After 8 months of sitting my 87 TII is now running with a freshley rebuilt motor. As of now it dosen't start without alot of oil for compression (which i guess is typical), but it also dosen't idle. Is this also typical of a freshly rebuilt motor? It runs alright over about 1.5k, but any lower and it just dies. Any help/tips/tricks on getting this car road worthy would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

you need to make sure there are no vacuum leaks, its easy to miss something when your putting a motor in.

mike

 

Well I checked very thoroughly and didn't find any
there is some ghetto rigging involved though so perhaps that is to blame. I ran the car for about 15 min and it wouldnt stop burning oil. I put oil in the intake, but not that much. I checked the oil level and it was low, the car hasnt run but for about 35 min total since i filled it up. I have good reason to believe that the turbo is the cause of the oil. How can I decipher between the motor 0-rings and the turbo oil seal as the culprit for the smoke?
Thanks

 

well, it could still be burning whatever oil was put in during the rebuild. i think it might take more than 35 minutes of occasional running to get it burned off the turbine blades and out of the exhaust ... blah, blah, blah.

i will assume that you've checked for leaks, so the only other thing that i can readily think of is the oil cooler. when you say the level was low, how low is low? did you take the oil cooler out while the engine was being built, and have it cleaned? they can hold a pretty decent amount of oil in them, and it doesn't all go back to the oil pan. it's just a thought ...

what reason do you have to suspect the turbo? who built the motor for you? is it someone that has a "good" reputation? i'm asking because you questioned the engine's oil seals this soon ...

 

The oil cooler stayed mounted the whole time. By low I mean below the checkered area of the dipstick, near the 'L'. The motor was built by a fellow forum member, I am just questioning the possibilities. I want to get this thing figured out. At this point in time it smoked just as much as it did the first moment i started it up. As in you cant see 1 foot behind the car, it is very thick and abundant. Which brings me to another reason why i am questioning the integrity of the oil seals because it looks just like a car with bad 0-rings. I found a small leak under the pan where the drain plug wasn't tight enough, and deposits of semi burnt thick black oil can be found under the turbo, only when the car is running. I ran it, it left a spot, I moved it, and it didnt make another spot. Thanks for the help.

 

Here is the smoke I'm talking about :
http://community.webshots.com/photo.../46524308lvLcXU
http://community.webshots.com/photo.../46524324JOWIQf
Here is what I found on the turbo:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/...46524403yGAjXS

 

if you pull a boost hose off, and its clean. then pull a spark plug, your looking for a light brown buildup. if both of those are ok then you can condemn the turbo.

mike

 

My motor is toast. It stopped smoking (heavily) for a minute so I took it out and ran it for about 2 miles before the heavy smoke came out again. I let it cool down and ran a compression test. I found 70 on the front rotor and 50 on the rear , not good. Looks like my fresh rebuild is no good. Any advice?

 

get a baseball bat and go talk to the guy that built it ... (just kidding ... i'm not promoting violence!)

anyway, yeah, take it back to the guy that built it, sans the baseball bat, and see what can be done. as long as you weren't revving the **** out of it, i can't see how this is your fault.

you sure he used NEW seals?