Built rb26 burning oil.

[MoMnDadGTR]

So I’ve been slowly breaking in my new motor for about 200km. It had a very good tune that was still quite close so I fired it up and began breaking it in plugged into the haltech making small adjustments as I went along my way on spring pressure essentially just hiway driving it up and down the gears no flat foot crap. Everytime I stopped moving I noticed my catchcan smoking more than regular, and I would blurp the throttle and see smoke from exhaust. I would drive the car in 50km intervals and always checked the catchcan. More moisture than anything in there, This last time I drove it I saw a tiny bit of oil in can. I checked my plugs and got a scary site....all cylinders are perfect but number 4 is totally soaked. built  head with super tech everything. Tomei headgaskst, Basic bottom end redo with pistons, rods, bearing, crank, nitto pump,1.5mm head restrictor, leaks spec sump, rear head drAin, before I go pulling motor any suggestions? My good buddy says maybe stuck injector, poorly installed valve stem seals, or rings weren’t installed proper on that piston. I did not build the motor so I cannot say if the rings were gapped and installed correct. Very good engine builder and all other pistons were fine...everyone makes mistAkes tho. Just looking for input on what to do now? I was going to switch my injectors Around and see if it fouls another spark plug then I know it’s an injector. Feel like my motors coming out....I tried another spark plug, I tried thicker oil before that I new I had one set spark plug out of the 6. The car weirdly still runs very good.

[MoMnDadGTR]

I bought a prp tourque plate for machining, had the crank balanced and grub screwed, did everything I felt was necessary to make a great engine..... I feel this was a engine building error....checked for spark in that cylinder as well but it idles on cold start like nothing is wrong and seems to burn no oil when cold. all other pistons seated right away im confused and scared....

 

Edited March 19, 2022 by MoMnDadGTR

[BK]

Not good dude, to me it looks like oil on the plug. Go do a complete compression test for a start.

[GTSBoy]

I'd make my first assumption that the rings did not bed in.

[Duncan]

On 19/03/2022 at 1:18 PM, GTSBoy said:

I'd make my first assumption that the rings did not bed in.

I agree but odd that it was only 1 cylinder with an issue. 

Do you have wide band o2 on it, and is it running rich? Also, drop the oil and check if it smells fuel-ly

And, like BK said a compression test will tell a lot too.....If everything seems OK but compression is low it is likely just the rings it may not be too late. Get it on a dyno and load it up hard for 30 min, full load at varying rpm

[MoMnDadGTR]

On 18/03/2022 at 9:24 PM, Duncan said:

I agree but odd that it was only 1 cylinder with an issue. 

Do you have wide band o2 on it, and is it running rich? Also, drop the oil and check if it smells fuel-ly

And, like BK said a compression test will tell a lot too.....If everything seems OK but compression is low it is likely just the rings it may not be too late. Get it on a dyno and load it up hard for 30 min, full load at varying rpm

ive changed the oil out 4 times in the last 200km, went from ams break in 30 wieght to valvoline 20w50 hi sinc. i was constantly loading it up like i was told as if i was on a dyno. i had my computer plugged in every drive and it never ran rich at any point. can see the other plugs are nice. the other pistons and rings seated great....i checked my haltech no wierd trims got accidently inputed on that cylinder. im gunna do a compression test right now. im tihnking a valve seal is totally mangled. or rings are not installed properly and oil is just blowing through the gaps cause they are lined up or something. this is a wierd one definitely a motor build issue. ill keep posted on this one.

 

[MoMnDadGTR]

On 18/03/2022 at 9:06 PM, BK said:

Not good dude, to me it looks like oil on the plug. Go do a complete compression test for a start.

piston number 4 has always had my number mate, swapped around injectors and coils same stuff. compression test time. hoping just a mangled valve seal. was pulling pretty good for just a five banger hahaha

[BK]

Mine has always been cylinder 1. If compression test comes up good across all 6 it could still be a bad oil ring on 4.

[MoMnDadGTR]

compression was 150 give or take a psi across all 6

infact piston 4 was highest compression probably from all the oil in there

[MoMnDadGTR]

On 18/03/2022 at 10:45 PM, BK said:

If compression test comes up good across all 6 it could still be a bad oil ring on 4.

could it be mangled valve stem seal? im going to shove a camera up the intake and see if the valve stem is wet maybe????

