Had heads & cam installed
Put car on dyno and tuned WOT
Power fell off significantly after 5700 rpm
Car reaked of oil or coolant or both
Installer said car was runing pig rich at part throttle (he knew this just by shifting from 1st to 2nd to 3rd with the car on the rollers)
Picked car up today and limped it home with air/fuel reading 9.5-10.5:1 the entire 25 minute drive home. The car was barely drivable.
My friend/tuner shows up tonight to tune part throttle. He immediately discovers no readings from the MAP sensor.
We find the map sensor prongs are bent and the nipple on the intake for the brake booster is not capped (I have manual brakes).
So we're thinking that is why the car was pig rich at part throttle and possibly why the power fell flat at WOT on the dyno.
So we straighten the prongs and get the MAP sensor working again and also cap the nipple.
Suddenly car is almost dead on air/fuel and tuning is almost unnecessary.
So things are going great and I'm feeling really confident the car is going to make a lot more power when I get back on the dyno.
We go make a few WOT runs and air/fuel is spot on 12.8:1 but oh crap, car is billowing smoke out the exhaust.
Car also reaks of oil even worse now.

Only thing we can think of is the car was running so rich at part throttle that the rings got washed.

If this is the case, what are my options? Will I even be able to drag race it with that much smoke coming out the exhaust? Is my motor essentially dead?

 

you could run it till it pops. Who worked on your car? If you need help kicking their *** let me know.

 

I would also check the oil and change it. If you need a hand let me know.

 

WTF Derrick??

Guess it's time for a forged motor if this one is really hurt????

 

If you ran WOT and the rings weren't bedded in properly I'd expect to find carbon particulates in the oil, it will be black. The level may have risen in the pan as well. I'd do an oil change and run the car normally for a few hundred miles at varying loads. Maybe the rings will bed in, maybe not but I'd try it.

Boosted.

 

You didnt wash rings running 9.5:1 AFR, thats not rich enough to wash rings.

 

He didnt mention installing a new engine, just heads/cam.

 

Well if I did in fact "wash the rings" it's not my mechanics fault. He was in a rush to get my car done in time for an event in Kansas City and we didn't have time to do part throttle tuning first. I knew he was going to dyno it before driving it on the street and if I thought that was a mistake I should have said something. When I picked up my car yesterday we both knew how bad part throttle was and he offered to tow my car back to my house but I told him I'd just drive it home. I had no idea running a car at 10.0:1 for only 25 minutes could damage the engine. Only thing my mechanic should have done differently was check for codes.

Now, hopefully brad8266 is right and I did not wash the rings. What else could it be?

 

Do you realize that very high HP cars run a 9.5-10.5:1 AFR as their target desired AFR? I have ran that rich before, trust me it wont wash your rings man.

I would start by checking all of the sensor over and running a scanner to see if all the sensors are working right. Then I would run a leakdown test to check to ensure your heads are sealed down.

Check your plugs too.

 

No, I did not realize that. However, it wasn't just running rich. You know what an engine does when a two step is activated? That's what mine was doing the entire 25 minute drive home. My car was in open loop so all I could go off of was my air/fuel gauge which fluctuated around 9.5~10.5. As soon as my tuner put the car in closed loop the car ran much better and wasn't missing any more. That's when he noticed he was getting no readings from the MAP sensor. After we fixed the sensor all readings looked normal and we didn't throw any more codes.

I'll check the plugs today to see what they look like and I'll have my mechanic do a leak down test next week. I am wondering if maybe it was not oil smoke but possibly coolant smoke because the smell might have been a little on the sweet side and also I checked my oil and it still looked brand new and the oil level was still the same.

 

P.S. I'm using Evans NPG-R coolant. Engine temp was steady at 170 all night. I have not checked the coolant level again. I still think the smell was a bit on the sweet side. My nose is not the best though.

 

I suspect that jacked up MAP issue cause your car to have no idea how to fuel so it was just dumping lots of fuel, which fouled your plugs. Then you fixed the MAP but it still wont run right until you fix the fouled plugs.

I had a similiar issue last week when i did my engine swap, I started the engine without reflashing for my bigger injectors first and ran it for 5 minutes which flodded my engine. I refalshed for the larger injectors and the engine still ran like crap until I put brand new plugs in.

 

I agree with Brad , change the plugs. While you are at it do a leak down test. If leak down is more than 7-8% then it's time to start getting worried.

 

Thanks Brad, I missed that.

Boosted.

 

Change plugs and oil, you might be surprised. Might just have some fouled out plugs.

 

so any news???

 

Not yet. I just got out of the hospital. I have some sort of parasite or virus in my intestines. This has been a bad year for me. I just had pneumonia a couple months ago and now this! Since 8:00pm Friday I have only been able to eat a half bowl of chicken noodle soup and some saltine crackers, that's it. I've already lost 8 pounds in just under 5 days. I guess on the bright side it is good for lowering my raceweight.

I'll post when everything is figured out. It might be a few more days or it could be a few more weeks but I'll post.

 

I can see some engine running a 9.5-10.5 afr at wot under a full load and using the fuel, He was not under a full load, part throttle. So a 9.5:1 part throttle i think could wash the rings, cuz your not burning it, your just dumping it into the cylinders.

 

Fix plugs, map, get some miles on it, should be ok. Ive had worse fuel issues and rings were just fine. Plugs and oil were another story.

 

LOL, 9.5 isnt going to wash rings at all, period. I have ran down in the 8's AFR before with no problems at all except some fouled plugs.