Yet another smoking exhaust thread :p

Inygknok

Tropical Paradise
Sep 22, 2005
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Haven't found a thread that offers a direct answer. I don't want to take apart the CT-26 for nothing. Here's the story.


The engine was rebuilt quite a few years ago when I bought it. Well, not exactly rebuilt, but inspected and got the works to make sure everything was in almost brand new conditions. Car ran fine until my old CT-26 blew, had it rebuilt, and then had a problem where it would completely choke once it reached 3k rpm's. Then I just stopped the car for 4 years and now we're reviving it.


I got a used turbo from another SM member and it had no play as far as I remember. If it did, it was so tiny that I didn't even notice. We turned on the engine quite a few times and made sure to fix all the tiny problems, including the loose main turbo oil drain line (I have the softline mod kit). The car would turn on perfectly fine actually. That is until about the..... 12th time we test fired it. The car smokes a bit while on idle and it's a pretty grey smoke. If we accelerate it, a big, white cloud with a greyish, maybe a slight blue tint comes out. BIG ass cloud though. Got a video of it if needed.


After that episode, we started looking for any other oil leak; one of the leaks was a missing gasket on the oil filter adapter. Eventually, I found the leak and it's right under the turbo, dead center of it. Today I went to visit the place where my car is stored and tried to check for any shaft play in it. It has no front-to-back play at all but it has a damn small play side-to-side, like a millimeter at most. Also, if it's of any help, on the exhaust side of the turbo, right where it bolts on to the turbo elbow, there's a mark all around as if it was humid. As if someone had splashed about half an inch of water all the way around.


Any help is greatly appreciated as we're trying to get my car back on the road within the next few weeks!
 

Inygknok

Tropical Paradise
Sep 22, 2005
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We thought it was the valve seals, but the car would've started smoking since the first time. I've been told many times that the valve seals get dry after a long time of no use, but the car never smoked until the time I mentioned.
 

Inygknok

Tropical Paradise
Sep 22, 2005
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I will do that tomorrow. The video I mentioned is in my gf's camera. I'll upload that tomorrow as well. Can we attach videos here on the forum?
 

Inygknok

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Sep 22, 2005
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whitemike;1628739 said:
I'd like to see a pic of the "wet spot" on the exhaust manifold..

It's on the exhaust side of the turbo where it connects to the turbo elbow, not the manifold.
 

Inygknok

Tropical Paradise
Sep 22, 2005
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whitemike;1628902 said:
I'd like to see it, as it may be a leak that is burning and causing smoke..

Well there is a leak right under the turbo like I said before, but the "wet spot" is on the exhaust side.


I'm going to go head on over to where the car is later today. So let me make sure I get everything I need:

1) Picture of the "wet spot"
2) Inspect all the spark plug holes for oil
3) Check if there's any trace at all of oil coming out of the compressor side
4) Picture of the turbo underneath where I do know there is a leak of sorts
5) The video of the smoke that is still in my gf's PC

Anything else?
 

bombinuass

New Member
Mar 20, 2010
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7M-KDL;1628899 said:
what will this tell him? just that the oil in burning in the cylinder not the exhaust right?

its a sign his valve seals could be bad.... the oil has to get into the cyl. somehow....

---------- Post added at 01:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:21 PM ----------

Jasons car(metaphysico) his leaked oil out of the area your describing and his turned out to be valve seals.. his his exhaust gasket is shot so the valves push oil into the cyl and the cyl pushes it into the manifold then it pushes it out the shot gasket. he had an oily wet build up on his elbow or flange. oh and it POURED out smoke. enough to where after 20 secs of running you couldnt see the houses around you...

---------- Post added at 01:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:26 PM ----------

But mike could very well be right. you may just be leaking it onto something hot and burning it.
 

stevenr816

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Could also be the piston ring on the turbo, leaking oil threw the rear housing. When you turn it off it will drain into the manifold then when you start it will have a massive cloud and still smoke.I know from experience, my friends turbo I rebuilt cause the rear piston ring was cracked.

Could also be valve stem seals, for the first start up. Especially with it sitting for 5 years, all my supras I've owned smoke alittle on start up till I changes the stem seals. Not anymore
 

Inygknok

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Sep 22, 2005
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stevenr816;1628964 said:
Could also be the piston ring on the turbo, leaking oil threw the rear housing. When you turn it off it will drain into the manifold then when you start it will have a massive cloud and still smoke.I know from experience, my friends turbo I rebuilt cause the rear piston ring was cracked.

Could also be valve stem seals, for the first start up. Especially with it sitting for 5 years, all my supras I've owned smoke alittle on start up till I changes the stem seals. Not anymore

Thing is, the car didn't smoke at all on the first start up. It had a really dark, almost black smoke but only cuz we were setting the fuel regulator. Marked 70psi the first time we fired it up and corrected it down to about 32psi. After that, it smelled like old fuel burning but it was because of the old gas in the tank we swapped in since the original one was rusty as all hell. The smell cleared up a short while after we put in a few gallons of new gas.

When the car gets fired up, it takes a really short while to start smoking. About 15 seconds at most or so. As long as no one revs the car, the smoke is not exactly faint, but you can clearly see it. It's like a mist of smoke. If you rev the car, that's when the cloud gets fun.
 

Inygknok

Tropical Paradise
Sep 22, 2005
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By the way guys, I haven't forgotten about my own thread. Got my girlfriend's camera but she forgot to give me the USB cables for it.

However, I did check everything. No oil in any of the spark plug holes; outside or inside on top of the pistons. I did find a good trace of oil coming down the compressor housing though just the way everyone else describes it when their turbos fail. So I guess it's time to fix it up a bit.

I tried searching but there is no thread, as far as I could see, with an accurate description on how to correctly open the turbo, repair the seals, and put it back together. I know that most will say "just take it to a professional" but I won't exactly learn that way, will I?
 

Inygknok

Tropical Paradise
Sep 22, 2005
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stevenr816;1629405 said:
Oil out of the turbo itself means a gasket, or internal seal or piston ring

If it helps at all, here are a few extra details.

One day, before the car started smoking, I had to go pick up some stuff from the auto parts store. The guy who's watching over my car had to replace the oil filter adapter gasket and he has thick arms so he couldn't get to it without removing the turbo. Apparently, for some reason, he tried to take off the center clamp thing and spin the turbo around. When that didn't work, he took out a chisel and tried to "lightly" tap the center section to get it loose. Don't ask me specific details because when I arrived he had eventually used his head and taken it off from the manifold and shoved it back to have extra space.

Any chance that could've done something? I also currently don't have the PCV system fully hooked up. I never did, even from the first start up after reviving the car.

The turbo also whines when the car is revved. It doesn't whine all the time; only when the car goes above..... 3k rpm's or more.
 

bombinuass

New Member
Mar 20, 2010
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THE TURBO IS SHOT> it has the "death whine" your best bet is to buy a new one or used one. good luck. i cant help you anymore:) ive told you what you gotta do:)
 

Inygknok

Tropical Paradise
Sep 22, 2005
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Damn it >.>. I bought this turbo from another SM member months ago and I just installed it.


EDIT!!! Finally got the cable for my girlfriend's camera. I attached the pictures.
 

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