Thoughts about oil in the exhaust ports?

[Grandavi]

Just wondered if anyone has any thoughts on this.

Car is in the shop, because we "assumed" the CT26 was shot. Getting 57 Trim/exhaust/injectors/etc... (all except intercooler upgrade at this point)... because the turbo failing was what I was waiting for to upgrade that.
So, they pulled the exhaust and oil "poured" out of the turbo. Pulled the turbo.. a tiny tiny bit of side to side (I think thats normal) and no front/back play. Spins nicely.. so looks like the turbo is solid. Pulled the manifold (going to have to helicoil all but 2 studs) and oil is dripping out of the exhaust ports (they are wet inside). The 6th port (near the firewall) is dry.

Now.. the car has been sitting in the shop for 2 months and they have done startup/move the car/shut down for about 2 months, so it may just be the valve stems are leaking and that is just oil build up because of not running much. Could be rings, but I doubt that because the last leakdown and compression test came out very good. (about 4000 km ago)

Told the shop to go ahead and pull the head to see where its coming from, but wondered if anyone has ever seen this?

 

[Poodles]

Should have done a compression test before pulling the head. It's probably just the valve stem seals.

 

[Grandavi]

Did a compression and leakdown prior. It was all good straight across the cylinders. Pretty sure its just valve stem seals, but I am dumping so much money into my toy that I told them just to pull the head and check everything out simply because I want to run at 12 psi normal and closer to 21 psi "race" mode. Not sure what the max psi capability is for a 57 Trim CT26 on a stock intercooler before I start stressing the system too much. I want to avoid "new" issues with the raised stress levels on the engine. Still trying to avoid doing the intercooler until end of next summer... because it will be easier to do after I pull the front bumper for a respray and to go over the front end for any repairs/cleaning up that I can do over next winter. I have to replace the first hose on the intercooler because it fell apart where it connects to the turbo (Hose 1), so I am leaning towards doing the intercooler now.. but I am doing none of the work myself and the bill is climbing pretty steeply.
Funny how this can do that. I should have just dumped the engine into Kaizen's lap and paid them to drop a 2jz VVTI into it with a single turbo... if I wasnt already 60% into my upgrades, I would be doing that right now.. lol. I like their work.

 

[Poodles]

Yeah, paying someone else to do it always complicates matters.

Pulling the bumper is really easy though. It's mainly just the two large bolts that bolt the entire assembly to the frame rails, and a couple fasteners on the side to attack to the fender liners and fenders.

 

[Grandavi]

mine's a Shine auto greddy gracer replica.. .so it has some custom brackets as well : )
Still fairly easy mind you..

 

[jonahs_supra]

Not sure what the max psi capability is for a 57 Trim CT26 on a stock intercooler before I start stressing the system too much. I want to avoid "new" issues with the raised stress levels on the engine. Still trying to avoid doing the intercooler until end of next summer

Running that high off boost out of the 57trim on stock cooler will raise intake temps
I personally would keep boost around 12 until you get a bigger intercooler
What are you using as far as a tuner to reach 21psi w/o hitting fuel cut?

 

[Grandavi]

Just AFPR and AEM Wideband. (Lexus AFM, 550 cc RC Injectors, full 3" exhaust, HKS EVC-S boost controller, MKIV Denso Fuel Pump)
Found out the oil was coming from the valve stem seals after all. They were degraded to the point you could shave them off just by lightly scraping them with a fingernail. almost half the valve stems on the exhaust side and 2 on the intake side weren't even pressed on correctly. Now the head is off and discovered that it wasn't a Cometic headgasket like I was told, it was just an OEM HG. Was also getting some oil coming up past the rings on the intake side of 2 pistons, so I may be pulling the engine to redo the rings and hone the cylinders (#1 and 4 are scored and #6 wasn't done very well when rebuilt... very poorly done rebuild)
Im this far in, so probably going to walk the rest of the way. The engine (according to my bills from PO) was rebuilt at 178,000 km (May 2004). It has just under 30k km on the rebuild (roughly 18,000 miles).

