
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I think you're being paranoid at this point. Good to hear you abuse your engine that much and your compression is still within limits. I would avoid engine braking man at all costs its really hard on your transmission and like people above have said brakes are alot cheaper than an engine/tranny.

Whats your plug gap btw? It looked excessive on #7 Cylinder.

For future reference if you do have low compression You can sometimes hear the leak through the dipstick tube if its a comp. ring, and through the throttle body if its an intake valve. And on aircraft engines you can hear it through the exhaust, doubtfully on a car though.

Using seafoam does help on engines that have been neglected of routine oil changes. It will clean up rings to allow them to properly expand and restore compression.
Old 04-23-2012, 04:46 PM
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Originally Posted by M1tch
I think you're being paranoid at this point. Good to hear you abuse your engine that much and your compression is still within limits. I would avoid engine braking man at all costs its really hard on your transmission and like people above have said brakes are alot cheaper than an engine/tranny.

Whats your plug gap btw? It looked excessive on #7 Cylinder.

For future reference if you do have low compression You can sometimes hear the leak through the dipstick tube if its a comp. ring, and through the throttle body if its an intake valve. And on aircraft engines you can hear it through the exhaust, doubtfully on a car though.

Using seafoam does help on engines that have been neglected of routine oil changes. It will clean up rings to allow them to properly expand and restore compression.
Honestly I think you are right.. every noise has me concerned now. My gap was .060, I just swapped all the plugs out and put them at .040 to see if that would help. I did discover the connector for the #7 plug was pushed all the way up the boot (wouldn't click... after pulling it and looking I discovered the plug was no where near the connector) and I'm pretty sure that plug wasn't even firing half the time.

Thanks for the tips... car seems to be running 'normal' again I just need to relax I think.
Old 05-29-2012, 11:15 AM
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Did u ever figure out what it was im going through the same problem right now but my car only smokes after you've driven it for 5 mins and come to a complete stop u can see smokes come out from under hood when im at the stop light car only has 130k its an 01 ws6 with mobile 1 oil I REPLACED the pvc, my hose was cracked by the intake in the back i put tape over the crack though idk if its that.
Old 07-07-2012, 11:25 AM
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Originally Posted by killerwhale
Did u ever figure out what it was im going through the same problem right now but my car only smokes after you've driven it for 5 mins and come to a complete stop u can see smokes come out from under hood when im at the stop light car only has 130k its an 01 ws6 with mobile 1 oil I REPLACED the pvc, my hose was cracked by the intake in the back i put tape over the crack though idk if its that.
Sorry I missed this post.. I replaced the valve cover gaskets and avoid engine braking as much as possible. Mine was coming out the exhaust tips themselves and only after messing with my valvecovers did I end up with smoke under the hood, caused that trying to figure why it was smoking in the first place. I haven't seen it happen over the past few months... though I have what is believed to be audible rod knock so I'm pulling the motor and rebuilding. Just hit 156K and compression is still good, at this point I figured I got 11 years (It was built in sept 2000) and 156K out of it daily driving and hitting the strip a couple times a year. Hopefully I will figure out what was wrong when I tear it all apart.

Good luck with your issue...
Old 07-07-2012, 08:05 PM
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Since Ive posted last in this thread, I did a head swap on my car. Also had blue smoke while engine braking. Although it was very little smoke, the valve guides where the problem. The intake valves were wet when disassembled and all the guides had carbon build up under the valve seal. That would be a good check on your car is to pull a couple seals and see if it looks like mine. I did not do a compression check before pulling the heads but I did early last year before it started smoking.



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