Smoking Horribly

I was drivin my car and a noticed a lil smoke so I started driving back to the house hoping it wouldn't break down on me. Before I got to the house it was smoking extremely bad...I wouldn't have to hit the gas or anything. Just sittin at idle it smogged the car before 30 seconds with white smoke. I have already assumed they were piston rings...Anyone else have an idea how i can confirm that's what it is?? I am about 90% sure that's what it is though! Thanks!

And I forgot to add....the smoke is coming from the exhaust and dipstick.

Did you say WHITE smoke? You better check your oil. White smoke usually means you're burning anti-freeze. Maybe cracked head or head gasket.

What turbojet said. Blown head gasket leaking antifreeze into combustion chamber and crankcase. You should have some nice milky crap on the end of your dipstick. Uh, I mean that LITERALLY, not figuratively!

Could be the head gasket, however the car would run rough. It may be the oil seal in the turbo is gone. The car would still run fine, however it would be consuming alot of oil quickly so do not continue to run it until you fine out for sure.

Drain your oil and check for water/antifreeze in it. Also do a compression check on each cylinder. These two things should tell you if it a head gasket or not.

Pull the intercooler and throttle assembly off and check inside for oil. If the turbo oil seal is gone, you can plug the oil supply line off in order to drive it to a shop if you are not doing the work yourself. Just be sure you drive it easy and do not use boost.

Smell the smoke at the exhaust. If it smells like burnt sugar, you are burning coolant... either HG or cracked head. [Image: frown.gif]

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Jeff Korn

88 Turbo Coupe: Intake and exhaust mods, T3 turbo at 20 psi, forced air intercooler, water injection, bypass valve, Ranger roller cam, subframes, etc., etc.. // 86 Tbird 5.0 (original owner): intake, exhaust, valvetrain mods, 100 HP nitrous, ignition, gears, suspension, etc., etc.... // 91 Escort: Bone stock winter car // 00 Windstar (wifes vehicle)

Originally posted by Jeff K:
Smell the smoke at the exhaust.

Yeah...after 15 minutes or so you won't have to worry about it...it will be someone elses problem LOL !

(Kidding, I'm Kidding)

Kids don't try this at home !

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Dan Eaves
88TC 5spd, Crower 5.5" Sportsman Rods, Short Wiseco Pistons bored .030" Over, Ported Head with Polished Combustion Chambers, Gutted & Polished Upper, Ported & Polished Lower, Polished T/B, Ported E6, SVO T3 .63AR Turbo, Bosch Bypass Valve, 3" DP w/No Cat, 2 1/2" DynoMax single cat back w/DynoMax Super Turbo Muffler, RR Cam, K&N in Fenderwell, Gillis Boost Valve, Centerforce I Clutch, Removed A/C, Polished Wheels, Polished Valve Cover, Polished Crank and W/P Pulleys, Walbro 255LPH HP Pump, Kirban Adj FPR, and the DAMN Heater Core is new too !

http://www.geocities.com/wot_turbo/WOT.html

NATO MEMBER (Vice Chairman...if it's a vice...I deal with it)

Alrighty, I won't have time to check those things prolly until Saturday cause my car is at our shop and I've got School and College. But it does use about 1quart in a week maybe a week and a half, I saw a lil bit of oil in the turbo, it ran smooth at idle but just smoked really bad, boost was kinda weird though....What's the Oil Seal on the turbo? What should I get when I compression check it? THANKS a BUNCH yall!!

Depending on year remove the I/C or the tube to the throttle body, and find a way to block the throttle plate open. Remove all 4 spark plugs. Use the kind of compression gauge that screws into the spark plug holes.
You do the cylinder one at a time. Crank the engine over with the starter and allow 6 compression strokes on each cylinder. Ideally you should hope to see 120 to 150+ in each cylinder. The Ford spec is the lowest cylinder should be 75% of the highest. I think that's way to loose. It would allow 140 in the highest (for example) and 101 in the lowest. Personaly I would want to see then all within 10 to 15 psi. Then go back and do it again, cylinder by cylinder after adding about a table spoon of oil to each cylinder. If the readings go up significantly the second time around, you know the rings are weak/bad.

The oil seals are in the center section of the turbo, the part where the oil and water lines enter and exit. You would either have to get the bearings and seals and rebuild it yourself, or get a rebuilt center section or have a shop rebuild it.

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NATO Member. it's not a vice, it's an obsession
"The nice thing about each new day is nobody ever used it before" Barnaby Jones
88 TC X 2, 86 SVO, mods list at
http://www.turbotbird.com/showroom/pd_88tc.htm

[This message has been edited by Pete D (edited 12-12-2002).]

So I have two problems....The Oil Seal in the Turbo. I can check some things today like for milky oil and try to get a compression check....I think our guage is broken though...but How am I suppose to know if it really IS the OIL Seal and not the Headgasket or Rings? Do I do some kind of check on the Turbo? Pulg Something off???