RB20DET, Really smokey on idle

[JarodC]

Good day guys, so I've finished doing a couple of mods on my RB20DET GTS-T, got a base map put on to my Nistune ECU and now unfortunately on idle it blows smoke out like crazy. It was smoking slightly before i pulled everything apart but I had thought it was the turbo seals hence why i replaced the turbo and a few other things.

4" Straight through exhaust doesn't help either I can imagine. Symptoms include on start up generally after about 15-20 seconds she starts to smoke white clouds, as she warms up the smoke intensifies. I've done a compression test this morning and the results followed from cam cover to firewall, 150/140/145/145/150/150 PSI. 

I am leaning towards maybe the head gasket might have a crack in it or blown. But not enough evidence points towards this maybe?, No mixing of oil and water within the engine, I can say she's taking a bit of water not from the radiator but from the overflow tank. 

I don't mind pulling off the head to do a head gasket but bloody annoying since i just put the dam thing back together and thought it was ready for a dyno tune. 

I have ordered a leak down tester tool just waiting for that to come in, but welcome to any suggestions and theories or experience from you fellow members all input is appreciated cheers guys! 

[Ben C34]

Can you explain that engine breather setup? Catch can then goes to where?

 

 

[Rusty Nuts]

Thats coolant burning, you have a blown head gasket or a cracked head.

[Rusty Nuts]

9 hours ago, JarodC said:

No mixing of oil and water within the engine, I can say she's taking a bit of water not from the radiator but from the overflow tank. 

 

You are losing coolant from your expansion tank, there's your clue right there.

[JarodC]

11 hours ago, Ben C34 said:

Can you explain that engine breather setup? Catch can then goes to where?

Goes to nowhere, just collects and drains if needed 

11 hours ago, Ben C34 said:

 

 

[JarodC]

3 hours ago, Rusty Nuts said:

Thats coolant burning, you have a blown head gasket or a cracked head.

Thought so 

[TurboTapin]

9 minutes ago, JarodC said:

Goes to nowhere, just collects and drains if needed 

 

is that catch can sealed? If so, that is not at all how that should be done and will cause damage. 

Edited August 16, 2020 by TurboTapin

[JarodC]

11 minutes ago, TurboTapin said:

is that catch can sealed? If so, that is not at all how that should be done and will cause damage. 

Yeah man it's sealed, bugger what would be the best solution to this? drill and tap a fitting for allowing the oil to drain out or change the catch can setup entirely? If not what damages can be caused and how so. I know it effects the crank case pressure 

[Ben C34]

47 minutes ago, JarodC said:

Yeah man it's sealed, bugger what would be the best solution to this? drill and tap a fitting for allowing the oil to drain out or change the catch can setup entirely? If not what damages can be caused and how so. I know it effects the crank case pressure 

You have plugged up your engine. What you have done makes no sense and won't work. It is worse than the factory setup. It will cause smoking but as mentioned it really looks like a head gasket though.

 

You need to research how to plumb a catch can also while the car is apart

[TurboTapin]

46 minutes ago, JarodC said:

Yeah man it's sealed, bugger what would be the best solution to this? drill and tap a fitting for allowing the oil to drain out or change the catch can setup entirely? If not what damages can be caused and how so. I know it effects the crank case pressure 

Your issue is not the oil drain, it's the fact that you basically sealed up your engine. I'm blown away you have not been sending dip sticks to the moon every time you start your car lol. 

Do not start the car back up like that. If you want to keep your hoses setup the same way, replace your sealed air/oil seperator with a vented catch can (The ones with a filter on top). I prefer running an oem type setup with 2x sealed air/oil seperators. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gojira34]

Just a thought about the smoke, could it be too much oil in turbo? Did you use restrictor in the feed line?

[JarodC]

2 hours ago, TurboTapin said:

Your issue is not the oil drain, it's the fact that you basically sealed up your engine. I'm blown away you have not been sending dip sticks to the moon every time you start your car lol. 

Do not start the car back up like that. If you want to keep your hoses setup the same way, replace your sealed air/oil seperator with a vented catch can (The ones with a filter on top). I prefer running an oem type setup with 2x sealed air/oil seperators. 

 

 

 

 

 

Man thank you so much! I took your advice and un-plumbed the catch can. Got it up to operating temperature and she didn't smoke! little bit but nothing like how she used too. Something I had just totally over looked. I topped up the coolant levels and ran the car for a while and coolant levels did not drop. 

Mind you guys i haven't started the car or left it running for long at all. I had gotten it back from the tuner and he told he it was really smokey so I only bought it home and ran it for a little while. then left it in the garage. Today I let it warm up and cool down 3 times and checked for oil levels, mixture, coolant levels and so on. It seems to be promising i hope! 

[JarodC]

1 hour ago, Gojira34 said:

Just a thought about the smoke, could it be too much oil in turbo? Did you use restrictor in the feed line?

Yeah so its not a ball bearing turbo, Journal bearing turbo the fitting flange hole from where the turbo feed line connects to is about 3-3.5mm. Do you reckon that's fine?

[Ben C34]

4 minutes ago, JarodC said:

. I had gotten it back from the tuner and he told he it was really smokey

So your tuner didn't spot the incredibly obvious catch can issue...... That's concerning.

[JarodC]

6 minutes ago, Ben C34 said:

So your tuner didn't spot the incredibly obvious catch can issue...... That's concerning.

Nah I only dropped off the vehicle to him to get a base map put onto the ECU for me to be able to start up the car and tow it in for paint. He was extremely busy as we had our Chrome Expression car event coming up. So he only had the car for about half a day before I towed it back home. Thank you for spotting out the mistake though hopefully it hasn't caused any major issues 

[Gojira34]

On 16/08/2020 at 1:52 PM, JarodC said:

Yeah so its not a ball bearing turbo, Journal bearing turbo the fitting flange hole from where the turbo feed line connects to is about 3-3.5mm. Do you reckon that's fine?

Hey mate, it really depends on size the turbo, not sure what yours is? But would think 3-5mm should be fine?! 

most say -4an fittings, but I’m no mechanic, just what I’ve learned in forums.
just have good drain for the oil!

I Learnt hard way when I had my Vl RB30E+t, I just had some braided lines made up and bolted up to turbo! ? found out I needed a restrictor as was smoking like your photo!
anyway seems like it was the breather! Hope all good!