Oil smoke in varying conditions
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Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 158
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From: Oak Harbor, WA
Oil smoke in varying conditions
Hey all,
Firstly I have searched and searched but I haven't found a thread with someone that has quite the symptoms I have. Hopefully someone can shed some light on this for me.
I have noticed (noticed all of this during a somewhat long road trip) that after spending time on a stretch of road just crusing, that when I come to a stop my car is smoking. At first I thought it was only on deceleration, but yesterday I had to downshift to get around a car on the highway that tried to come over into me, I looked back and noticed that I had left a fairly large cloud of blueish smoke behind my car. From the driver seat on the highway I can't see anything but that doesn't mean it isn't there while cruising, but when I got off the highway I was smoking on acceleration, decel, cruising, pretty much the whole time right after getting off the highway. Parked the car and had a lengthy meal. When I go back to the car, starts up and idles with no smoke at all. Drives with no smoke until after another stretch of highway and as soon as I get off the highway it is smoking under slight load and decel. The odd thing is that just driving around on the base here for the last week (where the highest speed limit is 35) I never see it happen no matter what I do. It only seems to happen after a length (5-10 mins of highway cruising). Now for background on the setup:
Sheepey mani
Precision 6262 BB with No shaft play. Can't tell if the fitting on the turbo is a restrictor or not without taking it off, but I don't have anything to seal it with right now if I do take it off.
Factory PCV valve, but I do have a catch can on the way to hook up
3" Test pipe
Oil drain line is -10AN and goes to the passenger side all the way at the top of the pan, well above the drain bolt. I know this isn't the most ideal spot, but I can't see being able to add a bung to a different area for a while. NO kinks and pretty well downhill the entire way, before leveling off right before the drain.
I have read about the stem seals failing, but the car did not smoke before the turbo install, so I feel like it's related to the turbo. Does anyone have any ideas?
Firstly I have searched and searched but I haven't found a thread with someone that has quite the symptoms I have. Hopefully someone can shed some light on this for me.
I have noticed (noticed all of this during a somewhat long road trip) that after spending time on a stretch of road just crusing, that when I come to a stop my car is smoking. At first I thought it was only on deceleration, but yesterday I had to downshift to get around a car on the highway that tried to come over into me, I looked back and noticed that I had left a fairly large cloud of blueish smoke behind my car. From the driver seat on the highway I can't see anything but that doesn't mean it isn't there while cruising, but when I got off the highway I was smoking on acceleration, decel, cruising, pretty much the whole time right after getting off the highway. Parked the car and had a lengthy meal. When I go back to the car, starts up and idles with no smoke at all. Drives with no smoke until after another stretch of highway and as soon as I get off the highway it is smoking under slight load and decel. The odd thing is that just driving around on the base here for the last week (where the highest speed limit is 35) I never see it happen no matter what I do. It only seems to happen after a length (5-10 mins of highway cruising). Now for background on the setup:
Sheepey mani
Precision 6262 BB with No shaft play. Can't tell if the fitting on the turbo is a restrictor or not without taking it off, but I don't have anything to seal it with right now if I do take it off.
Factory PCV valve, but I do have a catch can on the way to hook up
3" Test pipe
Oil drain line is -10AN and goes to the passenger side all the way at the top of the pan, well above the drain bolt. I know this isn't the most ideal spot, but I can't see being able to add a bung to a different area for a while. NO kinks and pretty well downhill the entire way, before leveling off right before the drain.
I have read about the stem seals failing, but the car did not smoke before the turbo install, so I feel like it's related to the turbo. Does anyone have any ideas?
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Joined: Oct 2002
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From: wausau
Mine smokes a little sometimes too. I have a precision 6165 BB turbo. Its only during decelerating though. Im sure its the turbo. But ive haven't had smoke while acceleration or idle. It doesnt always smoke though. I think it might have something to do with not letting the car idle before shutting it off. I kind of notice that if I let the car idle for a bit before shutting it off, I dont get smoke as much. But I dont know for sure. Ive only had my car back for a couple of weeks.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 158
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From: Oak Harbor, WA
So, today I rerouted the oil return a bit where it got a little more shallow than I wanted and went on a quick drive. Got into boost and noticed a bit of smoke that seemed to go away, and no more smoking on decel or cruise in the quite 10 mins I spent on the highway. How much smoke under boost is normal with a test pipe? I understand that some can be expected, I'm just trying to figure out if I really fixed my problem, or if just improved it a little bit.
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Joined: Mar 2011
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From: Chicago
Mine smokes a little sometimes too. I have a precision 6165 BB turbo. Its only during decelerating though. Im sure its the turbo. But ive haven't had smoke while acceleration or idle. It doesnt always smoke though. I think it might have something to do with not letting the car idle before shutting it off. I kind of notice that if I let the car idle for a bit before shutting it off, I dont get smoke as much. But I dont know for sure. Ive only had my car back for a couple of weeks.
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 1,579
Likes: 13
From: Roc
Clicked on this thread expecting to see OP using a precision turbo...thread delivered.
In all seriousness... If the valve stem seals are going bad, you'd expect to see the smoking on startup, most notably after the car has sat over night or for a few days.
From what you've described, it seems that you are just going through when countless other people who have used Precision turbos have experienced.
I'd certainly check to ensure you're actually using a restrictor, as Precision won't honor their warranty if it's been run without one.
Make sure that return is as steep as possible, with absolutely no flat spots what so ever. It's not just the routing of the oil line that makes this tough on our platform, but also the high amount of crankcase pressure fighting against oil draining.
I think more often than not, that excess crankcase pressure is partially to blame for at least some of these issues.
Running the stock PCV system, with no ventilation can absolutely contribute to this.
I would
1: Make sure you've got a restrictor installed
2: Ensure you've got some sort of crankcase ventilation setup
In all seriousness... If the valve stem seals are going bad, you'd expect to see the smoking on startup, most notably after the car has sat over night or for a few days.
From what you've described, it seems that you are just going through when countless other people who have used Precision turbos have experienced.
I'd certainly check to ensure you're actually using a restrictor, as Precision won't honor their warranty if it's been run without one.
Make sure that return is as steep as possible, with absolutely no flat spots what so ever. It's not just the routing of the oil line that makes this tough on our platform, but also the high amount of crankcase pressure fighting against oil draining.
I think more often than not, that excess crankcase pressure is partially to blame for at least some of these issues.
Running the stock PCV system, with no ventilation can absolutely contribute to this.
I would
1: Make sure you've got a restrictor installed
2: Ensure you've got some sort of crankcase ventilation setup
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Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 32
Likes: 0
From: Chicago
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 158
Likes: 1
From: Oak Harbor, WA
My restrictor and new -3an line came in today so I plan on having it all together this weekend. Also have a catchcan to run from the PCV valve and I'm running a small filter on the front vent already. Hopefully all of these things together will solve the issue, haha.
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