Smoking At Idle

mikebart101

New Member
Joined
May 10, 2005
Just bought a GN with about 3,000k on new engine built by cotton's performance. Car runs awesome when moving but when I let it sit and idle for any longer than a minute it starts to smoke out the exhaust and get worse and worse as time passes. But it stops when i begin to drive again. Air fuel ratio at idle is like 13.5:1 and while driving is 15:1. I had someone drive behind me and they told me the car smelt fine. There are no cats on the exhaust and I have 3" DP. I also have T&D roller rockers and I know the valves need to be re-lashed, but I don't know what gap to set them at though. So if anyone knows what is making the car smoke please let me know because stopping at streetlights is getting old. Any info on the the valve lashing would also be helpful. Im 18 and need help. Thanx
 
Don't panic. Bet you dollars to donuts it's oil leaking into the turbine side of your turbo. Try this: stop the car on the left side of a crowned street, so that the passenger side is higher than the driver's. Bet you the smoke goes away. If so, it could just be a drain problem - make sure it's "vertical." Also, if it's a Turbonetics turbo, you probably have a leaking split ring oil seal - very common.
 
I'll go with oil seals too. Had the EXACT same problem with my Syclone. Truck would smoke only at idle while sitting still, nothing visible while driving. I narrowed my problem down to the turbo by disconnecting the intercooler piping from the turbo. Smoke out the tailpipe went away. Hooked the intercooler back up, smoke appeared right away. It is a PT-54, had to send to Precision for rebuild, was told the seals were shot. Now everything is fine.

Good luck with it, I know how embarrassing it can be when you pull up to the traffic light and the smoke starts billowing.
 
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