Greetings,

I have a 1990 FC that blows some serious (blue)smoke. The PO told me he thought it was the rotor's side seals. I was wondering if there is an AFT trick or some other type trick to refresh and or clean these seals.

Another odd thing to me is the smoke does not stop once the car is warmed up. I took it for a short trip, and tried to get it to redline after it warmed up, but there was so much smoke coming out i had to let off. People were actually slowing down before entering the cloud because it was so thick.

This would lead me to believe the OMP is stuck open or otherwise injecting too much oil. I just don't know.

Please let me know what you think.

(I searched the archives and stickies, and also searched the entire forum but didn't find anything)

Thanks,

 

Rotor Oil seals more likely....

 

forgive my ignorance, but isn't that what the side seals are?

 

the side seals, are like the second piston ring on a piston engine, the rotor oil seal is like the oil scraper ring on a piston engine.

you could certainly try the ATF, i wouldn't get my hopes up though

 

Thanks for the replies. I get you now.

When I tried to get it to go to WOT, I didn't expect there to be more oil being burned since if it was the oil seals, there wouldn't be much more oil added to the combustion chamber. My understanding is that usually when the oil seals fail on these, the smoke eventually dies down after running for a bit, and builds up as it sits.

This is what makes me think there might be a problem with the OMP or oil injectors. Perhaps they are stuck open?
If my logic makes sense, is the next step unplugging the wiring harness for the OMP (if there even is one) and driving the car again?

Thanks for any help.

 

the OMP outputs something like 2cc or oil in a few minute, even if its wide open, its a few drops. not your problem

 

When the oil seals first start to go you will notice smoke on start-up and on decel, but if they get really bad it can certainly be more.
What FC do you have? It isn't turbo is it?

 

I had oil seals so bad in my 1977 REPU that oil dripped out the tailpipe.

 

This is on my 1989 Vert. NA, with 119k miles on, I believe the original engine.

 

So the bottom line is that if the engine is blowing that much smoke there is no easy fix to refresh the seals or clean them? The only repair is to replace them?

 

if the seals are bad there is no remedy except to replace them, if they are dirty enough to stick/not work, then cleaning can work. its worth trying to clean/ decarbon the engine, but don't expect miracles

 

If the oil seals are shot, it's usually because the side housings are worn out because somebody had been running it with a vacuum leak or without an air filter.

Any dust in the air will grind the crap out of the side housings where the side seals ride. The oil control rings have to cross over the stepped wear that this causes, and this makes the oil rings wear out in a hurry.

You won't know for sure until you pull it apart and see.