SR20DET Burning oil?

[IowaSilvia_S13]

Hey. I'm new to the SR20DET world and turbos. I have a 91 silvia with the Sr20det in it and I just noticed today it is burning oil. It is white smoke coming out of the tail pipe. And smells just like burn't oil. Are DET's known to burn oil? What are some of the things to look for first? If a turbo is going bad would it burn oil?I think the turbo is good. But don't have any experience with one. Mine is stock turbo and it spools good at 3k rpm to 5k rpm. You can here it wind up or spool up. If u let off the gas there is another noise. Not the blow off valve though. What does a wastegate sound like? It seems to be running just fine though.. No weird noises or clunks..Any info would be well appreciated. Thanks in advance/.

[MojoMan]

Are DET's known to burn oil? What are some of the things to look for first? /.

Thats a real good question. Unfortunatly most of us have had the bad experience of having this problem. Could be a number of things such as bad rings, valve stem seals, bad head gasket. If you look down around the center of the turbo You should be able to tell if the seals are bad which will cause oil to burn through the exhaust which isn't the worst thing to happen. Do a compression test. Its real simple. If you search about compression and smoking you should find enough material about doing the compression the correct way and what causes smoking. If you want to learn alot about your motor and such I suggest doing many searches before you ask certain questions around here. Some people carry flame torches around for lynching.:pface There are tons of threads about this. It will help you diagnose alot of things for your car and get new Ideas of what to upgrade. But a word of advice. If your compression turns out low. Dont bother upgrading to much until you rebuild.

[the_invisible]

Oil burning shouldn't be too bad if the headgaskets aren't blown. Most engines with worn out piston rings will burn a bit of oil. I think that burning 0.5qt of oil in 3k miles isn't too bad. HOw much did you lost over a certain period of time?

Also, if you drive your car hard, chance is that some oil gets blown out through the PVC and get circulated back to the intake manifold, clogging the intercooler and the intake and throttle body. Also, some oil probably got leaked out in some crevices where the seals dried out and cracked. All these are possible. Just make sure that your headgasket isn't blown or damaged. All cars burn a small amount of oil.

We need to know more about your situation, though.

[Drakon]

makes me sad when someone just goes out and gets a SR powered car and doesnt know anything. I dont even have one yet. i deserve it!

[Drakon]

sorry bout that....i'm just sufering from SR envy...

do ya know anyone with a SR in your area that could maybe look at it? cause we can all guess here but its hard when you cant lookat it.

[the_invisible]

so many people just buy a motor and install it without ever knowing the condition and compression of the motor. When they fire it up, they realize the car won't run after everything is installed and ready to go.

I would never pay for the engine without seeing the compression of the motor. If it is in a clip, I expect to see it fire right up after the compression and leakdown test.

I have put a 50% deposit on my front clip and I won't ever pay for the other 50% after it has passed the compression test.

[IowaSilvia_S13]

hahahah... no i didn't just buy a car and not know anything. I asked the question because i was a honda man. Honda motors are known for some reacuring problems. Just checking to see if there was something that the SR was noted for. Yes i know it could be the valve seals, bad rings, blown head gasket. If it was a blown head gasket i would think the oil would look bad and the motor might run different. Just depends where it had blown. I was kinda hoping it was the turbo though, so i could do an upgrade there. It has 60k on it. I guess the info i was wanting was the sounds of the turbo after you let up on the gas and it has spooled up. Mine almost sounds like a bad bearing chattering. I know it isn't the blow off valve, cuz i can hear the whoosh. What does the wastegate sound like?????thanks

[ItzGenX]

wastegate sounds like flapping paper in the wind

[SpeedRacer1]

Turbo and valve stems are usually the first place to look at, though the valve stems are somewhat hard to access. Look for a pool of oil infront of the compressor, if it looks like a big one that could be the problem. But just to be extra extra sure, look at the intake piping like the hot pipe and the pipe coming off the compressor for an oil coating.

Oil burns blue smoke, maybe it looks white since its not winter?

If you think its the wastegate then take off the turbo and inspect it.