what would cause oil control rings to go out twice in under 600 miles in a freshly built motor with forged pistons. I would like to know why before i rebuild my motor for the 3rd time in about 1300 miles and it happen again. the block was freshly bored .20 over the fist time and a light hone the 2nd time by a machinist. this time im going to use a new block that i have sitting around.

Who assembled it?

i did, why. this wouldn't be my first build neither. i've built several motors for myself including help building my friends motors.

Possibly improperly sized, or incorrect ring gap, or even upside down. Was this motor balanced?

OutToWinPAHC wrote:Possibly improperly sized, or incorrect ring gap, or even upside down. Was this motor balanced?

no the motor wasnt balanced, but both times i file fitted the rings they where close to spec before filling them. plus i have great compression 165 all 4 give or take a few psi. i just get oil in the combustion chamber a few minutes after a cold start (not from sitting) then it smokes till it warms up. after that it stop smoking. i just dont want to rebuild and end up with the same results. i would like to know what went wrong so i can learn from my mistakes, whether its user error or mechanical error.

Umm that kinda sounds like valve stem seals

Definitely could be valve seals. They are cold and leak a bit, then heat up and expand.

OutToWinPAHC wrote:Umm that kinda sounds like valve stem seals

yeah, thats what i thought too. (smoke on cold starts). heres the whole story.

built the motor with a fresh bore and 8.6:1 compression supertech pistons, stock rods and acl barings.
drove it carefully untill i could get it to the dyno to fine tune it. (600 mi) had an enthalpy tune but transferred it to nistune and was waiting to break it in before fine tuning it on the dyno.
started smoking on start ups only, so i thought bad valve seals.
replaced the valve seals with head on car, still smoking.
ok. must be the turbo, pulled the turbo off and rebuilt it with a new kit. still smoking and now getting worst.
ok maybe the head needs to be fully rebuilt, pulled the head off and sent it to the shop. my machinest said the guides where a little loose so he fully rebuilt the head, new guide, seals, decked. everything. put the head back on along with new ARP head studs and a felpro head gasket. still smoking.
did some more testing and a found out that before i would start the car there was no oil in the combustion chambers but after i would start it and it would start to smoke about 3 to 4 min's later. so i cut it off and check the chambers and found 1,3, and 4 had oil in them.
did a compression test and got 165 in all 4 (give or take a few psi)
must be the oil control rings, popped the pistons out but didnt see anything wrong. replaced and file fitted all the rings in all 4 pistons. put a fresh hone and put it back together. it stoppped smoking. sweet i fixed it.
took it to the dyno and tuned it. hit up a couple of drift events and Ifo.
on the way to IFO my friend said i was puffing a little blue smoke between shifts. after IFO tthe problem started again, smoking on start up a slowly got worst (600 mi).
ok so i rebuilt the turbo myself the fist time and since i've never rebuilt one maybe i messed it up or its out of balance.
pulled the turbo off and sent it out to be rebuilt. $350.00 plus shipping later i got the turbo back and put it back on. still smoking.
redid the test i did the first time and found no oil before i start it but after it runs for about 3 to 4 min's the smoke starts. cut the car off and check the pluggs and chambers and im getting oil in #3 cylinder.
thats where i stand now. same s*** different day.

If compression and leak down test or good, I would think something else. Cold start only,really sounds like valve stem seals. And I would use an OEM gasket over the failpro.