help with lots and lots of smoke!
 

Well, I just installed a set of BNR new Stage 3s. At the same time, I also converted my car to full non-seq, including blocking off the ACV, EGR, etc... I also have installed a PFC, but have not had the car tuned. I still have the stock mid-pipe. I was waiting to the get the car running right because I did not want to do too much at once.

The problem I am having is that I have really bad smoking problems. The car will not smoke much at all at start-up, but then as it warms up (or if I try and drive it more than a mile) it will turn into a mosquito fogger! Bryan had suggested that my PCV was clogged or hooked up wrong and may be causing a pressure build up and forcing the oil out of my turbos. I have the valve running from the nipple on the oil filler neck into a nipple underneat the UIM. I checked that and it blows in the right direction (out of the filler neck). Well, just to be safe, today I started the car and I took the cap off the oil filler neck, which should vent the crankcase freely and have no pressure build-up. I ran the car for about 30-40 minutes today to try and clear out any oil residue, with mixed results. There is signifcantly less smoke at idle, but anytime I rev the engine, then it will smoke up really bad. How long should it take to burn off all the oil in the turbos?

I am pretty sure that my engine is not bad because I checked the exhaust manifold for wetness in the fall (car was just restarted this past weekend). Also, I am pretty sure that the smoke is oil, as it smells like a two-stroke motor. Can anybody help me? Only 10 days until the RX7 Revolution and I want my car to be running!! Thanks.

what color is the smoke?

So did pulling off the cap make a difference? Did you leave it off the entire time the car was sitting?

If the problem is that your crankcase is building pressure then its possible that it could take a while to burn off all the oil buildup that was caused from that.

Also, if thats the proplem you need to figure out why your crankcase is building pressure.

If you have the brand new style stage 3's I cant imagine that would be the prob cause they are brand new cartridges, Bryan doesnt even touch the insides of them. They would basically have to be a defect from the manufacturer which is very unlikely

STEPHEN

Yeah that's what Bryan was saying about the cartridges. I first ran the car on Sunday for about 15-20 minutes, but it smoked and leaked oil really bad. I ran it today with the oil cap off the whole time for about 30-40 minutes or more and it smoked but a little bit less (until I hit the throttle). The smoke is mostly white. I think it might be a little blue, but it definitely smells like oil and not coolant.

I am also wondering if I blocked off something that I shouldn't have? If anybody has any ideas, let me know.

its mostly white

its mostly white.....thats not good man

turbos would be real black/blueish

its mostly white.....thats not good man

oil should be real black and blueish

STEPHEN

mostly white with the situation your describing sounds like a coolant seal :( sorry man...

yea, also coolant seems to hit worse when you let off the throttle similar to how you described

Well, I had ruled out coolant for a couple of reasons:

1) I am leaking oil everywhere. It is forcing its way through the turbo seals and steadily dripping onto the floor.
2) Even though the smoke is white, it still smells like oil and not coolant.
3) I am losing oil, but not coolant. At least none that I can tell anyways.
4) My understanding is that with an O-ring failure, coolant can only get into the combustion chamber when the car is off. Then the car will smoke on startup but will eventually burn the coolant out. My car will smoke continually for 40 mintues
5) When I sent the turbos out to be rebuilt into Stage 2s (I decided to upgrade to Stage 3's over the winter) last August, the smoke was mostly blue. When I put the Stage 2's on in September, the smoke was mostly white. The only thing that changed was the turbos, so I don't understand how I could suddenly lose a coolant seal, especially when the car was not being driven? :confused:


So if it is a coolant seal, has anybody tried this "band aid" fix on the Scuderia site? I was considering that. I not only can't afford a rebuild now, I want my car to be running for the summer!! Thanks for the quick replies, everyone.

bump...

also, I was thinking about this this morning: Since my car is belching out a constant stream of white smoke, is there any way for coolant to get into the exhaust stream that is not through the engine? There are two coolant hookups on the turbos, what would happen if I assembled these wrong?

Does the BNR have coolant lines in the same location as stock? If so, it would be hard to make a mistake with them b/c they're so short.

Well, apparently, if you burn enough oil, it comes out white. I talked to Bryan and we determined that I had a vacuum line hooked up wrong. I had accidently capped the vacuum hard line that comes off of the bottom of the oil filler neck, which was not allowing the crankcase to ventilate. This was causing the oil pressure to build up and force its way out through the turbos and into the exhaust.

On another note, I'm getting the car tuned and dynoed at the RX-7 Store tomorrow night. I'll be sure to post the results!

So everything is ok now?

Yeah. Well, mostly. The car runs fine anyway. But I wasn't holding any boost when I went to get tuned. Turned out I was missing the restrictor pill in the wastegate line, which is needed for the PFC to control boost. Popped a carbuerator jet in from Jegs and bam! 12 pounds of boost. So hopefully I'll be able to schedule a full tune in the near future. I will be sure to post the results when I do, though.

i've had crankcase ventilation issues before, it appeared white smoke

i don't think you can absolutely tell by color, use your nose