JDGJr85GSLSE

I suspect that my SE's OMP is failing - excessive blue smoke at startup after sitting for a few days.

can someone clue me in on where this thing is? thanks

Glazedham42

iTrader: (4)

I'm not sure if the 13B OMPs look different than the ones on 12As but they should still be in the same place. Look on the front cover of your engine, on the passenger side, almost all the way at the bottom. It will be sort of covered up by the main eccentric shaft pulley. You also should be able to trace the plastic lines back to it to find it. I'm not sure where they empty out at on a 13B but find your lines and trace them back to the OMP. Here is a picture of a 12A setup. I imagine yours will be in the exact same location. It may look a little different. Hope this helps. I dont know much about SE's.

This doesn't sound like an OMP failure to me. Usually when an OMP fails it deprives your engine of the lubrication, not send in too much oil. I think something else is causing oil to build up inside the engine when your car is sitting. Hopefully some of our SE gurus will show up to help you more...

JDGJr85GSLSE

Damn, that was quick! did you have that pic just lying around?

thanks, that gets me started

Glazedham42

iTrader: (4)

Please read my edit above. Added something else you'll want to read. Just did a quick search to find the picture. You learn about where to find the good stuff after you stick around for a while.

calvinpaul

iTrader: (2)

Damn that omp looks like crap...needs a rebuild and good cleaning

Supper

or just removal and a move to premix

Hyper4mance2k

iTrader: (40)

probably your oil seals time for a rebuild.... you might get 5k out of it though

LongDuck

OMP on an SE has 4 oil outlet pipes leading to the lower intake manifold (2), and then the remaining 2 go to the top of the engine block itself to provide direct lubrication to the apex seals on the intake stroke. This is augmentation to the 2 lines in the 12a engines due to the necessity to provide more lubrication for the higher powered 13b.

As to your blue smoke issue - this is Oil Control Seals, not the OMP. I have 182k miles on my 84SE and have the same problem as you, but every morning. I don't have to wait a few days before it becomes evident, but soon you will be where I am. As the OCS age, they are designed to 'wipe' away any lubrication oil that stays on the side housing from the rotors themselves as they turn (oil is injected inside the rotors, and drains down, recall), so when the OCS start to go, they no longer sweep the oil away from the side and center housings, allowing this oil to get past the side seals and corner seals and draw oil into the vacuum during intake. Any oil in your intake goes through combustion, leading to blue smoke on startup.

As the engine heats up, the rotors expand from heat, applying slightly more pressure against the OCS springs and seals, resulting in a better oil control seal to the side housings - i.e., no more smoke. Also, the engine heat helps to drop the viscocity of your engine oil and subsequently, oil pressure. Reduced oil pressure they helps to keep the seals wiping well. Cold start shows highest oil pressure (other than red-lining the engine under load - which will also create smokesscreen). Let it cool off, and all the parts contract again, allowing the oil to seep past.

An OMP only needs to be rebuilt if it's leaking a lot of oil from the gaskets where it mounts to the front of the engine (near the right front engine mount). Rarely, if ever, do OMP's go bad.

Some suggestions to you from my experience to stop the smoking (or slow it down); switch to 5/30 oil - lighter weight oil at startup (cold) results in slightly reduced oil pressure, which helps to keep the oil where it belongs; Don't add any oil 'honey' or MMO or other crap that affects oil viscocity (the root cause of my smoking was adding MMO to the engine oil to 'clean-it-out' - BAD idea, IMO; Garage the car at night to keep engine temperature a bit higher; When you leave in the morning, keep RPM's low, and get out of your neighborhood as quickly as possible! (I'm not kidding, it's almost as bad as an ATF 'trick' on some cold mornings...)

HTH,

JDGJr85GSLSE

That's very useful, thanks. Recently started it after sitting a few weeks - the whole back yard was full of smoke.

In addition to the smoking getting worse, what type of 'engine failure' should I expect? Anything major, or just a growing desire to replace the oil seals?

LongDuck

Well, look at it this way; your engine is now getting more 'cold startup' lubrication than it's ever gotten in it's lifetime, and that's a good thing!

I wouldn't worry about imminent engine failure, because the engine is still getting a good A/F mixture, getting good lubrication (via leaky OCS', and evidenced by the blue smoke), and is still running well, so don't sweat it.

Again, from my experience, I've seen only GOOD things happen since my smoking started;

1) fuel mileage went up - from 18mpg mixed city/highway to over 20; no kidding!
2) cold startup friction went WAY down - as mentioned above
3) engine seems to run more smoothly - likely due to better lubrication, #2
4) people don't tailgate me in the morning - kind of a side benefit...
5) I now live up to my 'SPYHUNTER' license plates!

Seriously, since you know it's burning more oil, just be sure to check your oil more frequently (every fillup) to be sure you don't run low - that's the greatest risk you pose to your engine. You'll get a lot more than 5k miles out of it - I've been smoking for the last 5k miles and still going strong.

It's annoying, it's embarassing, it's inconvenient, but it's not damaging your engine...