Getting a heart transplant.....

[DrGonzo]

So Have I told you about my experience with excessive smoking on first start up?

Wasn't yours due to a plug not being removed from a turbo drain....LOL I'm sure it's not my issues here.

[wingnut]

Wasn't yours due to a plug not being removed from a turbo drain....LOL I'm sure it's not my issues here.

[CoopKill]

^^^ Cough ^^^

[DrGonzo]

Well, I finally got her on the road for a bit!!! Drove around the neighborhood and down to the gas station twice this weekend. So probably about 10 miles on her. Idle is nice as smooth now. No leaks that I can see so far!!

Things I need to address:

I need to finish bleeding the power steering as I seem to have a stuck bubble somewhere in the system as I get random steering whines when turning.

Brakes need some love, There are a bit loose due to not bleeding them all the way and the rotors having a lot of surface rust from sitting the last 6 months on jack stands.

Need to swap out the alt/ac adjustment pulley as it squeaks bad. Ed sent me the wrong one so waiting on him to send the right one...LOL

I'm getting some smoking when I downshift and let it rev out. Doesn't do it al the time, just randomly. Wondering if the PCV valve is not working right so I'll be swapping that out. Possible due to rings not broken in all the way yet.

I also get a random backfire which makes no sense as timing is 100% on. I have checked it so many damn times now it is not even funny.

Finish getting the interior back in and wiring in the Wideband. I swapped over to an Innovate as it is easier to log since MMCD and Scanmaster are coded to use it.


With winter coming in and it being completely dark out by the time I get home I only have the weekends to work on it. I'm in no rush though as everything else is at this point is pretty minor.

[DrGonzo]

Just wanted to throw in some long overdue updates to the engine and car.

Power steering issue was just a loose belt.- All fixed!
Brakes are perfect now and lock up if you mash them - No ABS
Alt/AC pulley issue fixed
Smoking went away after the first 1k miles on the engine.
The engine developed really really bad compressor surge. I couldn't drive it on the highway at 65 as the BOV sounded like a train coming at you... Converted back to stock SMIC's and that fixed the surging issue and the backfiring problem...IDK why on the backfiring issue...

I have taken the car out atleast once on the weekend to local meets and such, even 3 hrs to the Ninja garage for a meet with no issues at all.

noticed a small oil leak I traced back to the rear valve cover. Pulled the cover and resealed it. Engine runs like shit and then starts dying. You start it up, runs good, then the MFI kicks off killing the fuel. Checked and checked and couldn't figure it out. Finally sent my ECU to the Ninja and it's toast. It was rebuilt by Eric Rymer 2+ years ago when he first started doing them. Chris's ECU is fixing it and I'm waiting to hear a root cause.

So while the ECU was out I figured might as well change out the bad A/C compressor I had with my spare I got last year. Compressor went out fall of last year so I didn't mess with it as I didn't need it. All installed and having issues with it keeping a vacuum overnight. Going to swap out all o-rings to see it that does it. then run dye to see if I can locate the issue. I usually run a small can of A/C stop leak in the system just as a precaution but with no running engine I can't get it into the system...LOL I have a large o-ring kit with tons of o-rings so I'll change them all out first.

Seeing as the engine now has 3k on it, might as well do the oil also. Drained the pan and got the normal metallic sheen due to engine break-in. Pull the oil filter and dump in toward the outer rim and chunks fall out... WTFF!!!



So needless to say I was really freaked out. it was late when I drained the oil so I had to wait until the next day after work to actually inspect anything.

After work the next day I immediately started looking into the oil issues. I pulled a few chunks of the oil and most looked to have been carbon buildup chunks. The next one seemed to be bits of white/yellowish plastic. No metal chunks found at all. I was relieved but concerned also as to where the plastic chunks came from. So I took the oil in the closed off oil container. Since the filter oil did not get inside the oil container, just the outside, I knew if I filtered it I could tell if the chunks where in the oil pan on the car also or just on the filter. Ran the oil though some really fine paint strainers/filters I had and nothing. Not a single bit came out. I even backwashed and swished the oil container to get anything on the bottom of it out. They filled it with water and strained/filtered that also. All clean, no chunks. So I know now that the chunks were in the filter itself. There were maybe 7-8 chunks of the plastic found and I'm guessing they are glue from inside the filter itself caught in the filter creases. I used a Wix filter as I have used them for a couple years now with no issues at all.

I also sent an oil sample out that I took from the oil pan on the car was draining to Blackstone labs. Got a call from them today. They saw my note about the chunks but found nothing in the oil. chromium was a little higher than they like to see at 15ppm, but this is the first 3k oil change on the new engine and with new rings, minus the initial two done right after the engine was turned over and the one after I brought it up to temp. Everything else on the report looked great they said. I know that I didn't change or flush the oil cooler from the old engine, it didn't spin a bearing or anything and those reports had high chromium levels so that chromium could also be from the oil that was sitting in the cooler from the old engine which had 80-90k on it. Compression and everything is good so I'll just keep an eye on it after the next report. if the chromium doesn't go down then I'll need to look into trying to find the cause of it.

[CoopKill]

Wheeeeeeew! I looked at the pic, and was OMG!!!! After everything I am going through it is good to see something good going someones way.

[lawdogg]

Wow so that was the Wix filter? Shitttay

[DrGonzo]

yeah, I was pretty bummed about finding that stuff in the filter. I've been a big Wix person for quite some time now. Technically it did do it's job though as Blackstone found not evidence of foreign materials.

I got the full Blackstone report emailed to me and I'm not the happiest about the figures....I know the first oil change or two is going to be bad but I never though that they would be this bad!!!



the numbers just seem to be really high for the metals. I know Iron, aluminum and chromium would be high, but the copper, lead and tin!! That's bearing metal!!! So my debate now is pull the pan and look over all of the bearings, or run it for 1-2k and send in a new sample and hope for better numbers. Oil pressure is absolutely wonderful. I've never had oil pressure this consistent. Almost 24psi at warm idle 45-50psi highway cruising. I didn't built the engine in a clean room or anything and this was the first oil change with the engine under any type of load at all..... Am I just worrying to much about this??

[CoopKill]

What was Blackstones thoughts on it? Did they give an opinion?

[lawdogg]

Looks like you changed the oil type too?