oil consistency question

[turbowannabe]

Hey guys,

Some of you may have seen my other post which I was trying to figure out my BLM's of 150 and a sudden surging and very poor gas mileage I got with my car. Well I figured out that it was a exhaust leak at the turbo exhaust entrance. I'm currently waiting on my parts to come in from ramchargers then it should be all set to go. The only thing is, when I first drained the oil the other day it looked a little light in color and possibly some seperation of fluids in the oil. I freaked out for a minute and thought that I blew a headgasket to boot. But after a minute I thought how I was told/read about these exhaust leaks, high blm's and so much fuel being dumped in that it would work its way into the oil. So after that I kind of ignored it thinking I was just getting myself worked up about nothing.

Well when I got done with the oil change, I added five quarts and the oil shows up just at the bottom of the crosshatches(I also put the larger pf52 filter on). So, I add another quart and it's right where it needs to be. (I also checked the oil on the 1200 mile trip getting the car here from Florida noticed the same thing; oil exactly a quart low on the dipstick so I added a quart thinking it only had 4 quarts and then it went right to the line.) The only running the car has done is idling for maybe a total of 15 minutes in my garage with all the intake parts off and maf disconnected. Well last night I got to thinking that I needed to drain that extra quart out so that I mess something else up, and when I do it looks like the other oil did when I drained it, and like I said the oil only has like 15 minutes of idling on it. So now I'm getting paranoid again thinking a HG may have blown. Do I have anything to worry about or is it just the old oil mixing with the new and messing with me? What should I look for, shouldn't it be obvious if I have a blown HG? I started it up and let it run more today and saw no bubbling out of the radiator with the cap off, no white smoke out of exhaust, and the oil on the dipstick looks good compared to the oil I drained out. Let me know


thanks a lot
Dan

P.S. sorry for the long winded posts but I try to get as much info on here as possible.

 

[MistaScott]

Does not SOUND like a blown HG. Do a compression test and be sure.

 

[salvageV6]

Sounds like dirty oil and perhaps some sludge in the car built up over the past years by the other owner.

I'd invest in some non-synthetic oil in a case lot on sale.

Change it WITH a new filter every 2K or 1500 miles.

1200 mile trip on a 93K mile car is worth a quart of oil for the ride home.

I'd consider a bottle of marvel mystery oil in the first/next change you do too.

Perhaps a top engine clean in a few miles and then change it again.

Wait until you get to the brake fluid.

 

[Joe Tiano]

what does the oil smell like?...and idleing your car for 15 min with the maf disconected is not good going to help ANYTHING..change the oil agian if your worried...drive the car..20-50 miles...check the dipstik...see what it looks like..smells like let us know....good luck joe

 

[turbowannabe]

It does kind of smell like gas, but you can never be too sure. I was thinking it could have been a mix of oil, coolant and gas.Does anyone recommend any type of engine flush? I already have most of the spring cleaning stuff that I'm going to do while I have the car apart like it is. I replaced most all of the vacuum lines and some looked pretty bad. I currently have the intercooler and up pipe off with the maf disconnected. I used the GM top engine cleaner to find my exhaust leak, and also bought a new GNX style 02 sensor and idle air control. I have a compression tester and will check that out when I change the plugs after spring cleaning. I did take the passengers side plugs out and checked them after first draining oil they all looked very tan and still good; I have not checked the drivers side.

Should I use any type of sealer for the turbo gasket that I'm getting? I know to use anti seize on plugs and dielectric grease on plug wire ends, but what should I use on the turbo bolts, lock tight? Any specific precautions before removing/re-installing the turbo? Let me know

thanks
Dan

 

[Joe Tiano]

my opinion ...a gasket between the turbo and header is a band aid that will fail!..take the turbo off..clean up the flange on the header and turbo..make sure that it is flat...u can use a flat bastard file ..or a flat peice of steel with some emery cloth 120 grit or so...do the same to the turbo...now CLEAN the header flange and turbo flange with brake cleaner spray get any oily residu OFF! ..I use a little bead of hi temp RTV on the header flange ..let the RTV sit at least 15min before you assemble the turbo to the header..us anti seize on the threds!.get a new GM turbo drain gasket..on that i use 3m weatherstrip adhesive..hope this helps...later joe

 

[turbowannabe]

Well my order didn't even go through on ramchargers luckily/unluckily. They discontinued it on the website right after I ordered it and it froze my order up, I just found that out today. I went and bought a tube of ultra copper rtv for the flange, I'll file it down and buff it out, although I don't have a turbo drain gasket and I'm going to try and get by without it. I have a tube of the clear high temp rtv, I'll see if that will work. I also bought some Gunk engine cleaner, and marvels mystery oil like salvage6 suggested. Hopefully this cures my problems, I really need to get this thing back on the road and the time I waisted waiting for parts that were never comming didn't help.

thanks for the input

Dan

 

[salvageV6]

I really think you should get a new GM thick turbo drain gasket from GM or one of the vendors that sells them.

