Low idle and smoke

[insanity007]

Does anyone know what the cause of my car idling at 300rpm and blowing plumes of smoke out of the exhaust after about 30 seconds might be?

It's a 1995 WRX with 166kms on the clock. It has a full 3 inch exhaust and an HKS cylindrical pod filter installed with the dampening box taken out.

I've replaced all of the engine coils in it too as they were all cracked.

Sometimes it cuts out under boost when I'm in second.

I tried adjusting the idling screw but the solenoid starts ticking and after a while the check engine light comes on and the car starts behaving like a dog until I adjust the screw back to where it makes no difference to how the car idles.

I checked my mrs. car (she's got a 94) and she doesn't even have a screw to adjust the idling and he car idles perfectly at 1k.

I always use 98 in the car and the oil looks like it was changed recently by the guy I bought it off.

The smell of the smoke is a very rich burning smell and it's white.

I've had 2 compression tests done on the car and they've both come back fine. I do wonder how warm the car was when they were done though.

[zarnah]

farked turbo

[insanity007]

 zarnah said:

farked turbo

Subtech took the turbo off the car when they fixed the leak in the exhaust and I'm pretty sure they would have picked that up if it is.

[insanity007]

I also don't have a blow of valve in the car. It's got the stock plumb back valve installed. Dunno if taking this out and using a straight forward pipe with a port for the the small hose connecting to the top of the engine may help?

[zarnah]

 insanity007']

[quote name='zarnah said:

farked turbo

/quote]

Subtech took the turbo off the car when they fixed the leak in the exhaust and I'm pretty sure they would have picked that up if it is.

not really unless they had a good look at it, if they just took it off to fix a leak and whacked it back on they probably wouldnt notice

[Ninja8)]

 zarnah']

[quote name='zarnah said:

farked turbo

/quote]

Subtech took the turbo off the car when they fixed the leak in the exhaust and I'm pretty sure they would have picked that up if it is.

not really unless they had a good look at it, if they just took it off to fix a leak and whacked it back on they probably wouldnt notice

how would 1 know with the humans eye if a turbo is about to say its goodbyes?

[CUDDAS]

If you dont think it's your turbo, have you checked your coolant? i have just had a coolant leak running down onto my headers which plumed white smoke & smelt quite bad.

[BLAZD]

 CUDDAS said:

If you dont think it's your turbo, have you checked your coolant? i have just had a coolant leak running down onto my headers which plumed white smoke & smelt quite bad.

this,

has fooled me many a time haha

[kingersman]

you could have blown oil seals in your turbo.. farking hard to tell if they are gone when you got your turbo off.

[insanity007]

 CUDDAS said:

If you dont think it's your turbo, have you checked your coolant? i have just had a coolant leak running down onto my headers which plumed white smoke & smelt quite bad.

Would that somehow get into the headers and cause white plumes of smoke to come out of the back of my muffler?

[Disruptz]

have you tried opening your oil filler cap after the engine is warmed?, open the filler cap and see if any visible smoke is puffing out... if there is... :-\

[insanity007]

 Disruptz said:

have you tried opening your oil filler cap after the engine is warmed?, open the filler cap and see if any visible smoke is puffing out... if there is... :-\

Good idea... I didn't think of that...

[CUDDAS]

 insanity007']

[quote name='CUDDAS said:

If you dont think it's your turbo, have you checked your coolant? i have just had a coolant leak running down onto my headers which plumed white smoke & smelt quite bad.

/quote]

Would that somehow get into the headers and cause white plumes of smoke to come out of the back of my muffler?

i'l repeat what i posted previously...

Depends if your engine is trying to run on it (it would enter the combustion chamber via a leaking head gasket maybe) which would explain why it's idling at 300rpm.

& mine was just a split hose but the burning coolant produced a white smoke that is all.

Maybe you should see if someone in your area could come & have a look

[Guest S T E Y E]

if its smoking quite bad u could pull the exhaust down pipe and u would see oil in it if it were to be oil seals in the turbo....intercooler piping got much oil in it??? idling at 300 thats mighty low man i wouldnt think a motor with good compression would tick over that low....normally only low compression motors will run that low...plus u wont have much oil pressure at 300 rpm lol... is it using water/coolant

[insanity007]

I made a noob mistake. It's idling at 600 to 700rpm. The white line is 500rpm down the bottom lol.

[insanity007]

 CUDDAS']

[quote name='CUDDAS said:

If you dont think it's your turbo, have you checked your coolant? i have just had a coolant leak running down onto my headers which plumed white smoke & smelt quite bad.

/quote]

Would that somehow get into the headers and cause white plumes of smoke to come out of the back of my muffler?

i'l repeat what i posted previously...

Depends if your engine is trying to run on it (it would enter the combustion chamber via a leaking head gasket maybe) which would explain why it's idling at 300rpm.

& mine was just a split hose but the burning coolant produced a white smoke that is all.

Maybe you should see if someone in your area could come & have a look

Was there any smoke coming from the engine bay?

I took off the oil cap while the car was running and revved it and there was no smoke coming out at all and it didn't even smell like burning, just like oil.

[Guest S T E Y E]

600-700 only a tad low.adjust the iacv wen hot to around 750-850 rpm and thatl sort idle...

is it smoking out the exhaust on idle??? or on throttle??

cos basic rule of thumb is....

smoking on deceleration / idle indicates a seal is leaking (turbo OR valve seals have nearly the same symptoms)

Smoking on acceleration indicates piston rings / ring lands can also cause this

turbos can smoke on acceleration but its normally the excess oil still burning...going down a hill and decelling the whole way and if it smokes would indicate turbo or valve seals...if turbo (front seal) ull have oil in intercooler piping and rear seal will be spitting oil into the downpipe and causing smoke off the hot downpipe

hope this helps

[insanity007]

 S T E Y E said:

600-700 only a tad low.adjust the iacv wen hot to around 750-850 rpm and thatl sort idle...

is it smoking out the exhaust on idle??? or on throttle??

cos basic rule of thumb is....

smoking on deceleration / idle indicates a seal is leaking (turbo OR valve seals have nearly the same symptoms)

Smoking on acceleration indicates piston rings / ring lands can also cause this

turbos can smoke on acceleration but its normally the excess oil still burning...going down a hill and decelling the whole way and if it smokes would indicate turbo or valve seals...if turbo (front seal) ull have oil in intercooler piping and rear seal will be spitting oil into the downpipe and causing smoke off the hot downpipe

hope this helps

iacv? Is that the idling screw?

It's smoking out the back on idle and I have no idea if it's smoking on acceleration or deceleration because I can't see any smoke out the back while I'm driving.

Normally if I let the car idle for about 20 seconds it starts smelling aweful and then plumes of smoke start pouring out the back. This lasts for about 2 minutes and then goes away.

[Guest S T E Y E]

yea iacv is the idle controller...u undo the screws and rotate it to adjust idle...its on the intake plenum to the right of throttle body

sounds like turbo seals man so id take ur downpipe off and see if the turbos oily???

[insanity007]

 S T E Y E said:

yea iacv is the idle controller...u undo the screws and rotate it to adjust idle...its on the intake plenum to the right of throttle body

sounds like turbo seals man so id take ur downpipe off and see if the turbos oily???

Yeah I did that and the solenoid starting ticking and then after a while the check engine light would come on and the car would misbehave so I had to unscrew it all the way again and let it idle at 600 - 700 rpm.

Subtech recently took my turbo off to fix the downpipe. I dunno if that did it?