Rebuild on a Turbocharged
 

Okay, I have a problem with an engine rebuild. I do not have access to the car so I am going by what I was told over the phone.

I had rebuilt a friends Eclipse with a T3/T4 Turbo from Turbonetics. It was a blown motor (spun 3 rod bearings). As a favor, I rebuilt the WHOLE motor with the following.... New rods, pistons, all new bearings, gaskets of course, and a new turbo rebuild kit. It appears the car had blown the seals in the turbo and the previous owner continued driving it and lost his oil and spun the rod bearings. It started right up after the rebuild but blew some smoke wich to me is normal until it is broke in. He sent it away to be tuned and have the fuel management installed. The man who tuned it called him and told him it has the wrong sized rings in it because it is blowing smoke. I checked ring end gap and it was at the limit but passed, the pistons and rings came with the engine boring. Its a top notch shop, and he had the pistons to do the bore. The tuner insists its the rings and wants a good chunk of money to repair the problem. Well, I have a few guesses at what might be the problem but cannot get to the vehicle at this time so does anyone know of some causes of the vehicle blowing smoke that would exclude the piston rings? Compression was (not broke in) 145 accross all 4 cylinders. It was built to run with 18psi and has a non factory head with cams. It dynos with about 420hp (before the engine blew). I know we had some vacuum hosed the had broken tips but the tuner said he would take care of them. Thats all the info I can think of. Any ideas would help.

Thnx

RE: Rebuild on a Turbocharged
 

So if the compression is good how could the rings be wrong? What about the valve seals? were they replaced? Head Gasket ?Check the plugs, see if anyone has build up on it to narrow the problem down. Im kinda lost here, so it was on the dyno and they got runs in before it blew? or was it blowing smoke ever since the rebuild?

RE: Rebuild on a Turbocharged
 

What color is the smoke? If it is engine oil then I would check to make sure that there is no slop in the valve guides. You can get oil leaks through both the intake and exhaust values guides if they are sloppy. Another indicator is carbon deposits in the exhaust manifold and on the valve.

This is all I can think of for now.

JC

RE: Rebuild on a Turbocharged
 

Well, its been blowing since the rebuild. It didnt blow before the rebuild. I am going to go with the most simplest issues first like maybe hoses wrong. I cannot see the comment from the tuner that "it runs great" but bloes smoke so that means the wrong sized rings in it. I did all this for free for my friend and now hes upset the tuner says he can replace the rings for X money. I only seen it run for 5 minutes before they took it to the tuner. It hasnt been brok in yet either, unless its been run a while by the tuner.

Its blowing ALOT of smoke according to him. I just rebuild as a hobby and do not tune turbos, I do have a good understanding on them though.

RE: Rebuild on a Turbocharged
 

I would have to agree here dose not seem right like NEspeed said if teh compression is correct. and stable.

RE: Rebuild on a Turbocharged
 

Were the valve seal even put in????? I really dont think we can help you unless you have access to the car to answer spacific questions, sorry.