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Smoking from valve covers??? Help

1K views 17 replies 8 participants last post by  pkstang 
#1 ·
95 gt, few mods, hci and some other things. This is still a pretty fresh build, under 500 miles on the motor. He is my question, it was running pretty solid, I had some idle issues so I just keep messing with ****. The rocker arms seemed a little noisy, so of course I decided to get in there and snug them up a little. First go around, they were nice and quiet, I had difficulty starting it, figured lack of compression and the valves weren't closing, so I took it apart again, loosened things up, back to sounding like a sewing machine, and it starts fine. But, now I have smoke coming from the pcv and valve cover breathers. What could be wrong now? I did drive it some and it seems like it just randomly started and it's quite a bit. Did I blow new rings already? Valves not right and causing exhaust to come from everything? Car does run rich as **** bc there are 24lb injectors.
 
#3 ·
Thank you.


Still looking for some more advise here. Went ahead and did a compression test today. What are healthy compression numbers? Thought this was just rebuilt.
Here are my numbers. They are inatial/max.
1- 70/110
2- 100/130
3- 75/110
4- 90/125
5- 75/115
6- 100/130
7- 75/115
8- 80/125
How does this look? Hope by the weekend I can do a leakdown test, the plugs 1-4 were kinda wet, maybe coming from a valve?
 
#9 ·
how far past zero lash are you going (1/4 turn, 1/3, 1/2, or more)?

how are you ensuring that it's the same amount from valve to valve?
 
#10 ·
okok lets get started on the right track here.. first of all.. lets go over a few things...

you stated you adjusted valves... then you re-adjusted valves... WHY? valves are set once when building and should not be messed with unless something is wrong and you have hurt parts... assuming it's a hyd roller. if it's something else please disregard and inform me and we will start over.. have you hurt or changed parts and did you adjust according to cam/lifter manufacturer when first built.... if yes then why monkey with it again? hurt parts?

alright lets talk blowby now. which rings are you using.. what clearance... what hone was your block finish honed to.. and what procedure and tools were used for honing.. also what are your cyl measurements
 
#12 ·
okok lets get started on the right track here.. first of all.. lets go over a few things...

you stated you adjusted valves... then you re-adjusted valves... WHY? valves are set once when building and should not be messed with unless something is wrong and you have hurt parts... assuming it's a hyd roller. if it's something else please disregard and inform me and we will start over.. have you hurt or changed parts and did you adjust according to cam/lifter manufacturer when first built.... if yes then why monkey with it again? hurt parts?

alright lets talk blowby now. which rings are you using.. what clearance... what hone was your block finish honed to.. and what procedure and tools were used for honing.. also what are your cyl measurements
Man, I'm not going to have a few answers on this. I got the car off a flat bed with the motor is a plastic bag. This was a friend of mine so I trust him for the most part, he said it had new piston and rings and a new cam put in at the machine shop and he didn't know which cam, I have yet to be able to get this information.

I'm not sure any parts were hurt or broke, there is no noises or anything, I adjusted the valves initially because the rockers were loud, lots of tapping, but it ran its ass off. I know at the end of the day, this seems to be where I messed up bc now I am here with buring oil and I assume it from messing with the valves. The readjusting was bc it ran horrible and came to a very hard to start situation, so I figured it was to tight, then loosened them some.
My adjustment was warm engine, turning the crank by hand, tighten until there is tension on the push rod and half turn. Hoping all lifters were still pumped up. I may have missed an answer to a question.
 
#13 ·
95 gt, few mods, hci and some other things. This is still a pretty fresh build, under 500 miles on the motor. He is my question, it was running pretty solid, I had some idle issues so I just keep messing with *. The rocker arms seemed a little noisy, so of course I decided to get in there and snug them up a little. First go around, they were nice and quiet, I had difficulty starting it, figured lack of compression and the valves weren't closing, so I took it apart again, loosened things up, back to sounding like a sewing machine, and it starts fine. But, now I have smoke coming from the pcv and valve cover breathers. What could be wrong now? I did drive it some and it seems like it just randomly started and it's quite a bit. Did I blow new rings already? Valves not right and causing exhaust to come from everything? Car does run rich as * bc there are 24lb injectors.
Did it "smoke" before you adjusted the valves? Is it smoke (blowby) or steam (from winter condensation) or fuel boiling off (too rich)? How rich is it? Either get a tune or put 19# back in there for now, excess fuel is terrible for breaking in a new engine. Why do you have a PCV AND breathers, or a breather where the PCV should be? It doesn't work like that AND you could be introducing unmetered air through the breathers screwing up the idle quality depending how it's configured. You need to find a local tuner-type who can help you troubleshoot these issues one by one. Also, do a hot compression test and post the results here.
 
#15 ·
Side note to everything I have posted. Maybe all this smoke has to do with all the oil in my upper intake? I noticed on one of the plenum bolts, oil seaping out, so since I'm not driving it right now, pulled the upper off. There is oil everywhere in there, spacer is soaked, gasket is soaked
 
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