burning oil. How much is to much?
 

Hey all,

I have an FD with 60k on it. I have only had it for a few days now and i noticed that it idles smooth with occasional "hiccups" where there is a second of ruffness then it runs smooth again for 5 seconds or so.. Then it repeats. its very speratic and im wondering if maybe the plugs just need to be replaced.. Also i notice when im under heavy acceleration the engine will surge. Sign of fouled plug or two?!?!

I was having boost issues before but i fixed it by finding a vaccum hose that popped off, However now when im around 5-7k i get a puff of smoke, i cant tell if its black or Grey smoke and im wondering what the signs of a blown motor/Rotor are. Also, What do you all reccomend for oil/ and adding oil to your gas?!?! Can someone explain this.. thanks!!

generally, you should not burn more than 1qt every 1,500 miles.

If you have a blown engine/rotor, it doesn't run. There's only a handfull of parts on the rotors, and if any of them (except for the OCR's) fail, you'll know immediately due to a severe lack of power. If you have bad Oil Control Rings, it'll smoke a lot, especially under acceleration. But, at 60k miles, I serriously doubt that's your problem. I'd look at the induction/fuel system.

For oil, any mineral oil (castrol GTX, valvoline, pennzoil, ect....) will work just fine. I personally use Castrol or Valvoline HD30.

If you're wanting to premix (add oil to the gas), you'll want to remove the current Metering Oil System. Then, instead of motor oil, you use a 2-cycle oil (TCW3 or equivalent). For premix, you add roughly 1oz oil. to every gallon of fuel. I prefer Lucas smokeless 2-stoke oil (O'Reilly's carries it among other places).

If you're getting a puff of smoke under boost, you may have a leaky turbo. Since they're water and oil cooled, you may have bad seals/bearings.

if it's idling oddly, check for vacuum leaks. In fact, replace every vacuum hose with silicone hoses and zip-tie them to the nipples (you can even get zip-ties to match whatever color of hose you choose). If you don't have a vacuum leak, adjust your TPS and do a full tune-up (spark plugs, wires, adjust everything that needs to be adjusted).

If the engine surges under heavy acceleration, you may have a turbo that's not boosting correctly (either spiking or boosting intermittently). Look for a damaged wastegate actuator/blow off valve.

Take your car and drive hard around the block (after it gets warm, of course). After you pull in your driveway, turn it off and pull a sparkplug. It should have white/tan colored carbon on it. If it's all black (there may be some black carbon on it, but that's normal), then you're getting way too much fuel or a bad oil leak from within the engine or the intake system. If it's white/tan, and it smoked a LOT, then it's the turbos, or a water leak from within the engine. Note any water on the spark plugs. If there's water on them, you may have a water leak inside the engine or on the compressor side of the turbo.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for that info!!!

Can i get more detail on this. Thanks!!

Where are the actuators located at. Ive done a search for pics on this forum but i cant find shit. Thanks for your help.

Also, The car really only puffs smoke in first gear under WOT and sometimes between shifts. is this due to the BOV malfunctioning??!? for some reason or another the BOV is not working ( im assuming because i cant hear it ). thx.

i use about a quart every 800 miles in my gsl-se

If you have a stock airbox, you hardly hear the BOV. Vent it to atmosphere and it another story. It scared the shit out of me the first time :D