MR2,

So is it ok to not keep the crankcase in relatiovely negative pressure, like it was designed? I guess I can easily tell by taking off the intake filter and see if there is a lot of oil in the tubes...

The FSM shows a procedure for this, you are supposed to take off the hose off the top of the PCV valve on the p-side rocker cover and while the car is running , check with your finger to see if there is suction on top of the valve... i.e. air being sucked into the crank case.

Occom's Razor suggests that it is NOT the PCV valve, but something that PE USA took off and put on.

I am pissed and disappointed...

Gurgen

 

Sometime if the fitting is screwed in too far flow is greatly restricted or cut-off completely in worse case scenario. You could try unscrewing the lines from the fitting first, then back out the fitting 1 full turn. Start the car ... let it warm up, then do the free rev test and see if the same smoke is still there. You may see some leaks around the fitting in the mean time, but that could be addressed later by reinstalling it w. new teflon tapes applied. Don't forget to perform this for both return line.

Good Luck.

 

I can empathize with your frustration. It's like you said to me on the phone the other day. Us sedan guys are just glorified Beta testers

In the meantime, Occam's is my favorite brand of razor.

--Steve

 

Amen to that Zimbo

 

Well... I am not sure about glorified..... just kidding.

Well, frankly I meant that regardless of what we do, the car is still going to be beta, forever.... and we need to accept that. We can, however, get really really close to a production level reliability (assuming it's a high quality production car) with a built motor... Then the drivetrain becomes the weak link.... it never ends. Lets just get a Porshe and be done with it... (j/k again)

As far as the car is concerned... I am going to drive it for now and see if it changes.... I checked the charge pipe on the p-side along with removing the plenum to look for oil. In both cases, especially the latter, it was clean (the charge pipe looked pretty much identical to the preTB tube picture I posted above). I also took a quick look at the retun line for kinks... it was straight....

Will get into it more next week... will be taking off the X- pipe and starting the car to see if the smoke comes from one or both turbos... that should give us a clue... Removing test pipes is also an idea....

Gurgen

 

Hey Gurgen, sorry to hear about the smoke hopefully you can isolate the issues. What's been posted above are great possibilities.

 

Hey Guys

Thanks for all your help and advice, they were all truly helpful.... What is weird now is that I sometimes (for example during today's dyno day) observe no smoke after a boosted run... However, smoke is ALWAYS present after I rev the car while in Neutral/Park position, just free-rev I mean.

Mokoto (PE Engineer), said that you never should free-rev these VQ engines b/c of some great vacuum tha is created that can suck the oil through (not sure exactly what he meant as much of it was lost in translation from Japanese).

For now... I will try to replace the test pipes, or at least take them off to inspect the turbo exhaust outlet (pre-down-pipe) for oil/carbon residue...

Will report back with any news...

Gurgen