New Dsm Sick

[DoughtCom]

I just got a DSM (1991 Eagle Talon TSI AWD) from straightline performance last night, drove to fargo and back. Pretty happy with the car, just have a few minor and possibly major things that could be wrong with it.

I noticed that when I stopped to get gas on the way back, she was having trouble idling. And by trouble I mean it ended up dying. Well that seems to be the trend now, it dies almost at every stoplight.

This morning (since that was at night) I noticed it blows a lot of smoke (can’t really tell if it’s blue or not, more white then anything else). Keep in mind that I have a turboback exhaust. Well at lunch I looked underneath the hood and noticed that a hose from the top of the valve cover was ripped. I tried fixing and noticed that the other end isn’t plugged into anything.

Going here http://members.shaw.ca/dsm.1000q/Enginepri...reatherhose.htm I see that it’s a valve breather hose, doesn’t really say what it plugs into, but I did notice that it says it’s possibly a bad thing if it’s blowing gases out, instead of breathing in. Well anyway it blows A LOT of smoke, more or less the same color that comes out of my exhaust while giving it gas.

I’m going to get a pressure check Monday (that’s the earliest my mechanic is available :/

Anyone have any ideas or hints/tips for trouble shooting this?

Good luck with the smoke, hopefully the mechanic can take care of that.

Idel, on the other hand can be fixed really easy, i think it's a 10mm bolt(2 of them) that hold the throttle cable on the back side of the engine right behind the intake manifold, losen this and have someone sit in the car, move it till ur at bout 900 RPM's and tighten up the bolts again and that should be fixed. :cheers:

[At-Least-It's-An-Evo]

Is the bov vented?...that's what it sounds like and that's a possibililty for it dying cause I'd assume nick probably made IC pipes and an intake for it and probably left it as a vented bov. As for smoke.. how can you tell, its cold enough where regualr exhaust gas is white smoke.

[A//// Guy]

You dont fix idle using the cable... that is just for slack or if your not opening 100% at WOT. Use the BISS screw on the throttle body to adjust idle. If its dying at idle then its either to low or you have a vacuum leak or something.

White smoke out the exhaust pipe could mean blown head gasket, and coolant is getting burnt. The tube off the valve cover just releases oil when under pressure... mine hangs into the air and is vented to the ground... nothing comes out except a little oil. Normally its plugged into the rubber (stock) intake pipe.

[DoughtCom]

Yeah so, my friend and I put in 2 quarts of oil at lunch. After driving 15 miles it's burned a quart of oil. WTF causes that?? I've had this car for less than 24 hours and it's burned 3 quarts of oil.

I tried changing the PCV valve and still no go, still have positive pressure coming out of the vavle breathing hose and it runs worse.

Needless to say I'm not driving it until I have an idea of what's wrong with it. Anyone have any ideas??????

[A//// Guy]

Holy crap! I hope you did a compression check befroe you bought the car.... Otherwise youll need new rings or valve seals. If you blowing alot of smoke, thats your problem... Does the car leak any oil? Look on the ground... I cant beleive that a car can burn a quart of oil in 15 miles even if compression was really low and valve seals were hard...

[dumb_ricer]

That sounds a lot more like valve seals then anything else. Also, is the turbo good? If there are seals blown on the turbo i could possibly see it blowing that much smoke and losing that much oil.

[DoughtCom]

That's what I was afraid of, unfortunately I believed the dude when he told me the car was fine. If I hadn't driven to Fargo on a weeknight from Eden Prarie, I would have had a mechanic look at it. But I swear the car ran fine there.

The thing is, they were replacing something with the return oil line on the turbo when I walked in to their place. So maybe something didn't get hooked up right? At any rate I'm off to a bad start with this car.

[john]

I assme they put on new oil return gaskets but make sure to check them. All you have to do is get under and check for leaks. It is the hard line from the turbo to the oil pan. Check your coolant also. May be a decent head gasket leak but I am with everyone else in saying that the exhaust is probly white because of the weather.