If your oil smells like gas most likely it's a leaky POS stock injector.

I had one go about the same mileage as yours. You can still drive it but you have to change the oil often.

Unless they are dumping fuel in the oil big time then it's time to replace them ASAP.

 

[turbowannabe]

Well, just my luck I found the turbo shaft has play in it. I was under the impression that a good turbo will have no shaft play. It only moves up and down very little, not in and out. I'm going outside right now to tear it off and check it out further. I'll probably run it by one of the local TR guys to let them take a look and give me a personal opinion. I do not have stock injectors, they are 50lb. How could I test them? I've got a fluke meter, what should the resistance be? Does anyone know what the best options for turbo rebuild would be if I really need it? Let me know


thanks
Dan

 

[turbowannabe]

Just worked on the car again all day today. Bought a new timing chain set, I've got everything all tore down and ready to put back together. But, I drained the oil again and it wasn't pretty. This was after breaking everything down so I know coolant got in there from that, but the motor hasn't run in at least 4-5 days and it looked a light brown milky color. As much as I want it to not be true, i keep thinking headgaskets. Like I stated before, I didn't see the car burning and white smoke, I let it idle and didn't see any bubbles out of the radiator, and I don't recall ever hearing a popping noise; the only thing is the look of the oil and the way it was running before I stopped driving it. The whole trip home and the two days after that it was fine, then I started to notice the funny idle. Then on the sixth day it started surging all of the sudden throughout the rpm. I didn't drive the car like that for even a mile to my house and stopped it from there.

Now i'm debating if I should put it all back together. If I do have a blown gasket I think that I might as well leave it, pull the motor and then go from there. Is there any way to check for my headgasket problem without puting th car back together to where it's running? I have a new center section for my turbo that I still need to install, so I'm a few days from getting it running if I start tomorrow. What do you guys suggest? What are the key things to look for? I pulled the drivers side plugs tonight and the only real difference between them and the passengers was that the very tip of the electrode was a little white on each of them; the passengers side plugs didn't have that when I last pulled them. Would running the car without the maf disconnected have anything to do with this? What exactly would my oil look like if it was contaminated by coolant or water? Please let me know, I need to get this all straightened out.

thanks
Dan

 

[Army MP]

Brown-milky color = headgasket. Sorry dude.

 

[DKREDT]

dude you are jinxed!

 

[turbowannabe]

Ya, I was thinking that. F***, that's all I gotta say. Well now I get to learn the basics of rebuilding a motor. I guess I should make a new thread asking how I should go about doing that, hopefully my crank and all that good stuff isn't done for and I can just rebearing/regasket everything and get her going again. It's going to be a deal for me. I can't believe my luck. Does anyone know where I can get a rebuild kit? Is there any possibility that this is a intake gasket leak and not a headgasket? Should I put the timing chain/gears all back together now or just wait untill I pull the motor? Thanks for all your help guys, I know I'm going to need more of it.

Dan

 

[turbosam6]

Pressurize the cooling system and see if it looses pressure. Are you losing antifreeze? is your oil level going up? It sounds like you may have coolant in your oil but that does not mean you've blown a HG. A leaking intake gasket can do the same thing. Also a comprssion test or leakdown test may help diagnose.

 

[turbowannabe]

I'll try to finish puting the timing set and pulleys all back together tomorrow so I can pressure check the system. I did not notice any coolant loss, If I had lost any it was very minimal. I stopped driving the car as soon as it started surging like it did which was maybe a mile. I did however drive the car a few days when just the idle was off, it drove fine except off of idle. I only got to drive the car for 5-6 days; the 1200 mile trip home and back and forth to school which is 10 miles each way the next five days. I did drive the car the majority of the time with blm's of 150. Since then all it has done is idling; I never let it get up to temp,(actually the car never got over 150 degrees in this cool weather unless I let it sit at idle, which I found to be the thermostat was not shutting all of the way) I just started it up and looked for bubbles out of the radiator and smoke out of the exhaust. I didn't see any bubbles and i only saw a small amount of water comming out the pipes no smoke, but I've always seen water come out of the exhaust of any vehicle. I smelled the exhaust and it just smelled rich, not like burning coolant. I'll get it all back together and do a compression test to determine if it's actually the HG's or a leaky intake.

thanks
Dan

 

[turbowannabe]

I forgot to mention that the guy I bought it off of said he was running methanol in the alky injection. I did not find out that methanol was not good until after I bought the car. Could this be part of my problem, possibly it ate away at the gaskets?

Dan