R33 Sounds Like A Boxer...

[kevlo948]

Driving along today at about 40-50km/hr my car turned into a subaru...

It started chugging and sounding like a boxer. I limped it home (about 5km) and called my tuner.

I tried starting it again but when I got it started, i saw thick white smoke bellowing out of my exhaust.

I've recently had the following fitted to my car (by Garage 101, great guys btw)...by recent i mean a week ago. All items are brand new.

GT3071r with braided oil & water lines

550cc injectors

VDO fuel pump

Haltech Platinum Pro (MAP sensor ecu so no AFM)

New NPC clutch

I'm led to believe an oil seal on the turbo has given way but i have no idea how this could happen (if it were the case). The new turbo was fitted with new genuine garret gaskets.

A few other points to make:

The car was fitted with Yellow jacket coilpacks about a year ago

Spark plugs were gapped as it was missfiring on the dyno (this fixed it)

Please any advice would be great. I'm racking my brains as to what the problem could be.

[kevlo948]

also forgot to mention that there was a very rich petrol smell coming out of the exhaust

[kevlo948]

oh and also forgot to mention that before the turbo and everything was fitted, a compression test was done.

Results came up with 165 across all cylinders. The car is putting out 341rwhp and is a very safe tune.

[ARTZ]

yeah sounds like its just fouled the plugs...check if your plugs are fouled, put new ones if they are

then suss out things that could cause it to run rich, boost leaks or pipes/hoses that may have blown off, chances are its something simple.

[Birds]

No spark in one of the cylinders. Check your coilpack loom plugs are all plugged in properly. Then start disconnecting and reconnecting coil pack plugs until you find the one that doesn't make a difference to the engine sound - there's your culprit.

After working out which cylinder isn't firing, swap that coilpack with another one to see if the problem follows the coilpack or stays with the same cylinder - if it follows then it's a faulty coilpack, if it stays put then it is a dead spark plug or loom plug issue.

[infamous_t]

Usually either an injector not firing or an igniter giving no spark.

Given that you said you have a rich petrol smell, more likely to be ignition.

Regardless, check all your ignition & injector connections are properly connected.

If that's all good I'd lean towards fouled plugs.

Anything else will probably mean taking the car back to Danny

[DVS JEZ]

Thick white smoke?

Remove all spark plugs an check condition.

See if 1 is different. Then let us know how the 1 is different

[kevlo948]

thanks for the replies guys.

If its a fouled spark plug or an ignition issue then what would be causing the white smoke?

I'll take a look at the plugs and coilpacks tomorrow when theres some light. What should I be looking for on the plugs?

[GTSBoy]

yellowjackets.........

[ARTZ]

What should I be looking for on the plugs?

see if they are all black and sooty basically...

[DVS JEZ]

see if they are all black and sooty basically...

This or any oil/coolant deposits. Post up a pic of them. Try keep them in order.

Chances are u will need a new set of plugs to help diagnose.

If it still runs on 5 cylinders with new spark plugs u need to diagnose which cylinder is misfiring by disconnecting one coilpack at a time with the engine running. The one that doesnt change is ur dud cylinder. Chances are though when u pull the spark plugs u will be able to tell which cylinder is faulty.

[Birds]

Why would he go for the hardest diagnosis first and remove sparkies, when it's so easy to pull the coilpack loom plug by plug first?

[Birds]

yellowjackets.........

Please...you can say the same thing about Splitfires, JJR and any other brand of coilpack. They all have their issues occasionally - at least Paul stands behind his product.

[DVS JEZ]

Please...you can say the same thing about Splitfires, JJR and any other brand of coilpack. They all have their issues occasionally - at least Paul stands behind his product.

If u think the hardest diagnosis is removing plugs theres something wrong. Yes u can do the disconnection first. Its just the order i typed it in. But masses of white smoke to mee requires checking plug condition. Spark plugs tell u alot

[ARTZ]

+1 that Jez.. If your plugs are fouled its gunna rn like crap anyway making harder to diagnose anything..chances are if you drove 5km like that with a rich fuel smell from your exhaust, regardless of the problem the plugs are going to be fouled by now..

[Birds]

If u think the hardest diagnosis is removing plugs theres something wrong. Yes u can do the disconnection first. Its just the order i typed it in. But masses of white smoke to mee requires checking plug condition. Spark plugs tell u alot

If you're talking ignition, then yes, removing the plugs...considering you remove coilpacks to get to them...is the harder diagnosis. I don't see the point to removing plugs if you find a dud coilpack and can suss it out straight away? No time is wasted if you find out the coilpacks are fine.

+1 that Jez.. If your plugs are fouled its gunna rn like crap anyway making harder to diagnose anything..chances are if you drove 5km like that with a rich fuel smell from your exhaust, regardless of the problem the plugs are going to be fouled by now..

Considering it's only just started happening, his plugs can still be fine. I had a faulty coilpack that gave me the exact same symptoms as OP and I ran on it for weeks. Replaced the coilpack and presto, 6 cylinders again. Ran beautifully. Replaced sparkies at their next interval and they all looked fine.

[DVS JEZ]

If you're talking ignition, then yes, removing the plugs...considering you remove coilpacks to get to them...is the harder diagnosis. I don't see the point to removing plugs if you find a dud coilpack and can suss it out straight away? No time is wasted if you find out the coilpacks are fine.

Considering it's only just started happening, his plugs can still be fine. I had a faulty coilpack that gave me the exact same symptoms as OP and I ran on it for weeks. Replaced the coilpack and presto, 6 cylinders again. Ran beautifully. Replaced sparkies at their next interval and they all looked fine.

Was urs pumping out white smoke?

Lol at driving on 5 cylinders for weeks

[Birds]

It wasn't always on 5 cylinders, I probably should have explained that in more detail - the dud coilpack would come back to life after about 5 minutes of idling or driving. It was my daily driver and replacement coilpacks were still a couple weeks away so was happy to keep up the routine, despite my car sounding like a WRX and going like an Excel.

I wasn't blowing white smoke, but that could be an unrelated problem he has...isn't that usually coolant/water being burnt off when warmed up or just normal on cold start?

[ARTZ]

Yeah first thought was something like headgasket, but that didn't explain the fuel smell, or does it. .

Just check the plugs and hopefully all will be revealed.

[Birds]

Check the coils first dammit! lol

Could be several problems actually, he might still have slight headgasket issues - the fuel smell is simply unburnt fuel due to no firing in one of the cylinders.