[DoughtCom]

I've had a bit more observation time with the car, so let me update/clarify the problem
1. The car dies as soon as you let off the throttle after it warms up, It starts and Idles fine when cold.
2. There is enough smoke coming out of the exhaust when accelerating to smog half my neighborhood. It looks gray, no obvious discoloration.
3. The valve cover breather inlet has a hose hanging off. It is supposed to go into the intake, but it is just hanging now. The hose shoots out lots of exhaust smelling smoke at a constant pressure. If i squeeze the end of this hose, the pressure builds until I release it and the smokes blows out faster as the pressure is relieved. It does this during idle when cold or hot. I can't tell you what it does when accelerating, because it's under the hood.
4. In 2 days the car has burned/leaked 3 quarts of oil.

I tried replacing the PCV valve with no luck. The guy I bought it from didn't have any suggestions and it seems I may now be stuck with it. I will say again, when I bought it, they were finishing installing the return oil line. I haven't noticed any collection of oil anywhere under the hood or in my parking spot.

The guy also said he rebuilt the head recently. I’ve added a link at the bottom of this post to the thread where he was selling it, so you can see what all was done with it. Let me know if you guys can think of anything with this added information.

Peace!

http://www.dsmstyle.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1218

[Kracka]

Sounds to be like bad rings....but 3 quarts in 2 days is just knutty. Are you sure there is no oil puddles underneath the car? I would deffinately get an egine compression test before you do anything. The testers are about $20-30 and it only takes about 10 minutes to do. If you don't know how or don't want to do it yourself, take it to QPR or Elite and i am sure they will do it for a few bucks. Sorry to hear of your bad luck, nice looking car at least.

[dumb_ricer]

Could the oil return be plugged, or did they forget to take one of the plastic covers off of it if it was new? If thats the case, the reason for the smoke could be bad seals. To find out if that is the problem, you could pull the downpipe off the o2 housing and check if theyres oil build up in there. Otherwise its a head or motor problem. As for the stall, it could be a blow off valve problem, if its venting to atmosphere or leaking.

[A//// Guy]

Im not sure why there is all that pressure coming out of that pipe on the valve cover... thats just strange. I never noticed anything like that on mine and mine barely squirts oil. Never any smoke. Im thinking valve stems, maybe the pressure is coming out through the seals from the engine and burning oil in your valve cover.

Im not sure... Id go to the person you bought it from that is just jipp. 3 Grand for a car that needs a rebuilt head or headgasket is pretty bad.

[Iceman]

I agree on the fact that it sounds like you got riped off. The hose coming from the head is sappose to have presure in it, thats normal.

[DoughtCom]

Oh well thanks for all your replies guys, I have about 6 DSM guys coming over tomorrow to help me look at my car, I'll update you all tomorrow night sometime.

Peace

[john]

Iceman, come over and grab the compression gauge. I dont think that he got ripped off though. Figure out what is wrong before you say that. Smoke is not normal for the breather hose being disconnected. An oil leak should be quite easy to spot at that rate. I am quessing maybe valve seals but the smoke would probly be blue then.

[Raptor]

Compression test will only show a loss of seal. Bring it by and we will do a leak down test for $25 which will identify where the compression is going and likely the oil. I would guess rings most likely or turbo seals. If the valve seals are gone, typically when you stop the engine, on start up, you will get much more prominent clouds of blue smoke for a few seconds from oil that has seeped past the guides into the combustion chamber. Smoke coming from the PCV system (and or breather hose) is directly from blowby caused either from valve seals, head gasket or rings. In this case with the oil consumption and blowby if it isn't smoking more at startup, I say rings.

Hope that helps. If you want us to do the leakdown or otherwise, call the shop at 651-488-7774

[At-Least-It's-An-Evo]

Originally posted by Iceman@Feb 20 2004, 12:41 AM
I agree on the fact that it sounds like you got riped off.* The hose coming from the head is sappose to have presure in it, thats normal.

The kid most likely didn't get ripped off. For all we know, the kid coulda beat the shit out of it on the 300 miles back from Fargo. :bs: Who were these "6 dsm guys" that helped you out anyways, did they know wtf they were doing?

[ACRucrazy]

Well this is very interesting to say the least.....
Hope it turns out for the better for both parties.

Did you try calling SLS or just jump the gun and be mad right away? I doubt that they'd want to have a bad reflection on thier business...