No way the engine (properly rebuilt) should have this kind of wear on it. When they did the rebuild, they had to magnaflux/straighten/regrind the crank, resize the rods and replaced the turbo. A little disappointed to see the insides like it was. I am guessing that I would have a HG issue in another 10-15k km by looking at the headgasket. At least I wont have to worry about that now (shouldn't have to).

Am I targetting too high of a boost limit?

 

[jonahs_supra]

With stock intercooler i would say so
Sorry to hear about the previous owner's lies

My old 87 was suppose to have wiseco's, eagle rods, mhg and arp headstuds
Had the arp's and mhg but block wasnt decked or head milled

 

[Grandavi]

I dont think the PO lied, I think he was lied to (or misled). From what I can see, they did rebuild the engine, but not the way you build a 7M properly. In a way I am sort of glad I found the issues now because the head and block are fine still, however, with the added boost, etc, The head gasket would have started to go. The worst part about that is if its only a small leak and starts corroding the block. Block and head surface look clean still, so just prevented a future issue.

Its hard to complain to a mechanic because nowadays, dealerships shield them (you can talk to a service "consultant", but not the mechanic. In shops, most mechanics dont talk to you either, they have front end staff for that. At least with RCTS, they still go old school and will take you to the engine/work area and go over all the issues and let you see the actual parts discussed.

The valve stem seals kind of tell a story. If they dont know how to seat a valve seal or even use a new one (either they kept the old ones in there, or use some cheap ones, not sure but I have never seen a seal degrade like that) it makes the rest questionable.

Im wondering about the water tube between the firewall and the block that has that little 90 deg elbow.. does that tube ever need to be replaced? Mine has a little dent in it and the rubber is crystalized so I will be replacing it now, however, I wondered about the metal pipe it attaches to. Is that a later concern? Looks like a bitch to get at later on...

 

[Dan_Gyoba]

Well at least at RCTS you will know that you get what you paid for. They'll also let you know what you can set boost to and what you should do for a next step. (Though, knowing Reg, his recommendation will probably be a bunch of HK$ hardware.)

 

[Poodles]

You might still have to have the block and head machined. The sealing rings tend to indent into the head, and the surface may not be the right RA for a MHG.

 

[Grandavi]

Lol... Hks... Accept no substitutes.
Reg isn't there I don't think until end of Nov.
only Hks on my car is the cat back and muffler (sweet 3" twin pipe muffler black coated.)

Oh... And the mega costly but should be worth it hks evc-s

My car is overkill for how I drive but I like overbuilding.

 

[Grandavi]

Yep, their instructions are to do it right. I believe this is the shop that defined the proper head gasket technique a loooong time ago (Reg with Sonic). The guy working on my head is the original mechanic to spec the Lexus AFM trick iirc.
Like I said... Old Skool ...

Actually... just got off the phone with them. Head needs to be lapped, block may be okay to do in the shop, so far it doesnt look like it needs to be machined. It will be getting a metal headgasket.

on the note regarding the exhaust ports... from what I can see on the exhaust side of the head, those seals were actually pumping oil into the cylinders by riding on the valve stems rather than sitting where they were supposed to. On all the engines I have been inside, mine is the most carboned looking piston tops I have seen..

 

[jonahs_supra]

Its hard to complain to a mechanic because nowadays, dealerships shield them (you can talk to a service "consultant", but not the mechanic. In shops, most mechanics dont talk to you either, they have front end staff for that. At least with RCTS, they still go old school and will take you to the engine/work area and go over all the issues and let you see the actual parts discussed.

Im a mechanic. I talk to everyone of the customers car's that i work on. Problem with service writers are they dont put in all the necessary info. Like today i had a truck come in. In the work order notes it said "noise while driving". So i called the customer and found the noise is only when in 4wd

 

[Dan_Gyoba]

Im a mechanic. I talk to everyone of the customers car's that i work on.

You sir, are the exception, rather than the rule.

Yeah, I remember some of the original notes on the Lexus/550 swap. Exciting times.

 

[Grandavi]

what is funny is I was commenting to the mechanic about how we used to drawfile the block prior to putting a headgasket on. He just looked at me and commented.. "not many people would know what the hell you just said meant". lol

 

[Poodles]

Most people don't understand what drawfiling is in general :rofl: