"Refreshing" the turboed combustion engine.

[TYTILIDIE]

I hear a lot of people talk about "refreshing" their motor. I am thinking about this since I seem to have a blow by issue. Perhaps my rings are toast. I don't get any smoke out of the tailpipe but get oil pushed out of the valve covers and other places. Not sure what is going on. I have decided to start buying everything I need to do the vacuum pump but I doubt I'll the actual pump until I get back from vacation in July. Until then I plan on running the catch cans just to stop the smell.

Question is, if I tear the motor down, should I have it tanked and inspected by my machine shop or just clean it up throw bearings, rings and seals? I am thinking send it to the shop but want to know what you other guys do. I have read of some people doing the honing and cylinder gauging themselves. If I have no experience with this, would I be a fool to try it out? Or should I just save my money for the machine shop?

 

[turboj91]

Re: "Refreshing" the turboed combustion engine.

At this moment (1:35 a.m. and into a 18+ hour work day) I don't remember if you run the pcv or not. If not, they may be a temp cure to help the issue. If you do and still have the blow by, it's time to get to the internals. At the least it would need rings but I would do a leak down test first to see how severe the issue is. Depending on the results, you may be able to determine if you can hone and re-ring or if you will need to bore and re-piston. If you have an issue of too much cylinder to wall clearance and your rings don't have the proper fitment (loose), a re-hone will only increase the cylinder to wall clearance. New rings won't solve the problem in that case. I'm sure you see where this is going.
My suggestion is do the leak down and recheck each cylinder with heavy oil in the cylinder and check the difference. You may find a general problem or one cylinder.
With a drastic difference after the oil addition, your getting into the engine no matter what your course of repair will be. From there, do your own measurements. Borrow the tools if needed. Considering what else you have done, I have 100% faith you will be able to do this. Measure the bore, taper, piston and do the math on each cylinder. Your results will tell you what the problem is. I have also seen proper clearances but the cylinders glazed over and prevented proper ring seal which resulted in blow by. There are different patterns to hones and the shop needs to have the proper finish for the rings and the application. Talk to your machine shop about this and make sure he is aware of the exact application and is aware of the finish needed for the rings being used.
Hope that helps.

 

[The Bronze]

Re: "Refreshing" the turboed combustion engine.

I agree. Before you tear into the engine, you want to know the source of the problem so that you can concentrate on that area. 10% leakage on all but # 8? You will be concentrating there. Even (but high) leakage could be assembly/machining error. I thought I remember you saying the engine didn't have very much time on it.

If the leakdown check shows low leakage (warm), then maybe you should be focusing somewhere else, like plugged breathers (the inside- these breathers are never as good as vacuum evacuation (PCV) or valvecovers that don't have splash shields for the breathers. While I don't like the contamination from PCV either, It does a much better job of pulling gas vapors and byproducts out of the crankcase than does the "push" of the breathers. :2cents:

If the bearings (including the cam bearings) look good, I would throw new ones, minus cam bearings in, verify clearance and call it good. Depending upon the shop you go to, equipment and operator, you could easily get a crank that isn't as "true" as the current one.

Top end discussion needs to wait until you leak-test and/or disassemble.

 

[AUSyTyIN]

Re: "Refreshing" the turboed combustion engine.

Mike, you have no PCV system last I knew. You need the vacuum of the engine to pull the pressure out of the crankcase. Trust me, I did a pointless freshing up on the Omni, and it still blew the dipstick out under boost.

 

[TYTILIDIE]

Re: "Refreshing" the turboed combustion engine.

At this point, I am looking locally for a leak down tester. Harborfreight used to sell them but no longer I guess. I'll probably have to order one online today. Yeah these leaks are getting worse by the day, they are coming from all the gasket/seal areas. Yesterday I raced an R32 Skyline, I was acting like I was the shit as usual asking how slow his car was and when we raced I destroyed him but then when I came to the next light smoke filled the cab from the leaking valve covers. How embarrassing!! I just smiled and acted like nothing was wrong even though I was really coking on the fumes :lol: Oh well. When I got home I popped the hood and sure enough, the breathers were flooded with oil again and there was oil literally dripping down the side of the valve cover.

The vacuum pump thread will not be ignored and I will be doing that when I can afford it. Like I said before, I am going to start putting it all together a little bit at a time. Until then, I might consider this PCV crap but I really can't stand it. As far as opening the motor goes, I hear of a lot of people doing it in their garage and was curious to know what people think of it. I want to run 11.5 this summer at the track and want to make sure I have what it takes to get there so this was what drove my curiosity. I guess I figured, with the season coming up fast, I could tear the motor down, replace rings bearings and seals just in time and have it all nice and clean instead of looking like the mess that it does.

 

[qbnkiller]

Re: "Refreshing" the turboed combustion engine.

Mike - put a -12AN in each valve cover to a catch can. I had the same issues you did two years ago. Don't sweat it yet. A leakdown is a good idea, but you have lots of crankcase pressure ans it has to escape somehow.

 

[fivetodrive]

Re: "Refreshing" the turboed combustion engine.

I have one of those harbor freight leak down testers Mike, I could throw it in the mail tomorrow and you would have it for the weekend if you want. Lots cheaper than buying one for a quick check!

Call me if you want.

I think I even have some -10 lines and a small catch can with a breather hiding in the storage unit. I just have to find the box.

Aaron

 

[TYTILIDIE]

Re: "Refreshing" the turboed combustion engine.

I have one of those harbor freight leak down testers Mike, I could throw it in the mail tomorrow and you would have it for the weekend if you want. Lots cheaper than buying one for a quick check!

Call me if you want.

I think I even have some -10 lines and a small catch can with a breather hiding in the storage unit. I just have to find the box.

Aaron

If you have a nice catch can let me know. If you don't want it I would buy it from you.

 

[TYTILIDIE]

Re: "Refreshing" the turboed combustion engine.

Mike - put a -12AN in each valve cover to a catch can. I had the same issues you did two years ago. Don't sweat it yet. A leakdown is a good idea, but you have lots of crankcase pressure ans it has to escape somehow.

Yep, just came up from the garage from doing that. Except my metal valve covers aren't here yet so I went ahead and installed a 90* in one cover and ran a hose to a T in the other cover. For right now, I have a big Mobil1 bottle catching everything until these valve covers arrive and I get them set up for this. It ain't pretty but it will do the job for the next week or two.

 

[fivetodrive]

Re: "Refreshing" the turboed combustion engine.

If you have a nice catch can let me know. If you don't want it I would buy it from you.

It is a little black plastic one about the size of a pop bottle. I will try to text you a picture of it if I get out to the storage unit tonight. I just wish you had the valve covers... Then I might have more stuff that would help you out!

What about the leakdown tester?

Aaron

 

[TYTILIDIE]

Re: "Refreshing" the turboed combustion engine.

What about the leakdown tester?

Aaron

Nah, I am just going to buy one, time to be a big boy and buy my own tools:lol:

From what everyone says over the last year or two, this is something I should have had from day one. The process of doing it has kept me from buying one all these years, just sounds like a super PITA.

 

[fivetodrive]

Re: "Refreshing" the turboed combustion engine.

Nah, I am just going to buy one, time to be a big boy and buy my own tools:lol:

From what everyone says over the last year or two, this is something I should have had from day one. The process of doing it has kept me from buying one all these years, just sounds like a super PITA.

its not that bad but can be a little confusing. Maybe someone has a good video out there that makes it easier to follow, anyone???

 

[Flyin Ryan]

Re: "Refreshing" the turboed combustion engine.

If you went back to the PCV setup I wouldn't worry about the oil residue being in your motor becasue our meth will clean it out

 

[Icarus-54]

Re: "Refreshing" the turboed combustion engine.

Go to Jeg's get the oil to air seperator #555-52205,hook this up with your pvc.you'll get no oil in you throttle body and cure your problem.I use them on all 3 of my trucks and have no leaks or blow-by.Put a breather in the drivers side ,run from the pass side valve cover to the seperator then to the throttle body

 

[TYTILIDIE]

Re: "Refreshing" the turboed combustion engine.

PCV is definitely out. When I was hooking up these hoses to the valve covers, I was looking at the TB and remembered that when Matt Blum rebuilt it I asked him to plug those holes in the side of the TB. I wouldn't know where to start getting those plugs out, they are not threaded and they are recessed in there. Going with the vacuum pump set up. For the mean time, I am going to use the hoses in tot he catch can idea and I have a leak down tester I am trying to buy from a guy for $100, its a Snap On unit so I think it will be worth it. I have read awful things about the Harbor Freight unit.

 

[AUSyTyIN]

Re: "Refreshing" the turboed combustion engine.

PCV is definitely out. When I was hooking up these hoses to the valve covers, I was looking at the TB and remembered that when Matt Blum rebuilt it I asked him to plug those holes in the side of the TB. I wouldn't know where to start getting those plugs out, they are not threaded and they are recessed in there. Going with the vacuum pump set up. For the mean time, I am going to use the hoses in tot he catch can idea and I have a leak down tester I am trying to buy from a guy for $100, its a Snap On unit so I think it will be worth it. I have read awful things about the Harbor Freight unit.

You can still make it pull air. Just have to run a good sized line to your intake track some where pre-turbo. This will only pull a vac under load, but that is when you are most likely to have excess crank case pressure anyways.