Drax240z Posted July 14, 2004 Share Posted July 14, 2004 Yes my stock turbo of unknown age (likely ~120,000miles) may be going, or it may be top end on my fresh engine. Symptoms are similar to valve seals leaking, blue smoke on decel, and if I sit idling for a while then rev it I'll get a fair bit of smoke too. Oil consumption is occuring now too. I am sure someone here has had an oil seal go on a turbo before, are the symptoms similar to what I describe? Intake side seems quite clear at this point. I'd hate to think my valve seals need to be replaced after 5500miles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kennysgreen280zt Posted July 14, 2004 Share Posted July 14, 2004 My car is doing the same thing now. Problem is I KNOW its my vavle seals cause im not running the turbo on my car right now Same thing, I think I have about 6k miles since rebuild. Just another thing to do this winter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speeder Posted July 15, 2004 Share Posted July 15, 2004 I'm watching this one .... Drax, do you have oil in your intercooler tubes? I have convinced myself that my oil consumption/smoking problem is those f'ing Total Seal rings not wearing in - I'm in the process of pulling the new motor now - but now your new engine with the Ford valve seals is smoking. Let me know what you find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted July 15, 2004 Author Share Posted July 15, 2004 Speeder this engine has Nissan valve seals. (actually they are Felpro now that I think about it) There is no oil in my intake tubes. However, I figure it is just as likely for the turbo to leak on the exhaust side as the intake, and I believe this is what is happening. I suppose I should swap turbo's with another I have at the shop and verify. (ugh, what a bear that job is) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 2slo4u Posted July 15, 2004 Share Posted July 15, 2004 Might still want to check your valve seals. I got a valve job on my 81zxt head at a local machine shop. They changed the seals, cut the valve seats and valves and slightly surfaced the head. The car ran fine until driving it at full boost a few days later. Suddenly it starting smoking at startup and a little while running. The idle also was a little erratic. I scratched my head for weeks and a few other people suggested the turbo oil seal. I just thought it was kinda strange it happened a few days after replacing the head. I even went back to the guy who did the valve job and asked if the seals could have blown off with excessive boost pressure. He said "There ain't no way that would happen" I stressed out over this for a few more days (luckily I have a Subaru for daily driver) and finally checked the valve stem oil seals. THEY HAD POPPED OFF and some of them were crushed. What the he!!? I took a few of the seals back to the machine shop and he said "I've never seen that happen" but he wanted to keep one to show someone. After changing the seals myself,(on the engine, the pain in the @$$ way) I have the problem no more. I still don't know why they were off, maybe he just didn't push them down all the way or maybe he didn't use the ones I purchased for him to use. Anyways... My 83zxt had 249,000 miles and the turbo seal did not leak. I guess it depends on how well the engine has been taken care of also. 81zxturbo rustybutrunning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jersey Posted July 15, 2004 Share Posted July 15, 2004 I'm not sure about smoke on decel but my Z with the T3 is starting to blow a nice puff of smoke after sitting idle for a while, just like you descibed Drax. I'm hoping it's the seals as they aren't that bad to change as compared to swapping the T, and MUCH cheaper 2slo4U - this same exact senerio happened to my cousins Z we just got finished building about 3 months ago. Sent his P90A head out to a reputable engine builder to be completely cleaned, valve seats, guides,seals, shaved and the first time it came back, we flipped out because it was still greasy like nothing really had been done to it. So we sent it back a second time after talking to the owner and i think he made sure one of his "experienced" did the job this time and it came back the second time perfect... well, almost. We put the motor all together with a new T3/T4 and it ran perfect, for about 15 seconds until the turbo completely seized up (whole different story!) 2 weeks later, another new T3/T4 back on and ran good for about 2 weeks and started smoking just as ours is now. Initial reaction was "that POS t3/t4 is effed again" but after pulling the valve cover and staring at it all for a bit, I reached through the springs with a pick and noticed a bunch of the seals had slipped right off their seats and were riding up the stem shaft. We made a quick valve compression tool out of a long crow bar and pulled it all apart to find out the guy must have used his own seals or ones he had around the shop because they definetly were not the ones Nick gave to him and were much softer then what he gave the guy. Bought another set of seals (black and stiff like the first pair Nick purchased that were never installed, not the softer maroon ones we found that had popped off) snapped them all on, bolted it all back together and she runs clean as a whistle. I'm HOPING this is what's wrong with my Z and yours for that matter. I have about 120k on this original T3 and god knows i've been a little rough it. It just has to last a liitttttle longer to break me into the 11's though! lol. I'm on a quest Appreciate it if you would post if you figure out what's going on with your smoker and i'll do the same if i get a chance to spend a little time in the garage and change the seals. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speeder Posted July 15, 2004 Share Posted July 15, 2004 Drax, So your 3.1 with the Ford/ Felpro seals is still smoke free? I want to get mine fixed and end the delayed gratification! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RB26powered74zcar Posted July 15, 2004 Share Posted July 15, 2004 Do yourselfs a big favor and just get the Nissan "A" series valve stem seals, and be done with it.... They are steel shoulder'd, so no poping off the guides. They are shorter, so no retainer interfernce. I've been using them for quite awhile now (I guess around 20,000 mi so far on this motor), and I don't smoke at idle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted July 15, 2004 Author Share Posted July 15, 2004 Rick the 3.1L with ford seals runs perfectly at this point, and it has about 700miles on it. The customer is really pleased with it and can't stop talking about how nice it is. Since about 10 seconds after the first startup it hasn't smoked at all. On a side note, that engine is super nice to drive, and I found myself doing excessive speeds without realizing it... not a problem I have with my turbo engine. (though I am making much more power) Somthing about the linear power delivery and the balancing just makes it a car that needs to go fast! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yo2001 Posted July 15, 2004 Share Posted July 15, 2004 You guys running 2mm restrictor on the turbo oil feed line? It stopped my oil smoke. As for the valve stem seals, I ran one from an escort or something like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted July 15, 2004 Share Posted July 15, 2004 I thought a bad turbo seal would only smoke when boosting/flooring it? And that smoke on decel/heavy vacuum had to be valve seals? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted May 21, 2005 Author Share Posted May 21, 2005 Giving this one a bump... I am thinking I might be able to get around to pulling the turbo tomorrow and seeing what I can do with it as far as rebuilding goes. I am going to try to get the turbo out the bottom of the engine bay without pulling the exhaust manifold off. (anyone had any luck with that method?) I have oild buildup on all 6 spark plugs, looks pretty even cylinder to cylinder, which is the biggest reason I suspect the turbo still. I'm getting tired of it, so it's about time I dealt with it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody 82 ZXT Posted May 22, 2005 Share Posted May 22, 2005 I am going to try to get the turbo out the bottom of the engine bay without pulling the exhaust manifold off. (anyone had any luck with that method?) Not sure it will help but, that's how I do it on my ZX. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ON3GO Posted May 22, 2005 Share Posted May 22, 2005 drax.. i had the same problem and it had nothing to do with the turbo. it was my valves not sealing correctly. does your turbo wine at all? with my dealings with turbos i always got the death wine when oil was getting into the exhaust side... let me know how this goes over, as im about to build ANOTHER L28ET for the blue Z as this machine shop screwed me over so hard. mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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