 

 

[joshuaho96]

On 3/18/2022 at 8:49 PM, MoMnDadGTR said:

could it be mangled valve stem seal? im going to shove a camera up the intake and see if the valve stem is wet maybe????

 

 

Inspection camera time, check and see if cylinder 4 has a ton of oil on the intake valves.

[MoMnDadGTR]

On 18/03/2022 at 11:36 PM, joshuaho96 said:

Inspection camera time, check and see if cylinder 4 has a ton of oil on the intake valves.

yeah not so much the valve itself but i want to shove a camera up the intake this morning and see if its on the stem behind the seat. cheers mate glad at least my compression check came out good

[MoMnDadGTR]

Got the head off, the intake valve looked wet with oil on the stem hard to take a picture, I assumed my exhaust side would look ugly/bad with oil pouring out those those two valves on exhaust stroke.16 hours in garage my brain hurts. I’m thinking just take the valves out of that cylinder and replace what need be, new head gasket, new arp studs as stripped one back nut bad(still got her out tho thank god, broke my finger when the wrench slipped no big deal. Never a good day n the garage without some blood on the rb. Bottom end I’m pretty sure is ok, as Ben said could still be bottom oil ring but I don’t think so I’m this case as I could see oil on that intake stem.

Edited March 20, 2022 by MoMnDadGTR

[BK]

Mate, I hope for your sake it is in the head / valve stem area. I was proposing worst case scenario with the bad oil ring, which you do not want to be the case being engine rebuild obviously.

[MoMnDadGTR]

On 20/03/2022 at 8:48 AM, BK said:

Mate, I hope for your sake it is in the head / valve stem area. I was proposing worst case scenario with the bad oil ring, which you do not want to be the case being engine rebuild obviously.

Still may be oil ring Ben.  I cold compression tested the engine before I tore the head off and it was 135 across all 6. Would a bad oil ring actually let that much oil past the rings in that short of time? It’s the most cakes I’ve ever seen a valve stem in my life(exhaust side) I poured oil ontop of all the retainers on that cylinder and haven’t seen any oil leak past the seals and guides yet 

[MoMnDadGTR]

no i found it forsure, i took the buckets out and filled both my intake valves full of oil just pouring it over the retainer and spring. and would you believe it the one valve just started filling and pooring out oil onto the floor and the other valve stem stayed dry as a nuns you know what. im wondering if the seal is even in there. can i remove the valve by just balling up a rag and pushing down on retainer with socket? i have to clean up my exhaust side to they looked bunged.

 

 

[MoMnDadGTR]

scratch that i ordered the proper tools and parts to get this done in my pos garage. gunna have a beer and forget about it for a bit and make a phone call to the engine builder on monday. 

[Duncan]

Well good to hear it is a very simple problem and reasonably easy and cheap fix.

[MoMnDadGTR]

On 20/03/2022 at 2:51 PM, Duncan said:

Well good to hear it is a very simple problem and reasonably easy and cheap fix.

yeah mate hopefully all goes to plan should be running again right away. only question now is i dont really know what to ask of the machine/building shop. they did such a great job on everything else i dont really feel like going there swinging my fists and burning the one bridge i have to machine my rb's. i want them to pay for a new head gasket/studs/ and my time. i feel this is fair considering i may even have done slight damage to the rings as they didnt get to seat with the rest of the pistons. now i just have to find out a way to get my block to shiny finish again. the tomei head gasket left some coating behind and before i go hammering away with sand paper i need to know what and how to do it properly to get the proper finish for tomei metal head gasket

 

[MoMnDadGTR]

well my ocd got the best of me and i couldnt wait for the tools to pulls the valves myself. i ran the head to the shop/machine shop that built the head and they plucked out the valve that was dumping oil from the top of intake valve expecting to see something really wrong. well seal looked perfect, valve looked perfect, guide from what we can see looks perfect. any suggestions as to how else oil could get down ontop the intake valve? this is happening as i post this i might have a an answer in half day.....maybe the valve guide is cracked but i dont know how that much oil is getting past the seal in the first place....i told them to put a new seal in and try dumping oil ontop the retainer once its all installed and see if it drips down the valve stem like it did to me.