Lessons in Life.. Oil Leaks and Smoking Motors

[KevinM]

I wasn't going to post anything but figured this might help out some of the other owners with common situations.

Last fall I was having my Supra dyno tuned before Vegas and they were having trouble getting it right. Towards the end the car overheated and started blowing smoke (white/gray) out the tail. It was limping pretty badly so I got it home and figured we blew the motor. I had a JDM one on order and this one half out before I even thought, well maybe I should do a compression/leakdown just to see what we did....to late anyway so I continued. Pulled the motor and put the JDM one (ARP/MHG) in within a week or so due to minor machining delays.

During that time I happened to notice that there was a little oil accumulating under the SP63.. checked it and sure enough the seals were going and it was sent in for a rebuild. Too bad I couldn't get it back until after Vegas.

Once I got it back everything was put it and all was fine.

Finally I found the time to tear down that motor to see what we did.. (I would have been working on the GB brackets, put I'm still waiting for ones that are correct).

I learned 2 interesting things from just pulling the head.

#1 Some of the oil that was leaking which I assumed was coming from the front main, was actually coming from the cam seals (everything was new). I wouldn't have guess it, so if you have oil leaking from high, take a hour or so to pull the cam gears and the plate behind it to see where you're at.

#2 No BHG and pistons look fine....I was never convinced that it needed a new HG anyway, but since I didn't take the time to do the compression/leakdown, I'm not sure if the rings were going or what. Found that 2 sparkplugs were shattered so that's probably why it was missing. And that means the turbo was probably the reason for the smoke... oops

Live and learn. Hopefully this reminds everyone once again to not make assumptions. I have still never blown a HG, but am only left wondering why it didn't dawn on me a little earlier that day to make a correct diagnosis.

A few pics for your enjoyment
Kevin

 

[aye mate]

Werd, never assume the worst. I always tend to think that small stuff is big stuff and I get real worried. It doesn't help to freak out so when your car does something out of the ordinary the best way is to start small and trouble shoot. Like when I capped of my PCV and after I would boost clouds and clouds of smoke would exit the tailpipe. My first thought was blown turbo(I had just upped the boost) but no. Most of the time with me its stupid stuff that I forget or an ignorant of. Anyhoo good post, with an important message KevinM.

 

[SidewayzSupra]

Hey Kevin whats up? I met you yesterday up in Everett anyway thats a funny story....well not realy. Let me know about those '88'style blinker covers when your ready. You should see the argument I'm going through in the kill section. I swear some people. Anyway you should stop by sometime when your in the area(Puyallup) and clue me in on some tips of the trade. Later and good luck with the motor(s).

 

[IJ.]

Kevin: What were the AF's during the dyno run?

 

[KevinM]

All over the place with the A/F Something like 15:1 at 4g and 9.5:1 thereafter

I was paying to have it tuned...oops again. Street tuning from now on. Just got to find a good area

 

[IJ.]

Damn! gotta wonder what caused the 15:1!

 

[KevinM]

not tuning properly

 

[IJ.]

A pro tuner did that?

 

[turboa7mgte]

I am working on a customers 88 with 98,000 miles on it right now, He has leakes everywhere!!!
here is the leaks i found

the worst leak was found in the CPS O ring. the shitty part is that Elmhurst said that I have to buy a $70 sensor and that the O-ring is not available by its self. So i am going to search for an alternative... I think a 350 chevy Distributor O ring will work. any Ideas?
This leak was very bad and the O ring was very hard and broke into about 5 peices when i took it out.

The Next leak was in the cam seals.

then the Crank pully seal

I also found that the Dipstick tube o ring was kinda trashed.

This car had never had any service done at all so I pulled the motor and went over everything. All gaskets and seals have been replaced.

 

[KevinM]

You can get the external O-ring directly from the dealership. They probably thought you meant the internal one which would mean either replace it or have it rebuilt. Pull off the plastic cover and see if there's any oil in there.
Kevin

 

[turboa7mgte]

I just called curt and I guess they thought i was talking about a 2j motor... So yeah you are right and I was able to get that O ring.